John McNeil upcoming events

Gigs

Cornelia Street Cafe

Upcoming Cornelia Street performances to be announced.

Biscuit BBQ

For the past two years I have co-lead a quartet with Bill McHenry every Sunday night at Biscuit BBQ, a restaurant/jazz room in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We play the music of Russ Freeman and other overlooked composers. We are off on Sunday, February 3rd, but return the next Sunday, February 10th. Biscuit BBQ will close for renovations the next day (February 11th) and so we will take a hiatus until the beginning of March. In addition, the restaurant will be re-named when it reopens, but the name hasn't been decided yet. They'll also have a new menu. The jazz policy will stay the same, however, and we're looking forward to having the gig for a third straight year. This may or may not be some kind of record, but by god it should be.

The band recorded a CD in November of '07 and it should be released in late April or early May of this year on the Sunnyside label. It's tentatively titled ”Rediscovery.“

Incidentally, the Sunday gig starts at 8:30 and goes until 11:00. The restaurant is located at President Street and 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Announcements

My Band Foot Foot

Trombonist/arranger JC Sanford, guitarist/arranger Andy Green and I have put together a sextet featuring the music of The Shaggs. In case you're unfamiliar with Shagg-dom, this will explain:

About The Shaggs

In the 1960's three teenaged sisters, totally untrained as musicians, were pressured by their father into starting a rock band. They mostly wrote their own songs, and the sounds they came up with give the impression that they grew up in a musical vacuum, unaware of such niceties as tuning up or keeping a steady beat.

Happily, their attempts at creating simple rock music of the day produced instead some of the most out, avant garde music you've ever heard. Artists like Frank Zappa and Carla Bley found The Shaggs' music inspirational, as do the three of us.

JC, Andy and I have named our band My Band Foot Foot after one of The Shaggs' best known tunes, "My Pal Foot Foot." We have taken Shaggs tunes and completely reworked them, mostly because we could never hope to duplicate the sheer genius of the originals.