The Mixers' new mix

Today's Most Viewed Stories

• Caught in a Web - 9/2/2010
• Armed intruders bring demands for money and drugs to couple's bedroom - 9/2/2010
• Torres guilty of rape, will serve 11 years for abusing Medford girl - 9/2/2010
• Algae toxin levels prompt alarm - 9/2/2010

Text Size: A | A | A

Print this Article Email this Article

Loading...

Left to right: Gary Halliburton, Mark Stever, Jim King, Charlie Chase, Gordon Greenley, Bruce McKern and Rico Salas are The Mixers.Photo by Sammie Orton

May 14, 2010

By Teresa Thomas

Mail Tribune

The local show band, The Mixers, successfully transferred its signature '40s and '50s swing sound from the stage to the studio.

The old-school show band, frequently seen clad in blazers and vintage fedoras, released its debut album, "Double Down," in March. The band's drummer and lead vocalist, Mark Stever, says The Mixer's style features a back beat and has more of an edge than traditional big bands.

"We try to have a more up-to-date sound and not like the big bands of the early '40s, but more like the small groups that came out of the '50s," Stever says.

"It's not the mainstream '50s-style music, but we pick a few oddball tunes that a lot of people have never heard before."

Besides Stever, the group comprises guitarist and vocalist Charlie Chase, pianist Gary Halliburton, bassist Bruce McKern, saxophonist Rico Salas and Gordon Greenley and trumpeter Jim King.

The Mixer's new disc features 11 tracks of all-American music, swing and jump blues including numbers by Ray Charles, Jimmy Liggins and Louis Jordan. The album boasts three originals — the title track, "Double Down," "Hornonomy," an instrumental track with jazz standards, and "Trouble," a song about how much trouble women can be.

"The rest are songs we've taken from artists and thrown in our own horn arrangement or twist to make it our own," says Stever.

In the song "That Wig's Gotta Go," by Stompy Jones," The Mixers use the Pink Panther theme song as a musical break before returning to the original chorus, "just to see if people are paying attention," Stever says.

The Mixers will perform June 11 at Agate Ridge Vineyard in Eagle Point, June 27 at Battle of the Bones, July 16 at Del Rio Vineyard in Gold Hill, July 20 at Riverside Park in Grants Pass, July 21 at the Jackson County Fair and in October at the Medford Jazz Jubilee.

For more information or for a schedule of The Mixers' shows, call 541-659-9874 or visit www.themixersband.com.

Print this Article Email this Article