The Absynth Quintet - ProfilesArchive

About Me

The Absynth Quintet melds the familiar and the avant-gard with a unique and provocative palette of tone and texture. This is streetcorner swing with a sense of humor, bluegrass with footstomping danceability, intertwined with playful forays into the depths of sophisticated musical experimentation. The Eugene Weekly places the sound "somewhere along the spectrum of acoustic-improvisational-gypsy-jazz...plucky and tight Ã la David Grisman" with "a dash of Eastern European exoticism that puts you in a smoky, understated hash bar kind of mood". And desptite the fact that " The subtle interplay of various harmonic layers is also deserving of a close and contemplative listen" the band makes it clear that this is not meant to be hyper-organized, candlelit jazz. They make music that is equally appropriate for sit down shows at theatres or rocking friday night danceclub parties, "we work where the visceral and the cerebral meet" is how Mandolinist Chris "Bird" Jowaisas put it. Recent performances had the band sharing the stage with such acts as Vince Herman, Thamusement, Vagabond Opera, David Grisman Quintet, Peter Rowan and Hot Buttered Rum. The Absynth Quintet's latest release Kevlar Mariachi Pants is a live CD recorded fall of 2006. The Arcata Eye said "...listening to KMP is akin to being served an exotic meal (or mind altering beverage) one could never hope to replicate at home. You have to go out for this kind of stuff. Delicious". The CD is out now on Sidenote records and available at music stores and itunes.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/22/2005
Band Website: absynthquintet.com
Band Members: Ian Davidson: Banjo--- Rudy Luera: Upright Bass--- Ryan Roberts: Guitar------ Tofu Mike: Drums and Percussion Bird Jowaisas --Mandolin and Fiddle
Influences: All the gypsy jazz greats especially Django; also - David Grisman, John Coltrane, Ray Brown, Bill Frissell, Bela Fleck, Robin Nolan, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, 3 Leg Torso, Fishtank, Hot Club Sandwich, Dan Hicks, Nucleus, Mr. K, Transcendar, John Hartford, Primus, Trey, Jerry....
Sounds Like: Hot Club Americana Jamgrass in a subway station at midnight. Spilled Wine. Crumpled jazz charts. Laughter.
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Poem of the week

Someday I will sleep under parkbenchs And when it is sunny I will sleep ontop of them
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:01:00 PST

The Problem With Never

I forgot my lunch and had to go backwhen I returned there were only 4 left in the slot(at least there were 4 that I considered in decent shape).Silly that there were too many in the slot earlier,but i...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:24:00 PST

for the gypsy birds

thursday or mabey friday ......17th 19th somewhere mabey 3 3:30 in the morning underwater ............. the sax player knew all the words....... the sailor could sing man , and if you really...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:03:00 PST

The Rain Tour 2006 resolves

:)
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Thu, 26 Jan 2006 05:19:00 PST

Hot Club Sandwich

We shared the stage with Greg Ruby of Hot Club Sandwich. It was great he got all manouche on Dark Eyes a traditional tune and kept old bird on his toes "which is really cool he looks great on his t...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:58:00 PST

Wonderful Water and Aluminum Foil

"Is 'wonderfility' a word?""I don't believe so, use it in a sentence.""The whole wonderfility of it all astounds me sometimes. There. Is it?""No, definitely not a word.""Is wonderfulness?"...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:45:00 PST

to the sounds of it

the floor remained unfinished ......... the windows were left to gather dust, removed empty alone without comfort of thought or tool jim remained unfazed compleat in his...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:52:00 PST

Fog/Fear/Croquet

The fog crept in that morning before Ed woke:in through his ears,out through his nose:-fear of microwave ovens-fear of incessant speech-fear of abandoned spider webs taking insect life -fear of s...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:23:00 PST

Why

The numb handed man woke to surf crashing: phones ringing, morning mongering, caffeine desire. Memories: a heron watched by the stinky cat lady ate gophers and the cosmic midni...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:41:00 PST

tane accident

Although steep and without a dought slippery, it was apparent that a climb of this magnatude with yet just a few remaining parts of his head and only 2 b5's left was going to be difficult to say...
Posted by The Absynth Quintet on Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:10:00 PST