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Once strangers, now friends, the Terryl Lee Band is at work on their debut album

Terryl Lee Band
Bobby Q's, 42 Main St., Westport. Sat., July 4 at 9 p.m. (203) 454-7800, www.bobbyqsrestaurant.com

It's been over two years since Terryl Lee placed an ad on Craig's List in hopes of assembling a group of high-caliber and like-minded musicians with a yearning to play soulful R&B. The Terryl Lee Band and a series of unlikely, friendships were born after bass player Jeff Wasserman, an English teacher at Greenwich High School, answered Lee's request.

The band has endured long commutes and member changes, but their mission remains the same: to make heartfelt, dance-friendly music while fully enjoying one another's company.

"We're really close, we're like family now," says Lee of the band's current line-up, comprised of two of Jeff's high school classmates, Clark Thiemann on drums and Pete Bryniczka on lead guitar. Also added to the mix is Lee's cousin, Paul Jean, who provides background vocals when needed.

"Before the band it was just me, my guitar and a CD of a drum track or something," says Lee. "I'm definitely happier with the dynamic we have now."

Hidden behind the 27-year-old's soft-spoken and humble demeanor lives a seasoned bandleader with showmanship coursing through his veins. His father, Terryl Lee, Sr., known by the stage name "Dr. Funk," was a bandleader and bass player in Harlem, where Lee lived before moving to Ansonia at age 14.

It was during his years in Harlem that Lee's mother encouraged him and his sister to take up dance, forming a love for the arts in the young Lee's eager mind. "At first we didn't want to dance but my mother made us and it turned into something that we grew to love," says Lee, who still dances to this day.

Lee recalls the first time he sang in front of a crowd at a local talent show, where he performed "Killing Me Softly," in the style of the Fugees. Although he boasts an eclectic musical pallet, he still cites artists from '80s and '90s as his biggest influences.

"I'll listen to whatever is on the radio, but if I put on a CD it's definitely going to be from that era," says Lee, who also gives credit to Lauryn Hill for inspiring him to pick up the guitar and learn her songs note for note.

One of the band's standout tracks, "Love Don't Live Here," stays true to the music Lee was raised on without sounding dated. The band remains tight and upbeat as the melancholy melody allows Lee to belt through verse after verse pining over the loss of a lover. Other tunes like "Come Home to Me" play like joyful sing-a-longs and display his love for reggae.

Not every member of the Terryl Band, however, had hip-hop and R&B playing through their speakers at an early age. "I grew up on Simon & Garfunkel and then alternative rock, so I'm trying to get into the hip-hop stuff now," says Wasserman, who grew up in affluent Westport. "I've been trying to figure what a lot of these artists like the Roots are doing especially in terms of their bass lines."

While Lee writes all of the songs for the group on his acoustic guitar, he relies on his bandmates to arrange the music and mold his raw ideas into tunes that will fit the band's sound. "The thing I love about working with Terryl is that he's a really good song writer and I'm not just saying that because I'm in a band with him," says Wasserman. "He writes songs that are extraordinarily catchy and extremely smart."

The Terryl Lee band is now recording a debut LP at Venture Studios in Brooklyn, due out at the end of the summer. The album will feature 12 of Lee's songs full of his signature smooth singing style and his equally impressive talent for rapping.

Lee says every member of the group is prepared to make the band their top priority if opportunity calls. It looks like Greenwich High School might have to start looking for a new English teacher.