Internationally known guitarist and band performed at the Caine Performance Hall Wednesday night

Kristen Steiner

With the promise of what seemed to be an impossibly juxtaposed concoction of jazz and country music, the audience found themselves relaxing and bopping along with Cow Bop during their performance Wednesday night at 7:30 in the Caine Performance Hall at Utah State University.

“I love country,” said Tiffany Fraughton, a USU student attending the performance for a concert evaluation. “I thought it would be interesting to listen to country combined with jazz. I’ve never heard of that before.”

Cow Bop, a nationally known country jazz band, led by internationally known guitarist Bruce Forman, was invited to play at USU by Corey Christiansen, USU’s director of guitar studies.

The group was formed in 2003 by Forman and has since become nationally known. The band has performed all over the nation in places such as Carnegie Hall, but they are known just as well for their tours and country fair shows. 

The performance was enjoyable and full of fun as the band interacted with the audience. They played many jazz standards such as “San Antonio Rose,” “Mambo Italiano,” “Chinatown, my Chinatown,” and many more, however, each piece was arranged with Cop Bop’s own country bebop flair.

“As you can tell,” Forman said, “we are the kind of people that can’t leave well enough alone.”

True to the jazz form of bebop, the group is small consisting of only five performers. Forman plays lead guitar for the group with David Wise on saxophone and trumpet, Tino Tafarella on upright bass, Ryan McDiarmid on drums and the “lovely” Pinto Pammy on vocals.

“We are jazz musicians primarily,” Wise said. “We are just jazz musicians dressed up as cowboys for the most part.”

Each piece played throughout the evening showcased the variety of talent found within the group. Forman played many improvised guitar solos throughout the show leaving the audience notably impressed by the applause he received after each solo. Besides guitar, Wise was featured playing the tenor and bass saxophone, many times separate, but even together during one piece.

Toward the end of a rousing show, Pinto Pammy brought the audience to a reverent silence as she sang the final ballad.

The group has won several awards, including the “Route 66 Challenge,” and released many CDs featuring songs, musicians and different types of styles known throughout America.

At the conclusion of the concert, Wise said, the hall is awesome, the sound equipment is great, Corey is awesome and the audience was great.

More information about the group can be found at http://www.cowbop.com/index.html