NJRB – New Jersey Rhythm & Blues – The name says it all. High powered dance music of the 60’s and 70’s, with an edge. Playing the best of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Smokey Robinson and other legends with a groove that can’t be matched.

The band’s the brainchild of NYC pros Don Sarlin on guitar (Van Morrison, Esther Phillips) and drummer Kevin Ellman (Todd Rundren’s Utopia, Bette Midler, Manhattan Transfer) who’ve teamed up to bring back the joy and sweat of a Saturday night R&B dance party not to be forgotten.

Up front is lead singer McPaul Smith, exploding across the stage with the moves of a blue-eyed James Brown and the real-time edge of a David Byrne, taking classics like Cold Sweat, Mustang Sally and Knock on Wood to places you’d never imagine. Joining McPaul on back-up vocals and featured on solo tunes as well is Cindy Aulisio, a powerhouse singer with a 4-octave range and first rate R&B chops who tears up the room on tunes like Aretha’s “Chain of Fools” and “Think”.

Sharing the spotlight are the Garden State Horns, seasoned pros on tenor and trumpet, who deliver the punch and passion of your favorite R&B hits, bringing down the house with rip-roaring solos and crisp, cutting section work.

Also featured are...

  • Bassist Bruce Gatewood, most recently seen touring with Deodato throughout Europe, and who’s worked with Jon Secada, Lesley Gore and many others;

  • Keyboard player and vocalist Shelly Riff, who’s released two CD’s of original material and is currently working with “Little Steven” Van Zandt on his Richard and the Young Lions garage band project, while appearing with his own band at top clubs in NY and NJ; and

  • Guitarist Gary Hamilton, whose mastery of Chicago Blues reflects his years of performing in clubs in the Windy City.

Some background notes:

The band came together when Kevin and Don, both long time Montclair residents who moved into the business world after years of “big time” performing, connected and agreed it was time to put together a working band to play the kind of music they loved and knew their friends loved as well.

“I recall first meeting Kevin at a kids’ bowling party at Eagle Rock lanes,” says Don, who lives in Montclair with his wife Ruth and two sons, Asher (18) and Jesse (13). Kevin was in a similar place, also with a wife named Ruth and two kids here, Rebecca (13) and Kayla (11).“

We started talking and realized we knew many of the same people from the NYC music scene, and had even played for the same singer, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, at different times. Things lay dormant for a while, but then Kevin called me out of the blue, asking me if I’d want to get playing again. From there we became the proverbial pied pipers, coaxing and cajoling the best players we could find, and taking the group from a 4-person rehearsal band to a nine-piece working R&B band. It’s really amazing how much talent there is in one small town, but then again Montclair isn’t just any town.

We began by playing tunes in a variety of idioms – to work in NYC you had to play anything from folk to pop to R&B to hard rock to jazz – but kept locking in on 60’s R&B.

We fashioned the way the band performs after Van Morrison and James Brown’s band leading styles. I was powerfully influenced by a brief but memorable stint with Van Morrison back in his “Moondance” and “Domino” days. Van led his band the same way James Brown did, with set song arrangements but with open-ended sections, or vamps. He would conduct the band with one hand behind his back, bringing the volume up and down, and calling “hits”, where the drummer would lead the rest of the band on accent beats in response to certain lines he’d sing.

We do the same thing now with our lead singer McPaul Smith; the band will “break down” to drums and bass on cue, and then explode into hits in response to McPaul’s vocal cues – it’s really a gas to play, to dance to, and to watch, judging from the crowds that have been growing in size at each gig we play.

The band has strong Montclair roots, among them the players have 7 kids here, including two recently graduating MHS seniors (Class of 2002), Asher Sarlin and Alexa Hamilton.

“Kevin builds great drum parts, and is really methodical about defining the feel of the tunes, no doubt the product of his years in the studio with well-known perfectionists like Todd Rundgren. He’s the kind of player who can dismantle a complex drum part and pick just an element or two to alter, just as an experienced actor will do an alternate take of a scene and just change one little component of his performance – a move or maybe just a look.”

We’re particularly pleased to have Cindy Aulisio in the band, our newest member. She’s got an amazing range and a really big, classic R&B voice; it’s something to hear such a rip-roaring soul sound emanate from this soft spoken, diminutive blond lady – we’re lucky to have her, and our audience is even luckier.”

See you at the next gig!