Euphonic Productions presents:
The original Gold Sparkle Band reunion featuring:
Charles Waters - alto sax & clarinet
Rob Mallard - tenor sax
Roger Ruzow - trumpet
Andrew Burnes - bass
Chris Riggenbach - bass
Andrew Barker - drums

8:30pm, Fri, May 16
$7 at the door
First Existentialist Congregation
470 Candler Park Drive, NE

This performance marks the first time the original Gold Sparkle Band line-up have performed together since 1997.

Heavily influenced by free jazz explorers like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Archie Shepp (among others), Gold Sparkle Band (GSB for short) is an acoustic avant-garde jazz quintet/quartet that has been active since 1994. In fact, GSB has often favored the same piano-less alto sax/trumpet/bass/drums format as Coleman's trailblazing quartets of the late '50s and early '60s. GSB was formed in Atlanta, GA, in 1994, when tenor saxophonist Rob Mallard, trumpeter Roger Ruzow, alto saxman/clarinetist Charles Waters, bassist Andrew Burnes and drummer Andrew Barker (his 1965 gold sparkle Ludwig kit inspired the band's name) joined forces. Chris Riggenbach replaced Burnes in 1997, and following Waters and Barker's move to NYC in 2000, was subsequently replaced by Adam Roberts. Mallard left in '97, forming William Carlos Williams (a jazz/rock quintet) with Stewart Voetglin, Wes D, Rob Parham and, eventually Burnes. WCW released two cassettes, two CDs and a 7" single before Burnes also left for NYC.

When GSB's original lineup first got together in 1994, Waters and Ruzow were hardly strangers; they had been roommates, and in their pre-Atlanta days, they had known each other from the music department at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. In the '90s, most of GSB's albums came out on the band's own label, Nu Records, including GSB's debut albums, "Downsizing" and "23" (which came out in 1998). In 1997, GSB's members recorded both "Earthmover" and "Hallelujah!" for the Third Eye label. The later was released under the name Nuzion Big Band and spotlights an expanded GSB lineup. In 1999, GSB started recording for Squealer Music, a small label based in Virginia. Squealer released GSB's "Nu*Soul Zodiac" in 2000, and "Fugues and Flowers" (a collection of live performances from GSB's 2000 US tour) in 2002.
-- Alex Henderson, All Music Guide