Jellyband

"It's like putting a really good iPod on shuffle ...a REALLY good one!" ~’Captain’ Kirk Douglas (The Roots) on JellyBand 7/30/2011 Striving to continually surprise and delight audiences, Jellyband draws from a large and constantly growing diverse musical repertoire that they seamlessly weave in and out of, utilizing jamband-style improvisation. Since their 1st show in 2010, Jellyband has drawn from such disparate artists as Frank Zappa, The Police, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, The Beatles, Radiohead, The Band, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, and of course Grateful Dead and Phish (to name a few), creating a buzz within the Long Island music community. The Jelly-buzz has quickly spread, giving them opportunity to perform at a variety of festival events (including the Great South Bay Music Festival, Patchogue’s Alive After Five, the Cedar Beach Blues Festival and Sands Point Woodstock revival) in a very short time. Despite the relative newness of this ensemble the musicians that comprise Jellyband have been working with each other for over 20 years in various bands as: Reckoning, Waterstreet, Hydroyum, the Point, Easy Chief, The Electrix, Rusty String Band, KGB, Movement and U-melt. The rhythm section of Jesse Smith’s expressive and deep-pocketed drumming coupled with Jim Fontana’s intuitive, melodic bass provides a fertile foundation for Kevin Griffin’s exploratory guitar improvisations, and Mike Katzman’s polyrhythmic, emotionally charged keyboard work. Ann McInerney's multi-instrumental talents and her soulful and robust vocals punctuate this solid musical groundwork, adding counterpoint and giving the band a powerful solo voice as well as soaring harmonies. Jellyband’s reputation for performing fun, danceable and unusual shows continues to spread, leaving audiences both satisfied and curious as to what they will play next. As the band tells its crowd: “…we’re not a Jamband, we’re a Jellyband”. Jellyband: it's spreading!