ViperHouse will be performing at the Knitting Factory in NYC, next
Friday, April 18. 9pm with Skizm and the El Caminos.
ViperHouse has shared stages with ensembles such as Groove Collective,
Screaming Headless Torsos, Liquid Soul, and Michael Ray and the Cosmic
Krewe. ViperHouse will be opening up for Hammond Organ legend Jimmy
Smith this summer at the Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, Vt at the
Flynn Theater. Other exciting upcomings : Ben and Jerry's Festival, JVC
International Groove Fest in Toronto, Ottawa Jazz Fest.
Here is some viper info:
ViperHouse is a 10 piece acid jazz/avant funk ensemble from Burlington
Vermont consisting of trumpet, alto, soprano and bari saxes, trombone,
violin, hammond organ, upright and electric basses, guitar, percussion,
drum kit and vocals.
One of the premises of the group is to put the acid back into the acid
jazz (not to mention the jazz). The whole viper thing (in reference to
the name), goes back to the old jazz musicians from the 20's who played
in the spasm bands. Vipers were people of questionable means. . of ill
repute. So what are we doing? Re-empowering the name . . . maybe kind
of.
We do mostly originals but here are some of our covers: Virgin Jungle
(Duke Ellington), A call for all demons (Sun Ra), Am I the same girl
(Barbara Ackland), Stoned out of my mind (The Chilites), Pithycanthropus
Erectus (Charles Mingus), Is that all there is (Peggy Lee), Sunny (Bobby
Hebb), Duke of Prunes (Frank Zappa), For the turnstyles (Niel Young),
Friday the 13th (Monk).
Anyway this stuff is fresh and the folks down in New York seem to
be hip to it too -- We have been playing headlining gigs on a monthly
basis rotating between the Elbow Room and The New Music Cafe. We will be
performing at The Knitting Factory on Friday April 18, we have begun to
do headlining shows at The Iron Horse (a great northeast venue).
So we invite you to come and discover the ViperHouse sound for yourself
at the Knitting Factory NYC April 18, 1997 9pm.