Umphrey's McGee is a band from Chicago, IL, whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation." The band's moniker is a twist on the name of a second cousin of bandleader Brendan Bayliss named Humphries McGee. In late 2004, the band was declared by Rolling Stone Magazine to be the succesors to the jamband throne previously held by Phish.

Contents

1 History 1.1 Current Members 1.2 Original Members 1.3 Discography 1.4 The art of Umphrey's improvisation

History

Umphrey's McGee posesses deep musical roots. Though the band's approach to their live performances is influenced by Phish and the Dead (ever-changing setlists, lots of improvisation, two sets per night, taping of shows permitted), they are much more influenced on a musical level by progressive rock bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Dream Theater, and Genesis, as well as heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden. However, there really isn't a style of popular music that Umphrey's does not cover. Artists covered in concert by Umphrey's range from Lionel Ritchie to Metallica to Toto to Snoop Dogg.

Formed at the University of Notre Dame in December 1997 by guitarist/vocalist Brendan Bayliss , bassist Ryan Stasik , keyboardist Joel Cummins , and drummer Mike Mirro , Umphrey's McGee combined members of Tashi Station and Stomper Bob , two popular Notre Dame rock bands. Almost immediately, the band was technically proficient. Even the earliest concerts contain top-notch musicianship and a uniquely complex yet accessible form of songwriting. Initially, the band mixed their originals with Phish covers and other crowd favorites like Guns N Roses's "Patience" and Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts theme "Linus and Lucy."

In mid-1998, after only 8 months together, the band released their debut album, the hilariously titled Greatest Hits Vol. III . The group decided to record an album immediately because it was easier to get live gigs with an official CD. Long out of print, the album contains many of Umphrey's future concert warhorses, such as "Divisions" and "All in Time."

Shortly after the release of the album, the band added a fifth member, percussionist Andy Farag . Farag's father became the band's agent, and a second pressing of Greatest Hits Vol. III featured Farag in the album's inner sleeve and credits. By the end of the year, Umphrey's McGee, along with peers Ali Baba's Tahini , were one of the most popular bands in the South Bend/Notre Dame area. They began performing outside of the area at colleges and house parties, allowing listeners to tape and trade their music freely.

By 1999, the band had gained notoriety outside of Indiana, especially with the release of the live album Songs for Older Women , featuring live tracks recorded over a two-night stand in November 1998. Andy Gadiel , an early fan who founded the wildly popular JamBase.com website (as well as the most popular Phish website ever, Andy Gadiel's Phish Page ) and has enormous influence within the jamband community, gave glowing reviews of the band and helped spread curiosity about the Umphrey's McGee concert experience.

In 2000, after officially relocating to Chicago, the band's musical dynamic reached a new level in September with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Jake Cinninger , formerly of friendly rival group Ali Baba's Tahini . Cinninger, an astonishgly accomplished guitarist, brought a distinct heaviness to the Umphrey's sound, as well a large repetoire of original music, much of which comprised the bulk of the now defunct Ali Baba's Tahini catalog. Shortly after Cinninger's arrival, the band released another live album, the somewhat lackluster One Fat Sucka containing live performances recorded in the summer and fall of 2000 (a few tracks featured were recorded before Cinninger joined).

The new album made little impact, but Umphrey's had honed an entirely new sound, featuring both guitarists in a "twin lead" capacity. More often than not, the playing style of other jambands with dual guitars tends to resemble The Allman Brothers Band. However, because of Umphrey's heaviness and progressive rock roots, the twin-lead harmonizing of Bayliss and Cinninger has a tendency to resemble groups like Iron Maiden and Wishbone Ash.

Around 2001, the band began practicing intense improvisational excercises. One of their first productive jam sessions took place in a hotel in the "Jimmy Stewart Ballroom" during the wedding of fan/website designer Jeremy Welsh. Therefore, the band began to call their onstage improvisational excursions "Jimmy Stewart." This was a completely new approach to group improvisation, and was much more detailed and in depth than that of their predecessors or their contemporaries (see below for a detailed explanation of the band's improvisational approach). Later in the year, both Jake Cinninger and Joel Cummins released solo albums.

2002 saw the release of the band's first proper recording, Local Band Does OK . Many fans regard this as the definitive Umphrey's McGee release. Containing jaw-dropping time changes and musical precision, the album also showcases excellent songwriting, an uncommon trait within the jamband genre. That summer, the first annual Bonnaroo Festival took place in rural Manchester, TN, featuring over 30 bands performing in front of nearly 100,000 people. Umphrey's played to their largest audience to date, and shockingly, the band sold more CDs than any other artist on the bill (including Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio, and Norah Jones).

The band almost ended in late 2002 when drummer Mike Mirro announced he was leaving the band to attend medical school. After hundreds of tapes were reviewed by percussionist Andy Farag, the band settled on Kick the Cat drummer Kris Myers , who had a masters degree from DePaul University and was a much more accomplished drummer than Mirro.

Most of 2003 saw Umphrey's on the road, playing to ever expanding audiences and honing their unique sound. By this point, Bayliss and Cinninger were guitar virtuosos, and their differing styles were incredibly successful counters to one another. Even more importantly, Kris Myers drumming style had taken Umphrey's music to an entirely new level, as the band became even heavier than before. On any given night, the band would move from jazz standards to reggae to thrash metal with astonishing precision.

In 2004, the band released the critically acclaimed Anchor Drops , recorded in several different studios throughout the Chicago area. Shortly before the release of the album, the band scored a distribution deal for both Anchor Drops and Local Band Does OK , and for the first time, Umphrey's McGee music was available in stores all over the country. The album recieved rave reviews from several high-profile magazines. Once again, Umphrey's headed to Bonnaroo, but this time they were headlining a late night spot opposite Vida Blue (featuring members of Phish, The Meters, and Aquarium Rescue Unit). The band performed to over 20,000 people, many of whom had never heard the band before. Thousands of new fans were converted, and by mid-set, several other musicians had lined the stage to watch the epic performance.

Response from Bonnaroo was enormous. Two months later, jam kings Phish broke up. The very next month, folloiwng a Phish tribute issue, the scene's top magazine, Relix , featured Umphrey's on the cover. Additionally, Rolling Stone Magazine declared Umphrey's "the number one contender to Phish's jam-smeared crown." The comparison is lost on many (including some band members) since Umphrey's current sound does not resemble Phish, but many people feel it is legitimate because they do not sound like Phish, thus breathing new life into the genre.

Current Members

Brendan Bayliss - guitar vocals (1997 - present)

Jake Cinninger - guitar, vocals (2000 - present)

Joel Cummins - keyboards, vocals (1997 - present)

Ryan Stasik - bass (1997 - present)

Kris Myers - drums (2003 - present)

Andy Farag - percussion (1998 - present)

Original Members

Brendan Bayliss - guitar vocals (1997 - present)

Joel Cummins - keyboards, vocals (1997 - present)

Ryan Stasik - bass, no vocals (1997 - present)

Mike Mirro - drums (1997 - 2002)

Discography

Greatest Hits Vol. III (1998)

Songs for Older Women (1999, recorded live in 1998)

One Fat Sucka (2000, recorded live)

Local Band Does OK (2002)

Local Band Does OKlahoma (2003, recorded live)

Anchor Drops (2004)

The art of Umphrey's improvisation

Longtime fan Jon McLennand explained the concept of "Jimmy Stewart" on the popular Umphrey's McGee fan website, Umphreaks.com

Jamming is not always linear. Some bands touch on the concept of non-linearity. Some do it with much greater depth and style than others. You've heard bands jam where someone starts up a riff, and everyone starts playing said riff. Simple stuff. Someone starts playing the outlying chords, somebody starts soloing. Voila! You're a jamband. What Umphrey's does on a consistent basis, and with fluidity, which is where people get confused, is create a longer riff, that spans an entire measure, or longer. By doing this, you give the rest of the band more room to work with and create. And create they do. When no longer confined with a quick repeating riff to play off of, the other 5 members are able to create their own textures that build off the original riff. And, with each completion of the section, they go back to the top to repeat it, hence the non-linearity. Allowing for futher coloration and characterizing of that little piece of music. Then take it where it may. Sometimes modulating it through different keys or changing the tempo/dynamics of it. After they're done toying with said section, they just move along to the next section by holding out a chord. You'll see Jake do this a lot, as if he's wiping off the table.'

For the most part a Jimmy Stewart is designed to have at least 2 separate sections. This is where it really starts to get fun, and where Umphrey's really distances themselves from the pack.

The Bounceback Jam: After leaving the first section, as discussed above, they'll move along to wherever they go next, usually playing off the last outlying chord of the previous section. Another sections is started, built upon, and repeated a few times. Now here's where the pure beauty of it all comes in. When they get to the end of this 2nd section, instead of going back to the top, you'll see Jake lean backwards. Instead of repeating section B again, they're now back at A. The playing it even tighter and with more flair than they did their previous attempt 3 minutes before. Then another few runs through that, Jake leans back, and then they're back in section B, playing it, again, better than they had before. So what they do, is build 2 unique sections of music together, seperately.

Instant Composition: That's the difference. They don't just improvise, they create unique pieces of music night in and night out. Some wonder why Umphrey's fans can get frustrated when people say they don't know how to jam. Their methods are refined to a point well beyond anything most of us has heard.

Jazz Odyssey: The line between Jimmy Stewart and "Jazz Odyssey" has been slowly erased, or at the very least, become extremely cloudy. A Jazz Odyssey is more straightforward, with no bounceback involved, and there are usually less signals involved.

Pony Basslines: Ryan Stasik is always trying to work new riffs into jams as possible songwriting fodder. So if you hear him repeat something from a previous show, don't feel like you're getting slighted because he's not up there improvising as much as the others. They aren't chosen at random. Plus, some of them are just such tight grooves that they're worth playing multiple times, just to see how different versions unfold.

Composed Jimmy Stewarts: From time to time, the band will write out sets of chord changes, as well as a general idea of how they'll want to play said section, such as drum n' bass, ambient, uptempo, etc. On very rare occasions, Jake might bring something to the table, maybe a section that he's been working on. In written out Jimmy Stewarts, you'll hear the band make changes during which there's no way any band could just decide to change sections like that. It's not *pure* improvisation per se. However, it is an outline for improvisation, mostly in the interest of melody making, not soloing. The goal is to possibly take that section and turn it into a song in the future.

Bayliss Vocals: All fans of improvisation love the feeling of living in the moment of the music. From time to time, Brendan will take a jam even further and start spouting out lyrics, sometimes improvisationally, others from his apparent 'lyric notebook', which contains passages he's working on for future songs. During these jams, you really do truly get a full taste of instant music writing. See vocal jam during the 9/4/03 version of "Der Bluten Kat" which was later turned into "Ocean Billy."

Jimmy Stewart Becoming a Song: "#5," "Wife Soup," "In the Kitchen," "Ocean Billy," "Bridgeless," and "Robot World" are all examples of the band going back and listen to a previous Jimmy Stewart to see if there's any good material to use as a section for a new song.

Hand Signals

1. Step Forward/Back (modulate up/down a minor third).

2. Guitar Neck Up/Down (modulate up/down a whole step).

3. Wipe Off (clean the slate, start over)

4. Lean Back (go to previous section).

5. Hand Over the Head (return to the top of a jam, head of the song)

6. Hand Signals (to denote chord/key to change)

7. Rub Nipple (milk it. keep playing this section)

8. Fist at eye level (hold this groove)