Rounders 2011
David Roe - Musician, Band Leader, Song Writer
David Roe has logged millions of touring miles. DR, as he is known from Singapore to Cape Cod, has played in Rock, Country, Blues, Wedding, Ethnic, Folk, Jazz and Whatever bands that could sustain a musician who really just wanted to play the joyous songs from the American South; Ragtime from the Carolina Piedmont, Memphis Jug Band, Delta Blues and Traditional Jazz from the Big Easy.
He accompanies himself on piano, keyboard rig, his vintage Martin ukulele or the Guild guitar he has carried since 1974. He is also the snare drummer in the New Orleans All Star Brass Band and sits at the drum throne in Bayside Nation, a Washington DC based rock band.
DR was born in Nurenburg Germany in 1957. Christmas 1963, he figured out how to play The First Noel on the piano. By 1968 he was also playing guitar, spurred on by his father’s music collection that ranged from Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Prima, Louis Armstrong and Pearl Bailey to Joan Baez, Dave van Ronk, Dylan, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and Josh White.
His childhood was a mixture of deep-rooted family farm life in upstate New York and a nomadic military life that included stints in Kansas, Virginia and Hawaii.
In the mid 70’s he arrived in New Orleans and began fronting The Halfway to Nowhere Band, formed at the corner of St. Peter and Royal in the French Quarter and forged in an apartment above Tipitinas.
The 80’s found DR crisscrossing the country with Renaissance Faires and Irish Trad Rock bands, Celtic Stone and Napper Tandy.
In the 90’s you could hear him fronting The Royal Rounders traditional jazz band on Royal Street and Jackson Square, and at clubs, music festivals bars and coffeehouses in New Orleans and around the world.
DR was the bandleader for The Rounders, a super group of former Fats Domino, Dr. John and Earl King sidemen and elder statesmen of New Orleans R&B.
DR has a repertoire of about a million tunes from country blues and down home folk to jazz, swing, and even a few popular songs from each decade of the 20th century. Well, maybe not the 80s.
DR has written songs, and acted as music director for The Hanlon-Lees ActionTheater, Renaissance Faires, Conventions, Recordings, Industrials, and when the muse is in the room. With Patti McKenny he wrote songs and sketches for three seasons of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion.
Joshua Gouzy - Bass
An up-and-coming bass player from Chalmette, Joshua Gouzy is known for his pure sound, his impressive ability to improvise and play by ear, and his musical versatility.
Joshua began to develop both his musical ears and his improvisational abilities at the age of 11 while playing electric bass in various churches in and around the New Orleans area. Since sheet music was almost never provided at the churches, he learned the music purely by listening to the rest of the group, a skill he brings directly into jazz. Today, Joshua continues to be involved in the music ministry of his local church, which has taught him the importance of giving back to the community, and was one of the reasons he pursued a degree in Music Education at Loyola University of New Orleans.
Joshua took up the upright bass during high school where began his formal music training under the instruction of Everett Link, former bassist for The Dukes of Dixieland. Everett taught Joshua the basics of jazz and showed him the limitless possibilities for creative expression possible found only through jazz.
Joshua is a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans, with a degree in Music Education and a minor in Jazz Studies. During his first semester at Loyola in spring 2006, Joshua won the audition as the bassist for Loyola’s top Jazz band, and held that chair for four years.
Today, Joshua is pursuing a Masters degree in Jazz Studies at the University of New Orleans, while working as a professional musician and instructor throughout the New Orleans area. He is also an Advanced Jazz Combo/Theory Instructor for the New Orleans Jazz Institute at UNO.
Joshua has performed at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and has performed with Steve Masakowski, Tony Dagradi, Michael Pellera, Dr. Jazz, Larry Sieberth, Jason Marsalis , The John Mahoney Big Band,, Troy Davis, The New Orleans Jazz Vipers and the Caroline Fourmy Jazz Band..
Bob Marquart - Trumpet, Tenor Banjo, Uke
Born in Niagara Falls New York, Bob Marquart has been performing professionally on the trumpet for over 40 years.
His father played the in the local volunteer fire company band and, as Bob puts it: “Dad was a farmer and a carpenter and played excellent trumpet as an amateur. There was never a question about what instrument I would take up. He was my first teacher, and gave me a really good background in marching and wind band literature as well as Dixieland. The solo that I play on Darktown Strutter's Ball is still the one I heard him play for years. I literally learned it on his knee.”
Bob enlisted in the Navy in 1969 and was accepted into the music program as a trumpet instrumentalist. For the next 27 years Bob performed in and led navy bands throughout the world, including the US, Europe, West Africa, South America, Australia, Japan and the Pacific Islands.
Upon his retirement from the navy in 1996, Bob settled in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area where he was a freelance trumpeter and entertainer for 14 years. He worked extensively with Dave Jacobson of Royal Atlantic Entertainment, playing, singing and performing on trumpet, banjo and guitar.
In May, D.R. heard Bob sitting in with the Lagniappe Brass Band at the Balcony Music Club and, thinking Bob was a visitor to New Orleans, invited him to sit in with his band, the Royal Rounders, the following week at Buffa's, only to find that Bob had been in town for almost a year and had a steady gig on Bourbon street with drummer Freddy Staehle, a former member of the Rounders. The rest is history.
Leah Rose Wilson - Violin
Leah Rose Wilson grew up in our great last frontier in Fairbanks, Alaska. a small town by many standards. Her favorite time was summer, which meant family trips to the mountains, exploring old copper mines and looking for fossils. Music entered her life when her best friend took up the violin and Leah could not resist. Luckily her parents were supportive and supplied her with an instrument and a family friend as a teacher. Leah took lessons through High School. Instead of pursuing music in higher education Leah decided to experience life on her own accord. It was almost ten years later that a friend of her mother’s offered her a job to teach music in the rural villages of Alaska. It was a great excuse to resurrect the old grandfather violin and go on another adventure. Currently, she finds herself living in New Orleans and is enjoying rediscovering the lost art of fiddling.
Tim Paco - Contra Bass Violin, Sousaphone, Guitars, Ukulele
As a sideman and session musician, Tim Paco has played in literally hundreds of ensembles, marching bands, and orchestras, on literally thousands of gigs.
He plays, builds, teaches, and repairs Contra Bass Violin, Electric Bass, Guitars, and Ukuleles. Anything he can play on a string, he can play on the Sousaphone.
His song, Requiem For An Asshole, recorded by Egg Yolk Jubilee was featured on Season II of TREME on HBO.
In his spare time, he builds replicas of the steamships that once plied the Mississippi, and has been rebuilding his Grand Prix one piston ring at a time for years.
Tim & Josh have discovered they may have common ancestry, rooted just down river from New Orleans . The Rounders boast not one, but two Chalmatians.