A Texas-Sized Band The Joymakers

• 1 Deep Elm (You Tell 'Em I'm Blue) 03:30
• 2 Dreaming 'Bout My Man 03:01
• 3 The Pay Off (Stomp) 03:15
• 4 Somebody Stole My Gal 02:15
• 5 Honey Child 03:54
• 6 He's Tall and Dark and Handsome 03:34
• 7 Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley! 03:40
• 8 Bye Bye Baby (Blues) 03:35
• 9 Lots O' Mama (Stomp) 02:41
• 10 Daniel's Blues 03:15
• 11 Stomp Off, Let's Go! (Saxophone Solo by Colin Hancock) 03:06
• 12 Elephant's Wobble 03:29
• Total Runtime 39:15

Info for A Texas-Sized Band

Step into the roaring energy of 1920s jazz as The Joymakers bring the high-stepping spirit of America’s Southern and Southwestern dance halls to life. Led by two-time Grammy-nominated music historian, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger Colin Hancock, this Austin-based ensemble revives the bold, joyous “hot” regional sounds that defined early jazz—where ragtime met blues and country string traditions to create an irresistibly vibrant groove. Rooted in the stomp rhythms that once echoed through Dallas, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio, The Joymakers deliver an authentic celebration of jazz’s most spirited era.

Three new members — an extra trombonist and trumpeter among them — mean a bigger, fuller sound, and Hancock and Gould’s arrangements make the most of it. “Deep Elm (You Tell ‘Em I’m Blue)” opens the set with unison brass blasts, strumming banjo, and call-and-response passages that feel genuinely period-correct and completely alive. “The Pay Off (Stomp)” is a joyous romp driven by clarinet and baritone sax, but it’s the piano solo that lingers — starting fast, pulling back, then accelerating again, with an old-fashioned, percussive attack that sounds like it belongs on a 78.

The singing here is something special. Lauryn Gould can build tension just by the way she plays with words, then slip into something close to stunning — hear her on “He’s Tall and Dark and Handsome.” On the slow, aching “Bye Bye Baby (Blues)” she tells a heartbroken story with quiet conviction. On “Dreaming ‘Bout My Man” her glissando-laced phrasing floats over a trumpet solo like smoke. Newcomer Luke Allen handles “Honey Child” and “Daniel’s Blues” with a theatrical warmth — his vibrato just a grace note at the end of each phrase. When Hancock himself steps up on “Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley!,” the joy is contagious.

The instrumental moments are where the band’s chops really show. Westen Borghesi’s tenor banjo is all over this record, strumming with a relentless, propulsive energy that drives the band forward on virtually every track, and Ryan Gould’s string bass is right there with him. “Stomp Off, Let’s Go!” has a sprightly Hancock sax solo riding shotgun on top of that thumping foundation. “Elephant’s Wobble” is a funky, frolicsome thing — trombone out front, with a sax solo that shakes, whines and circles back on itself, funny sounding after being squeezed through a saxophone mouthpiece and a glass. Dylan Blackthorn’s accordion surfaces on “Daniel’s Blues” and it’s a lovely contrast to all those horns. “Lots O’ Mama (Stomp)” is a barn-burner that doesn’t stop to breathe.

Colin Hancock is something of a national treasure, a musician and historian devoted to keeping this music not just alive but honestly rendered. Yet A Texas-Sized Band never feels like a history lesson. You don’t need to know a thing about territory bands or the Texas stomp tradition to have a great time with this record — but if you do, you’ll be shaking your head at how right they get it. (Tim Larsen, jazzviews.net)

"You don’t need to know a thing about territory bands or the Texas stomp tradition to have a great time with this record — but if you do, you’ll be shaking your head at how right they get it." - Turtle Bay Records

Colin Hancock, cornet, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, mellophone, kazoo, clarinet mouthpiece, vocals
Luke Allen, trumpet, vocals
Freddie Mendoza, trombone
Lauryn Gould, alto, soprano, tenor saxophone, vocals
David “Jelly” Jellema, c-melody saxophone, clarinet, cornet
Dylan Blackthorn, piano-accordion
Shane Dickens, piano
Westen Borghesi, tenor banjo, tenor guitar
Ryan Gould, string bass
Ryan Neubauer, drums

Recorded at Wire Recording Studios by Stuart Sullivan and King Electric Recording Studios by Nori Swofford
Mixed by Stuart Sullivan
Mastered by Michael Perez-Cisneros
Produced by Colin Hancock
Executive Producer Scott Asen

Colin Hancock
(b. 1996) is a two-time GRAMMY nominated jazz historian, writer, and musician based in Austin, Texas. With a focus on the early days of the recording industry and its associated technology, Hancock strives to preserve early styles of jazz, blues, ragtime and old time musics and the stories that go along with them. He also leads the Joymakers, a 10-piece hot jazz band in the style of the famous southwestern territory bands of the 1920s.

This album contains no booklet.