Event

Jumbo Circus Peanuts

Depending on who you talk to, this 12-piece band is either a Seacoast institution or should be confined in one. Others have observed that the group is merely a collection of professional drinkers with a music problem. Debate aside, one thing is clear the Jumbo Circus Peanut philosophy starts and ends with fun.

Like any great musical organization, the band was born one night in a tiny smoky kitchen when two trombonists, a clarinet player and an alto saxophonist collided over a case of beer and a couple of fake books.

With the later addition of a rhythm section and even more melody instruments (not to mention two more trombones,) the Jumbo Circus Peanuts outgrew their kitchen home, performing in local bars and street events for the benefit of friends, family and those who came to confirm the existence of what one observer described as a "musical Loch Ness monster in drag."

Today, after 15 years' of Seacoast performances, the Jumbo Circus Peanuts are the area's top-drawing musical group with an ever-expanding repertoire that sails around the musical worlds of pop, funk, swing and rock with stops in Hollywood, Broadway, Detroit, Latin America and Hawaii.

When asked to name their musical influences by a reporter recently, members of the band agreed on: the Neville Brothers, Tower of Power, New Orleans' brass bands in general, Spike Jones, Tom Jones, both Sinatras (Nancy and Frank,) Walt Disney, Carmen Dragon, Count Basie, Sly Stone, Sarah Vaughan, Dusty Springfield, Perez Prado, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Mitch Ryder, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Hank Williams, Hendrix, and Otis Redding.