Uncle Bonsai Comes to Jazz Alley for One Night on September 8th
The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley welcomes Seattle-based trio Uncle Bonsai for one show only on the night of September 8th, 2016. Show time Thursday at 7:30 P.M., doors open at 6:00 P.M.
Imagine what might happen if Tim Burton hijacked the Andrew’s Sisters en route to a Stephen Sondheim festival with The Beatles and Tom Lehrer in the sidecar; you’d get Seattle super-harmonizers Uncle Bonsai (Andrew Ratshin, Arni Adler and Patrice O’Neill). With just three voices and an acoustic guitar, Uncle Bonsai presents an often dizzying vocal array of intricate harmony. Their songs, dark and hilarious at times, just as often delight with moments of great insight and beauty.
The trio aligns itself with the underachiever, the dejected, the outsider, the black sheep. Densely-packed lyrics fly by in a whirl at times, and take a skewed stance on topics such as first-world problems, the creation of the universe, the afterlife, and, of course, holidays with the family. Uncle Bonsai’s acoustic folk-pop songs are almost one-act plays or short stories, resisting strict pop, folk, or singer-songwriter categories. Their songs focus on the passing of time, the passing of genes, and the passing of pets – the truth of everything seemingly buried somewhere under the family tree.
Now in its 35th year, Uncle Bonsai continues to perform and record new material. In mid-2013 the group released its first ever “bedtime book for grownups,” ‘The Monster in the Closet/Go To Sleep’. This fully illustrated, reversible, hard cover book for parents, features two popular Uncle Bonsai songs, with artwork by members Arni Adler and Patrice O’Neill, and includes a recording of the songs. The group is currently recording a new album, tentatively titled The Family Feast: The Study of the Human Condition, First World Problems, and the Lasting Physiological and Psychological Effects of Eating Our Young, due for release in November 2016.
Tickets to the event are priced at $25, and can be purchased at jazzalley.com.
