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Gamble Brothers Kept Industry Types on Their Toes from The Commercial Appeal, August 9, 2003 By Bill Ellis Anyone who has seen the Gamble Brothers Band in town knows they're one of the best live acts going. Now the nation is getting a taste. Congratulations are in order for the Memphis quartet, who won the Independent Music World Series Southeast Showcase finals in Nashville last week. They pick up $35,000 in music gear and prizes for their effort (go to discmakers.com/ imws for the official announcement). More than 1,200 acts applied to the contest, produced by leading CD manufacturer Disc Makers. Independent A&R company TAXI whittled the list to 100, who were then reduced to six by the folks at Billboard magazine. Those half-dozen finalists then played before a panel of 12 industry judges - including representatives from Capitol Records, BMI and Billboard - in a July 31 showdown at Music City club 3d & Lindsley. The funky jazz-rock group - keyboardist/lead vocalist Al Gamble, drummer Chad Gamble, tenor saxophonist Art Edmaiston and bassist Will Lowrimore - faced off against Knoxville's Jag Star, the Smartest Monkeys from Nashville, Atlanta's WISEDUMB, itinerant performer Dean Fields, and a group Memphians will remember as the entertaining winners of last year's International Blues Challenge, Detroit act Chef Chris & His Nairobi Trio. "There was a wide variety of music from hip-hop to punk to pop," says Al Gamble of the contest. "We just hit 'em hard for 20 minutes and everything turned out all right." Alison Jones with BMI in Nashville was one of the impressed judges. "Everyone was so good, but (the Gamble Brothers Band) had a completely different kind of vibe," she says. "They were extremely original with funk and rock mixed together. I thought it was amazing. They kept your blood pumping and on your toes the whole time. There's something very special about that band." Disc Makers editorial manager Scott McCormick, who attended the finals, agreed. "They were great," he says. "They got the room excited and charged up. On top of that, they're killer musicians." First held in the '90s, the Independent Music World Series now consists of four showcases in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and Southwest. Other regional winners this go-round are San Francisco hard rock outfit Dirty Power and Chicago trumpeter Orbert Davis (yet to be held is the Northeast finals, scheduled for October). Success stories include former finalists Splender, Creeper Lagoon and Ultimate Fakebook, all of whom went on to sign major label deals. Among the contest winner's perks is that Disc Makers will manufacture 2,000 CDs for free. That comes at a good time for the Gamble Brothers Band since their new album, "Back to the Bottom," is scheduled for a Sept. 9 release date on local label Archer Records, according to owner Ward Archer. Al Gamble sees the win less as a launching pad than as one more notch in the band's rising reputation. "Hopefully, it'll help open a few more doors," he says. "Like the people from Disc Makers said, 'Hey, take the ball and run with it - some good things will happen.' So that's what we plan to do." As for the band's next bit of prominent exposure, they'll play the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series Aug. 22 along with fellow Archer Records signee Kelley Hurt and Alvin Youngblood Hart in a show to be recorded by Beale Street Caravan. |
