Baby Soda - Prohibition Era Jazz Band

Baby Soda was formed in 2007 in Brooklyn New York, by musicians who met playing traditional jazz in Washington Square Park and the NYC subway system. The group has grown and changed over the years, to include a large family of talented New York musicians, many coming here to realize their musical aspirations. You can find photos and profiles of some of the musicians who have played with Baby Soda over the years on the Archive page. The repertoire has changed as well with the original ensemble playing more of the music common to the street bands in New Orleans today.

The current repertoire has expanded to include more of the music of Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael, Harry Warren & the composers who created the great American songs of Tin Pan Alley. We are not recreationists, playing note for note transcriptions, but play this expanded repertoire in the New Orleans style of small ensemble improvisation, blending arranged and improvised sections.

The instrumentation is a distinctive part of our sound. A low-boy hi-hat, wood block and one string box bass, have replaced the washboard as the percussion section most of the time. They are played by the horn and banjo players, unless we’re performing with a traditional kit drummer.

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