Maestro Subgum and the Whole

Country of origin:

U.S.

Type of music generally:

Eccentric jazz-rock

Status:

Band is almost certainly defunct

See also:

See website for Janny Magnus, a founding member, and her page on The Ectophiles' Guide

Comparisons:

None. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Covers/own material:

Own

General comments:

See album comments below.

Recommended first album:

Whichever you can find

Recordings include:

• Lost Lost Lost
• Hot Ol' Wadda
• At the Wart Hog Museum

Hot Ol' Wadda

Release info:

c. 1992—self-released?

Availability:

Probably only available used in the U.S.

Ecto priority:

Recommended if the description sounds intriguing to you

Comments:

It's been close to six months since I last listened to this, and I struck out last night in trying to pinpoint it within my filing (more accurately, piling :-)) system; so I'm reduced to writing from vestigial memory. For all that, I can tell you with confidence that this independent Chicago band is an interestingly different listening experience. Probably also an enjoyable one, depending on your specific taste; it was for me, at any rate.
     Their idiosyncratic, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, arguably weird brand of music borrows heavily from jazz and blues, among other musical forms. The lyrics, while not specifically comedic, are definitely tongue-in-cheek. One of their vocalists said last year in an interview with WBEZ's Stuart Rosenberg that one of her principal musical role models was Yma Sumac, who made an ultrawide vocal range into a trademark years before Happy Rhodes embraced the concept. Anyone with that sort of inspiration can't be all bad :-). Anyway, it's a fun album to listen to, and I look forward to unearthing my copy one of these days. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Thanks to Mitch Pravatiner for work on this entry