Slingshot Improv Trio didn't so much form as detonate slowly over two decades — a controlled explosion of shared history, deep grooves, and accumulated musical mischief that the Bay Area never quite saw coming but probably should have.
Bassist Pete Novembre and drummer Bret Bailey formed the funk-jam powerhouse Elephino back in 1999. Bret and guitarist Matt Hartle formed Shady Groove in 2001. All three had played together as hired guns countless times before the lightbulb moment when someone finally said: what if we did our own thing?
With a big map and no planned destination, this trio of seasoned improvisers use song and structure the way spacecraft use planets: not to land and stay, but to slingshot around and be propelled back out into the galaxy. During their mostly-improv shows, a familiar song could materialize at any time. Or not. All we can promise is that nobody knows what's going to happen.
We are so blessed to live in the Bay Area, the place where the psychedelic revolution took shape, and where so many great bands were centered in the late 60's. The original community of bands included the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Country Joe and the Fish, and of course the Good old Grateful Dead. The energy behind the Bay Area sound is characterized by constant, in the moment creativity fueled by a fierce anti-authoritarian ethos that rewards freedom, improvisation, and the dissolving of boundaries of any kind. The heart of the music is always centered on the community that evolves around and with it. We practice inclusion, kindness and tolerance. And thus, people of all ages all ages and walks of life are among our tribe. The freedom to explore and take chances with the music, is inspired by the ecstatic dancing that so many people in our audience contribute.