Nanama Quartet: John Riger, Paul Valentine, Doug Whitney,; and Jeff Andrews (from Nanama’s website)
Nanama is a dynamic jazz fusion quartet from the west slope of Colorado. The word “nanama” is a Ute word which means, “All together as one,” and indeed Nanama the band is just that.
Collectively the band represents over two hundred years of professional musicianship featuring Paul Valentine (drums), Doug Whitney (bass), Jeff Andrews (guitar) and John Paul Riger (keys and vocals).
Their debut album “One Planet” features nine songs of world wide rhythms and leans heavily on imagery and anecdote as the inspiration for the muse they channel in highly-improvised, spontaneous form.
Nanama was formed in 2016 although the musicians have preformed collectively and in part with each other in various groups for decades. The band is closing in on the completion of their second album coming soon. “We take great pride in our recordings, but we enjoy most taking our hard work live to share with every audience.”
Nanama truly represents the newest generation of indy recording. However, the sheer power and energy of their live sound speaks well for itself.
To read more about Nanama try their website at https://www.nanamaquartet.com where there’s ample music and videos to peruse.
[Editor’s note: Nanama is looking for a dynamic jazz singer on the Western Slope. If you know of someone ‘good’, please have them contact John at JohnRiger3@me.com.]
Here are some links to our recent performances.
Take Five Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ohpyARG1k
Afro Blue Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erxj1RP-_9Y
Nanama Studio Demo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTxGjGz8I8s
Nanama (trio) Live – https://youtu.be/bsYKWdyQj1k
https://www.nanamaquartet.com