Heavy
G & the Boogaloo Communicators are a band with a mission:
T o
dust off and dress up the long-lost hits of organ jazz,
a musical staple of black neighborhood clubs of the mid-1950s
to the early ‘70s. F ronted
by Guitarist Javier "Heavy G" Gonzalez and organist
Jarad "Snuggs" Astin, the Boogaloo Communicators
perform a mixture of original music and great organ-jazz
tunes of the not-so-distant 60’s and 70’s. A
tight unit of players diggin’ up an all but lost genre’s
loved by many, this project has many local fans chomping
at the bit, as they tear into the roots of the Boogaloo
style with grit and soul. “We are paying homage to
organ jazz,” says Gonzalez, “but we add our
own twist to this rich jazz tradition.”
Gonzalez played with one of the greats, Big John Patton,
for eight months in 1999, learning the ins and outs of organ
jazz. Gonzalez later wrote his masters’ thesis in
jazz history on the former Blue Note recording artist. Born
in Argentina, he developed a love of music from his father,
a renowned classical composer. Denver’s highly respected
jazz DJ Rodney Franks puts it this way "And if after
listening to this, you still don’t get it, perhaps
you should put a mirror under your nose to check for life
signs because this is living, breathing music" |
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