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Thursday, January 03, 2002 Music: Authentic loungeBandleader attracts fans of all ages with his distinctive old-school beat BY JOSH ELLIS Popular Pacific Northwest lounge bandleader Monty Banks--who has been coming to Las Vegas on and off for about four years--has a word for what he does: swingabilly. "There's a shuffle beat going on in there that's not a swing beat; it's an R&B beat, but only a musicologist would get it." The best thing about Monty Banks is he is not cynical or ironic about the lounge thing. Monty--a Tacoma, Wash., native who did time as a New York playwright and performance artist before embarking on his music career--believes his audiences are civilized people, looking for a civilized evening with some civilized music. "I've been very struck by how much appreciation there is for the old Vegas aesthetic, even by the punks and the hell-raisers and troublemakers here." Monty spends half the year here--the cold months, of course, continuing this theme of civilized behavior--and the warm months in Seattle, where he has a large cult following and plays the biggest venues. He started there in the early '90s, when the city was caught up in the grunge thing. While everybody else was growing goatees and practicing their Alice in Chains licks, Monty was belting out songs like "Stormy Weather" and "I've Got the World on a String." He found an appreciative audience, there as here: young counterculture kids who were looking for something a little more groovy than the endless metal-freakout bands and punk minimalists. Along with his band, the High Rollers--the roster of which depends on which city Monty's in and who's available--Monty puts on a hell of a lounge show. Perched in the center of the stage behind his keyboards, Monty is an iconic figure, around which jazz musicians and Monty's Angels, female dancers and singers whom Monty describes as "the Ladies Auxiliary to the Monty Banks and the High Rollers organization," move. It's half Tony Bennett, half Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The greatest thing about Monty is, again, that he's not being ironic, a quality that lends his work that special something that a lot of other old Vegas wannabes lack. Monty has the mark of a great entertainer: He actually pays attention to what the songs are about. When he plays them, you get everything the writer intended. Monty's not histrionic about it or anything, but there's a force and a presence there. A lot of other Vegas acts would do well to pay attention. One of the best moments of Monty's show is when he brings up Tara Bratton, a local singer and Angel, to do her intense and haunting version of the Gershwin classic "Summertime." Monty's piano playing is straight out of Birdland, but Tara's voice is somewhere between Maria Callas and PJ Harvey, and the mixture is a reminder that the best tunes are the ones that combine polished beauty and raw emotion. So what's in store for Monty Banks' immediate future?
In Vegas, Monty and the High Rollers are the house band at the House of
Blues' Acoustic Asylum jam every third Sunday. He also plays Thursdays at
the Tropics Broilers and Bar. Soon, Monty's heading back to Seattle for a
little while, but don't worry: You can always download songs from his
website, www.montybanks.com, and check his calendar for appearances. I
have the feeling he won't be away from Vegas for too long; as Monty says,
"This town was built on entertainment." |