JUNIOR REGGAE

JUNIOR REGGAE

The story of Junior Reggae began in the late ‘90s – Rob Ewing and Jason Levis met as undergrads at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Jason grew up in the Bay Area playing roots reggae, while Rob had grown up in Connecticut deep into avant-garde jazz. It was in Boulder, as housemates, that Rob started checking out Jason’s record collection, and his Augustus Pablo dub records quickly caught Rob’s eyes and ears. Rob and Jason both moved to the Bay Area after college and continued playing music together in various creative jazz and improvised music projects when Jason started a band called Joseph’s Bones in 2005. This band, which remains active, explores the intersection of Jason’s interest in roots reggae and contemporary classical music, and features a trombone section as its frontline that includes Rob in the lineup (as heard on the 2008 release Nomadic Pulse). A few years later, Rob wanted to explore his own reggae/avant-jazz project, and decided to take on a new musical role – the bass. From there, Rob started a handful of different reggae projects, each with a different slant, but all of them with Jason on drums. First came Pavlov’s Band, a large horn-driven ensemble modeled after the Skatalites. Next came Reggae on the Radio, an experimental “chord-less” dub quartet (two horns, bass and drums) marrying free jazz with reggae. And finally, in 2015, Rob assembled the original Junior Reggae line up, a trio of Rob, Jason and keyboardist Steve Blum. The fourth member joined soon after – Max Miller-Loran, who plays trumpet and keyboards – and this is the lineup featured on their S&S debut, These Lines.

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