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Fairbanks Music |
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BONE BAND New York, NY USA |
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Listen to the Bone Band: |
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Bone Band Gallery |
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Montreux Jazz Festival |
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Vienne Jazz Festival |
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About the Bone Band |
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Jeff Fairbanks conceived this ensemble of four Trombones plus a rhythm section while a grad student at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The band soon caught the notice of the Bay area Jazz scene, and within months hosted Ellington-veteran legend Buster Cooper as a featured guest Trombonist on one of its concerts. In its second year the Bone Band was christened a university course, and included among its concerts a performance with guest Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and also an appearance at the Gasparilla Arts Festival. The highlight of the band's tenure at USF, however, was its European tour in the summer of 2005. Trekking through the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland, Fairbanks' ensemble included performances at the Jazz festivals of North Sea, Vienne, and Montreux among its engagements there. While supported by the traditions of the Big Band Trombone section and of previous Trombone bands, the Bone Band strives to present a fresh sound through its mostly original repertoire. In fact, Fairbanks intended the group to be as much a vehicle for his composing and arranging as it is for his playing. In a breakaway from the traditions of top-down, block chord section writing, for instance, Jeff takes a very democratic approach of spreading the melody at times through all four voices in the section. The goal is to make each player equally integral to the overall sound and to keep each individual part equally interesting. Having said that, however, the focus of the group remains on swinging as hard as possible and producing the unique, powerful sound of the Trombone section that can only be found with this instrumentation. |
