Early Elton Elton John enthusiasts are invited to take part in an “archaeological dig” of the artist’s early music when Early Elton makes an appearance at Tim McLoone’s Supper Club in Asbury Park at 8 p.m. May 15.
Early Elton features Rich Pagano (The Fab Faux, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm), Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny, Gavin DeGraw, occasional fill-in for Paul Shaffer on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and Bon Jovi) and Matawan native John Conte (David Bowie, Southside Johnny, Ian Hunter).
The musicians will deliver a historic re-creation and interpretation of John’s “Tumbleweed Connection” in its entirety, based specifically on the live trio arrangements from 1971. “Tumbleweed Connection” includes such songs as “Burn Down the Mission” and “Country Comfort.”
As a tribute to John, the band will also perform a set of fan favorites, including “Tiny Dancer,” “Levon” and “Border Song.”
Early Elton does not use wigs or costumes — it is all about the music.
A limited touring budget could not support a full band to accompany John on a tour of the United States from 1970-72, despite the fact that both his studio and recording budgets were substantial. As a result, the artist had to restructure the arrangements of his albums and tour as a trio with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson. In Early Elton, Kazee (piano and vocals), Pagano (drums and vocals) and Conte (bass and vocals) attempt to “blur the lines between replication and innovation, while capturing and using the spirit, mood and energy from those early tours.”
In shaping their collective vision, Pagano, Kazee and Conte scoured the Internet as they sought inspiration from rare videos to soundboard mixes.
“What we have drawn from are any live recordings from that era we can find — sometimes bootleg live recordings, bootleg rehearsal recordings, stuff on YouTube,” said Conte, a 1980 graduate of Matawan Regional High School.
“It is all about hearing Elton and the band perform when it was only a trio, basically from 1970-72.”
According to the band, no one has ever tackled John’s live trio tour arrangements in this way before.
“To my knowledge, Elton does not know about this band,” Conte said.
Although Early Elton performs a tribute to all of John’s trio tours of the early 1970s, this is the only scheduled Early Elton performance of “Tumbleweed Connection.”
For more details, visit www.earlyeltontrio.com or www.timmcloonessupperclub.com/schedule.php.