This weekend marks the second concert in our series, "Honoring A Tradition." Last time we paid homage to the legendary Alan Toussaint. This time we are extremely excited to bring you the music of Fats Waller! Thomas Wright "Fats' Waller (1904-1943) was a pianist, composer, singer, and entertainer that changed the face of music. Born and raised in New York, Waller would become one of the most prolific songwriters and performers of his era all the way until today. He is respons

The technique of ‘slap bass’ which involves plucking the strings to produce a strong rhythmic click as well as the tone has a surprisingly long history. Although the technique has not been attributed to one player it seems that the sound developed and spread in the dance halls of New Orleans around 1916. The string bass had become a part of the ‘jazz’ sound and was replacing the tuba and sousaphone (except on the street where brass still reigned supreme.) In the late 1890s th

The Soggy Po’ Boys have been inspired by many great artists and ensembles throughout the history of New Orleans and beyond. Today I would like to take a moment and highlight one such band that has made a huge impact on every member of the Po’ Boys. The New Orleans Jazz Vipers are a Frenchman Street institution that you can catch every single Sunday night at the Spotted Cat Music Club. Their leader, Joe Braun has played with everyone you can think of in NOLA and started his mu

Next up, Soggy Po Boys Featuring: brings you a night of Prohibition Blues with Ms. Taylor O'Donnell. The event will take place at Sonny's in Dover on Tuesday 7/28 at 9pm. If you are not familiar with Taylor and her amazing voice, you've been sleeping on the Seacoast music scene for the past 3 years. If you haven't caught a night of Taylor singing her own music, you may recognize her from performing with Mother Superior and the Sliding Royals, or with the Chris Klaxton Group.

February was one of the busiest months we have ever had! We played 12 shows in the span of 28 days, were out of town for 5 of those, and played some unbelievable shows here in the seacoast. We kicked off the month with our Louis Armstrong show at the Dance Hall in Kittery. Look at the earlier posts for more info on that one. Tour Many of you have asked about the tour. What was it? How was it? Where was it? Well…..we went out of town for 4 days. 1 of those dates was in New Yor

To all who attended the Dance Hall in Kittery this Saturday, thank you for joing us in celebrating the music of Louis Armstrong. It was a very special night for us, and we had a blast performing! As promised in the pre-concert talk, here is a copy of our set list as well as youtube links so that you might listen to these songs from the horn of Mr. Armstrong himself. First, here is a link to Louis' oldest known footage of what his live act may have been like. This is a 1933 co

A Night of Louis Armstrong There's something special about watching footage of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a basketball game; or seeing Paul Morphy play chess and make master players crumble; or imagining that Babe Ruth hit more homeruns during several seasons than entire teams. It's as if these people were the only ones who understood how to play the game and their opposition could only watch in astonishment. Louis Armstrong was this kind of legend - the kind tha

A few months ago I came across a record of Louis (Armstrong) playing all W.C. Handy tunes. the record, “Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy” was released by Columbia Records in 1956, 42 years after Handy published St. Louis Blues. Louis has been a huge inspiration to many of us, as he is one of the pioneers of jazz and, according to stories, is responsible for integrating improvisation into the music. St. Louis Blues was most familiar to me, as I’ve been listening to Louis since