The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band
The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band |
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The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band is a seven-piece jazz band based in Oxford, England. The band play original material influenced by 1920s and 1930s jazz and 1940s jump blues alongside classics and standards. The band has been cited for its "extraordinary enthusiasm" and "pulling in fans who would never otherwise contemplate dancing to a jazz band".[1]. They alternate between raucous club and festival sets and quieter jazz clubs across the UK, and recently featured on Mark Lamarr’s BBC Radio 2 programme God’s Jukebox.[2]
Band members
- "Baron" Stuart Macbeth (bandleader, vocals, piano, kazoo, composer/arranger)
- Paul "Bunny" Eros (trumpet, vocals)
- "King" Martin (trombone, vocals)
- Muggsy "Westy" West (tenor sax)
- "Blind" Bill Fadden (guitar/banjo)
- Buzz Booker (double bass)
- John ‘Hurricane’ Gannon (drums)
History
The band was originally founded by "Baron" Stuart Macbeth as a proper three piece spasm band playing jazz and skiffle on homemade banjos, ukuleles and washboards.[3]. Their first performance was at the Hollybush Inn in Oxford on 21 October 2006, advertised as "Banjo Madness".[4] By 2007 the band had begun to shift away from skiffle and more firmly towards jazz. The instrumentation of the band began to reflect this change with the addition of bass and drums and a horn section.
In February 2009 the band played a gig at Oxford’s Wheatsheaf pub which met with a favourable review in Oxford's Nightshift magazine: "The Spasms get to grips with the soul of the music through riotous trumpet, rasping sax and by being heroically, Biblically drunk. This, my friends, is the authentic sound of New Orleans. Possibly during the hurricane.".[5] Oxford Music Scene described their performance at the OX4 Festival that summer as "completely brilliant" and "a breath of fresh air".[6] Since then the band has been growing in popularity, referring to itself as comprising "seven of the hardest working, hardest drinking, hardest playing jazz musicians this side of the Pond" [7]: in a recent interview in The Oxford Student Macbeth claimed the band played 119 gigs in 2009[8].
Highlights of their 2009 touring included Bestival [9], Oxford’s OX4 Festival (where the Oxford Mail described them as being "bang at the top of their high-octane jazzy game") [10], Truck Festival and its off-shoot, EquiTruck, in February 2010.[11] They recently supported Ska Cubano at the O2 Academy Oxford on 27 February 2010.[12]
Macbeth discussed the origin of the band’s name in a 2009 interview with Oxford Bands:
"Many of our heroes, like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Louis Jordan, started out with a black touring troupe called who used the Rabbit Foot in their name. Spasm bands in New Orleans in the 1890s made music out of homemade instruments, which is how we started out. The Original bit is just quite funny, and a little homage to a whole host of early Jazz bands who stuck that at the front of their name. Kid Creole had his Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band as well, and he was about as original as we are."[13]
In addition to the influences mentioned above, Macbeth employed a term used by Hugues Panassié, "real jazz", to distinguish the kind of jazz they play from more modern variants.[14] Both Macbeth and Eros have extensive collections of 78 rpm gramophone records from the 20s through 50s, which has informed their repertoire and provided ideas and inspiration from forgotten songs or obscure variants of what have become jazz standards.[15]
The band released its first CD, "Gin & Sympathy", on their own Rabbit Jazz label on 14 December 2009.[16] BBC Radio Northampton broadcast an original Macbeth composition, "Nappy Head Rag", in advance of the release of the CD on 11 December 2009.[17] Another original composition, "Squalor", has been broadcast by BBC Oxford.[18]
Their radio appearances include a March 2009 broadcast with Sue Marchant on BBC Radio Northampton; a session with Tim Bearder and Dave Gilyeat on BBC Oxford Introducing on 30 May 2009.[19] On 8 March they recorded a session in Maida Vale Studios for Mark Lamarr’s Radio 2 programme God’s Jukebox for broadcast on 12 March.[20]
External links
References
- ^ Nighshift, Issue 173, December 2009. http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2009/dec.pdf
- ^ BBC2 Radio 2, God's Jukebox. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqj3
- ^ http://www.oxfordbands.com/2009/05/23/quick-interview-3-original-rabbit-foot-spasm-band/
- ^ Oxford Daily Info, Issue 7743, 21 October 2006. http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/archives/DI211006.pdf
- ^ Nightshift, Issue 114, March 2009. http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2009/mar.pdf
- ^ Oxford Music Scene Summer 2009, Issue 6, p.25. http://www.vitaloxford.com/publications/oms_issue6.pdf
- ^ The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band official website. http://www.rabbitjazz.co.uk
- ^ http://www.oxfordstudent.com/?x=arts&y=music&z=295
- ^ http://www.bestival.net/#/artists/2009-line-up/the-original-rabbit-foot-spasm-band
- ^ Oxford Mail, 16 October 2009. http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/leisure/musics/musicreviews/4687558.Ox4_Festival___Cowley_Road__oxford/ )
- ^ Truck Festival newsletter. http://www.thisistruck.com/news_item.aspx?id=454
- ^ Promotional material for O2 Academy, Oxford. http://www.o2academyoxford.co.uk/event/9050/ska-cubano-tickets/Details
- ^ Oxford Bands, 23 May 2009. http://www.oxfordbands.com/2009/05/23/quick-interview-3-original-rabbit-foot-spasm-band/
- ^ The Oxford Student, 25 February 2010. http://www.oxfordstudent.com/?x=arts&y=music&z=295
- ^ Nighshift, Issue 173, December 2009. http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2009/dec.pdf
- ^ http://www.rabbitjazz.co.uk>
- ^ BBC Radio Northampton. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northampton/low/people_and_places/music/newsid_8405000/8405427.stm
- ^ BBC Oxford. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/low/people_and_places/music/newsid_8463000/8463823.stm
- ^ Oxford Introducing, YouTube video from broadcast recording, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqC6g9Cblc
- ^ BBC2 Radio 2, God's Jukebox. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqj3