Jitterbug Vipers

Best Jazz Band: The Jitterbug Vipers: #1
Best Bass Players: Francie Meaux Jeaux #1
Best Drummer: Masumi Jones #1
Best Electric Guitar: Slim Richey #1
Best Acoustic Guitar: Slim Richey #3
Best Female Vocalist: Sarah Sharp # 3
Band of the Year: Jitterbug Vipers #5
Musician of the Year: Slim Richey #6
Album of the Year: Phoebe’s Dream #4
Best Songwriter: Sarah Sharp #6
Song of the Year: Stuff It - Jitterbug Vipers#6
Best Producer: Sarah Sharp - Phoebe’s Dream #3

Four wins and top 6 in 12 categories! - Austin Chronicle

"...Jazz at SXSW? Depending on your definition, yes. Jazz artists playing the festival include guitarist Stanley Jordan; avant gardists Nymph; hip-hop influenced the Victor; prog fusionists the Hedvig Mollestad Trio; traditionalists the Kristian Terzic Band and Cettina Donato; ‘30s revivalists Jitterbug Vipers; and many more. It’s as if it’s dawned on the industry that young music fans may enjoy jazz if they can enter the world on their own terms." - Jim Fusilli - Wall Street Journal

Jitterbug Vipers' members perform 1930s-style "viper jazz" with a rock 'n' roll twist. The Austin band's original music — crafted by singer Sarah Sharp, guitarist Slim Richey, bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux and drummer Masumi Jones — recalls swing classics by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Cab Calloway.

On this installment of Song Travels, you can hear Jitterbug Vipers perform a set live in the studio. Host Michael Feinstein also sits down with Sharp to discuss the history of viper jazz and the inspiration behind the band's sizzling original music.

Subscribe to the Song Travels Express podcast - NPR Music

“No Musical act embodies the “Keep Austin Weird” civic mantra with more style and class than the “swingadelic” quartet Jitterbug Vipers. The band’s witty updating of classic 1930s reefer jive music, featuring septuagenarian guitar genius Slim Richey front and center, is sly, sophisticated and more than a little habit-forming. The inherent humor of the material disguises serious musicianship from not only Richey- who sparkles on the disc’s denouement, the closing “Django’s Birthday”-but also from bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux and drummer Masumi Jones. Sarah Sharp, who serves as the primary songwriter, sweetly sails through a selection of originals in the tradition with seductive nonchalance but also digs down deep for an exquisite rendition of “Billie’s Blues.” Michael Point, DownBeat Magazine - September 2013 issue - Down Beat Magazine

This week Rhythm Planet celebrates a dozen new albums from many places: Cuba, Brazil, Tuva, Mali, Brazil, and Haiti. Plus a couple of jazz albums and a retro album of Viper rag.

We begin with the new album from the Northern Mali tuareg group Tinariwen. Years ago they were mercenary soldiers riding the Sahara who gave up their guns for guitars and formed a band. I’m told they recorded this new album in another desert, this time in Southern California. After that a hot Haitian band from the 1970s, Les Loups Noirs, and a wild cut called “Pile ou Face” (Heads or Tails). Some old-school Cuban music in a guaracha style, and the cool new album from Brazil’s inventive Bossacucanova.

We turn to some viper drag & reefer music from the great four-piece outfit called the Jitterbug Vipers, then a French-Tuvan collective called Violons Barbares, the Barbaric Violins. The singer is Tuvan, the other guys are French. A nice Malian groove follows, as provided by Sousou & Maher Cissoko.

Two new jazz sides follow, featuring drummer David M. Bromberg and pianist Helen Sung. Indian music follows, with the disciples of the late venerated maestro Ravi Shankar, then a slow, haunting violin solo from Nistha Raj. Finally, a Sephardic song from Ana Alcaide, who leavens the mix with a Swedish nickel harp.

Hope you enjoy these 12 new albums!

Posted February 21, 2014 by Tom Schnabel - KCRW Rhythm Planet

If any contemporary band can place a legitimate claim on actually keeping Austin weird, it’s Jitterbug Vipers. Part 1930's jump blues outfit, part smoky lounge act, part self-described “swingadelic viper jazz” band, this raucous quartet lives and dies on the sultry, Billie Holiday-esque allure of frontwoman Sarah Sharp, the slinky six-string genius of septuagenarian guitarist Slim Richey, the slap bass power of Francie Meaux Jeaux and the crisp drumming of Masumi Jones. If you like your retro music druggy, dignified and fire-breathing, you’ll find no savior stronger than Jitterbug Vipers. - Culture map Austin

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Global Music With a New York Edge
Lushly Eclectic Oldtimey Stoner Swing from the Jitterbug Vipers
by delarue

A big draw in their native Texas, the Jitterbug Vipers play songs that sound like classics from the 1930s…except that they’re originals. True to their name, the band’s songs are great for dancing, and as oldtime stoner music goes, few other groups compare: the Moonlighters, or the late, great Asylum Street Spankers come to mind. These vipers have a new album out, Phoebe’s Dream, which sets Sarah Sharp’s sultry, period-perfect vocals floating over the slinky groove of bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux and nimble drummer Masumi Jones, guitar monster Slim Richey channeling a century’s worth of classic jazz and swing tradition with a deviously eclectic, bristling attack that’s all his own.

The briskly shuffling title track recounts the story of Big Phoebe, who “tried to smoke her way into heaven, but they turned her back around” – and then she takes matters (i.e. more ganja) into her own hands. A Viper Just the Same tells a familiar tale in an oldtime vernacular: a stoner can spot another stoner from a long ways away. What’s especially cool about this song is how they switch the rhythm from a bolero to straight-up swing, and then back, fueled by Richey’s unexpectedly skronky guitar solo.

Stuff It, a co-write with Elizabeth McQueen from Asleep at the Wheel, has the sardonic wit of a classic, dismissive Mae West insult song. When You’re High is an unselfconsciously pretty, aptly balmy number that could be interpreted as a love ballad…but you know better. Dangerous stakes out some Romany jazz territory, a tribute to an irrepressible guy with fast fingers and “a bag of tricks, from mushroom soup to tortoiseshell picks.”

Richey kicks off Viper Moon as a lullaby that recalls Les Paul, then they take it in a bossa nova direction – it’s another stoner love song. Sharp saves her most pillowy vocal for the ethereally bluesy ballad Trouble; they follow that with the instrumental Django’s Birthday, a showcase for Richey’s agile Romany-style fretwork.

Along with all the weed-smoking numbers, the band also includes one for the drinkers, the tongue-in-cheek stroll That Was Just the Sauce Talking. There are also a couple of covers. They reinvent the 1939 Ella Fitzgerald hit Undecided as western swing – with what sounds like a quote from the Simpsons theme? And they give Billie’s Blues an expansive Stormy Monday treatment, with some wickedly cool, boomy brushwork from Jones. The Vipers’ next hometown gig is on Jan 29 at Lambert’s, 401 W 2nd St. in Austin. - New York Music Daily

Though Slim Richey looks somewhat like Santa Claus, the big guy has never looked as hip.

The 75-year-old is lead guitarist, aka “Most Dangerous Guitar Player in Texas,” for the Jitterbug Vipers. On stage he wears a rock lobster bowling shirt embroidered with guitars on each breast, white plaid beach shorts and red Converse tennis shoes. He often dons a Fedora with a white plume stuck into its leopard print hatband while he plays his Sunburst 1937 Gibson L-4 or an Arbor White Falcon copy guitar on stage.

His band plays at the Elephant Room, Lambert’s or the Continental Club, and also perform live online at noon on the second Monday of each month. In October, the band heads west to California and then to the Pacific Northwest to Eugene, Ore., before taking off for Europe.

Instrumentally, the Jitterbug Vipers sound vintage, fusing swing jazz styles from the 1930s and ‘40s, but their contemporary lyrics blur boundaries – on topics of drugs and sex.

The female band members, the “Hidee Hidee Hos,” include vocalist and co-songwriter Sarah Sharp, Richey’s bassist wife Francie “Meaux Jeaux” White and drummer Masumi Jones. The band’s visual authenticity and original music allows them to wave that ethereal “Keep Austin Weird” flag.

Sharp, who began playing with the band four years ago this November disarms her audience with her liquid jazz voice alone. When she first started singing with the band, Sharp wore a body sling and nursed her son, Angus, on stage. Angus attended more than 100 gigs in utero and just as many Jitterbug Viper gigs on stage from the time he was only three and a half weeks old until he turned six months old, Sharp says.

“It was a 99 percent positive reaction,” Sharp says. “He was too little not to have with me. If he needed to nurse, I nursed him inside the sling. It wasn’t an exhibition. The only people who noticed what was going on were other moms.”

“I made a big point of making it obvious that he was wearing special earplugs. We have a very quiet stage volume, but if I was watching a baby on stage, I would be worried about their ears.”

Angus had a stage presence, she says.

“He has the music in him,” Sharp says. “The first time he made any sort of fuss was around three and a half months old when he started steering me toward whatever he wanted to see. Some nights he was all about Slim’s hands, some nights he needed to watch the drums. I often had to turn and sing over my shoulder so he could be content watching the drums. He definitely let me know.”

White used to sometimes shout on stage, “Slim, turn around — he can’t see your hands!” if Angus started to fuss. That always settled Angus back down, Sharp says.

These days, Angus and his two siblings — Alistair, 6, and Stella, 5 — stay at home nights with their dad, British-born Andy Sharp, a guitar player who has a day gig working as a software developer. His stage name is “Buffalo Speedway.” The couple has been married 15 years.

Not everything is family friendly, however. Some of the lyrics to Jitterbug Viper songs discuss “smoking” and “getting high.” One song, “Stuff It,” Sharp co-wrote with Elizabeth McQueen of Asleep at the Wheel.

“(McQueen’s) a momma too,” Sharp says. “We laughed the entire two and a half hours it took to write that song. It’s probably getting the most national airplay of all the new songs.”

The song provides plenty of double entendres, but that’s part of what make the Jitterbug Vipers the Jitterbug Vipers. Even the name “Vipers” comes from a sub-genre of cannabis culture that associates itself with those who make hissing sounds like snakes when they smoke.

“Viper music is a sub-genre of 1930s and ’40s jazz, mostly party songs like (Cab Calloway’s 1931) ‘Minnie the Moocher,’” Sharp says. “Back then, drinking and gambling were illegal, drugs were not. It’s akin to beer drinking songs today. The new album is mostly originals, inspired by that genre.”

The band’s original songs from the album”Phoebe’s Dream” include “When You’re High,” written by Sharp and Kristopher Lee Wade, “Dangerous,” by Sharp and Katie Holmes, and “Viper Moon,” written by Sharp and Richey. Cover songs off their previous album, “Tell ‘em Joe Sent You,” included Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” as well as Buck Washington’s 1944 “Save the Roach for Me,” and the Ink Spots’ 1944 “That Cat is High.”

Sharp found her niche in 2009 with the Jitterbug Vipers by filling in for former lead vocalists Kat Edmonson of Houston and Emily Gimble, grand-daughter of legendary Johnny Gimble, when they couldn’t make a gig. Emily Gimble now performs with the Marshall Ford Swing Band. She also recently performed on “Three for the Road,” a CD by Warren Hood produced by Charlie Sexton.

“The (Jitterbug Vipers) used to play everywhere all of the time and I knew who they were,” Sharp says. “I used to play as a singer/songwriter alone, but I couldn’t be on the road anymore. Things started slowing down for me when I got pregnant. - Austin Fusion Magazine

The thin line between Jazz and Western Swing gets very blurred some days
Two years ago a friend visited SXSW and brought a bag full of CD’s back to Blighty and eventually loaned me "Tell 'em Joe Sent You" by the Jitterbug Vipers and I nearly wore it out that Summer.
So; when their latest recording dropped through my letter box I was giddy with excitement as I slid it into the CD player and I was mighty relieved to hear PHOEBE’S DREAM is more of the same Old Timey Western Swing Music with lashings of quality Midnight Jazz licks filtering through every track.
The album opens with the delightful title track, Phoebe’s Dream which wouldn’t have been out of place in a pre-WWII Berlin nightclub, a New York Speakeasy or a Bourbon St. bar.
As with that previous album a couple of regular themes permeate throughout; ‘vipers’ which are used as metaphors quite a bit and also ‘smoking’ to get high; which may or may not be a drug reference; but I doubt it as the band all look so sweet and innocent.
The songs are genuinely timeless with Billie’s Blues being absolutely stunning as Sarah pays homage to Ms Holliday while Slim Richey performs the first of his Django Reinhardt impressions (the second is Django’s Birthday).
With a gentle change of pace Viper Moon and That Was the Sauce Talking are the coolest Western Swing songs that I’ve first heard since I discovered the Hotclub of Cowtown many years ago!
Sarah Sharp’s voice just oozes class throughout and the magnificently coiffured Slim Richey plays a mighty fine guitar combining subtlety and flair in equal measures.
The other two members; Francie Meaux Jeaux on Double Bass and Masumi Jones on Drums manage to keep time in the background better than a Swiss watch.
"Phoebe's Dream" is an album that sounded just as good when I played on a car journey from Hell; when it managed to calm my nerves but equally in the dead of night with a cool drink in my hand as I stared longingly into my lover’s eyes; and there aren’t many albums you can say that about! - No Depression - UK

Exclusive Premiere: Jitterbug Vipers – Crazy (Song of the Day)
by ALEX GALLACHER on 11 JUNE, 2014
in SONG OF THE DAY
Late last year we introduced you to the Jitterbug Vipers, a quartet from Austin, Texas who are striking in more ways than one. The first is their sound…steeped in what they like to refer to as reefer jive music of the 1930s. That’s not a description you hear very often but then neither do you often see such a combo, which takes me neatly onto their collective appearance:

Slim Richey, a.k.a. “Most Dangerous Guitar Player in Texas”, is now 76 years old, you can’t miss that Santa Claus trademark beard of his. But don’t be fooled by his age, Slim still plays 200 shows per year and he just won the Austin Music award for Best Electric Guitar player. Adding colour to the combo is their bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux with her rainbow-coloured hair alongside Masumi Jones, one of Japan’s finest big band drummers; and finally, the sultry vocals of the lovely Sarah Sharp.

For our Song of the Day (and a exclusive première) Slim and Sarah have recorded a new single in tribute to one of the greatest songwriters around – Willie Nelson. I recently purchased a copy of Willie Nelson’s road journal Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road and this seems as good a time as any to share a quote from Kinky Friedman who nailed the art of songwriting in one sentence of the book’s forward:

Great art is rarely produced by someone who sits down to paint his masterpiece. The guy who sets out to write the great American novel never does it; the great work is invariably written by the guy who was just trying to pay the rent.

So here are the trippy-swingadelic 1930′s rock band Jitterbug Vipers with an exclusive première and our Song of the Day – Crazy (by Willie Nelson)
https://soundcloud.com/sarah-walter-sharp/crazy1/s-YqFOM - Folk Radio UK

THE JITTERBUG VIPERS
The jazz quartet that swept the Austin Music Awards and how they’re keeping Austin weird, one viper tune at a time.

By Molly McManus, Photos by Deano Jones

66-jitterbug1The first time I saw the Jitterbug Vipers play was on a sweltering summer evening at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill. The lead singer had a newborn baby bound to her, protected from sound with headphones. The guitarist had on a white fedora and plastic shades (and even more stylish red Vans to boot) and the longest white beard I had seen. The bass player had her back to the audience, with shockingly electric colors streaked through her short hair.

Once I got over the spectacle in front of me, I really started to listen. And what I heard was pure jazz magic, the kind of music that unexpectedly draws people in. Not only was the sound one of a well-oiled machine, the band looked like they couldn’t possibly be having any more fun—despite the 90 degree weather. I had to know, who were these guys?

During a break, I told the bass player I liked her rainbow hair. She enthusiastically thanked me and told me I should dye my own locks. When I asked what color, she looked me up and down and without hesitation blurted out, “Fuchsia!”

Needless to say, I’ve been a fan of the Jitterbug Vipers ever since. Getting their inspiration from a subgenre of 1930s jazz called “viper music,” the Jitterbug Vipers bring audiences to their feet with the group’s irresistible energy. Playing classic records like When I Get Low I Get High and The Man From Harlem, the group also performs original pieces, such as favorites Viper Moon and That Was Just the Sauce Talking.

To clarify, jitterbug is another name for swing dancing and the danceable music of the ’30s and ’40s, while viper is a type of swing music from the same era made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Viper music gets its name from the “ssssst” sound made by a viper snake, and is also onomatopoeic for the sound made by an inhaling pot-smoker. Put the two together and you get the rock ’n’ roll meets jazz tunes—otherwise described as “swingadelic”— of the Jitterbug Vipers.

A staple of the Austin music scene, the Jitterbug Vipers consist of guitar guru Slim Richey, sensational songbird Sarah Sharp, boisterous upright bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux and distinctively directive drummer Masumi Jones. Husband-andwife duo Richey and Meaux Jeaux started the band seven years ago with a rotating lineup of instrumentalists and vocalists who have included Kat Edmonson, Emily Gimble and Asleep at the Wheel’s Katie Holmes. However, after finding powerhouses Jones and Sharp, the foursome has been gigging together consistently for more than four years, performing more than 1,000 times.

66-jitterbug2With an album of new original music out (Phoebe’s Dream, 2013), a feature on NPR’s Song Travels with Michael Feinstein, 90 stations playing their music throughout the U.S., and CultureMap Austin naming the band one of Austin’s 10 hot music acts to break big this year, the Jitterbug Vipers—to no surprise— made the list for the 2014 Austin Music Awards. What was surprising, however, was that they placed in the top six in 12 different categories, taking home a total of four wins, including Best Jazz Band, Best Bass Player, Best Drummer and Best Electric Guitarist.

After they were presented with Best Jazz Band from media personality Andy Langer, he turned to the audience and said, “Next time someone tells you that Austin has changed, just take one look at that freak show.”

The Jitterbug Vipers encompass what AW’s Generations issue is all about. The four members span five decades in age, the youngest in her 30s, the oldest in his 70s, and don’t plan on settling down anytime soon. Not only are the Vipers contagious as a band, but as individuals as well, keeping Austin weird, one viper tune at a time.

Music, shows and more at jitterbugvipers.com.

SARAH SHARP, VOCALIST

66-jitter-sarahDuring the AW photo shoot, it was hard to take the band seriously as they held up their Viper gang signs, poked fun at one another and caused anyone in earshot to join in their laughter. Sultry singer-songwriter Sharp points to love, humor and communication as the key to the band’s success.

“Each gig there might be one different thing that happens with the way we play a song, or one hilarious joke that becomes part of the culture of the band,” Sharp says. “We love each other. People always comment on how it looks like we’re having a great time and we really do enjoy each other.”

After studying at Berklee College of Music, Sharp returned to her home state to pursue a solo career and start a family. She was in the best vocal shape of her life but it was becoming more and more difficult to manage her solo project with the addition of her second child. The volume of shows began to diminish and she knew something needed to change.

“I felt like I was losing my music identity. It was one of those rare journal-in-the-coffee-shop moments: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could do gigs with Slim and Francie?’ ” she says.

She contacted Richey and served as a sub for more than a year while Holmes served as primary lead singer. When Holmes left, Richey and Meaux Jeaux were quick to ask her to join the group full time.

“She has the exact and right attitude,” says Richey, who pointed to Sharp’s confidence as a vocalist serving as a foundational element to who the Vipers have become.

“Sarah and Masumi are the first other half of the band that’s really been in to the band as a whole and wanting to promote the band,” Meaux Jeaux says. “That’s fun and a new phase for us, getting the award, touring and having them so enthused.”

“[Sharp] is very functional, great talent, great skill and [a] very warm person too,” Jones says. “I admire how she’s a hard-working mom, woman, musician.”

For Phoebe’s Dream, Sharp co-wrote eight of the tracks, songwriting being among the artist’s strengths and passions. Her other music project, Kaliyo, is comprised of Sharp and Andrea Perry, who have played entrancing indie-pop music together since 2010. Their songs have been used in ad campaigns for Chanel, Dell, Macy’s and TV shows such as Revenge and Criminal Minds. For more information, visit kaliyo.com.

MASUMI JONES, DRUMMER

66-jitter-matsumiBorn and raised in Japan, Jones has played the drums for 27 years, her first experience performing being in a punk cover band.

“I was 14, very liberal. ‘No more nuclear plants!’ ” she shouts, re-enacting her rebellion. “But they didn’t listen to me. That’s why they f***** up.”

She tries to hold a straight face but breaks in to laughter. Joining the Jitterbug Vipers more than four years ago, Jones met Richey at a house concert and started jamming with him shortly thereafter. Now, as an integral member of the band, she keeps the group together, serving as its pulse, its lifeline, yet throwing in flair of her own. She has a calming presence on stage and makes her art look effortless as her long black hair swings to her beat.

“[Jones] is such an amazing drummer. She’s always there riding along and steering the ship and keeping it all together,” Sharp says.

Her career began with her playing big-band music in Japan. Now, she primarily plays jazz. Her other projects include Masumi and the Gentleman (masumijones.com) and Lunch With Masumi (lunchwithmasumi.com), in which she plays live jazz concerts online every Monday at noon. Throughout the month, you can catch her playing with different music projects, including the Vipers, as well as her other group, 35 Millimeters, whose sound she describes as a “lounging 1960 spy movie kind of thing.”

“I adore her,” Sharp says. “She’s such a good mom and hard worker, and has very little time to herself. But she stays totally upbeat and gets it all done.”

It’s no wonder, considering her level of talent and how busy she is with her career, that she won Drummer of the Year. She is one of two women to ever win the award (the first being Terri Lord of the Jitters, who won in 1982 and 1983), and was the only woman nominated in the Drummer category. Beyond that, she’s the first Asian woman to ever win.

“It’s a big deal for me. If other Asian girls stand up and play drums, I’m so grateful,” she says.

When asked about the glue that holds the Vipers together and if they really are having that much fun on stage, she considers her answer for a moment before responding.

“Maybe we are crazy— happy crazy,” she says. “Each of us has problems, but we just love to play together. Don’t try at home! We are professionals.”

FRANCIE MEAUX JEAUX, BASSIST

66-jitter-francie2“Ass to the people!” became the quirky motto of the Jitterbug Vipers, thanks to wild child Meaux Jeaux’s unusual style of playing her upright bass.

“I face backwards. It’s to keep my concentration. I have to really concentrate or I just go off in space,” Meaux Jeaux explains, laughing.

But what does “ass to the people” really mean?

“One time during a break, Masumi says to Sarah, ‘Meaux Jeaux, she’s always so ass to the people. Why is she so ass to the people all the time? Yes, that’s it! We’re going to use that!’ It’s fun and it really does help me concentrate,” she affirms.

Just another one of the band’s many inside jokes.

“I got my style from watching other bass players,” Meaux Jeaux says. “There was one that was in the Jazz Pharaohs. He was the first bass player I saw that was actually having fun. You know, smiling and moving around. Why should you just stand there and look all serious-like? It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on!”

The most surprising aspect of Meaux Jeaux’s music history is that she didn’t learn her instrument until her 30s.

“I started playing bass the day after Slim and I married. I took some hallucinogenic substance and he put a big old ugly electric bass in my hands. ‘Yeah! This is what I want to do!’ The deep notes really did speak to me—it’s like a heartbeat,” she says. “Once I got that upright bass, I just fell in love.”

Speaking of love, Meaux Jeaux and Richey have married each other 15 times to continue celebrating their union, in ceremonies from Mexico to Italy, from trumpeter Martin Banks officiating on top of Enchanted Rock, to a clothing-optional ceremony in the Medina River during Kerrville Folk Festival.

“This couple is so sweet,” Jones says. “They’re like lovebirds.”

Sharp adds, “I learn a lot from how they live a life true to music, true to each other.”

The support the pair has for one another is a main reason people are so drawn to the Jitterbug Vipers—not only audiences, but musicians who want to be part of their zany tribe.

“[Meaux Jeaux] has steered us with the whole Keep Austin Weird thing,” Sharp says. “She’s the punk of the band. Winning Best Bass Player—it has so much do with her personality.”

SLIM RICHEY, GUITARIST

66-jitter-slim

Born in 1938 in Atlanta, Texas, Richey is a Lone Star State legend. Jon Dee Graham described Richey as “the plenipotentiary of jazz guitar. Watching his hands to try and understand what he’s doing is like watching a waterfall to try and understand water.” Designated as the group’s “spiritual leader,” Richey has found mentors in Benny Garcia, Tom Wolfe, Herb Ellis, Warren Kessler, Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian. He has made the Jitterbug Vipers who they are today, giving them identity through their own unique version of viper music.

“The body of music we are drawing from is basically from the ’30s. It comes from the Viper culture. We’re talking about Bing Crosby to Benny Goodman. All those guys wrote a lot of songs about what they were doing. … What they were doing was smoking weed,” he says matter-of-factly.

The Best Electric Guitarist started in the Austin music scene by playing the Elephant Room with the Jazz Pharaohs. Since then, the man can be found gigging multiple times throughout the week, never one to slow down.

“[Richey] can’t say no to a gig. It’s the reason we do play all the time. It’s who we are,” Sharp says. “He lives for it. It keeps him vivacious and in good health.”

In 2012, after loading out from the Vipers’ second gig of the evening, Richey was hit by a Cadillac Escalade, leaving the guitarist unconscious in the road. He had a bad concussion, dental damages and needed stitches, but surprisingly, walked away from the incident without a broken bone. Richey was cracking jokes just hours after the accident, unfazed.

Even more remarkable, he only missed two gigs following the incident. Weeks later, there was a benefit show for Richey. The event poster depicted Richey with his signature fedora and sunglasses with the Superman “S” emblazoned on his chest. The tagline read, “Slim Richey takes a lickin’, keeps on pickin’!” Carolyn Wonderland, Maryanne Price and Ruby Jane came together to play, along with many other musicians, young and old.

“He’s influenced a lot of musicians who just want to be part of whatever he’s doing. And they’ve known him since they were hanging out at Kerrville as a child,” says Sharp, mentioning that Richey has played the fest 41 times out of its 42 years of existence.

“It’s like an incubation,” Meaux Jeaux explains. “When Kat Edmonson started playing with us, she didn’t know what to do with a mic, she didn’t know what to do between her singing, like when he soloed. She learned all that stuff. That’s kind of what happens. These wonderful singers come and get their chops up and then they move on. It’s great.”

“I love Slim,” Jones says. “He’s such a playboy. He’s 76 and still plays so sexy. He always plays perfect.”

It’s true. His music is flawless and his style on and off the guitar is lethal, entrancing anyone who gets the pleasure to see a master at his work.

- See more at: http://www.austinwomanmagazine.com/articles/the-jitterbug-vipers#sthash.8LHFywY6.dpuf - Austin Woman Magazine

Indie Bands, Jazz, Roots Music, Uncategorized — November 3, 2013 at 7:51 am
Jitterbug Vipers – Phoebe’s Dream (2013)
by Nick DeRiso

A patently weird, completely loveable group of retro-cool Austin hipsters, Jitterbug Vipers sounds like Norah Jones sitting in with Django Reinhardt.

But don’t misunderstand the point of the sly, deeply intelligent Phoebe’s Dream. This isn’t presented from a winking distance, or with a sense of ironic detachment. Instead, the Jitterbug Vipers throw themselves head long into the fizzy word play of Cab Calloway, the bawdy themes of Fats Waller and the utterly danceable throwback grooves of Count Basie — connecting it all through their own uniquely offbeat personalities.

The band is fronted by the yin-and-yang duo of guitarist Slim Richey (who boasts a ZZ Top beard, and a knack for genre-jumping asides) and the simmering chanteuse Sarah Sharp, also the group’s principal songwriter. the Jitterbug Vipers are rounded out by bassist Meaux Jeaux, Slim’s rainbow-haired wife of 25 years; and drummer Masumi Jones, a brilliantly eruptive force. Both Sharp and Jones attended Berkee, bolstering the idea that Phoebe’s Dream is not inside joke — no matter its hilarious storylines.


Indie Bands, Jazz, Roots Music, Uncategorized — November 3, 2013 at 7:51 am
Jitterbug Vipers – Phoebe’s Dream (2013)
by Nick DeRiso

A patently weird, completely loveable group of retro-cool Austin hipsters, Jitterbug Vipers sounds like Norah Jones sitting in with Django Reinhardt.

But don’t misunderstand the point of the sly, deeply intelligent Phoebe’s Dream. This isn’t presented from a winking distance, or with a sense of ironic detachment. Instead, the Jitterbug Vipers throw themselves head long into the fizzy word play of Cab Calloway, the bawdy themes of Fats Waller and the utterly danceable throwback grooves of Count Basie — connecting it all through their own uniquely offbeat personalities.

The band is fronted by the yin-and-yang duo of guitarist Slim Richey (who boasts a ZZ Top beard, and a knack for genre-jumping asides) and the simmering chanteuse Sarah Sharp, also the group’s principal songwriter. the Jitterbug Vipers are rounded out by bassist Meaux Jeaux, Slim’s rainbow-haired wife of 25 years; and drummer Masumi Jones, a brilliantly eruptive force. Both Sharp and Jones attended Berkee, bolstering the idea that Phoebe’s Dream is not inside joke — no matter its hilarious storylines.

For instance, there’s “Stuff It,” a track co-written with Elizabeth McQueen of Asleep At The Wheel that extrolls the virtues of overfilling both pipe and bra when you’re feeling down. They’ve also included a drunkard’s next-day confessional in “That Was The Sauce Talking.” Each moment, however, is perfectly attenuated — as fun as it is memorably executed.

Meanwhile, “When You’re High” plumbs the dusky depths of desire, even as “Django’s Birthday” finds Slim working in exquisite detail. The set is rounded out by smart updates of Billie Holliday’s “Billie’s Blues” as well as “Undecided,” which skips along at a pace that almost certainly would have brought a glimmer to the eye of Ella Fitzgerald. - Something Else! - Nick DeRiso

On their new second CD Phoebe's Dream, the Austin Texas based three-woman, one manm swing-revival quartet Jitterbug Vipers have made a fun recording of mostly clever original songs that rather authentically and tastefully conjures music from their favorite era. The original material is lyrically clever and principal songwriter Sarah Sharp's lead vocals are quite appealing. And unlike some other groups who try to emulate the music of the past, Ms. Sharp sings in her own mostly easy-going style without trying to sound like anyone else in particular. - The Graham Weekly Album Review #1739

"Nobody has delivered a harsh rejection as smoothly as singer Sarah Sharp in 'That Was Just The Sauce Talking,' a track off the Jitterbug Vipers' latest jazz revival effort, Phoebe's Dream." - Texas Music Magazine