Ask most jazz folks where they might like to head if they could take a time machine back 100 years and they’d say straight for Harlem, where the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. But head south, west and Southwest and you’ll encounter a sea of classic “territory bands” (some famous, others obscure) from spots like San Antonio, New Orleans and Kansas City, where bands led by Walter Page, Bennie Moten and Count Basie held court.
These and all spots in between are the territories explored on Turtle Bay Music’s latest triumphant historical goldmine, Down Where the Bluebonnets Grow by The Joymakers, a seven-piece powerhouse group out of Austin led by Colin Hancock, a cornetist in the Bix Beiderbecke mold who’s also aces on baritone and alto sax and trombone, in addition to being a vocalist. Calling himself a third generation Bix fan following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, the Grammy nominated musician and musical historian declares in his insightful liner notes, “
Yet despite generating names like Jack Teagarden, Bennie Moten, Irene Taylor and Bob Wills, the region’s contributions have been overlooked in the history books and have almost gone extinct on stage.” Then in bold letters, he declares, The Joymakers are here to change that. To fully embrace and enjoy the beautifully and dynamically arranged magic they’re creating towards that end, it’s probably more important to love brisk, bold, brassy and piano pounding music from the 1920s than know a lick about the culture that created them.
Hancock is on hand for that with the bright anecdotal histories of each tune in his notes, leaving us to enjoy, for starters, the bouncy fire of the opening number “Papa’s Gone” (Austin’s jazz age anthem), the melancholy, slow burning lament “I’m A Thousand Miles from Home” (sung magnificently by multi-instrumentalist bandmember Lauryn Gold) and the punchy and supremely danceable “Crazy Quilt,” which features a breakneck piano solo by Dylan Blackthorn.
Traveling on from there, we encounter classics from greats whose names still resonate today, from Moten’s pep-in-the-step filled “Goofy Dust Rag” to Jelly Roll Morton’s likewise high octane, horn fired “Wolverine Blues” and Paul Whiteman’s sassy “I Ain’t Thinkin’ Bout You,” which Gold brings to sparkling life. So treat yourself to a trip through time Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow and enjoy an immersion into a special place and time in musical history.
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