Sunorus

Downtown Phoenix's art scene is hard to exactly quantify in some respects, with creativity running amok across multiple genres and mediums. Hyphenates abound as musicians, DJs, painters, and other talented types collaborate and feed off each other's muses. So it's apropos that one of the art scene's more pre-eminent bands,...

By Benjamin Leatherman

May 13, 2010

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Downtown Phoenix's art scene is hard to exactly quantify in some respects, with creativity running amok across multiple genres and mediums. Hyphenates abound as musicians, DJs, painters, and other talented types collaborate and feed off each other's muses. So it's apropos that one of the art scene's more pre-eminent bands, Sunorus, is equally unquantifiable. Nominally a jazz quintet, this eccentric musical cabal's ever-changing sound ebbs and flows through realms of blues, ragtime, funk, and Latin rhythms. They're almost like the long-lost cousins to DeVotchKa, or a traveling bohemian circus of sound. Experimentalism is the norm, and many songs are born from improvisational sessions where lines between genres are blurred. One song ("Whiskey") is a tempestuously aching torch song with the lovely Lonna Kelley on vocals and a laconic burn from alto sax player Mark Stinson, while another number ("The Ghost of Mingus Mountain") flows with eerie horns and a deep Charlie Mingus-like groove courtesy of upright bassist Tato Caraveo. Fittingly enough, most Sonorous members have deep artistic pursuits outside of music, such as Caraveo (who paints stunning abstract works), or trombonist Mike Red (who created a gonzo after-hours TV show called Television Noir).
Wed., May 19, 8 p.m., 2010

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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