A 3-minute tour of 10 tunes taken from live recordings of our gigs.  Feel free to share with friends.  Find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Keith Ward - clarinet
Fred Anderson - guitar
Terrel Merkley - piano
Phillip Meline - bass
Jonny Brownley - drums

"Blue Monk" - Thelonious Monk
"Moonglow" - Will Hudson and Irving Mills (recorded by Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw)
"Crosscut Saw" - Tommy McClennan (recorded by Albert King)
"Bb Jump Blues"
"Take the 'A' Train" - Billy Strayhorn (recorded by Duke Ellington)
"Blue Bossa" - Kenny Dorham
"Body and Soul" - Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green
"Well, You Needn't" - Thelonious Monk
"Flying Home" - Lionel Hampton
"Don't Be That Way" - Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson



Some trivia:  This first demo marks the one-year anniversary of our beginning, symbolically starting with Thelonius Monk's, "Blue Monk", the tune that connected Jonny with Keith on a cold December day (a year ago this month).

Jonny heard Keith playing "Blue Monk" as a solo clarinet on the street in Old Town Pocatello while he was moving his drums from a studio downtown.  When Jonny heard it, he yelled across the street at Keith, "I love Monk!"  Jonny had already been working with Fred, Terrel, and Luis Dado to play jazz, and invited Keith to join in sometime.  Terrel suffered an injury just before Keith sat in with them, which put him out for a bit.  They started doing gigs as a quartet, which led to the original Rail City Jazz.  Luis moved back to the Philippines, so Phillip joined in on bass.  Terrel, on the mend, rejoined RCJ to form the group as it is today.

Rail City Jazz 3-Minute Demo

Rail City Jazz performing live at The Yellowstone Lounge on May 9, 2019.  Original song by Keith Ward, band leader, clarinetist.  See our Swing Ghosts music video on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/--HS8HeSX9U

Rail City Jazz is:
Keith Ward - Clarinet
Fred Anderson - Guitar
Terrel Merkley - Piano
Phillip Meline - Upright Bass
Jonny Brownley - Drums

Swing Ghosts

Swing Ghosts (Live)

Swing Ghosts (Live at The Yellowstone Lounge 5/9/2019)

We have a lot of fun at our gigs, and this one shares that energy with you!  Recorded live at The Yellowstone Restaraunt in Pocatello, Idaho, where we have played regularly since 2018.  This original by our guitarist, Fred Anderson, is named after one our favorite meals at The Bridge, before it became The Yellowstone.  We'd enjoy this one after most gigs.  Let this encourage you while we work together to get back out there to enjoy live jazz.

Rail City Jazz is:
Keith Ward - Clarinet
Fred Anderson - Guitar
Terrel Merkley - Piano
Phillip Meline - Upright Bass
Jonny Brownley - Drums

Smokin' Meatloaf (Bb Jump Blues) PRERELEASE MIX

One night, after a trip to the emergency room with our pianist, Terrel Merkley, he said, "Let's go back to the house and rehearse!"  We did.  It's now our opening theme song.

Rail City Jazz is:
Keith Ward - Clarinet
Fred Anderson - Guitar
Terrel Merkley - Piano
Phillip Meline - Upright Bass
Jonny Brownley - Drums