BOB Profile: The Upstarts

BOB Profile: Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk
August 30, 2013
Le Petit comedy deals with Youth’s rebellion
August 30, 2013
BOB Profile: Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk
August 30, 2013
Le Petit comedy deals with Youth’s rebellion
August 30, 2013

Splintered from various successful endeavors and strengthened through experiences behind more familiar names, The Upstarts formed in 2011 with the intention to truly become the sum of its parts.


Its members having backed up living symbols of the New Orleans music scene, such as Walter Washington, Michael Ray, Russell Batiste and Renard Poche, among others, the band knows what it’s like to play with high-profile acts. Now, it’s just a matter of accomplishing it together.

“We all have experience playing at a really high level,” the band’s trumpet player Mark Levron, a Houma native, told the Gumbo Entertainment Guide in April. “Everyone is an excellent sideman, so it’s very easy for us to support each other. We wanted to be a band. That doesn’t happen so much any more. … We had a vision of not being like every other New Orleans band.”

Keyboardist Phil Breen, guitarist Ian Cunningham, bassist Scott Jackson and drummer Kyle Sharamitaro round out the core group, known to sometimes add more brass, particularly the sax, to the equation. Vocal responsibilities shift within the band, with Levron and Sharamitaro often carrying the load.


Along with Baby Bee and Blue Eyed Soul Revue, The Upstarts are one of three bands Best of the Bayou brought back from its inaugural year.

The Upstarts cut their teeth as a unit with regular gigs on Frenchmen Street but have recently begun bouncing along the Gulf Coast, including shows in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Pensacola, Fla., in addition to frequent Houma-Thibodaux appearances. In May they released their well-received first album, a collection of cover songs as performed in New Orleans’ Old Pointe Bar, titled “Live in New Orleans.” They’ve already held live recordings for a follow-up. Everything about this band orbits live shows.

With a mixture of reprisals and – a growing pool of – originals, The Upstarts shy away from defining their music too rigidly. Brass, soul and funk, they say, with an emphasis on not covering vocals with instrumentals, one constant amid abundant flexibility. They’re not afraid to jam, but not eager to get lost in the vortex it can create.


Because of each individual’s skill level, live performances thrust instruments in the limelight even when they appear to be in the background. Sharamitaro begs attention even as he, seemingly, serves to bridge gaps between trumpet notes. Breen’s groove-setting contribution is ubiquitous. Perhaps the defining quality, however, is the tightness in which the individual pieces come together.

The UpstartsCOURTESY JERRY MORAN