About The JTO
In 2007, the Joey Tomsick Orchestra will mark its 23rd year anniversary of entertaining audiences nationwide. The four-piece group, also known as the "JTO" was organized in 1984 by Joey and has since become one of greater Cleveland's most popularly active all-occasion bands, performing a wide range of music for all types of audiences and social events from weddings, festivals, "polka parties", Inaugural Balls and Presidential visits!
This Cleveland, Ohio based band features Phil Hrvatin on saxophone, Jim Penko on drums, Hank Guzel
on bass and vocals, and , Joey Tomsick on keyboards, vocals and accordion.
This Cleveland, Ohio based
band features Phil Hrvatin
on saxophone, Jim Penko
on drums, Hank Guzel
on bass and vocals, and of course, Joey Tomsick
on keyboards, vocals and accordion.
The following reprinted with permission from "Mosaic" in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 18, 2006:
Joey Following a Tradition of Slovenian Polka Music
By John H. Tidyman
While his four older brothers were following the paths of rock or classical music, Joey Tomsick found his own way: Slovenian polka.
The kids in the Tomsick family were exposed to lots of music, one of the benefits, he said, of having a father who marched and played trumpet in the Cathedral Latin band of the '40s. "There was always music in the house," he said. "Sometimes radio, sometimes my parents singing. It's just the way we were raised."
When he was nine years old, Joey was encouraged by his parents to join the Junior Slovenian Singing Chorus. "My parents wanted me to realize our great ethnic background and today, I'd say that experience is my musical foundation."
As he developed as a choral singer, he looked to his cousin, Kathy Hlad, who was an accomplished and very popular accordionist. "She was a young, pretty female with a big smile and she was really good at playing. People just fell in love with her and I was very proud of her."
After two years with his cousin, he went to the late Frank Novak, who taught "button box" at Tony's Polka Village on East 185th Street, where he was only one of 60 students.
Twenty-five years ago, Tomsick won a button box contest and the celebration went from the Slovenian Home on Holmes Avenue to the Caboose Bar, where the owner handed him a ten-dollar bill for winning. "That was the first time anyone paid me for playing." Hardly the last.
He played with a couple well-known bands, the Circle Two Button Boxers and the Euclid Squeezeboxers. From them, he learned teamwork, musicianship and furthered his devotion to Slovenian polka. In 1984, he formed the Joey Tomsick Orchestra, which still gigs today, along with Phil Hrvatin, Hank Guzel, and Jim Penko.
The four members share lots of duties: chromatic accordion, button accordion, saxophone, bass, keyboards and drums.
Chromatic accordion, he said, is to the piano accordion what night is to day. "Chromatic is a series of three rows of buttons which are arranged for the right hand and can create all the chords you need. You have to know the fingering to know the chords. I was inspired by players when I was first starting and wanted to learn it."
Lou Trebar was his teacher for chromatic accordion, and though he never met him, Johnny Pecon was his hero. It was Pecon and Frankie Yankovic, two famous musicians, who created what is known as "Cleveland Style Slovenian Polka." The instruments include accordionist, saxophonist, bass drum and banjo. It differs from Polish polkas, which use a brass section.
When his band takes the stage, it's not going to play four hours of polkas. No one has the stamina to dance that long. The band will mix in some standards, some big band classics, a couple of jitterbugs, even a line dance.
Speaking of classics, the band is always asked to play Frankie Yankovic's million-seller he wrote in the '40s, "Just Because Polka." It is often followed by another of Yankovic's gems, "The Blue Skirt Waltz."
Tomsick's band has recorded several albums. The latest is "Smile." The Polka Hall of Fame showered it with honors.
The best part of being the leader of a great polka band? "Being able to play a song that really moves people. Sometimes I'll see dancers really enjoying a song, sometimes even singing along with it. We're playing a great polka and the audience falls into what I call a polka trance,' and I know they're reliving some very special memories. It gives me goosebumps."
For
more information, bookings, recordings, please contact:
Joey Tomsick
7261 Hunting Lake Dr -
Concord Twp., OH 44077-8913
440-639-1963