Member Since: 08/06/2007
Band Website: right here, baby!
Band Members:
MATT MITCHELL - guitar stud
MARIANNE DISSARD - french chanteuse
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MARCO ROSANO - melodica, clarinet
TOMMY LARKINS - drums
THØGER LUND - upright bass
VICKI BROWN - violin
EVAN DAIN - upright bass
MICHAEL FAN - violin
IAN STAPP - upright bass
ARTHUR VINT - drums
SEAN ROGERS - upright bass
ADRIANNE DENIKE - backup vocals
CHRIS BLACK - violin
FRENCH TOURIST - samples, theremin, percussives
ROSE TODARO - violin
ROXANNA BAKER - accordion
SLY - tuba
DANTE ROSANO - trumpet
CLAY KOWEEK - guitar
MATT MITCHELL played in some rock and pop bands in his teenage years in Phoenix, Arizona. Bitten by the jazz bug while studying classical guitar in college, he went on to make a living playing mostly jazz guitar in Tucson, Arizona. He's been in around 100 bands you’ve probably never heard of and played over 200 gigs a year for 15 years, garnering awards and critical praise along the way.
MARIANNE DISSARD was writing poetry from an early age. She did not study music in college but documentary filmmaking at USC. She wrote lyrics for others until Joey Burns of Tucson über-band Calexico cornered her one night in 2006 and told her she had to start singing, and that he'd write the songs. They've done a couple of albums since and Marianne has been on tour a lot in Europe and America.
JUNE 2007. Matt Mitchell and Marianne Dissard figure they should start playing together. A week later, they have their first show in Tucson.
JULY 2007. They record some tracks in Marianne's living room. One of them lands on a Dutch compilation. Matt and Marianne are thrilled someone is listening overseas.
AUGUST 2007. Matt and Marianne record a track for a wacky compilation called Christmas in Tucson, featuring the crème de la Tucson music scene. That track, a cover of Jona Lewie's "Stop The Cavalry", lands on a couple of blogs overseas.
SEPTEMBER 2007. Matt and Marianne keep playing restaurants, dives, clubs, rooms of all sizes, colors and denominations in Tucson, Arizona.
OCTOBER 2007. Marco Rosano and Naïm Amor join Matt and Marianne ever more frequently.
NOVEMBER 2007. Thøger Lund (Giant Sand) shows up on upright and kicks ass!
DECEMBER 2007. Learning some Edith Piaf songs for the Great Cover Up event at Club Congress, Matt and Marianne team up with the fabulous string players Rose Todaro, Michael Fan and Vicki Brown, leading to the opening slot for Calexico at the annual KXCI benefit concert, with Matt and Marianne being backed by a big-bandesque 10 musicians, including John and Joey from Calexico.
JANUARY 2008. Matt and Marianne open for Faun Fables and Matt starts writing some original songs for their first collaborative album. They record live tracks on local radio KXCI.
FEBRUARY 2008. Recording at Waterworks Studio, sharing stage with Pieta Brown, learning some Jacques Brel songs.
MARCH 2008. Opening for Slim Cessna's Auto Club! More studio with French DJ/musician French Tourist on samples and theremin. APRIL-MAY 2008 More shows. SUMMER 2008 Matt & Marianne co-win a Tammies, Tucson Music Awards, for Best Jazz band. The band keeps getting larger. 8 people at Club Congress, 11 people at Plush in September, with the show recorded in multi-tracks by Noah Oliver.
WINTER 2008/09 Marianne tours outside of Tucson with her album of Americana Chanson, Matt plays in Tucson and they reunite for a big show with the whole band at the Fox Theater in February.
SPRING/SUMMER/FALL 2009 Marianne tours Europe and North America. Matt plays in Tucson. However, they do manage to play a few extremely-well received shows in Tucson.
B/W photo was photoshopped from both Burke Heffner's & Steven Meckler's. Thanks!
Influences: SIDE 1: Tom Jobim, Django Reinhardt, Jean Sablon, Joao Gilberto, Lucienne Boyer, Charles Trenet, Nick Drake, Léo Ferré.
SIDE 2: Dalida, Leo Marjane, Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Elis Regina, Yves Montand, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel.
Record Label: Unsigned