by Gary Gregg | Oct 16, 2013 | News
“What type of music do you play?” Having been with Chaise Lounge since nineteen ninety-something, I hear that question a lot. So far, all the great and near-great minds in and around the band have yet to come up with a clear answer.
OK! Cut to a car dealership in September 2012. My rep, Hugh, who also happens to be a roots-rock bass player and long-time Lounge fan, made a comment about our latest CD, Dot Dot Dot: “You don’t take your fans too far in any one direction.” While not finding that elusive genre I’ve sought for so long, his off-hand remark make me feel a little closer to a possible answer. But my quest continues. If you have an answer to the question “What kind of music does Chaise Lounge play,” let us know in the comments below!
–Gary
by Charlie Barnett | Jan 8, 2013 | News, Uncategorized
Ask any musician about January and you will get a grim smile, reflecting a woefully empty gig calendar. It has ever been thus. What to do about this? Start your next record! Well, that is what Chaise Lounge is doing, anyway. We began the new album in earnest last night with rhythm section recording sessions at Cue Recording in Falls Church, Virginia. Ken Schubert is engineering.
As we were putting together the list of new songs to record, I was amazed at how many we have. Also I was reminded of how many times people have asked for recordings of these songs and I have blithely tossed off, “Oh, that will be on the next CD.” “The Coolest Car” is one of those. Another is “I Just Want All Of My Stuff.” Maybe the most-requested unrecorded song is Gary’s solo piece, “Losing Streak.” All of them are coming soon. I’m not completely sure yet, but I think the new album will be called “Dot, Dot, Dot.” Yes, that song too is coming.
The first session was a delight. It was great to get back in the studio. And it felt good to dig into the fine details of some of those tunes. “Via Con Me” is a deceptively tricky song to play well. If the tempo is not exactly right it doesn’t work. We have also unearthed some of our back catalog for this. Who remembers “Celestial Navigation”? I think we played that twice…maybe at IOTA? Well, here it comes. And there is a song about a wrecked Airstream trailer (title still in flux)—who remembers this? It may be the saddest song in the world; too sad, we decided, to play much live.
Last year we released two records (Insomnia, A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas). This year, it will be only one. But I have a feeling it will be a doozy.
—Charlie
by Charlie Barnett | Nov 27, 2012 | News, Press, Reviews
Chaise Lounge are now contributors to the vast world of Christmas albums with A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas (Modern Songbook), and if you like your holiday festivities to be a bit on the jazzy side, this is for you.
The songs on this range from the familiar to the slightly obscure along with new compositions, so you get to hear Marilyn Older grace her beautiful voice in tracks like “December 25″, “Good King Wenceslas”, “The Man With The Bag”, “Christmasville, U.S.A.”, and one of my all time favorites, “Little Drummer Boy”. It’s a chance for everyone in the group to shine in their own way, and even with the glut of Christmas music available, Chaise Lounge are capable of making these classics sound new again while exchanging them with new songs that will hopefully be recorded by others for years to come.
This is from some blog called “this is books music”
by Charlie Barnett | Nov 25, 2012 | News, Press, Reviews, Uncategorized
MODERN SONGBOOK
CHAISE LOUNGE/A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas: Nothing beats a non gloomy Christmas down at the bar. Lounging it up on originals and classics together, this is not strict 90s lounge revival sounds as the crew goes deeper into genre blending on their newest platter. Easy rolling stuff that has lounge, pop, rockabilly, honky tonk and smatterings of other left of center sounds that show us what space age pop is like in the 10s. As much as we loved them last time out, we love them even more now as this is a quasi-retro juggernaut of cool in top form. It’s so groovy you can play it year round. The hype sheet calls it an instant classic and they aren’t kidding. Check it out.
Chris Spector – Midwest Record – midwestrecord.com
No one reviews the cover.. but they should
by Charlie Barnett | Nov 20, 2012 | News, Press, Reviews
No one reviews the cover.. but they should
This just in from the esteemed jazz writer Ken Borgers (also a DJ at KKJZ in Long Beach, and JazzKnob.org) A review of “A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas”
“Chaise Lounge is a delicious, subtle, swinging ensemble that, to borrow a phrase from Duke Ellington, is beyond category. Steve Allen’s hip “Cool Yule” and the Kay Starr hit “The Man with the Bag” will bring a smile to jazz fans, and “Mr. Santa” out-Chordettes the Chordettes. There’s even a non-annoying version of Garrison Keillor’s least favorite holiday song, “Little Drummer Boy,” which someone should pass along to him as proof that in the proper hands, anything can swing. Add a little rockabilly and a couple of reimagined classics and here, at last, is new music for the season!”
