Lorenzo's Music

Lorenzo's Music is: Tom Ray - vocals (tmray), Mark Whitcomb - guitar (whitcombia), Scott Beardsley - drums, Bryan Elliott - saxophone, Cliff Hammer - bass (cghammer) Eric Bruzewitz - keyboard and organ. Their sound is not unlike a band of swaggering Lotharios caught between yesteryear and today. The three time Madison Area Music Award winner's sound combines the sax-powered crunch of Morphine with the crazed-circus gypsy-swing genius of Firewater. Tom Ray's addictive voice rasps and growls over grimy guitar, saxophone, and all kinds of slinky rhythms.

Tom Ray - vocals (tmray),
Mark Whitcomb - guitar (whitcombia),
Scott Beardsley - drums,
Bryan Elliott - saxophone,
Cliff Hammer - bass (cghammer)
Eric Bruzewitz - keyboard and organ.

Their sound is not unlike a band of swaggering Lotharios caught between yesteryear and today. The three time Madison Area Music Award winner's sound combines the sax-powered crunch of Morphine with the crazed-circus gypsy-swing genius of Firewater. Tom Ray's addictive voice rasps and growls over grimy guitar, saxophone, and all kinds of slinky rhythms. Mark Whitcomb's off-the-cuff brilliance as a guitar player is extremely engaging.. --sometimes a little swing, sometimes a little Balkan, but always elusive and infectious.

As a band that reinvents itself with every new record, 2008 finds a new Lorenzo's Album "Bazar", their 4th studio record, which is released under Creative Commons License like the 3 previous records. It is mostly an indie rock record, with a slight venture into experimental styled pop. Tom Waits is always a reference; Man Man, Firewater as well. But there is more to the appropriations that exist on "Bazar". Styles of Fripp, the Latin Playboys, TV on the Radio and the White Stripes are also summoned. These unabashed gents are making irreverent lyrical contributions and musical stabs at modern styles ranging from blues to rock to latin to new wave to neo-soul.

There is still an underlying lorenzo-ness to it all, a 'Lorenzo sound' that pervades everything they do, and even if each album seems to be a new adventure in songs and sounds it can always be immediately recognizable as Lorenzo's Music. The reality of the creative process that exists for this core group is thus: Do what you want to do, make what you want to make.

People routinely ask bands: What kind of music do you play? For this band, the answer is easy... Lorenzo's Music.