“Common Time” is an exciting 6-piece Rhythm and Blues Dance and Show band that plays with lots of feeling and is sure to move your soul!
The band name, “Common Time", is a fitting tribute to the driving R&B time signature, which is also part of their logo. Common Time is a 4/4 beat that R&B lovers will recognize, and “Common Time” does so well! Dance, sing along or just enjoy the show!
BAND MEMBERS
GARY GRAY
Lead Vocals
Gary became interested in music at the age of ten when walking down the street in his Neighborhood he saw a group of people playing on the back porch of a guitar player’s house. He asked if he could sing a song with them and the rest is history; they went on to form the group “The Fascinations” and performed all around St. Louis and Illinois. The band played every weekend until Gary finished High School, performing as opening act for many well-known musicians and in many clubs around St Louis and Gaslight Square.
During the mid-seventies, Gary became interested in theater performance at Washington University. In 1975, he moved to Chicago and got involved with Radio and Television Broadcasting. Gary has done many Films, TV shows, and Stage Plays, and performed in numerous nightclubs in Chicago until moving back to St. Louis in 1994. He also performed with Tenor Sax Player John Sherwin in 2003. Gary says it’s great to be back performing again with a group of dedicated and talented Musicians such as “Common Time!”
Chuck Lanczkowski
Bass Guitar & Vocals
Chuck has been playing stringed instruments for more than fifty years. His
professional career started at age 15 when he formed the band that first fronted Elvis impersonator Marcel Forestieri, and continued with Philadelphia’s Columbia records as a studio bassist. Chuck continued his music through 10 years in the US Navy and his subsequent ‘day-jobs’. He has played with many well-known East Coast and Mid West groups and musicians, and even lived and played three years in England.
Chuck is often called “Doc ” because of his too-many college degrees and his work as an Emergency Medical Technician and ambulance diver in Calhoun County, Illinois. Chuck’s driving, precise bass is a result of his Philly background, and you can tell he is having the time of his life with “Common Time!”
John Sherwin
Tenor Sax
John is a graduate of SIU-Edwardsville with a degree in music, and is the owner-operator of Mid Rivers Music Store in St. Peters. He has played in several local groups over the years and enjoys entertaining and watching people have fun! John provides stylistic sax solos, and plays harmony parts with the keyboard man, to provide a true Big Band sound.
John feels that the Baby Boomers are ready to start coming back out and enjoying live music and themselves like they did in their youth when the music played in the front seat and they played in the back seat! The sound of Rhythm and Blues in the 60’s & 70’s was truly dance music that people enjoyed. John invites everyone who enjoys dancing and listening to that Good Old Soul Music to come out and find themselves again in the sounds of “Common Time!”
ROBERT BECKER
Keyboards and Vocals
Robert still remembers the ‘whacks-on-the-knuckles’ from the nuns at his piano lessons in grade school. He quit piano lessons when they interfered with high school sports, and left the world of Bach and Beethoven for Rock ‘N’ Roll after hearing his first live rock band performance. The stage was calling.
Robert joined his first band when he was 14, where his dad and the older musicians had to drive him to gigs. He continued to play in many rock and roll bands ever since. Robert played in some of the finest rock bands in St. Louis over the past 30 years, including Backtrack, Less Than Serious, The Dare-A-Licks, and most recently Sonic Tonic. He has also been a featured performer at the St. Louis Rock and Roll Marathon for five consecutive years. But, his first loves have always been Rhythm & Blues and Motown.
Robert is thrilled to perform with “Common Time!” providing the piano, organ, string and trumpet parts to the band’s soulful R&B sound.
DENNIS CLOW
Lead and Rhythm Guitar
Dennis began playing Alto Saxophone in the fifth grade and continued through his first year of college.
In the 70’s, Dennis worked with KBK Earth City Sound Studios playing guitar for one of their Nashville artists and doing studio work. He later played the metro east bar scene with a local band Lightnin’, and the Ramada Inn Circuit from Mississippi to Michigan with Disco/Soul bank P.B. Huff.
He has played wedding receptions across the entire metro area, worked with a country band, and given guitar lessons.
Most recently he has been studying piano and Jazz guitar.
Dennis is very excited to be playing with "Common Time" and hopes you all come out and share in the love and enjoyment of live music from some of the best musicians in St Louis!
BOB BALES
Drums, Percussion, and Vocals
Bob has been playing drums since grade
school. Through high school he played in several garage bands, and in his twenties played local night spots with St. Louis blues artist Marcel Strong. He continued his career with a local Country Band as well as a Christian Band, traveling the bi-state area playing Christian Contemporary Gospel and Contemporary Christian Rock Music. Bob furthered his studies at Drum Headquarters learning how to read charts as well as learning to play Jazz music. His favorite style of music continues to be Rhythm and Blues of the 60's and 70's. He is honored to be a part of “Common Time!”