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Hometown: Austin, TX
Website: www.facebook.com
Sounds Like: Cab Calloway, Elvin Jones, Bessie Smith
Genre: Jazz
Besides being a jitterbug, viper, swing, show band, we are the original and only trippy-swingadelic 1930's rock band on Planet Earth.
Featuring:
Francie Meaux Jeaux, bassist extraordinaire has played with Dan Hicks, Michelle Shocked, Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis and Maryann Price. She’s a veteran of many Acoustic Music and Jazz Festivals including the San Miguel de Allende International Jazz Festival in Mexico .
Masumi Jones, the Tokyo Tsunami, has been in the U.S. for only a little while. She played drums with big swing bands in Japan and is quickly making a name for herself in Austin where she is in demand for recording sessions and gigs.
Bree Romeo, vocalist, has made a career in music over the past 15 years, performing in live bands, cabarets, and theatre. She has performed around the US, from Kansas City to Los Angeles, and is now living in Austin. Most recently, Bree was the vocalist for the Slim Richey Band. Her soulful vocals are balanced by her delicate scat melodies.
Recent awards:
The Jitterbug Vipers were awarded Best Lindy Band 2008 -2009 by Austin Swing.
2013 Best Jazz Band (Austin Chronicle Awards) as well as:
Masumi Jones- Best Drummer
Francie Meaux Jeaux- Best Bass player
Slim Richey (deceased)- Best Guitar
“It would be easy for them to write songs about modern problems in this old-timey framework, but Jitterbug Vipers forgo such foolishness and play it cool.”
M.A. Rivera - The Beachside Resident
“Instrumentally, the Jitterbug Vipers sound vintage, fusing swing jazz styles from the 1930s and ‘40s, but their contemporary lyrics blur boundaries...The band’s visual authenticity and original music allows them to wave that ethereal “Keep Austin Weird” flag.”
Donna Marie Miller - Austin Fusion Magazine
“The four piece’s distinct variety of this smoking intoxicant is known as “swingadelic” for its panoramic aesthetic sprawl. Fusing an authentic command of every era of American roots music with wry wordplay and freewheeling hippie ethos, the Jitterbug Vipers energize and vibrantly reimagine a movement in music long shackled in by nostalgia and overly reverent revivalism.”
Suffolk 'N' Cool
"The local quartet’s one of the funnest and best bands you can catch around Austin."
Wiliam Harries Graham - Austin Chronicle
““You are such a fine player, Slim. A Great. (I don't think I've ever shared that.)””
Kat Edmonson
“The Jitterbug Vipers - WINNER -Best Lindy Band 2008 - 2009”
Austin Swing Syndicate
““Slim Richey is the Pleni-Potentate of Jazz guitar...watching his hands to try and understand what he’s doing is like watching a waterfall to try and understand water.””
Jon Dee Graham
“One minute the Vipers transport you to another time, a smoky jazz club or gin joint. The next, they’re all tom-toms and energy, reminding you that punk is an idea that knows no genre or era. In the band’s own words, the Jitterbug Vipers are “swingadelic” and when the group plays, somehow, somewhere, Jerry Garcia hands Count Basie a joint and says, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.””
WILLIAM KENNEDY - Eugene Weekly
