Ringleaders Revolt

Innova Records 2004

ACT I
1: Overture
2: Mandalay Song
3: Big Top Suite Pt 1 : March Of The Elephants
4: I Am Not An Animal, I Am A Human Being
5: Big Top Suite Pt 2 : Clowns
6: Contortionist Tango
7: Requiem For John Merrick
8: Intermission

ACT II
9: Big Top Suite Pt 3 : Daredevil Chicken Trapeze
10: Grand Entrance

11: The Mack
12: Escape From The Big House
13: Die By The Sword
14: Ringleader's Revolt
15: Exit Music

 

THE BAND
Brian Carpenter (slide trumpet, trumpet), Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone), Brandon Seabrook (banjo, mandolin, tape loops), Alec K. Redfearn (accordion), Ron Caswell (tuba), Jerome Deupree (drums), Charlie Kohlhase (baritone saxophone -all), Leigh Calabrese (singing saw - 5), Karen Langlie (cello, short-wave radio -12), DJ Hazard (voice - 12). Mixed by Danny Blume at Good & Evil Studios and mad genius illustrations by David Goldin.

THE MAKING OF RINGLEADERS (2002-2004)
Leading up to the release of Ringleaders, Carpenter formed a collaboration with tenor banjoist Brandon Seabrook, and aided by saxophonist Jim Hobbs, drummer Jerome Deupree, accordionist Alec K. Redfearn, tubist Ron Caswell, and musical saw player Leigh Calabrese, formed a contemporary free improvisation ensemble which used circus music as a jumping-off point. After a summer-long residency in 2003 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Carpenter recorded Ringleaders Revolt, released by Innova Records in September 2004.

THE MUSIC
Recorded at Q Division Studios in August 2003 after a summer-long residency and mixed by Danny Blume of Good&Evil Studios, Ringleaders Revolt rolls through a few gin-soaked versions of music from the 1920s, including Kurt Weill's "Mandalay Song" and American circus music composer Karl King's "Triumphal March". The rest is a Fellini-esque fiction of the past, a crazy burlesque circus spun out of control featuring the formidable Beat Circus with sonic subversion by Brandon Seabrook's surreal tape loops, Leigh Calabrese's singing saw, Karen Langlie's short-wave radio, and an hilarious cameo by legendary comedian DJ Hazard.

THE PRAISE
Boston Phoenix Top 10 of 2004:
"Slide trumpeter Brian Carpenter and his three-ring-theater-jazz troupe The Beat Circus emerged as a formidable virtuoso ensemble with their first CD, Ringleader's Revolt (Innova). Working with Jim Hobbs (saxophone), Brandon Seabrook (banjo), Ron Caswell (tuba), Alec K. Redfearn (accordion), and Matt McLaren (drums), Carpenter created a band with a decidedly Fellini-esque bent who allude to Nino Rota, Kurt Weill, and the American circus music of Karl King." -- Jon Garelick, 12/24/04

"Even at its most aggressively modernist, it remains a love song to a genre that just doesn't get enough credit...an act of minor genius. When all's said and done, you're just going to want more." -- Mike Meginnis, Splendid

"The Beat Circus operates on a musical boundary hardly ever performed live or even heard on record." -- All About Jazz

"Their 2004 Innova cd Ringleaders Revolt is a riotous collage of circus and burlesque and tango which suggest affinities with Willem Breuker, though there's clearly something original going on. Serious fun, references to John Merrick and all." -- Francis Davis, Village Voice

"They could be the house band for the dark carnival in Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', its full-length cd Ringleaders Revolt the accompaniment to some faded old black-and-white cartoon that never saw the light of day because its creator's sense of humor made others...uneasy." -- Weekly Planet

"Ringleader's Revolt is a success on virtually every level imaginable." -- babysue magazine

Recommended cd pick by All About Jazz, Boston Herald, and Modern Humorist.

Featured on NPR's All Songs Considered, WXYC Chapel Hill NC, WMNF Tampa FL, WFMU NY, WMBR Boston MA, WZBC Boston MA, WBCN Boston MA, WNYC New York, KAOS Olympia WA, WPRB Princeton NJ, WTBU Boston MA