Acme Jazz Garage at Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe

Acme Jazz Garage brings a 5-piece band and guest singer Shelby Sol back to Ella's for an afternoon featuring music from the band's new SHARKSKIN album.

Come on out for jazz, blues, funk, fusion, and Latin jazz originals and covers.

With guitarist Matt Swenson, bassist Philip Booth, saxophonist Rick Runion, pianist Jody Marsh and drummer Michael Washington.Jazz, blues, funk and fusion meet in the combustible sound of Acme Jazz Garage, featuring guitarist Matt Swenson, pianist/keyboardist Bryan Lewis, bassist Philip Booth and drummer Pat Close.

Sharkskin, the second full-length album from Acme Jazz Garage, will be released Aug. 27, 2021 on the Solar Grooves label; available for streaming and download, and as a CD. The album, with a mix of acoustic and electric grooves and textures, draws from mainstream jazz, Latin jazz, blues, and fusion, with special guests including NYC tenor saxophonist Jeremy Powell (Arturo O’Farrill, Eddie Palmieri), our old friend and former gig mate; singer Shelby Sol; Michael Washington on congas and percussion; drummer Dave Reinhardt; flutist Peggy Morris; and the Imperial Polk Horns — saxophonists Rick Runion and Christian Ryan, trumpeter Jen Ryan, and trombonist Alex Belliveau. Sharkskin was recorded, mixed and mastered by John Stephan at the historic Springs Theatre in Sulphur Springs, Tampa. ...

read more

Acme Jazz Garage brings a 5-piece band and guest singer Shelby Sol back to Ella's for an afternoon featuring music from the band's new SHARKSKIN album.

Come on out for jazz, blues, funk, fusion, and Latin jazz originals and covers.

With guitarist Matt Swenson, bassist Philip Booth, saxophonist Rick Runion, pianist Jody Marsh and drummer Michael Washington.Jazz, blues, funk and fusion meet in the combustible sound of Acme Jazz Garage, featuring guitarist Matt Swenson, pianist/keyboardist Bryan Lewis, bassist Philip Booth and drummer Pat Close.

Sharkskin, the second full-length album from Acme Jazz Garage, will be released Aug. 27, 2021 on the Solar Grooves label; available for streaming and download, and as a CD. The album, with a mix of acoustic and electric grooves and textures, draws from mainstream jazz, Latin jazz, blues, and fusion, with special guests including NYC tenor saxophonist Jeremy Powell (Arturo O’Farrill, Eddie Palmieri), our old friend and former gig mate; singer Shelby Sol; Michael Washington on congas and percussion; drummer Dave Reinhardt; flutist Peggy Morris; and the Imperial Polk Horns — saxophonists Rick Runion and Christian Ryan, trumpeter Jen Ryan, and trombonist Alex Belliveau. Sharkskin was recorded, mixed and mastered by John Stephan at the historic Springs Theatre in Sulphur Springs, Tampa.
In 2020, Acme Jazz Garage released 3 original songs:
jazzy blues tune “Phil’s Blues,” fusion/funk track “Sharkskin” and Latin jazz single and video “Rumba Misterioso.”

The Florida-based band has played its eclectic, groove-driven music for receptive audiences at the Gasparilla Music Festival (twice), Clearwater Jazz Holiday, WMNF Tropical Heatwave, Child of the Sun Jazz Festival, Skipper's Smokehouse, The Palladium at St. Petersburg College, Skipper’s Smokehouse, The Independent, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, The Ale & the Witch, the Green Parrot, and many other festivals, venues, and private events. The group held a long-running residency at Timpano Chophouse in Tampa’s Hyde Park Village, beginning in 2012 and playing twice-a-week there from March 2014 until the pandemic-forced shutdown in March 2020.

Acme Jazz Garage, the band's first full-length recording of original music, had Acme joined by special guests including conga master Gumbi Ortiz (of Al Di Meola’s band), singer Whitney James, and saxophonist Jeremy Powell, along with veteran Tampa Bay area musicians Rick Runion and Austin Vickrey on saxophones, trumpeter Ron Wilder, and vibraphonist Sam Koppelman.

The CD, released in 2016, is "a solid collection of revivalist funk and swing ... influences rooted in '70s fusion, and the various contemporary pop styles that surrounded it," says Relix magazine. "A capable excursion through one of the more playful eras of America's cultural history."

The CD received extensive airplay on Tampa stations WUSF, 89.7 FM & WMNF, 88.5 FM & also was heard on about 35 other US radio stations, appearing on the JazzWeek airplay chart. Ask your local jazz station to play Acme.

Recorded and mixed with Stephan at the Springs, it was mastered by Ruairi O'Flaherty in L.A., and like all of the band’s music is available on the Solar Grooves label through iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and other outlets.

show less