Jango - On The Way Back To Memphis
The five members of Jango-Steve Nieves, Steve LeGassick, guitarist Nick Kirgo, bassist
Leon Johnson and drummer/percussionist Dave Beyer-have known each other for years,
working in various professional combinations which made the creation of Jango a natural,
comfortable evolution.
People call our music many different things...pop with a jazz
edge, jazz with a pop but in the end, it's Jango."
After years of residing in L.A.,
and wishing to avoid the macabre fate of Elmer McCurdy, Steve Nieves called one of
those infamous "band meetings", and after some minor bickering and finger-pointing,
Jango decided to head back to Memphis where it all began. Along the way they noticed
a rather well behaved young fellow meditating quietly as the bus rolled along through
the sleepy southern landscape. At a roadside diner, Nick and Dave engaged him in
a conversation where he claimed that his grandfather was the legendary Roy Campanella
of Brooklyn Dodgers fame. Intrigued, the entire band circumambulated their new friend
and cajoled him into returning to Memphis along with them and insisted that he sing
"Smile Now Cry Later". He did. To make a long story short, the band recorded a live
performance or two (at one, an orchestra magically appeared from nowhere), making
this collection of tunes one of the grandest harvests since the legendary bumper
spaghetti crop of '57. Now, if you ask any of the guys, they'll probably don a quizzical
look and deny everything. Then again, maybe the whole thing was just a dream
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