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“For the Django fanatics, there’s
not a finer gypsy jazz band than One Leg Up.” (Hunter Pope Mountain
Xpress, Jun 7, 2006) One Leg Up--John Stineman (guitar & vocal),
Jim Tanner (guitar), Daniel Coolik (mandolin, guitar, & electric
mandolin), Mike Guzalak (clarinet, tenor saxophone, & vocal), Cary
Fridley (bass & vocal), and Steve Trismen (violin)--released their
first album Gypsy Blue in 2004. About their first record, Vintage Guitar
Magazine wrote “One Leg Up plays Gypsy jazz with conviction...
the solos come fast and furious from their two solo guitarists, mandolinist,
and clarinetist.” That same year they accompanied Spanish gypsy
jazz guitarist Pere Soto while he toured the U.S. May, 2005, they did
a concert/book show with Michael Dregni author of the new acclaimed biography
Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend. Also, in that year, their
live version of “Tico Tico” was put on WNCW-FM’s Crowd
Around the Mic Volume 9, a compilation of the best music recorded live
on WNCW that year.
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Their second record, Pere Lachaise, released on Bastille Day of 2006
found One Leg Up playing in an energetic yet new direction. Though the
album contains elements from their first, such as a few Django Reinhardt
compositions and some jazz tunes for the Tin Pan Alley days, this new
album welcomes the addition of Cary Fridley on bass and vocals, some
electric guitar and mandolin work, and newly fashioned, fresh arrangements
of lesser known standards.
One Leg Up works within the gypsy jazz instrumentation
and framework while bringing different styles of jazz, Latin, and original
music into their identity. They perform throughout the U.S.
at festivals, concerts, corporate events, clubs, dance events, and
any place where the music lovers appreciate the sensual energy of a tight
jazz
ensemble.
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