Monday, March 07, 2011
The Buffalo Shuffle @ The Tralf Music Hall
featuring Billy McEwen, Barbara St. Clair, Mick Hayes, and Bella Buscarino
Event: "The Buffalo Shuffle"- Defining the Buffalo Sound
Event Date: SATURDAY MARCH 12TH, 2011
Event Time: 7pm Doors 8pm Show
Like many other aspects of the Queen City, Buffalo has always been under-appreciated as a music city. To a certain extent, it can’t be helped. The nerve centers of the music industry are elsewhere, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Nashville. And then there’s the Buffalo Mentality; that secondary market syndrome that contends that something or someone from out of town is better than something or someone from here (except for Chicken Wings, and occasionally the Sabres and Bills).***
Fifty some odd years ago, a Rock and Roll, boogie woogie blues style band called Stan and the Ravens started playing the local bar circuit with a sound influenced by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles . Many local musicians worked with the pianist and band leader, Stan Szelest, following his pounding left hand. When Stan and the Ravens broke up, bassist Tommy Calandra and drummer Gary Mallaber joined a band called The Rising Sons with vocalist Tony Galla, guitarist John Weitz, and pianist/keyboardist Jimmy Calire. This line up became Raven.
Many Musicians have followed in the footsteps of these players, all recognizing the feel, the sound, and the energy that is The Buffalo Sound. Sometimes referred to as the Buffalo Shuffle, the drum beat is a shuffle best described by drummer Gary Mallaber:
“If you boil a shuffle down to something you go to a Jimmy Reed record. That’s what I go to, or I go to the song Honkey Tonk by The Bill Dogget Quartet. Between those two, anything Jimmy Reed does and “Honkey Tonk,” you have the absolute shuffle the way it should be. If you play it the right way, that's Buffalo and it’s gusty, earthy.
There’s a geography, it’s true to itself. There’s a Texas shuffle. There’s a Chicago shuffle. There’s a New York City way of playing a shuffle. There’s almost a California way of playing the shuffle. However, much like our signature food, we as Buffalonians refer to it as a chicken wing, the rest of the country calls it a “Buffalo Wing.” This is about rediscovering another identity that is truly our own.
“The Buffalo Shuffle” every Monday night at The Tralf Music Hall will showcase the development and foundation of the Buffalo style of traditional rhythm and blues. We welcome musicians young and old to take part in the ongoing development of the Buffalo Sound. The house band each Monday will be featuring local Buffalo Musicians Doug Yeomans, Mick Hayes, Pete Holquin, Jim Ehinger, Steve Sadoff, and Al Monti with special guest musicians weekly. (More detailed information on individual musicians below)
***Patti Meyer Lee & Gary Lee - “Don’t Bother Knockin’...This Town’s a Rockin’” Buffalo Sound Press. Buffalo, NY 2001
Event: "The Buffalo Shuffle"- Defining the Buffalo Sound
Event Date: SATURDAY MARCH 12TH, 2011
Event Time: 7pm Doors 8pm Show
Like many other aspects of the Queen City, Buffalo has always been under-appreciated as a music city. To a certain extent, it can’t be helped. The nerve centers of the music industry are elsewhere, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Nashville. And then there’s the Buffalo Mentality; that secondary market syndrome that contends that something or someone from out of town is better than something or someone from here (except for Chicken Wings, and occasionally the Sabres and Bills).***
Fifty some odd years ago, a Rock and Roll, boogie woogie blues style band called Stan and the Ravens started playing the local bar circuit with a sound influenced by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles . Many local musicians worked with the pianist and band leader, Stan Szelest, following his pounding left hand. When Stan and the Ravens broke up, bassist Tommy Calandra and drummer Gary Mallaber joined a band called The Rising Sons with vocalist Tony Galla, guitarist John Weitz, and pianist/keyboardist Jimmy Calire. This line up became Raven.
Many Musicians have followed in the footsteps of these players, all recognizing the feel, the sound, and the energy that is The Buffalo Sound. Sometimes referred to as the Buffalo Shuffle, the drum beat is a shuffle best described by drummer Gary Mallaber:
“If you boil a shuffle down to something you go to a Jimmy Reed record. That’s what I go to, or I go to the song Honkey Tonk by The Bill Dogget Quartet. Between those two, anything Jimmy Reed does and “Honkey Tonk,” you have the absolute shuffle the way it should be. If you play it the right way, that's Buffalo and it’s gusty, earthy.
There’s a geography, it’s true to itself. There’s a Texas shuffle. There’s a Chicago shuffle. There’s a New York City way of playing a shuffle. There’s almost a California way of playing the shuffle. However, much like our signature food, we as Buffalonians refer to it as a chicken wing, the rest of the country calls it a “Buffalo Wing.” This is about rediscovering another identity that is truly our own.
“The Buffalo Shuffle” every Monday night at The Tralf Music Hall will showcase the development and foundation of the Buffalo style of traditional rhythm and blues. We welcome musicians young and old to take part in the ongoing development of the Buffalo Sound. The house band each Monday will be featuring local Buffalo Musicians Doug Yeomans, Mick Hayes, Pete Holquin, Jim Ehinger, Steve Sadoff, and Al Monti with special guest musicians weekly. (More detailed information on individual musicians below)
***Patti Meyer Lee & Gary Lee - “Don’t Bother Knockin’...This Town’s a Rockin’” Buffalo Sound Press. Buffalo, NY 2001
