66 2/3

A 13-track collection, 66 2/3 is The Frank & Joe Show’s second album to date and features defining performances of songs such as “It Might As Well Be Spring,” “My Prayer,” “Sway” and “Quizas,” reinvented in their own inimitable style. HYENA’s Joel Dorn produced the set and special guest vocalists, Jane Monheit and Janis Siegel, join Frank & Joe for exquisitely stylized versions of “Manhattan” and “Glow Worm,” respectively.

After releasing their debut album 33 1/3 in Summer 2004, The Frank & Joe Show hit the road honing themselves into a razor sharp unit that would perform across the U.S., ultimately playing over 100 dates that year at top notch venues including The Ryman, The Egg, The Saville Theater and The Smithsonian Jazz Cafe. They developed from what was initially a studio project to a full-fledged band of road warriors, lighting up stages with dazzling and dynamic performances and building a fan base that demanded repeat visits to all corners of the country. Rave reviews soon started to pour in. The Boston Phoenix stated: “Hear us now, believe us later: Frank Vignola is one of the finest guitarists in jazz and drummer Joe Ascione is an all-around swingin' machine,” while The Washington Post declared: “Vignola and Ascione make time fly backward. If the breathlessly paced reprise of the "Spiderman" theme song isn't enough to win you over, chances are the turbocharged "Flight of the Bumblebee" or the dreamy "Stardust" should do the trick.”

The title of The Frank & Joe Show’s latest effort, 66 2/3, is a play on their debut, 33 1/3, alluding to the band’s evolution over the last two years. The entire group was integrated into the recording of the new album. A telepathic interplay can be heard on cuts like “After Hours,” “Let It Happen” and “Hungarian Dance No. 5” as they navigate shifting time signatures and tricky chord progressions, while sounding downright joyous in the process. Frank Vignola turns an endless array of inventive phrases on the guitar. Lightning fast single note runs veer into perfectly placed sliding chords, yet dazzling virtuosity never comes at the expense of his pure musicality and heartfelt soul and sentimentality. His partner, Joe Ascione, is the perfect foil. Joe is a master of rhythm and cadence. Whether he’s driving the tempo with a rock steady groove on the djembe drum or adding flourishes of triangle, cymbals, tambourine and shakers, what’s best for the song is first and foremost. On 66 2/3, we hear a hard working road band coming into its own. The Frank & Joe Show have a sound unlike anything else in instrumental music—equal parts American roots music and gypsy swing, ‘70s rock and modern jazz, acoustic funk and timeless songbook standards. Perhaps it’s best not to try and describe it, but to simply embrace it. Whatever the case, you can bet The Frank & Joe Show will be crisscrossing the planet and bringing music to the world over in 2005.