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The world has changed a lot since 1992, when Don Breithaupt first collected an album's worth of his irresistibly hooky and jazzy pop songs and formed Monkey House. Since then, the talented and prolific Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and producer has stamped the band's Kurt Vonnegut-inspired moniker on five albums of original material, including Headquarters (2012), Left (2016) and Friday (2019), the latter a blazing tour de force which topped the iTunes jazz chart and went to #11 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. Now, to mark their thirtieth anniversary, Monkey House presents their most accomplished and exciting set yet, Remember The Audio, on which Breithaupt is joined by his A-List wrecking crew of Mark Kelso on drums, Pat Kilbride on bass, Justin Abedin on guitar, and guests including trumpeters Randy Brecker, Guido Basso and Michael Leonhart, guitarist Drew Zingg, and singers Lucy Woodward and David Blamires. After years of fluid lineups, Breithaupt says he had an epiphany back in 2011 while rounding up the usual suspects to make Headquarters: "Hey, wouldn't it be nice if this coalesced into a steady band?" Breithaupt got more than just a band: Monkey House is a crack team of virtuosos playing in sync and in service to his instantly hummable songs. Like the last three Monkey House albums, Remember The Audio was produced by Peter Cardinali and Breithaupt. Breithaupt had already written most of the music on Remember The Audio pre-COVID, but he figures "at least half of the lyrics were written in the spring of 2020, after the world shut down." That's why the only cover on the album, Mose Allison's 'Ever Since The World Ended' fit right in. I thought it would be a good coda for the album because it's fatalistic, but it's also really funny and not too heavy." Remember The Audio is sophisticated pop for now people, and a new high-water mark in Monkey House's musical journey
'Monkey House is akin to the finest Steely Dan . . . great music, lyrics and playing.' --Elliott Randall, former Steely Dan guitaristA stunning album, a stone classic! Knuckle-knotting chord progressions and majestic horn charts... --Barney Hurley, West Coast MagazineLovely pop melodies beefed up with complex horns -- for lovers of musically and lyrically sophisticated pop music. --Cashbox
Monkey House began in the nineties as an outlet for songs Don Breithaupt thought were “a bit too quirky or jazzy” for the pop and R&B artists he was pitching at the time. An acclaimed debut album and a string of high-performing AC singles followed, and Monkey House became a going concern, with solid followings in Canada, U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere.
Over the years, the Toronto-based project became a quartet: Breithaupt on lead vocals and keyboards; Mark Kelso on drums; Pat Kilbride on bass; Justin Abedin on guitar. Today, that line-up continues to be supplemented by high-calibre rock and jazz guest stars, including Jay Graydon, The Manhattan Transfer, Mark Lettieri, Elliott Randall, Michael Leonhart, Drew Zingg, Donny McCaslin, Kim Mitchell, Marc Jordan, Lucy Woodward, David Blamires and Richie Hayward.
In the decades-long history of the band, founder Don Breithaupt (now L.A.-based) has won an Emmy Award, three SOCAN Awards, and has twice placed first in the USA Songwriting Competition. Monkey House has been an ALMA Records artist since 2012’s Headquarters. The album, Friday, debuted at #1 on the iTunes jazz chart and #11 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.