Draft:Jsharpmajor

• Comment: fails WP:NBAND. Theroadislong (talk) 21:50, 17 February 2025 (UTC)

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jsharpmajor (J#Major)

J#Major is a six person band from Windsor, ON, Canada. The '#' in the name refers to musical nomenclature for "sharp" - the act of raising a note by one half-tone.

Formation (Trio) (2016)

The band formed in early 2016 when three local musicians: Kristopher Marentette (guitar, keys, vocals), Paul Richard(drums, vocals) and Colton Summers Young (guitar, vocals, flute) were asked to perform for a birthday party. Kristopher and Colton had known each other for many years, but had not performed together. Paul Richard was in the band Bad Moustache and the three had never performed together.

The performance took place at Good Time Charly and the three were surprised at how quickly they got along and performed together. Mixing musical styles and songs together in "mashups" delighted the audience and the trio quickly decided to try performing together again.

After several performances, the (as of yet unnamed) trio was approached by a gentlemen who asked "what key that last song was in". Always quick with a retort, Colton answered "J Sharp" - a non existent musical key - to test the person's musical knowledge. When the fellow repeated the name, Kristopher offered the suffix of "Major", to reinforce the idiom. The name struck a chord (haha) with the three and it was decided to continue on until a better name was found.

The Bridge House Years

At one afternoon performance, the trio were approached by Michael Harris, the owner of "The Bridge House" bar in Kingsville, Ontario. He was impressed with the performance and suggested the band for his venue. The group quickly became quite popular, playing nearly every Friday or Saturday night to a packed house. Colton's deftness on the flute combined with the ability to switch or converge songs quickly led to lots of extended jams. The band continued to be a popular feature of this bar until it closed.

+ Jean-Marc Haslip (bass, keys, vocals)

One afternoon, during a performance at The Bridge House, the group was approached by a man during a break. He introduced himself and said he was a bassist that was looking to join a new project. His exact words were "I can join any band in Windsor, but I want to join yours". A seasoned veteran, Marc was a welcome addition to the trio and provided a solid and competent low end. As well as bass, Marc also sang and played supplemental keyboards.

+ Jim O'Neil (guitars, vocals)

During another impromptu jam at Rockstar Music Hall, Kristopher met Jim while jamming together on stage. Impressed with his effortless and intuitive style, Kristopher asked Jim to sit in with the J#Major foursome to see what would happen when a lead guitarist was mixed in. The result was fantastic and broadened the range of what the band could cover. The instrumental jams became more structured and cohesive.

COSMOS (Caesar's Windsor)

It was due to this more structured playing that the band began to pick up steam and local bookings increased. The band became known for performing more complex numbers - Elton John's "Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding" and Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". The band was accepted into rotation with Caesar's Windsor, appearing at Cosmos Lounge.

+ Lee Cochrane

It was during one of the Cosmos performances that Jim was unavailable. Unwilling to lose the date, the band asked Lee Cochrane - who had previously filled in for Kristopher in BIGSEXY - to learn Jim's parts and sit in for the gig. During the rehearsals and performance Lee was quickly befriended and his playing was equally admired. The story goes that, after the gig, Paul and Kristopher were walking to the elevators and said "he have to find a way to get Lee into the band". Unbeknownst to them, Lee was also walking to the elevator and thinking "I wonder if these guys need another guitar player"?

The test came when Lee was asked to join and, during a "let's see how it goes" session, Lee and Jim were both asked to play "Comfortably Numb". This was a bit of a setup, as the rest of the band wanted to know what arguments over guitar solos would break out. When a quick and civil "you want this one?", "sure" was the result, the boys knew they had struck musical gold. Egos aside and frets aflame, the two guitarists' styles complemented each other perfectly. A new era, focusing on the abundant talent of these players began featuring guitar "twinning" and "harmony" during such complex numbers as The Allman Brothers' "Jessica" and Steely Dan's "Reelin' In The Years".

This was also the height of the improv nature of the group. With such close-knit and talented players, then band became known for simply asking the audience what they wanted to hear and then trying it out in "do-or-die" fashoin. This typically worked so well, in fact, at one performance the entire first set was tossed out and instead made of up audience suggestions.

+ Byron Harrett

- Marc Haslip

Joe Briffa

Frank Candido

Meg Baxter

Lex Lambert

Sean Cochrane