Artist description A dancer's band of musicians' musicians. Quickly became an underground favorite in the swing scene nationwide. Now the Kyle Bronsdon trio.

Music Style Vocal and instrumental jazz dance music -- swing

Musical Influences Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Four Blazes, Bobby Cole, Pat Moran

Similar Artists Indigo Swing, King Cole Trio, Slim Gaillard, Four Freshman

Artist History Kearney, Grams & Bronsdon united in the summer of 1999 after leaving Arizona's Kings of Pleasure, responding to swing dancers and jazz aficionados who voiced displeasure in the dancability and musicianship of most contemporary swing bands. They recorded their debut CD, "Nine, Waters, No Tip" in December of 1999. As sidemen, they have worked with some of the best, including blues master Sam Taylor and R&B legend Nappy Brown. The trio has over fifty years of performing and recording experience between them. Drummer Kyle Bronsdon relocated to Los Angeles in 2002 and formed the Kyle Bronsdon trio.

Group Members Bassist Steve Grams began touring at seventeen years old, opening for such Sixties supergroups as Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Since then he's become a busy sideman, performed with Bo Diddley, won the 1998 Tucson Area Music Award for Best Bassist and was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 2000. Steve has recorded over fifty albums. Kyle Bronsdon is a veteran of the Chicago music scene who has dedicated over half of his thirty-three years to the drum kit. He studied with Stan Kenton arranger Bill Russo and Moog pioneer Hans Wurman, and perfected his shuffle with a number of windy city blues artists including James Cotton. Kyle has performed from coast to coast in the United States and as far as the Southern Caribbean and Brazil. He describes his style as 'like breaking out of jail'. Brenden Kearney has played piano for nearly twenty years. He was awarded the Tucson Area Music Award for Best Keyboardist in 1998 and 2000. Brenden describes his style as "like trying to break Kyle out of jail."

Instruments Piano, bass, drums, 3-part harmony and nothin' else!

Albums "Nine Waters, No Tip" 1999; "To Go" 2002

Press Reviews "KGB trio rules, by far the best trio I have ever heard and danced to...period." -- Peter Loggins -------------------------------------------------------- Tucson Weekly, Soundbites BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS: Remember a couple of years back when the neo-swing phenomenon was in, um, full swing? The stuff was completely inescapable for a little while there (lest we forget the khaki-clad twentysomethings lindy-hopping to "Jump Jive and Wail" on Gap ads). But before you could say "sharkskin suit," the modern swing renaissance pretty much dropped off the radar screen. Or did it? Much like the ska movement that preceded it, it seems swing merely went back underground--where it originated--and the die-hards kept the torch burning. Which brings us to pianist Brenden Kearney, bassist Steve Grams and drummer Kyle Bronsdon, collectively known as local swing jazz trio Kearney, Grams and Bronsdon. Veterans of Tucson swingsters Kings of Pleasure, the threesome left that unit a year ago to form their trio, which recently issued its self-released debut CD, Nine Waters, No Tip. It's a somewhat bare-bones but winning combination of originals and canonized classics like Louis Jordan's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't" and Duke Ellington's "I've Got To Be A Rug Cutter." -- Stephen Seigel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SwingOrama.com, Music Reviews This band knows what swing dancers want! You can tell by the tempos, mostly ranging from 126 to 190 BPM, the interesting musical breaks, and by the title track "Nine Waters, No Tip" (170 BPM)! They know dancers! The band is a 3-member jazz trio out of Arizona, with former members of Kings of Pleasure. They play tight music, a mix of originals and covers. Piano, bass, drums. No guitars allowed! Many of the songs feature close vocal harmony, something few bands attempt. Some of the singing is a bit ragged, but I've heard a lot worse. Sweet piano playing in "Blues for Pete" (151 BPM). This band is definitely worth checking out. -- Ron Bloom ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tucson Blues Society, Desert Bluesbeat April/May 2002 Jazz took the blues sideways and came up with a whole genre called swing. When big bands went bust and small-group jazz's abstractions and solemnities alienated the masses, pop music took swing down a side road that came to be called cabaret or cocktail music. All the above came back with the young generation of the 1990s and this permutation – everything from lounge-lizard slime to hot big-band derived dance music – got named the Swing Revival. That's what these three cats are about. The KGB Trio embodies everything rock 'n' roll rebelled against in 1954: swing, sophistication, smooth jazzy grooves, unison and harmony trio vocals, both standard and jive material, and an absolute refusal to take themselves seriously except in their obvious craftsmanship. Now, the Swing Revival may already be old-hat, but that it was revived at all demonstrated the eternal musical values to which KGB adheres, falling somewhere between the ultra-polish of the original Nat Cole Trio and the raucous proto-rock of Louis Jordan, whose popularity Charlie Parker detested. The infamous Randy Lopez recorded this 15-song-set a year ago this month at the plush 4th Avenue venue, er, Plush. The perhaps even more infamous Craig Schumacher mastered it at his Wavelab studio eight months later. I just came across one of a limited run of CDs as the last DBB was being printed. As this history attests, pianist-singer Brenden Kearney, bassist-singer Steve "Ubiquitous" Grams and drummer-singer Kyle Bronsdon weren't even serious about getting this live CD out. So you're probably going to have to see one of these cats or go to a gig – or hire 'em! – to latch onto this record. You might want this limited-run, home-made record if you've heard it, or are in an experimental mood. You will want this record if you've seen them because they and it are delightful. Kyle Bronsdon, he of the smooth time, subtle backbeats, sports jackets and interminable commercials, explains this odd situation: "You'll hear a virtual KGB show, with all the authenticity of forgotten lyrics, instrumental screw-ups and a million laughs. This recording captures KGB's "last gig ever." But if you listen to the blast the three of us have together, you'll know there can really be no end to the fun. Wherever the music takes us as individuals, I know the three of us will be playing for people like you for a long, long time to come..." The recording's sound is very high quality. In fact I'd expect no less from the people and places. However, it's still a homemade project in the sense that none of the songs are credited. I recognized some right away, as will you, and they show the influences KGB combines: a chestnut like This Can't Be Love, Louis Jordan's There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Gimme That Wine of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross fame, and Nostalgia in Times Square, Kearney's nod to Charles Mingus, the pre-eminent 20th century jazz composer-bassist-bandleader. If these scribblings have piqued your interest, inquire further at Vitalegacy, 1225 E. Alta Vista, Tucson AZ 85719 or www.vitalegacy.com. If you aren't interested, perhaps these gentlemen (What!? Who came in?) have already made themselves as loveably insufferable as intended. -- Stuart Faxon

Additional Info http://www.vitalegacy.com

Location Tucson, AZ - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).