Jonathan Best
Featured on The
Last Hurrah, June 20, 2009, 1:00 PM
Singer / songwriter /
keyboardist / percussionist / loopist Jonathan
Best (www.BubbleMusic.com) has been playing
music around the world for over 20 years. He was taught
the finer points of gospel music early in his career as
he toured the Pentecostal churches of New York City and
the south with The Elect Lady Evangelist Shirley Davis.
His blues and R&B leanings also landed him gigs with
bands such as The Drifters, South African singer Cosbie
Mbele, the B-52s and Defunct. His odd sense of humor
brought him together with the notorious Peter Stampfel
(Holy Modal Rounders) for a number of albums and tours,
culminating in the thankless job of producing and
recording Stampfel’s last album with the Bottlecaps "The
Jig is Up". Thoroughly ensconced in the Downtown
experimental music scene he also performed and recorded
with various Latin bands, a synthesis which brought him
together with David Byrne (Talking Heads) for a seven
month world tour and a feature film.
Jonathan has also done a lot of composing and arranging for
albums and movies in his own recording studio. He composed,
arranged and co-wrote the lyrics for Clarence Carter’s ‘I
Got A Thing For You’ included on Carter’s "Between a Rock
and a Hard Place" album and his "Greatest Hits" album, both
of which remained on the Billboard R&B charts for
several weeks.
Jonathan is currently performing solo in an act where he
brings all of his various musical talents to the stage and
does not just perform, but creates music with the audience.
With the aid of a looper, he records and layers, live on
stage, rhythmic sounds made with such instruments as
bicycle forks, a transistor radio, tooth brushes, hedge
clippers and his cheeks. He then brings the audience and
even the hall itself into the mix, adding seven part
contrapuntal vocal harmonies and his inimitable piano
playing, covering every style from barrelhouse blues to
salsa, all this done by one guy and an audience.