Adam Hall and the Velvet Playboys are a six piece Perth band dedicated to the performance of exciting live shows. The music captures a mood reminiscent of the Rat Pack or Louis Prima in Las Vegas in the 50s– smooth swingin' jazz, rockin’ blues and good ol' boogie woogie. Their repotoire also features more contemporary music in a vein similar to artists as diverse as James Brown, Ray Charles & Harry Connick Jr. Adam has long been a favourite of Perth’s legion of young swing dancers. Be sure to check out the electric after-work atmosphere at their regular Friday night gig, 7pm - 10pm at the Mustang Bar, Lake St Northbridge, Western Australia. Their debut album "I've Got News For You" was released in June 2007. The Velvet Playboys feature six of Western Australia’s finest musicians; Adam Hall | Trumpet, Vocal Tim Forster | Tenor Sax Mike Cartwright | Trombone Len Whittle | Piano Ben Franz | Bass Joe Whittle | Drums Adam Hall | Trumpet, Vocal Adam studied the craft in America at Berklee College of Music, Boston. Playing since 1990 (from the age of 10), Adam sings and plays Trumpet, Trombone, Alto Sax, Piano, Euphonium, Mellophonium and a little bit of bass and drums for good measure. So far in his career Adam has played with James Morrison, Darryl Somers, Rolf Harris, Frank Foster (the former leader of the Count Basie orchestra who played with Basie for 45 years), Don Burrows, Shirley Horn's band, Vanessa Amorossi and Grace Knight to name just a few. Adam played at the Sydney Olympics, was Artist in Residence at Southbridge Jazz Club (Singapore) and has made tours to Singapore, Boston, New York & New Orleans. Tim Forster | Tenor Sax In the VP’s Tim emulates the style and passion of ‘Honkers and Screamers’ such as Sam Butera (Louis Prima Band), Big Jay McNeely and Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor. Graduating from WAAPA with Jazz Education qualifications, Tim has performed on alto and tenor saxophone in a variety of settings including a long residence at the Mercure Hotel, featured soloist on Australian Idol Courtney Murphy’s debut CD ‘Murphy’s Lore- Best Laid Plans’, member of 10 piece latin group ‘LC Salsa’, swing group ‘Harry Deluxe’, Slim Jim and the Fatts ‘Fatt Horn Section’ and a founding member of the Fremantle Jazz Orchestra. Mic Cartwright | Trombone As a trombonist Mic has performed with American artists Jeff and John Clayton, Jim McNeely, Phil Wilson and Bobby Shue, Australian superstar Rolf Harris, and jazz artists James Morrison, Tommy Emanuel, Don Burrows, Graeme Lyall, Wilbur Wilde and Don Burrows. A trombonist, teacher and conductor, Mic has been Musical Director of the WAYJO Big Band for the past six years and is also a member of the Hip Mo' Toast Big Band. Len Whittle | Piano Len joined the band at the beginning on top of extensive work in Australia & New Zealand with local & international artists. Len has an affinity for Boogie Woogie rhythm & most swinging music. Ben Franz | Bass Starting with music lessons on piano at the age of 7, Ben developed a love for jump blues and rockabilly music in his teens and took up playing guitar and double bass, and soon joined his first professional band in 1989, The Coolgardies, a western swing/jump blues group with whom he moved to Melbourne for a year. Returning to Perth in 1991, Ben was soon playing with powerhouse rockabilly outfit The Dixie Outlaws with whom he remained until their demise in late 1993. Around 1992, Ben began studying jazz at the WA Conservatorium Of Music, continuing off and on until 1996, and he also a began a six year stint with Perth's good time cajun/zydeco band The Zydecats. Since then he has played or dabbled in many different styles of music, from country to electronica, folk to funk. Most recently Ben has been resident bassist with folkies The Waifs, with whom he has spent the better part of four years touring Australia, The USA, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland, and with whom he received two ARIAS and two technical ARIAS for their album Up All Night in 2003. With the Waifs now on extended hiatus, Ben has returned to the jump and swing music of his teens to join the Velvet Playboys. Joe Whittle | Drums For the last 7 years since his professional career began, Joe Whittle (Drums) has been steadily making a name for himself as one of the most versatile and dynamic stick-slingers in the West. A very open mind and acute attention to stylistic detail are key to his chameleon like abilities, helping to land Joe in the driver's seat of a wildly diverse array of acclaimed local acts, ranging from New Orleans traditional Jazz and Dixieland ('Jazz Factory' feat. Matthew Jodrell) to many variants of Blues music (Jus' Jump, Killing Floor, Mo' Candy, Universal Blues Band, Lee Sappho, Brett Hardwick) to the Big Band, Swing idiom (the 'Oz' Big Band, West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra, 'Hip 'Mo Toast' Big Band feat. Libby Hammer) to mainstream Jazz ('Backlash' Jazz Quintet, the Bronwynn Way Quintet) to Country & Western (The Gamblers, Joel Smoker) right through to Rockabilly, Western Swing (The Bop King Combo), Klezmer (King Wasabi) and Cajun (Lucky Oceans, Zydecats)! But that's not all; Joe loves his rock as well! Of classic rock from the '60s and '70s Joe specialises in the music of Jimi Hendrix ('Awesome Wells' feat. Lindsay Wells) and loves The Doors (international 'Doors' tribute band); and of the more modern, contemporary styles he has both played it cool, soulful and funky (The Cameron's Project, Red Shoes, D-Influence feat. Amanda Dee) and gone absolutely mental and punky (Airbag, Atomic).Whew! In his appointment in the VP's, you can see Joe doing a little of everything as he provides the swinging, breathing, sometimes elegant and sometimes downright DIRTY rhythmic foundation from which the band launches!