A Few Press Clippings About The Jongleurs...
"This band, whose name means "jugglers" in French, follow a trend that's been going aroung the music world lately; no guitar. Consisting of just bass, drums, two saxophones they belt out some of the wildest music since Zappa. Not content with trite, three minute radio friendly tunes, they mix it up with more stylistic ingredients than the Monster Pizza at Pizza Hut. Like Zappa, they enjoy thrusting bizarre changes and whacko, silly lyrics into the stew as well as treading distinct sonic ground. With song titles like "Welcome to Wal Mart," "Peeing in the Pool," "Phlegm," "Pizza for Brains," and "I Think I'm Gonna Die", I'm sure you could imagine. The first cut, "Welcome to Wal-Mart", begins with a hardcore punk riff (played on keyboards, nonetheless!) and moves into some twisted and bizarre sections with totally nutzo lyrics. "One Happy Day in a Midwestern Town" begins with a cool, jazz organ funk groove into an extended space jam that climaxes back into the original groove. "Peeing in the Pool", features a heavy main riff, a jazzy section, a bizarre syncopated part and some wild goose-skwonk sax playing. The jazzy whistling on the more-or-less straight jazz of "Phlegm" is cool. The twin saxes play some wild unison, contrapuntal, and tag-team lines all over this thing and give this band even more of a distinctive edge. The keyboards completely take the place of the guitar and even sound like a guitar in some places with the clever use of distortion. Imagine if Robert Fripp, guitarist for prog-rockers King-Crimson, played sax and jammed with Zappa. That would describe the "21st Century Schizoid Man" style sax lines of "Pizza for Brains". The jazz/punk category doesn't quite describe songs like the mysterious "Calculator". The boggling "Glasdme" is straight out of Zappa's weird book. This track makes no sense at all and is full of odd ramblings, noises, sound effects and sonic clutter. When the state, "I would like my complete primordial chaos, now", they mean it. The vocals on "Save Me" could give the dude from Korn a run for his money. This one also includes a cool distorted bass solo. The robo-rap of "Big 60's" moves into a Steely Dan chorus then into some twisted country thing. "Indians" is a seven minute one-chord vamp that just builds, and builds, and builds. The excentric, strange disc closes with "Everybody Wants to be a Jongleur" and includes a very Hendrix-ian bass solo and lyrics based on the Sun Ra tune "Dreams Come True". These wacky cats are a recent addition to the Homegrown network so I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them." Eric Walls - Faze3 Magazine (North Carolina) - Review of Five People
Dubbed one of the 10 dopest bands in the August, 1997, issue of Juice Surf and Skate Magazine
The Jongleurs' debut c.d. was named one of the best of 1996 by ESP Magazine in North Carolina.
"The Jongleurs bring a new definition to music as we know it. With drums, keyboard, bass, and a two-piece horn section, the group could be defined as an experimental jazz band with lyrics that might have been composed by Frank Zappa." - The Auburn Plainsman (Auburn, AL)
"Between these guys and Barry Black and Ben Folds Five, there should be an altogether new category: 'brat jazz.' Remember the theme to 'Charlie Brown' on TV? It's like Lucy and Linus and Charlie and Snoopy grew up and got complex and now they jam harder." - Creative Loafing (Atlanta, GA)
"The Jongleurs are a testament to the uncommonly applied concept that music can indeed incorporate instrumentl skill and intellectual stimulation with the ability to entertain. The Miami quintet creates a fresh, fun sound similar to Weather Report meeting Frank Zappa during a 1975 Santana concert featuring John Coltrane. Fender Rhodes-ish keys and dueling saxophones provide the melodic meat and potatoes of the group. Between all three of these instruments, none of the 12 notes of Western music is safe." - Moon Magazine (Gainesville, FL)