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Umphrey's McGee
Total Media Plays: 23,748
Become a Fan
A jam band coming out of the Midwest in the mid-'90s,
Umphrey's McGee
edged toward the
Frank Zappa
side of the improv rock scale, as opposed to the
Grateful Dead
/
Allman Brothers Band
direction espoused by many of their contemporaries, like
the Big Wu
. The members of
Umphrey's McGee
met at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. The original four bandmembers (keyboardist
Joel Cummins
, guitarist
Brendan Bayliss
, bassist
Ryan Stasik
, and drummer
Mike Mirro
) had been playing in
various campus bands when they got together in December 1997, naming themselves after a cousin of
Bayliss
. With the national jam band infrastructure already in place, the band quickly began disseminating their live shows and soon released their first album,
Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
. The fourth-generation jam band often included songs by
Phish
and
moe.
in their live sets, along with the usual selection of wacky covers.
The quartet won a large following in the South Bend area. As bandmembers graduated, the group instated a more and more rigorous rehearsal schedule. Half of the band had degrees in music, so emphasis was placed on constant precision. The band religiously studied tapes of their performances in order to improve them. While their record sales never reached high levels, they used live recordings to pave the way for gigs in parts of the country they'd never been to before. A story circulates of the band selling out shows in Colorado before their first trip there due to the distribution of live CDs. In 1999, the band released a live recording, titled
Songs for Older Women
, their first recording to feature percussionist
Andy Farag
. In 2000, the band became a sextet with the addition of guitarist
Jake Cinninger
, a former member of a fellow South Bend group
Ali Babba's Tahini
, which had broken up, and they made the move to the bustling metropolis of Chicago. From their new home base, the band went on two-week jaunts throughout the Midwest, occasionally hitting other markets and sharing the stage with a variety of musicians, including
Dr. Didg
(aka
Graham Wiggins
), the Chicago-based blues harmonica player
Sugar Blue
,
Béla Fleck
,
Topaz
, and many others.
On New Year's Eve 2000,
Umphrey's McGee
released their third album, another live disc, titled
One Fat Sucka
.
Local Band Does O.K.
, their first studio album, came out in 2002. In 2003, they released their first DVD, Live from the Lake Coast, which had been filmed in July 2002. It marked the last appearance on an
Umphrey's McGee
recording by
Mirro
, who had left to go to medical school and was replaced on New Year's Eve 2002 by
Kris Myers
, who had a master's degree in jazz drumming.
Local Band Does OKlahoma
, their next live album, also was released in 2003. A second studio album,
Anchor Drops
, appeared in 2004 on fellow jam band
the String Cheese Incident
's SCI Fidelity label, and a second DVD, Wrapped Around Chicago: New Years at the Riv, was issued in 2005. In 2006,
Umphrey's McGee
released their third studio album,
Safety in Numbers
. The studio effort
Bottom Half
and the concert album
Live at the Murat
both followed in 2007. ~ Jesse Jarnow, All Music Guide
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Listeners
Upcoming Shows
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Venue:
Blender Theater At Gramercy
Location: New York, NY
more info
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Venue:
Blender Theater At Gramercy
Location: New York, NY
more info
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Venue:
Blender Theater At Gramercy
Location: New York, NY
more info
Friday, October 17, 2008
Venue:
Smith Opera House
Location: Geneva, NY
more info
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Venue:
Electric Factory
Location: Philadelphia, PA
more info
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© 2008 All Music Guide, inc. All rights reserved.