Southside Johnny, interviewed in “The Jersey Sound.”
“The Jersey Sound,” a new documentary about New Jersey music, is narrated by a personification of the state itself, voiced by journalist Mike Greenblatt. And it — a state doesn’t have a gender, does it? — doesn’t define what the “the Jersey sound” is, beyond “a jigsaw maze of statewide musical mayhem. I’m too complicated for any one sound, but I’ve got attitude in spades.”
The 94-minute documentary, which can be streamed for free at TubiTV.com, offers an invigorating overview, covering the immortals (Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Bon Jovi, Les Paul etc.) but touching on many other threads from Pines Barrens folk to the classic jazz made at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio, and the influential hip-hop made in the state by The Sugarhill Gang, Queen Latifah, The Fugees and Naughty by Nature.
The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Maxwell’s in Hoboken and The Capitol Theatre in Passaic are all discussed. But so are The Dirt Club in Bloomfield and The Green Parrot in Neptune.
Interview subjects include Southside Johnny; E Street Band member Garry Tallent; Tommy James; concert promoter John Scher; madcap comedian and pianist Uncle Floyd; heavy metal record-label owner Jon Zazula; members of The Rascals, The Smithereens, The Bongos, Skid Row, Trixter, Overkill, The Duprees and Joey Dee & the Starliters; jazz stalwarts Christian McBride and Al Di Meola; Jim Garcia of the popular (and quintessentially New Jerseyan) cover band The Nerds; and country duo Williams Honor. Younger artists who get the chance to discuss their music range from 8-year-old rapper Little Boss London to Asbury Park band The Foes of Fern and Newark-based EDM DJ/producer/songwriter Uniiqu3.
It includes interviews with close to 150 (!) people, and covers an incredible amount of territory. It’s all quite dizzying and fun and, as someone who has been writing about music in New Jersey for about 40 years, it really felt, to me, like my whole life was flashing before my eyes. (I’m happy to add, incidentally, that at one point, one of my bylines is shown).
Al Di Meola in “The Jersey Sound.”
Many of the interview subjects have memorable stories to tell. Perhaps the best anecdote of all is Di Meola’s account of the crazy way in which he was discovered by Chick Corea.
Others try to put their finger on what it is, about the state, that accounts for the incredible quality, and diversity, of its music.
“If you drive through New Jersey, you’re gonna drive through a microcosm of the entire United States,” says Richard Barone of The Bongos. “There’s sort of everything. There’s no desert, but there are beaches, and there are industrial areas, and there are suburbs that are, like, the classic American suburbs. And then there are these urban areas, like Newark, and Hoboken, and Jersey City.”
Many interviewees talk about trying to escape the shadow of New York and Philadelphia. “Heart on our sleeves, we are from New Jersey,” says Southside Johnny, in the film’s last interview segment. “I think we’re all proud of it. And … we wanted to shove it up their ass.”
“New York has grit, Philly has soul,” says Greenblatt, as New Jersey. “And if I were to compliment myself — which I am — Jersey has more passion than you could ever know, an attitude you can’t brush off, and a sound you could never name, but never forget.”
Reagan Richards in “The Jersey Sound.”
“I think if there’s one thing I can say about Jersey, it’s (that) authenticity comes from here,” says Reagan Richards of Williams Honor.
“You have to fight your way and get people to listen, because it’s hard to cut through,” says singer-songwriter Bobby Mahoney. “So I think the Jerseyness of it is the, ‘Hey, over here! Fuck you, listen to me.’ ”
“The Jersey Sound” does not, of course, say everything there is to say about the state’s music. Under-discussed or overlooked entirely are the New Brunswick rock scene; gospel music; Atlantic City; City Gardens in Trenton; stadium and arena shows in The Meadowlands; The Garden State Arts Center/PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel; The Stanhope House and the vibrant roots music scene in the Northwestern part of the state; WFMU-FM; and certain younger artists such as Halsey, Jack Antonoff and SZA.
But of course, there is only so much you can do in 94 minutes. And “The Jersey Sound” does as much as anyone could expect.
Here is the film’s trailer:
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