Jeff Elbel + Ping
Wheaton, Illinois9 reviews across 4 releases
Jeff Elbel + Ping is a Chicago-area rock project formed around Jeff Elbel after his work with Farewell to Juliet and Sunny Day Roses. Its early setting was the Cornerstone festival circuit, where the group developed a reputation as a large live ensemble rather than a fixed studio lineup. The 2001 debut, No Outlet, was primarily acoustic, with jangling guitar and close harmonies giving its songs a 1970s cast; flute and harmonica supplied much of its unusual color. Its central sequence followed Mason, a desert traveler pleading for rain, while other songs found weight in family life. By Loyal to You in 2003, the same material had become hook-driven electric rock in concert. The Eleventh Hour Storybook pushed further toward mid-tempo art rock, pairing Beatles and Rolling Stones echoes with Elbel's dry, everyday humor.
Personnel changes delayed Ping's first planned benefit EP, so the 2001 project became No Outlet, partly a finished record and partly a preview of Meet Your Maker. The promised full-length remained a recurring subject: Loyal to You captured Cornerstone 2002 with Tim Brooks sharing lead vocals, and The Eleventh Hour Storybook followed without resolving that expectation. Ping's membership continued to turn over; "Sing It Out Loud" treated the revolving door itself as material, while Elbel remained the constant songwriter and frontman. The group later released Gallery in 2012. In the following decade, its members became geographically dispersed, and Elbel's spinal injury affected his guitar playing and singing. He completed The Threefinger Opera under those conditions, issuing it in 2022 with guest musicians and a production built around storytelling.
4 releases reviewed
The Eleventh Hour Songbook
The Eleventh Hour Storybook