Thanks to Music Maker Productions, the Amphitheater will be full of funky music Wednesday, as Yonder Mountain String Band and Dirty Dozen Brass Band perform on campus.
Music Makers’ student director Madison Gartman said Yonder’s appearance on campus has been in the works for a while.
“We tried to get them in the fall, but the band’s schedule just did not work,” she said. “I have always liked them, [students] like them and Music Makers thought it would be a great idea to bring them here.”
YMSB, a bluegrass jam band, is Jeff Austin, Dave Johnston, Adam Aijala and Ben Kaufmann. These four blend the traditional sounds of guitar (Aijala), bass (Kaufmann), mandolin (Austin) and banjo (Johnston), but do not let the old-school bluegrass facade fool you – the band offers something more than what your Appalachian relatives are used to.
The band members’ love for past jam bands (i.e. the Dead, Phish, etc.) and their passion for bluegrass and rock came together forming a mold-breaking group that jams so well fans follow them for months with, tops, one change of clothes, and a longing to hear more music.
Known for improv shows constantly changing from one venue to the next and an unpredictable list of covers, Yonder fans are only disappointed when the band has to end the show. In other words, if time and money allowed, history suggests fans would listen to YMSB play for days on end with breaks only to hydrate.
Playing at more than dozens of festivals keeps Yonder’s fan base steadily growing.
This year presents a desirable series of touring shows for YMSB. The band will headline alongside Keller Williams and play a plethora of festivals including Bonnaroo, Rothbury, Telluride Bluegrass, North West String Summit and a final summer show at the illustrious Red Rocks in Colorado, less than an hour from the band’s hometown, Nederland, Colo.
“The Amphitheater is the perfect place for them to play,” Gartman said. “It has a festival atmosphere; bring your blanket and your cooler”
Senior business major Graham Woods has seen Yonder Mountain several times, but said the band has not lost any of its appeal.
“Their sound is so bad ass. They have evolved and they do crazy stuff other bluegrass bands wouldn’t think of doing,” Woods said. “For instance, playing with Futureman and John Fishman at Rothbury isn’t something a bluegrass band would usually do.”
Mississippi State University students have a rare opportunity to attend Yonder Mountain’s debut appear on campus as well as the New Orleans brass band, Dirty Dozen for $10 a ticket.
Ann Kingston manages YMSB through Red Light Management and said she is glad to know there is a buzz going around MSU’s campus about Yonder’s appearance.
“The school really reached out to us and it just made sense with the touring schedule,” she said.
Dirty Dozen’s first appearance on State’s campus since fall 2006 is undoubtedly something to be excited about. The jazz band brings a certain essence of traditional New Orleans’ flavor fused with a breezy uniqueness to each show it produces.
“We chose to bring Dirty Dozen with Yonder because they will set the mood for Yonder and their sounds compliment each other well,” Gartman said.
If there has been a brass band formation in or out of New Orleans since the ’70s, it has been heavily influenced by Dirty Dozen, the band that revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style.
So let’s talk jazz. Of course those living and breathing New Orleans air eventually ingest enough soul -filled music to give them a passion for jazz and brass band. But when it actually comes to playing the music, there is hardly someone more qualified to sing and play jazz than the son of jazz phenomenon Miles Davis. That man is Gregory Davis, the vocalist and trumpeter for Dirty Dozen.
He and funky sousaphonist Kirk Joseph, trombonist Charles Joseph and saxophonist Kevin Harris rehearsed together into 1977 after their group, the Tornado Brass Band, broke up. They were soon joined by Ephram Towns and Roger Lewis on saxophone and drums were taken over by Benny Jones and Jenell Marshall, giving them enough collateral to form a brass band that will go down in history as one of the best and most unique.
With the freedom jazz musicians had in New Orleans in the late ’70s, Dirty Dozen was able to branch out from traditional jazz reaching into many different areas of music to form songs and covers only adding to the originality it is now known and admired for.
Recording two albums with Atlanta-based jam band Widespread Panic is distinctive for most jazz musicians in their 50s, but just when you think you have Dirty Dozen figured out as a band, they will take you for another ride.
“These are the cheapest tickets for a Yonder Mountain show in the past few years,” Gartman said. “Students don’t have that much money and if tickets are cheap, they will come out and support the band.”
Rick’s Cafe is the rained out location for the concerts.