Scott Birney Introduction to the Bove Box

In the pre- Beatle early ’60’s it was certainly not unusual to find teens and pre-teens smitten with the rock and roll and folk music that was on the radio and tv. Young Jeffrey Bove was smitten too, but what separated Jeff from every other kid was the influence long-time family friend Nelson Riddle had on him. Mr. Riddle was at the peak of his career as a big band arranger and his work with Frank Sinatra has proved timeless. So while his peers were struggling with bar chords and Mel Bey books, Jeffrey was working out arrangements for the middle school orchestra. Arrangements that rocked.

Then The Beatles introduced a certain accent to the vocabulary, and the 9 year old Bove started a chain of bands whose names and sounds reflected the ever-changing times. The Termites. The Knaves. The P.W.G. Radio Band. Allitrillar. You have to understand these were all Jr. high and early high school bands, and as such they worked more than just about any of the other bands in their age group. Pool parties. Gym dances. Basement parties. And the Battle Of The Bands. One of my favorite memories is seeing The Knaves at a Wilmington Delaware high school battle of the bands taking second place to Little Johnny Neel and The Shapes Of Soul – who already had a big hit on radio station WAMS at the time. I was in the audience and the vote was rigged…

And as the times and sounds changed, Jeff’s musical directions would shift but his sense of composition and arrangement grew, as did his professional awareness. The P.W.G. Radio Band was of the era when light-shows were becoming popular, so in typical Bove fashion, Jeff hired a classmate to design and run one of the most impressive light shows in the Brandywine Valley. Theatrics had arrived in a big way. It was out of this fluid and creative time that Jeff put together one of the premier bands in Delaware. Mention MARTHA LIDD to boys and girls of a certain age (is that phrase trademarked… Jeff?) and that distant sly grin should say it all. They rocked and ruled the roost early 70 style, and on the verge of national possibility, Jeff chose to head toward his very successful career as a litigator and law firm manager. LITTLE TOMMY TITTLEMOUSE and LUTHER LIDD gave Jeff’s strong creative drive an outlet while he finished college, but there was never any doubt where his focus was.

After law school Bove would pick up one of his beloved Ovation guitars with friends and strike up a summer evening, until eventually that bug he knew so well bit him again and who says you can’t go back? Only this time the process of recording had advanced and Jeff quickly threw himself into the role of engineer, and built a beautiful studio in the rolling hills of Chester County. He then steered a series of projects with the sole intent of recording (and eventually pitching) original songs. And by now you should not be surprised to hear that Jeff associated himself with the very best musicians in the area. These projects Jeffrey has chosen to label BRIGGS after his uncle Charlie who was a close friend and bandmate of a certain big band arranger named Nelson.

All four titles in this set show what a unique arranger, instrumentalist and bandleader Jeffrey Bove is, and one of the many fun things about this music is to feel the various influences as they weave in and out. In some places it may sound of it’s time… and in some magic moments it transcends time. And those places and moments shift and change!

I always knew about the old Alamo box of tapes in Jeff’s studio, but we had no idea what kind of shape they were in. I did know there was only one man for the job and that was Marc Moss. To listen to these songs after all these years really “blew our minds”. We were prepared for much worse – for instance, baking the tape to “restore” it’s fidelity was something we never had to do. It was such a blast to watch Jeff and Marc work on these (mostly) ancient gems and to have them lovingly bring these long sleeping tracks back to life.

I want to thank Jeff for taking me off the street and putting a fine band in my hands, and for a lifetime of friendship and music. Mis Amigo, I am officially finished bugging you about doing something with that box of tapes.

Scott Birney