The Legend of BOZO  allegro

BOZO  allegro first existed in a dream. Bozo Mark woke one morning in California with those two words reverberating in his head. No context, just the words. He first named a cat BOZO  allegro, then later titled an instrumental overture to a theatre piece with the same phrase. That piece proved to be the link to the band today.

The precursor to BOZO  allegro was a band in Los Angeles called Sherman and the Sharks, a quintet (piano/bass/drums/guitar/sax) for which Mark played bass and wrote a lot of material. Primarily a rehearsal band, the weekly get-togethers combined with a competition between Mark and the keyboardist to inspire each composer to bring at least one new tune a week to practice.

After moving to Minnesota, Mark wanted to see if any of the old Sharks material still had merit. So he had an August '95 gathering of musicians (including Bozos Diane, Alan, and Ron), to read through some of his charts. He liked what he heard, and spent about six weeks rearranging the compositions for five horns.

He ran an ad in a local free weekly: "Jazzers Who Rock: I got the charts if you got the chops. Horns and rhythm call Mark, 629-7766." Among the respondants were the two Bozo Scotts: M and D.

When it came time to choose a name for the band, leading contenders were Sherman and the Sharks (Mark planned to write a tune entitled "Sorry, Sherman Couldn't Make It Tonight"), Big Fun, and BOZO allegro, after the overture from the theatre piece, which the group was playing. It wasn't much of a contest.

Rehearsals commenced. The first, catch-22 demo (can't get gigs without a demo, can't get good enough for a demo without gigs) was recorded in December. The first gig was 8 January 1996 at a local coffee house. The place was packed, the joint was jumping.

The rest is mystery.