Gavin Rice is releasing his debut release as a leader, featuring his band, The Famous Collegiates. The recording, fittingly called Gavin Rice & His Famous Collegiates: Live at Bop Shop Records, is now available for streaming.
At the recording date for Live at Bop Shop Records, Rice was clad in his 1890s to 1920s apparel and, with The Famous Collegiates, treated a humming but intimate crowd in the listening space of Bop Shop Records to a power-packed set of five early orchestrated jazz tunes. Bernunzio Uptown Music generously supported the project.
“These are some of the overlooked songs of the 1920s, more obscure selections,” Rice said. He quipped that many of these tunes are not even called at early jazz gigs.
All of the selections – except for “Puttin’ On the Ritz,” which Rice calls a “stock arrangement” – are arrangements of Rice’s, but still stay true to style of the 1920s.
During the concert recording, Rice called the upbeat “I’m Going to Charleston Back to Charleston” the group’s signature song and highlighted the lush chords in perfectly paced “I’m More Than Satisfied.”
The record is rounded out with a humorous tune, “When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo,” and closes with a fitting “That’s All There Is, There Ain’t No More.”
Rice credited the musicians in the band – all of whom are undergraduate students and attend Eastman School of Music save for one – with their firm grasp on the nuances of this kind of early orchestrated jazz.
Despite the lack of a dance floor, Rice & The Famous Collegiates performed a perfectly danceable set, but with passion, precision, and sincerity.
“This is how this kind of music would have sounded live,” Rice said. He adds that virtually all recordings of this period were captured in a studio with a single mic.
However, 100 years later, recording technology has changed drastically. Dan Gross of Stereo Field Recordings captured the concert and wanted to find a blend of a live sound with the magnifying glass you get from close milking.
“I am thrilled with the capture. Especially with headphones, you can close your eyes, and you’ll swear you’re in Bop Shop Records. Most importantly, this was a joyous and wonderful show, and we captured that lightning in a bottle.”
– Dan Gross
This record also features selections that were captured live to high-fidelity tape by Steve Wilt of Day Records. Listeners can enjoy a sonic difference but appreciate the difference in approach from a live mix to a post-production process.
A limited run of numbered and signed CDs will arrive before the spring. The CD version features spoken interludes, banter from Rice, and two versions of each tune: the multitrack and tape mixes.
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