OXFORD – This Saturday, July 14, at 7 p.m., 6 On The Square (6OTS) invites you to a free concert in LaFayette Park to hear Roosevelt Dime. Roosevelt Dime combines a lively mix of jazz, old-time country, swing, big band, and bluegrass into a new musical genre. Friends and families bring your lawn chairs or blankets and imagine yourself on a steamboat lazily floating down the Mississippi River. If you get the complete BBQ chicken dinner, and a Chobani yogurt, it’ll be a ‘Big Easy’ evening.
Welcome to the world of Roosevelt Dime, a five-piece, Brooklyn, NY, based band. The band started out as street performers in New York City which is how they developed the distinctive sound best described as King’s County “Steamboat Soul”; it was a way to get busy New Yorkers to stop and listen. They blend elements of acoustic jug-band blues, classic Motown soul and modern alt-country to create this original sound.
The band’s nontraditional lineup and seamless mixture of genres is the result of all five of their musical influences. The band’s members are Andrew Green – who plays both four and five-string banjos and sings; Eben Pariser – plays gut-bucket-bass, p-bass, and sings; Tony Montalbano on drums, percussion, and vocals; Bruce Harris- on trumpet, cornet, and vocals; and Seth Paris- on clarinet, saxophone, and vocals. Andrew’s style is traditional Bluegrass with a funky edge; Eben has derived inspiration from soul and jazz singers as well as by great songwriters who sang well together; Tony brings Jazz, Soul, Rock and Country with equal dedication; Seth’s interest is in Ghanaian brass band music; and Bruce knows jazz trumpet from Louis Armstrong to modern players, reinterpreting the old with a new soulful sound.
“Brooklyn band Roosevelt Dime feels ripped from some earlier era with a sound that’s part rollicking blues, part Dixieland. Their songs are catchy toe-tappers, real feel good stuff. A splendid time is guaranteed.” —Michael Tearson - Sing Out! Magazine
