Jeff Jolly: Bio

Jeff Jolly

Jeff grew up on a dead end street in Brooklyn NY.
. Watching his grandmother and sister one Christmas, playing piano and entertaining the family, he found what he was looking for; Music! The music was it. Got a banjo for Christmas and started to play. First song he wrote was “You Can’t Play the Blues on a Banjo”.
When Neil Young played in Manhattan he was so impressed with his performance he went out and got a guitar the next week. Later, the neighborhood gang would bring what they called “The Bible” to their gatherings, singing while Jeff worked out every chord to the works of that book whose author was Bob Dylan. Jeff honed his skills at these “sacred” meetings, held in the public school parks, often brought to an abrupt halt by police raids called out by irritated neighbors who could take the serenading no more!
Jeff has traveled the country, writing songs, playing in the street for change and anywhere else he could find to express his life and love for music. When he hit San Francisco in 1994 the Jeff Jolly Band was created and his first CD was released entitled “The Runner”. The CD received airplay at KFOG Radio in San Francisco and at KHUM Radio in Northern California. It got rave reviews from such national trade magazines as Album Network and Relix Magazine. Since then, Jeff Jolly has released two more CD’s: “Raw Material” and “Jeff Jolly Live”, the latter being recorded in Paris, France at a ten-night packed house.
2007 ended with a bang playing for 60,000 people at the 40th Anniversary of “The Summer Of Love” in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. 2008 brings a new CD where Jeff draws on friends from the road. Guests include Bill Payne (Little Feat), Joe Craven and The Uptown Horns, to name a few. 2008 looks like a great year for the Jeff Jolly Band! From California to New York to Europe, Jeff has opened for George Thorogood, Little Feat, David Crosby, Edgar Winter, Elvin Bishop, Bad Company, and many others. The band ranges from solo acoustic to 4 to 10 players depending on the venue. They have played for crowds ranging from 10 to 60,000 people who have enjoyed Jeff’s style and the unmistakable influences of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Hendrix.
Just good time Rock and roll! For more info and reviews see www.jeffjolly.net. You can also find the Jeff Jolly Band on myspace.com.

Hitt Music Group

From Manhattan to Haight-Ashbury--and everywhere in between.

With an all-star band and unstoppable songwriting talent, Jeff Jolly has rocked his way across the country for over a decade. After years spent drowning out the sounds of a turbulent childhood with radio and resilience, Jeff picked up his first six-string as a teenager. Tossing genre definition to the wayside from his very first creation, "You Can't Play The Blues On A Banjo", Jeff dove into music full force and has never looked back.

After honing his skills on the stages and street corners New York City, Jeff eventually migrated to San Francisco and began collaboration with Desiree Parker (Background Vocals), Dave Fairchild (Bass/Vocals) and Steve Vandewark (Vocals/Drums). In six years together, the Jeff Jolly Band has released three studio compilations and a live album from their headlining debut in Paris. At the root of the band's sound is a dynamic blend of country, rock and blues. From thoughtful ballads to uptempo wit and wordplay, each track features Jeff's signature combination of rhythm and lyrical agility. Nuanced harmonies and biting guitar lines are crafted around messages of life, love and the essence of the environment.

This dance inducing combination has attracted the attention of industry heavyweights. The Jeff Jolly band has garnered national radio airplay, a coveted feature on the hit NBC drama Friday Night Lights, performed at the 40th Anniversary of "The Summer of Love" in Golden Gate Park and regularly headlines music festivals across the country. Jeff's talent and innovation have earned international acclaim with features in Relix Mag, Catsask.com and Album Network Magazine along with stellar reviews from Canadian music sites and Blue Frog Blues Reviews.

Seasoned performance veterans, the band have gigged their way across the globe and rocked crowds up to 60,000 strong. After touring in support of James Brown, David Crosby and other industry icons, the Jeff Jolly Band has developed a dedicated fanbase and continue to light up the Pacific live circuit and beyond.

The group's latest effort, Jeff Jolly's Pizza, has posted impressive independent sales. Featuring intricate harmonies and bold juxtapositions of rock and acoustic style, their latest work has drawn comparisons to Neil Young and My Morning Jacket. They look forward to touring in support of the release and developing licensing platforms for film, television and major media outlets. Standing on the pulse of a rising career, The Jeff Jolly Band is set to reacquaint growing audiences with the sounds of driving Americana and remain true to the spirit of good time rock n roll.

The Jeff Jolly Band From Brooklyn Ny,plays an eclectic and inventive mix of styles that includes rock, roots, country, Americana and R&B, all written by Jolly (except “Trip Through Your Wire,” U2). That originality is what makes Jeff Jolly’s Pizza well worth listening to. It communicates Jolly’s enjoyment writing it and the band’s pleasure in playing it; so it follows that we find it gratifying to hear. The compositions cover a range of observations about the human condition, but even when the topics are somber, the joy of the music prevails. It seems as though we are being performed for rather than just being presented with a collection of recorded songs.

Jolly (guitar and vocals) is joined by a changing ensemble of bass, drums, fiddle, piano, steel guitar, harmonica, horns and backup singers. Jolly’s vocals are clean and proficient and, while it might not be powerful enough to single-handedly carry the entire CD, he is well-supported by the backup vocals of Desiree Parker and David Fairchild (who also plays bass). The occasional addition of the Uptown Horns, the contrast of electric and acoustic instruments and the inclusion of other distinctive instrumentation such as steel guitar (Buddy Cage, pedal; Yike McGirkens, lap), fiddle (Joe Craven, Tom Paxton), mandolin (Joe Craven, Donny Barnyard) and harmonica (Tom White) provide continual variety and interest.

On first listen to a recording it’s tempting to try to draw comparisons to older more familiar sounds. So when the first track of Jeff Jolly’s Pizza, “I’ll See Ya,” kicks in, Credence Clearwater comes to mind and then quickly maybe The Blues Brothers horns. But, it becomes clear that it’s neither and that this is something which is not so easily categorized. After becoming accustomed to the string-bending electric guitar and hard driving horn sound of “I’ll See Ya,” track 2, “Shed That Skin,” surprises by starting off with acoustic guitar with rock drums, punctuated with horns. The rock guitar solo of the first track is replaced with a rocking fiddle solo by Joe Craven. “Trip Through Your Wire” (no “s”) begins with a cappella harmonies that might be an intro to a spiritual, but it’s really U2’s “Trip Through Your Wires” (with the “s”) complete with harmonica. “Curse & A Blessing” is a purely Americana track with acoustic guitar, dobro (Yike McGirkens) and upright bass (Martin Ingle). It could be a track from a respectable country/bluegrass collection, as could the next, more country style track, “Piece By Piece.” “Hard Times” could also be grouped in that vein, but with a bit more of an Eagles or Jackson Browne feeling. In “Summertime in Brooklyn,” with a sax solo by Jerry Martini, Jolly clearly was mindful of the Springsteen sound. The CD closes with a live radio studio recording of comments by Steve Vandewark (drums, vocals) and the accompanying humorous song, “She Only Loves Me When She’s Drunk.” Good fun.

The Jeff Jolly Band is a talented group of seasoned performers who know how to convey their love of the music-a very enjoyable and an interesting mix of styles.

Mike Reynolds-MuzikReviews.com Staff

January 23, 2010