Christopher Marsceill, better known as Rev. Chris, was only 5 or 6 years old when he began taking group piano lessons along with about 20 other kids. As the legend goes, according to his father, the piano teacher noticed Rev. Chris was the odd one out.

Marsceill said, “This is from my father — so who could say how true this is or not — but she took my father aside and said, ‘We’re on page 12. Your son finished the whole book. I think there’s something going on. You need to get him a private teacher, because the group lessons, that’s not for him.’” 

This early inkling that Marsceill had serious musical talent was proven true. Now  leader of a band touring as Rev. Chris & Les Garçons Crasseux, Marsceill is a staple in the local music scene. The Mt. Airy resident has a full list of upcoming performances in the region, including May 9 at his “home base” in the Mermaid Inn, May 17 at the Taste of Mt. Airy event at Cliveden House, and June 11 at the first Supper Sessions on the 7100 and 7200 blocks of Germantown Avenue. 

However, Marsceill still found time for an interview with the Local last week, along with his bandmates Bart Miltenberger (trumpet) and Rich Curtis (bass), to discuss their backgrounds, the band’s history, and share their vast musical knowledge. Just as any band’s performance may be sprinkled with quick, improvisational notes, the three musicians inserted plenty of deep-cut musical references and inside jokes into the conversation.

Lives revolving around music

After Marsceill’s piano teacher picked up on his early talents, private lessons turned into attendance at Settlement Music School in West Philadelphia. He describes his piano during those formative years as a safe haven to which he would withdraw when stressed, waking his parents up at two in the morning while singing along to Elton John. 

At age 17, Marsceill headed to the University of New Orleans to study jazz. While in the Big Easy, he crossed paths and shared the stage with countless esteemed musicians, including Ellis Marsalis, Joe Krown, and Jon Cleary. After Hurricane Katrina, Marsceill moved back to Philadelphia and started performing solo around the city, including holding a longstanding residency at Tavern on the Hill.

Miltenberger’s introduction to musicianship began when he picked up the trumpet in fourth grade. The inspiration for selecting that instrument came from E.B. White’s book “The Trumpet of the Swan,” in which Louis, a trumpeter swan born without a voice, overcomes his difficulty by learning to play the trumpet. Miltenberger also credited another formative experience in first grade: his first time hearing the gravelly voice of Louis Armstrong performing “Tiger Rag.”

“I didn’t know what it was; I just knew there was so much joy and energy in that guy singing,” Miltenberger said. “[Armstrong] must have played trumpet in [that recording] too, and that must have infiltrated my little brain. For those two reasons, I played trumpet, and music has been a refuge and the only thing that’s consistently made sense ever since.”

Miltenberger attended the University of Pennsylvania as an English major and said he didn’t take music seriously until after college. He studied with the “genius” Dennis Sandole, who also taught John Coltrane, and toured the country before settling in Glenside.

Curtis, who also lives in Glenside, was born and raised in Philadelphia. His earliest musical experience was joining the Philadelphia Boys Choir before he turned to the bass. After studying at Maplewood Music Studio, Curtis eventually joined The Dukes of Destiny, a long-running popular blues band. He now serves as the CFO for MANNA, a nonprofit that serves meals and provides nutrition education for those with serious illnesses. Yet, music continues to be his biggest passion.

“I don’t mind doing [accounting] for a living, because it allows me to afford stuff and then play music,” Curtis said.

An undefined style

Marsceill said Les Garçons Crasseux played for the first time at a street festival on April 20, 2012. The band has been through several iterations since then, but the main group has remained fairly consistent for the past decade. In addition to Rev. Chris, Miltenberger, and Curtis, the band also includes Thomas Razler on sax and clarinet, Joe Ryan on guitar, and Claudio de Pujadas or Gusten Randolph on drums. 

Although the band was originally called the Highrollers, when Marsceill first uploaded music to Spotify, another band with the same name reached out. Marsceill was not super attached to the name, so he played around with several others before landing on Les Garçons Crasseux. This Creole title stems from the name of the dirty martinis from a New Orleans restaurant and translates to “The Dirty Boys.”

“There was a dude from Pittsburgh that came out specifically [to Manayunk] because he saw the name and said, ‘I knew it was going to be New Orleans music when I saw that name,’” Marsceill said. “That’s when I realized: we’re going to have to do this as much as people hate pronouncing it.”

Les Garçons Crasseux’s genre of music is not easily defined by its listeners —  or bandmembers. The New Orleans inspiration provides a fusion of genres Miltenberger describes as “quintessentially American.”

“[New Orleans music] is a melting pot. It’s an amalgamation of a lot of different styles,” Miltenberger said. “It’s not straight jazz, rock ’n’ roll, R&B, or folk. It’s all of those things.”

A special connection

In the 10 years the current bandmembers of Les Garçons Crasseux have been performing, Marsceill said they have likely practiced together fewer than 10 times. According to Miltenberger, this speaks not only to the talent of the musicians but also Rev. Chris’ ability as a composer.

“He can give us a piece of music on the bandstand and be like, ‘Can you play this?’” Miltenberger said. “We might not make it perfect the first time, but it’s going to sound like the band instantly … He knows what our strengths and weaknesses are … Good bandleaders write for their band.” 

Curtis said Les Garçons Crasseux has a special, unspoken connection with one another. 

“I didn’t want to be in a gang; that’s not sustainable,” Curtis joked. “But being in a band is being part of the crew. Playing music is great, but the hang between sets, where you can talk and be yourselves, is just absolutely incredible.”

To learn more about Rev. Chris and Les Garçons Crasseux, visit revchrismusic.com.

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com