The Hobos are busy boys with many gigs on the side. Joe Perez is the drummer for Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys & Marquis Howell is playing bass with Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys. Matt is playing his solo stuff & with Allison Sattinger, Kimberly Jenkins, & with Totem Maples.
in the meantime, enjoy some poetry by Hobo Marquis.....
Influences
Marquis - Vaudevillians, Silent Movies, Pops Foster, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Prima, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Cliff Edwards, Adam Ant, Washboard Sam, Uncle Vic...
Joe - Gene Krupa, Art Blakey, Earl Palmer, Bobby Trimble, Daniel Glass, Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds...
Matt - Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter, Hoagy, sunny days, broken down cars...
"an acoustic jumble of aural anthropology wrapped in a ball of high energy" Pat Strong for IEWeekly
"creates a bridge between folk, blues, & rockabilly." "This band can lift anyone's spirits" Tina Bold, KUCR 88.3
"makes you want to pack your best clothes in a red handkerchief, tie it to a stick, and take off down the railway line." InlandEmpire.us online news
"plays for the love of the art. Filling their own niche rather than following the desires of others" Redlands Daily Facts
"great tunes that keep ya snapping your fingers and wanting more" CDBABY review
"The casual vibe and the on-stage antics between band members relax the atmosphere and make the show an intimate, as well as humorous, performance." Brian Ill for Digress Magazine
What we say -
Preservation Hall by way of Sun Studio
A Mississippi juke joint on honky dixie night
A Louisiana juke joint on payday
A Memphis blues club on punk jazz night
A Los Angeles strip club on "Dance like Grandma" night
A Leadbelly festival on jump blues night
A shared parking lot between a bluegrass festival & a Big Sandy show
Conan O'Brien on 'Dance like Hillbilly' night
A birthday party for Harold Lloyd with music supplied by Louis Prima's small band
Adam Ant after a lesson in upright bass
Winnie the Pooh after a taste of real 'honey'
Little Richard gone white with Doc Watson as his daddy
John Hurt's bastard love children with Ruth Brown
Fat's Waller's funeral march as supplied by jug band dropouts, without jugs
Old Lester's Speakeasy - for sale anywhere there's a computer.
Go to cdbaby.com/hobojazz & buy or review the cd
We're a three piece rhythm band that plays fun music. Fun for us, and fun for you if you like it. We play jazz, not be-bop, elevator, easy-listening math jazz. The hot jazz, Louis Armstrong singin' for his supper, the past-ripe-and-shouldn't-be-eaten jazz. We play blues, not the blues you hear in a crappy bar with loud guitars & bad words. We play the folk blues, the ragtime blues, the jazz blues, the 'damnit-how'm-I-gonna-pay-rent' blues. We play folk, not whiskey soaked strum anthems, no tight pants'd harmonies with the teddy bear in the woods. The folk that the folks play when they're just bein' folks.
Ok, picture this...it's 1927 & you've been invited to a rare performance of Louis Armstrong's Hot 5. After a chorus of 'Heebie Jeebies' up jumps Ledbelly in his prison stripes to wail a verse of 'Goodnite Irene'. Before he can shoot anyone, Louis Prima comes in to tell a joke about his girl that's long and tall. But as soon as he's about to throw the punchline, Hoagy Carmichael starts the intro to Stardust. People start daydreaming so Leadbelly steals their wallets. Earl Palmer walks in & sets up his drum kit while Bob Wills shoots Leadbelly in the shin bone. That's a Hobo Jazz show, in a sense.
We play what we like, we don't give much a damn about most things as long as we don't have to compromise our jolliness! You'll hear Matt Coleman's ass-clappin originals mixed with a chorus of Fats Waller. You'll hear some willy nilly scatin' from Marquis while his bass gets a few more dings & scratches & holes. You'll see Joe with a drumstick in his mouth & then realize that he's the one making everyone else sound so good.
Some might call us a skiffle band, or that we play blues, hillbilly, folk, jazz, whatever. We just say we're Hobo Jazz & dispense with all the fancy words. We play the music of the contemporary 1930's hobo country bluesman. This is part rail ridin' music, part field holler sonnet. Part rock-a-billy Cadillac, part 1929 Model-A. One part dirty hobo, one part hot jazz.
We're Hobos in the free & vagabond sense of the term. Hobos aren't bums, Hobos aren't beggers. Hobos want to earn their way with various odd jobs. Never staying in one place to long, hobos lived life their own way, much in the way jazz makes music it's own way. Our jazz isn't about a soothing horn over a mellow bass line, it's about jubilation & excitement. The syncopation feeds your jive hungry feet & the flirtatious melody makes your jeans wiggle. Hobo Jazz is our honest interpretation of this vintage joy that we feel is best not left to history.
We've played festivals, bars, coffee houses, theaters, street corners, burlesque shows, kids' shows. Some places you've heard of, many you haven't.
Yeah man....I've been listenin to alot of Hubert Sumlin and Tom Waits lately. I'd love to come jam with you anytime. Are you kidding? There aren't many guys like us around who dig from the roots to the fruits....I'll bring my hat and banjo too. I'm down, I guess I'll keep hittin' you up...or hit me up. Love baby. Spiro.
I just posted a few of the best of those funny photos. I tagged you - so you should get some kind of notice about them.
Yes, if you want to come up here, I would love to do a show with you. And I would be happy to come down to your area and play together. Let's start planning something :-)
On Oct 3, a fantastic gathering occurred within a cafe-sized room canopied by trees. The Gypsy Camp is a long-visited place within El Escorpion Park in West Hills - long overdue to be utilized as a unique venue for live music.
It was the beginning of a new series of acoustic shows that bring bands out of bars and clubs, friends and musical enthusiasts out of the house on a saturday afternoon, and a unique and magical experience to everyone involved.
If this looks like a good time to you, please tell people about it, and join us for Gypsy Camp The Second on Saturday, Nov. 14. Prepare yourself with a cooler and blanket and an afternoon to enjoy some great music.
"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”