The Lounge Lizards
Encyclopedia
The Lounge Lizards are a jazz
group formed in 1978 by saxophone
player John Lurie
.
Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock
and no wave
as much as jazz
, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.
They were initially a punk or fake jazz group but soon evolved into something quite special. Taking music from all corners of the globe and synthesizing it into something truly organic and unique.
The New York Times' Robert Palmer wrote (October 7, 1986): "The present-day Lounge Lizards are not faking anything. They have staked their claim to a musical territory that lies somewhere west of Charles Mingus
and east of Bernard Hermann and made it their own."
In 1984 the new group consists of Erik Sanko, Curtis Fowlkes, Marc Ribot, Evan Lurie, Roy Nathanson, Dougie Bowne, E.J Rodriguez. This edition of the Lounge Lizards recorded three albums in two years, and demonstrated John Lurie's increasingly sophisticated and multi-layered compositions that often stray rather far from conventional jazz: He was able to integrate elements of various world music
s (he often favors tango
-inspired passages in his songs), which retain a distinctive flavor, but avoid gimmickry. One critic notes traces of "Erik Satie
and Kurt Weill
" http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=lounge_lizards.
John Lurie formed a new version of the Lounge Lizards in the early 1990s; prominent members included Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Michael Blake (saxophone), Oren Bloedow
(bass guitar), David Tronzo
(guitar), Calvin Weston (drums) and Billy Martin
(percussion).
Recent years have found the Lounge Lizards less active; John Lurie has been increasingly occupied with painting, while Evan Lurie has worked on The Backyardigans
, a children's show that highlights multiple musical genres.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
group formed in 1978 by saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player John Lurie
John Lurie
John Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
.
Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and no wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
as much as jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.
History
Lounge Lizards were founded on June 4, 1979 with John Lurie, his brother Evan (piano and organ), Arto Lindsay (guitar), Steve Piccolo (bass guitar), and Anton Fier (drums).They were initially a punk or fake jazz group but soon evolved into something quite special. Taking music from all corners of the globe and synthesizing it into something truly organic and unique.
The New York Times' Robert Palmer wrote (October 7, 1986): "The present-day Lounge Lizards are not faking anything. They have staked their claim to a musical territory that lies somewhere west of Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
and east of Bernard Hermann and made it their own."
In 1984 the new group consists of Erik Sanko, Curtis Fowlkes, Marc Ribot, Evan Lurie, Roy Nathanson, Dougie Bowne, E.J Rodriguez. This edition of the Lounge Lizards recorded three albums in two years, and demonstrated John Lurie's increasingly sophisticated and multi-layered compositions that often stray rather far from conventional jazz: He was able to integrate elements of various world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
s (he often favors tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
-inspired passages in his songs), which retain a distinctive flavor, but avoid gimmickry. One critic notes traces of "Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
" http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=lounge_lizards.
John Lurie formed a new version of the Lounge Lizards in the early 1990s; prominent members included Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Michael Blake (saxophone), Oren Bloedow
Oren Bloedow
Oren Bloedow is an American singer, guitarist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields in 1995 with Jennifer Charles.His father, Jerry Bloedow, b...
(bass guitar), David Tronzo
David Tronzo
David Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music and experimental music...
(guitar), Calvin Weston (drums) and Billy Martin
Billy Martin (percussionist)
Billy Martin is an American jazz drummer, best known as a member of jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood.-Biography:Before becoming part of Medeski, Martin & Wood, Martin was part of the New York City Brazilian scene in the 1980s. He performed regularly with Pe De Boi, Batucada and several Bob...
(percussion).
Recent years have found the Lounge Lizards less active; John Lurie has been increasingly occupied with painting, while Evan Lurie has worked on The Backyardigans
The Backyardigans
The Backyardigans is a Canadian/American 3-D CGI-animated children's TV series, created by Janice Burgess. It features five animal children, who imagine that their backyard becomes an adventure place. It is a coproduction of Treehouse TV, and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on...
, a children's show that highlights multiple musical genres.
Past members
- John LurieJohn LurieJohn Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
- alto/soprano saxophone - Evan Lurie - piano, organ
- Arto LindsayArto LindsayArthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....
- guitar - Steve Piccolo - bass
- Anton FierAnton FierAnton Fier, , is an American drummer, composer and bandleader. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.Fier was an early member of The Lounge Lizards and The Feelies. He was in The Lodge , worked with Pere Ubu, was briefly in the Voidoids and founded The Golden Palominos...
- drums - Dana Vlcek - guitar
- Danny Rosen - guitar
- Peter ZummoPeter ZummoPeter Zummo is an American composer and musician. He plays the trombone, valve trombone, euphonium, synthesizer, other electronic instruments, and also sings. He is associated with the postminimalist and Downtown aesthetics, and he describes his music as "minimalism plus a whole lot more."He...
- trombone - Dougie Bowne - drums
- Roy NathansonRoy NathansonRoy Nathanson has a varied career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, actor and teacher. He is leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have toured Europe many times and played at major festivals in Finland,...
- saxophone - Curtis FowlkesCurtis FowlkesCurtis Fowlkes is an American jazz trombonist. In 1987 he founded, together with saxophonist Roy Nathanson, The Jazz Passengers, an eclectic group dedicated to putting entertainment and humor back into jazz. The two had met performing in John Lurie's The Lounge Lizards, a group that shares a...
- trombone - Marc RibotMarc RibotMarc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
- guitar, trumpet, Eb horn - Erik SankoErik SankoErik Sanko is a bass player from New York who has played in The Lounge Lizards and currently active in Skeleton Key.-Biography:In the past he also worked with notable musicians like Marc Ribot, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Jim Carroll, Gavin Friday, They Might Be Giants, The Melvins, James Chance and the...
- bass - E.J. Rodriguez - percussion
- Brandon Ross - guitar
- Al MacDowell - bass
- Calvin Weston - drums
- Michael BlakeMichael BlakeMichael Lennox Blake is an American author, best known for his film adaptation of his novel Dances with Wolves.-Biography:...
- saxophone - Steven Bernstein - trumpet
- Billy MartinBilly Martin (percussionist)Billy Martin is an American jazz drummer, best known as a member of jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood.-Biography:Before becoming part of Medeski, Martin & Wood, Martin was part of the New York City Brazilian scene in the 1980s. He performed regularly with Pe De Boi, Batucada and several Bob...
- percussion - Jane ScarpantoniJane ScarpantoniJane Scarpantoni is a classically trained cello player who has played on a number of alternative rock albums.She was a member of Hoboken, New Jersey's Tiny Lights in the mid-'80s, then went on to play with other musicians especially those associated with the Hoboken underground rock scene of the...
- cello - Bryan Carrott - marimba/vibes
- Michele Navazio - guitar
- Oren BloedowOren BloedowOren Bloedow is an American singer, guitarist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields in 1995 with Jennifer Charles.His father, Jerry Bloedow, b...
- bass - David TronzoDavid TronzoDavid Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music and experimental music...
- guitar - Ben PerowskyBen PerowskyBen Perowsky is a New York City based drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger and record producer.-Biography:Exposed early on to jazz from his parents, Frank and Ginger Perowsky, and teacher Bobby Thomas, as well as rock and roll from his older brother Ricky, Ben watched the great musicians...
- percussion - Tony ScherrTony ScherrTony Scherr is an American jazz and folk rock bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer.-Biography:Scherr was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He played with Woody Herman as a teenager, and moved to New York City in the late-1980s, where he became a prolific session musician, working...
- bass - Doug Wieselman - guitar, clarinet
- Mauro Refosco - percussion
- John MedeskiJohn MedeskiAnthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
- organ - Kenny WollesenKenny WollesenKenny Wollesen is an American drummer and percussionist.Wollesen lives in New York City. He has recorded and toured with many musicians including Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Steven Bernstein and John Zorn. He is a founding member of the New Klezmer Trio and a...
- drums - Danny BlumeDanny BlumeDanny Blume is an American music producer, musician, and composer. He is a Grammy Award winner, multiple Grammy nominee, and co-founder/owner of the production team GoodandEvil with Christian Castagno, with studios operating in Brooklyn and Woodstock New York...
- guitar - Clark GaytonClark GaytonClark Gayton is an American multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer and musicians' rights advocate.-Biography:Born as Carver Clark Gayton Jr. to Carver Clark Gayton and Mona Marie Lombard, Clark Gayton is a professional musician , composer and producer.Clark studied music with Floyd Standifer,...
- trombone
Studio albums
| Title | Release date |
|---|---|
| Lounge Lizards Lounge Lizards (album) Lounge Lizards is the first album by The Lounge Lizards. It features hectic instrumental jazz. The songs are mostly composed by band leader and saxophone player John Lurie.-Track listing:All songs written by John Lurie except where noted.... |
1981 |
| No Pain for Cakes No Pain For Cakes -Track listing:# "My Trip to Ireland"# "No Pain for Cakes"# "My Clown's on Fire"# "Carry Me Out"# "Bob and Nico"# "Tango #3, Determination for Rosa Parks"# "The Magic of Palermo"# "Cue for Passion"# "Where Were You"-Personnel:Lounge Lizards:... |
1987 |
| Voice of Chunk Voice of Chunk Voice of Chunk is a 1988 album by jazz band The Lounge Lizards. It was initially only available through mail-order, but later released on frontman John Lurie's record label Strange and Beautiful Music.-Track Listing:... |
1989 |
| Queen of all Ears | 1998 |
Live albums
| Title | Release date |
|---|---|
| Live from the Drunken Boat | 1983 |
| Live 79-81 | 1985 |
| Big Heart: Live in Tokyo | 1986 |
| Live in Berlin, Vol. 1 | 1993 |
| Live in Berlin, Vol. 2 | 1993 |