The Bridge is an American jam band

Jam band

-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...

. They are based out of Baltimore, Maryland and formed between 2001 and 2002. The band is known for their live performances, blending "various elements of blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 and bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

"

The band

The Bridge consists of Cris Jacobs on guitar and vocals, Kenny Liner on mandolin and vocals, Dave Markowitz on bass guitar and vocals, Patrick Rainey on the saxophone, Mike Gambone on drums, and Mark Brown on keyboards. The band has developed a strong following in the Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

/Washington D.C. area, and as of Fall 2008 have toured much of the United States and parts of western Europe. They were awarded Baltimore's 'Best Band' and 'Best Album' by the Baltimore City Paper reader's poll in 2005. In 2008, they won the Jam Cruise

Jam Cruise

Held annually in January, Jam Cruise is a music festival on a cruise ship. It features artists of the jam band genre playing at multiple venues aboard the vessel...

 6 'vote to the boat' contest, earning a spot to play on the annual jam band cruise.

In 2002, they were very briefly featured on the television show The Wire

The WIRE

the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...

which is set in their hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

The original line-up of the band consisted of Paul Weinberg on drums and Ryan Porter on bass. Porter and Jacobs went to high school together, where they were in band called Big Fat. Markowitz and Weinberg were also in band together in high school named Black Eyed Susan.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, The Bridge announced they would be breaking up after their last live show, Thanksgiving Eve 2011.

Albums

• National Bohemian (February 1, 2011)
• Blind Man's Hill (October 21, 2008)
• The Bridge (2006)
• Cross Street Market (2004)
• The Bridge (purple album) (2002)

External links

• The Bridge official website
• Live recordings of The Bridge at the Internet Archive
• Story and interview with Cris Jacobs from bmorelive.com
• The Bridge: Singing Like the Early Morning Sun from HonestTune.com
• The Bridge:Fire & Ice by Tim Newby from jambase.com