When Southside Johnny sings the songs of Tom Waits it’s with the weathered, street-smart, house-rockin’ swagger that made him and his band, the Asbury Jukes, legendary. He also injects something new: the noir-ish, indigo mood of a city at night. And though the Jukes are the official house band of the wee hours, only a big�"nay, bigger�"band can really soundtrack the night. And while scores of songwriters nail the nuances of nocturne, nobody does it quite like Waits.
Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits is Southside’s tribute to one of his favorite songwriters, but also a pet sound: big band music. The idea to marry the brassy, ballsy sound of a big band to Tom Waits’ cinematic, character-driven songs had been sitting in the back booth of Southside’s mind for some time. Partnering with longtime friend and Jukes’ and The Max Weinberg 7 (The Late Show with Conan O’Brien) trombonist Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg, Johnny assembled a gaggle of 18 crack musicians, playing multi-tiered, masterful arrangements by Rosenberg, to achieve a reverent�"and at times, true to his house-rockin’ ways, irreverent�"homage, with a dozen handpicked Waits songs.
Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits is Southside’s tribute to one of his favorite songwriters, but also a pet sound: big band music. The idea to marry the brassy, ballsy sound of a big band to Tom Waits’ cinematic, character-driven songs had been sitting in the back booth of Southside’s mind for some time. Partnering with longtime friend and Jukes’ and The Max Weinberg 7 (The Late Show with Conan O’Brien) trombonist Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg, Johnny assembled a gaggle of 18 crack musicians, playing multi-tiered, masterful arrangements by Rosenberg, to achieve a reverent�"and at times, true to his house-rockin’ ways, irreverent�"homage, with a dozen handpicked Waits songs.
