'Big Rude Jake' is a
singer,
songwriter and
jazz musician from
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada. He recorded several albums with different jazz ensembles and musicians, mixing
rock,
blues,
ragtime,
swing,
rhythm and blues and
punk rock together. Some attention was brought to the band in the late
1990s, during the
swing revival. Big Rude Jake then disappeared, and came back in
2006.
Bio
''
Butane Fumes & Bad Cologne'', the first record by Big Rude Jake and his Gentlemen Players, was recorded in 2 days, on
26 and
27 July 1993 in Toronto. With what the group described as a "ridiculous puny budget" and producer
Gordie Johnson of local rock act
Big Sugar, the idea was to record "off the floor" twelve songs mixing different jazz styles that were popular six or seven decades before, along with modern lyrics.
''
Blue Pariah'', the second album, followed in
1996, and "Swing Baby" was aired in college radios across Canada and
United States. Frustrated by the incapacity of having this record properly distributed in the US, Big Rude Jake left his band and Toronto, and established himself in
Brooklyn,
New York, where he signed a record deal with indie
label Roadrunner Records. A third album, ''
Big Rude Jake'' was released in 1999, still mixing jazz, rock and punk, and introducing one of Big Rude Jake's ferocious song, "Let's Kill all the Rock Stars".
In 2002, he recorded a fourth album, ''
Live Faust, Die Jung'', totally different from the first three ones. After that, he disappeared and showed up only early 2006, when he played several gigs in Toronto.
Discography
★ ''
Butane Fumes & Bad Cologne'' (1993, Spanky Productions)
★ ''
Blue Pariah'' (1996, Spanky Productions)
★ ''
Big Rude Jake'' (1999, Roadrunner Records)
★ ''
Live Faust, Die Jung'' (2002)
External links
★
Big Rude Jake's official web site
★
Big Rude Jake's bio on maplemusic.com
★
Big Rude Jake's bio on VH1
★
About the ''Big Rude Jake'' album