Friday, February 10, 2012

Jazz + sports bar: A winning combination

MOJO, the Missouri Jazz Orchestra, competes with many musical groups for the title of best-kept secret in town, even as it packs Marty's Sports Bar every first and third Tuesday.

The music is simply astonishing, for these reasons:
  • A professional crew comprised of great players with long resumés and huge talent.
  • Commitment to the mid- to late-Basie bands and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis institution that sprung from them.
  • Most noticeably, great soloists, such as the galvanic tenorist Brent Vaughan and Scott Harris on trumpet in the embedded video above.
  • Most distinctively, original writing and arranging by Vaughan and Harris. The video embedded above is Harris' "Waiting for Spring." 

I hear this saying a lot: "Support local bands — they're often just as good as the national acts you follow." It definitely applies to MOJO. Plus it's a great kick in the pants to walk into a sports bar and get a 16-piece blast of sound.

1 comment:

frankentenor said...

Thanks so much for your support of MOJO and live Jazz in Springfield, Ed!

Brent Vaughan