Jitterbug Vipers are more than just a jazz band. They are a wailing, swingadelic 1930s rock & roll bundle of fun… raucous yet refined.

This Austin, Texas quartet specializes in a jazz niche known as “viper jazz”… a musical heritage which pulls from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie.

 …a screeching U-Turn back to the party where jazz music packed the dance floor and dazzled the audience with brilliant streams of improvisatory musicianship.

Releasing 2 albums in 3 years, the Jitterbug Vipers are delivering their newest work – Phoebe’s Dream.

Jitterbug Vipers includes:

1) Slim Richey – a jazz/swing guitar legend known as Texas’ “Most Dangerous Guitar Player”,

2) Francie Meaux Jeaux – a rainbow haired bassist known for her stage visage called “Ass To The People”,

3) Masumi Jones – one of Japan’s finest big band drummers, and

4) Sarah Sharp – originally a substitute in the band, she is now the primary songwriter who regularly tops polls in the Austin Chronicle for Best Jazz Vocalist.

Outside of the Vipers, Sarah also works under the name Kaliyo and co-writes with Andrea Perry. Their songs have been placed in fashion and film. Highlights include promos for Chanel, Dell, as well as TV shows Revenge, Switched At Birth, and The Lying Game.

With a loyal live following and “all that jazz”, the Vipers have arrived for a long stay at the peak of their niche.

Here are some quotes from the press:

The Austin Chronicle says: “The local quartet’s one of the funnest and best bands you can catch around Austin.”

Eugene Weekly says: “When the group plays, somehow, somewhere, Jerry Garcia hands Count Basie a joint and says, ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about.’”

I have to agree with the Eugene Weekly. Garcia and Basie are probably smiling every time this record gets played.

Phoebe’s Dream is the group’s challenge to itself to write 9 modern classics which “evoke the rollicking spirit of the swing era’s halcyon days”.

Well done guys. Well done!

I suggest grabbing your copy of Phoebe’s Dream then connecting with the Jitterbug Vipers on Facebook or Twitter.