Kwyjibo

Kwyjibo began in the Fall of 2002 as a practice band in drummer Danny’s rehearsal space with only him and Peter. Just as an opportunity to let off some steam every once in a while – in contrast to the many ‘real’ jazz gigs they were playing where you play softly and usually pretty tame. Sometime in October 2002 one of bassist Matt Everhart’s flyers fell into Peter’s hands and the band grew to be a trio. At that time they just tried to practice really hard music for their own enjoyment. “Birds of Fire”, recorded by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and “Black Market” as played by Weather Report were among the earliest coherent results of hours of goofing around. Early in 2003 saxofonist Joe Donnelly was starting to show up for the rehearsals and just a month later it was clear that a band was born. Around March 2003 Danny had booked a gig at Zorbas in Champaign, ILL. Now a name was needed. “Splinter Group” was the first pick, but it turned out that Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green already had a band by that name. Since all band members were heavy Simpson’s fans the suggestion to call the band Kwyjibo was a no-brainer.

Kwyjibo kept enlarging its repertoire and in the Fall of 2004 material for the first album was recorded. The CD, called ‘The Rise of Kwyjibo’, came out in the Spring of 2005 and received much praise from the likes as JazzImprov Magazine, Cadence Magazine and MidwestBands.com. The Zorbas gig, just as many others (Chatterbox in Indianapolis and the Jazz Factory in Louisville, KY) became regular mainstays for the band. In between Kwyjibo could be seen at Jazz in July at the IU Art Museum in Bloomington and the Indy Jazz Fest.

In the Fall of 2005 bassist and founding member Matt Everhart moved east and Ron Kadish took his place.

As band members started to get busier with day-time jobs and little kids, Kwyjibo dissolved late 2008.