Mark Milloff, guitar,slide guitar, vocals. David Tippett, guitar and vocals. Richard Laguardia, Drums, Harry Milloff, Bass. Bass Alternates: Alex Lucini, Tuba. Luis Agusto, Bass. Mike DeLia, keyboard.
Etkilendikleri
Maurice Reedus, Eddie Taylor, Hollywood Fats, Jimmy Walker, Roosevelt Sykes, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Brownie McGhee, Charley Patton, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, Lowell Fulson, T-Bone Walker, Robert Lockwood, Bukka White, Tommy Johnson, Junior Kimbrough, Houndog Taylor, Ry Cooder
“They’re something to behold live….. They fear no challenge” Motif Magazine, March 2009 issue.
Sit Down Baby! is redefining the world of Juke Joint music. It’s Delta music on Steroids. It’s an archaic gut-bucket riot taken into the 21st century.
Sit Down Baby! travels pre-war from Mississippi to Memphis, Texarkana to Chicago and back to New Orleans. From trance to dance, Sit Down Baby plays jump, blazz, grinding delta and reeling train-time bar-b-q boogie.
David Roscoe Tippett (guitar and vocals), Mark Milloff (guitar, slide guitar and vocals), Richard LaGuardia (drums), and Harry Milloff (bass) bring their shared musical experience together to create Sit Down Baby! This band is the real deal, the authentic experience. Sit Down Baby! is a runaway train spiraling the mountain of the Southern Blues Tradition.
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Sit Down Baby: Masters of interpretation_____________
[in the groove] Motif Magazine__G.W. Mercure________
No artist would recreate, stroke for stroke, a painting created first by another artist. No writer in his right mind would copy, word for word, another author’s novel. Yet the debate remains about the validity of the “cover band,” playing popular songs that have already been immortalized. Their merit has always rested on whether they interpretthose works or simply recite them, and how well. On their eponymous debut, Providence’s Sit Down Baby have mastered the ways in which compelling music forms can be interpreted, reinterpreted, and honored. This is the blues, transplanted from Clarksdale, Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois and filtered back through all the toys Sam Phillips had in Memphis, Tennessee. A number of songs here originated with Chicagodwelling deep-south transplants, like Big Bill Broonzy, Little Walter, and Tampa Red.
The disc’s opener, “Stop It,” an original composition by David Roscoe Tippett, is straight Sun Records, with the slap-back reverb removed. They move further south for their gin-soaked take on Blind Willie McTell’s Piedmont blues.
“Searching the Desert for the
Blues” is McTell’s classic ramble on infidelity, and the original bears a number of spoken interludes by a female part, Ruby Glaze. Sit Down Baby has left those out
in favor of open space, letting those spaces linger open just long enough for singer-guitarist Mark Milloff to spill into them. Bob Dylan was right: nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell. But you have to wonder why McTell couldn’t come up with an arrangement like this.
“Chicago Bound” is from Jimmy Rogers. (Not to be confused with Jimmie Rodgers, the country pioneer.) They like to slow things down, here nearly to a waltz, and let drummer Richard LaGuardia build into the songs an energy that is not frenetic but concentrated.
After that, every vocal effect, every guitar flourish, seems natural, spontaneous.
That’s no yodel you’re hearing out of Milloff, while his slide guitar slithers all over every bend in the road from Georgia to Chicago.
Lowell Fulson’s ubiquitous “Reconsider Baby” is re-imagined by Tippett as a jazz standard that wouldn’t be out of place in a Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday set.
They fear no challenge, and putting together dynamic arrangements for “Reconsider Baby” and “Baby Please Don’t Go” is no small feat. The Big Joe Williams tune has been covered by everyone from Muddy Waters to AC/DC, but not quite like this: Milloff turns from hound-dog to drunken poet and back again. A gently fuzzed lead guitar and some subtle drum stops give texture to well-trod territory.
There’s nothing like a band secure enough to save the best for last and Bukka White’s “Jitterbug Swing” is a blast. Milloff’s slide guitar and Tippett’s syncopated strum hops and pops and stings behind a groovy howl while LaGuardia and bassist Harry Milloff nearly drive the whole rig off the side of the road.
What Sit Down Baby does is very immediate, and you can just about hear them chafing at the studio walls on some tunes, such as the Milloff composition, “Last Night I Drank Too Much.” (There wasn’t already a blues song called “Last Night I Drank Too Much?” Who knew?) But on the blues material here the surprises are ceaseless.
They’re something to behold live and they’re playing regularly at Tazza Caffe these days.
Wow!!! You guys are still smoking and the fire is still going in Hairyville. Good to talk to you and I hope plans are being made for next years festival.
Hi guys, Thanks for playing last night and letting me sit in on percussion. I had a great time, little nervous in the beginning but I think I pulled it off. Even 30 seconds into it, Mark's announcing my solo...ahh, lol. Nice job last night, Thanks!! :) Joann
I have to agree with Marlie.... your kindness and support mean the world! Thank you for sharing the passion I truly feel blessed to know you and your music.
Oh Mark, your words flow just like the sweetest nectars. I am so grateful for those moments, so thank you for having us play because playing with Josie is like a portal of light beaming from the sky. So much passion for sure. I can't wait to see you tonight. Peace and Love
Thanks, Mark! The tunes sound great. Good luck with the CD. Looks like you guys are playing all over the place. Good for you. Hello Mr. Tippett! P.S.--I see! that Mr. Tom Reed in one of those photos! We go way back. Thanks for the add!!
Hi guys, Thanks so much for playing at the Hotel. What a nice vibe last night, you guys were great. Thanks!! And on a personal note, it was very nice to finally hear you Dave after all our chats about music and now finally I have my venue for you to play at. Thanks so much!
Happy Valentines to you and your families, take care, Joann
