Monty Banks and the High Rollers Las Vegas - Seattle - New York City

Monty Banks, voted "Best Lounge Act" in Las Vegas, interprets the great jazz standards with a characteristic rhythm he calls: "Lounge-A-Billy Swing."  Seattle Magazine calls it "rat-pack inspired,"  a mirthful mix of danceable big-band swing, melodic jazz standards, and hopped-up rockabilly boogie jump. Las Vegas Weekly says: "Banks is like a straight shot back to the Rat Pack days, a Vegas lounge singer who loves his audience, performing with class and style. " There's a toe-tapping lightness that infuses everything the High Rollers play, from understated backround music to the more dynamic showband, swing-dance, and rock-a-boogie styles.

Monty Banks, Vegas-style crooner, pianist, bandleader, arranger, and comic entertainer from Seattle, brings the excitement of "Sin City" to "The Emerald City" and "The Big Apple."  With bands located in both Seattle and Las Vegas,  Monty travels frequently between cities, bringing his high energy entertainment to the famed Las Vegas Strip, cosmopolitan jazz clubs of New York City, and  "swelegent" gatherings throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The playlist ranges from songs made famous by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, lounge icons Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, to jazz geniuses Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Henry Mancini.  For cocktail or dinner music there's the pensive swing of Chet Baker, and for dancing there's the "swing rock boogie" of Nat King Cole and Louis Jordan.

Monty Banks sings while playing on keyboards: piano, organ, vibes and bass violin.

Las Vegas:  the swingin' beat comes via Doug Donada:  drummer, producer, promoter, and "man about town."  Everything about this man is a groove.  Baltimore's Mike Powers completes the trio with his first-rate jazz-guitar; his dazzling showmanship and unparalleled "chops" have earned him countless performances at The Luxor, Excalibur, The Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay, The Venetian, and Aladdin, among others.

Seattle:  Monty presents the father-son team of Ronnie and Harry Pierce on saxophone and clarinet.  Ronnie Pierce is one of the most honored and respected jazz musicians to ever live in the Great Northwest.  He has worked extensively with a great number of jazz icons, including Billy Holiday, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughan, The Mills Brothers and many others. Harry Pierce, Ronnie's son, is quickly coming  to prominence as one of the Northwest's most brilliant horn players, composers, and all around musicians.  As well as teaching woodwind and piano at Capital Music in downtown Seattle, Harry composes music in several genre, including opera, modern dixiland, and  rock and roll. Drummer Jeff Holstrom, the original High Roller, has spent over ten years playing with Monty, and helped originate the "Lounge-A-Billy" rhythm that defines the band's sound.

Las Vegas:  Monty performs at several casinos on and off the famed Strip: at Club Venus in The Venetian Hotel and Casino, at The House of Blues in The Mandaly Bay Hotel and Casino (in the exclusive "Foundation Room," as well as "The Crossroads" and "The "Courtyard"), in the "Images Cabaret" inside the towering Stratosphere, and New Years Eve 2002 at The Orleans Hotel and Casino.

New York City:  February 2002 Monty played three East Village lounges: The Parkside Lounge, The Sidewalk Café, and The C-Note.  Previous New York appearances include Great Hall at The Cooper Union, and two runs at The Knitting Factory.

Seattle:  Monty Banks and The High Rollers entertain at The Northwest's best nightclubs, weddings, private parties, yachting events, and charity benefits.

The High Rollers have played many of Seattle's biggest venues:  Beneroya Hall, the Space Needle, the Seattle Center House, The Intiman Theater (New Years Eve at the Seattle Center), The Union Station (in Tacoma and Seattle), The Museum of History and Industry, the HUB Ballroom (UW Homecoming Dance), the Edmund Meany Hotel Ballroom, The Century Ballroom, the Fenix, the Showbox Theater, and the Moore Theater.

They are equally at home in the more intimate settings of the Kline-Galland Mansion, the Rainier Club, the Ruins Supper Club, or "The China Room" atop the Smith Tower. They have played a number of elegent locations on either side of Lake Washington.

Always comfortable on the "high seas," The High Rollers have performed at Whidbey Island Race Week,  Seattle Yacht Club events, aboard the Skansonia Ferry and Argossy's Cruise Lines, and at venues throughout the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound.  They were honored to play at Seattle Magazine's "Best of Seattle Awards," the VIP Room at the Seattle International Film Festival, and high atop the Seattle Center inside the Space Needle for SIFF's "Austin Powers" premiere.
 

For further information, please contact Leslie at Seattle Parties (206-547-6171) or email Monty.