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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