Banyan, an alternative/art rock band, is based in Los Angeles. It has heavy jazz and funk influences. Stephen Perkins is the leader and co-founder. He played drums for Jane’s Addiction (1986-1991 plus regroupings later) and then for Porno for Pyros. Emit Bloch was his co-founder. Nels Cline plays guitar and Willie Waldman plays trumpet. Mike Watt (Minutemen), is the bass player. Mike Watt sings some Banyan songs. Nels Cline and Mike Watt usually only play West Coast dates. At times, Rob Wasserman (bass) and Daniel Shulman (guitar), have filled in for them when they were unavailable. During select live shows, the band has also welcomed saxophone players Steve Mackay, Herman Green, guitarist player Calvin Newborn and clarinet player J. D. Westmoreland. Norton Wisdom, a Los Angeles artist, paints on a dry-erase board as the band plays. The imagery he creates interprets music in much the same way lyrics might. You can see the band performing multiple times. There will be some images that recur as well as new ones. The songs are composed of compositions that have a consistent structure, but there is a lot of jazz tradition improvisation. Money Mark was the Freeway Keyboardist on the first EP. Turin and Perkins produced the first album, which was engineered at their studio by Dust Brothers. The second album Anytime at All features notable guest appearances by Flea and John Frusciante (both of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Martyn (Perkins’ former bandmate, Porno for Pyros), Rob Wasserman, and Buckethead. It was produced by Dave Aron (Producer/Engineer/Mixer of Snoopdogg, Sublime and moe.) Willie Waldman and Willie Watt as the Blunt brothers. The band was reduced to four members for their third album, Live At Perkins’ Palace, which was named after Perkins’ home studio and not the venue where they performed live. Steve Kimock sat in with Banyan at their August 26, 2007 performance, Riverview Music Festival, Chicago, IL. Members of the band mention Miles Davis and Igor Stravinsky as influences in liner notes and conversations. Source: Wikipedia
