Written by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, the band’s new long-form LP, “Race Riot Suite,” debuted live back in May to blissful reviews from critics. Now the Tulsa act has announced a new single and a 29-date tour, including several stops in the 918 and 405.
The single, “Black Wall Street,” opens with Brian Haas’s always-excellent grand piano tinkering and builds into a full-on zig-zagging lap steel party, backed by an all-star brass lineup recruited to paint a picture of the once-populous Greenwood district, one of the most successful black communities in American history.
Unfortunately, most of Greenwood was destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, an oft-neglected and particularly ugly chapter of our state’s history, which JFJO depicts with awe-inspiring detail and clarity in the “Race Riot Suite.”
You can catch the group in their hometown of Tulsa performing at 11 p.m. July 30 at the FreeTulsa Music Festival; Aug. 13 at Simmer Fest in Tahlequah; or Aug. 26 at The Deli in Norman. They’ll set out for dates in the Pacific Northwest, Northeast and South before returning to Tahlequah on Nov. 18.
Click below to watch the band’s May 20 performance of “Black Wall Street” at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.
Tulsa’s Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey plays ‘Lost in the Battle for Greenwood’ ... in Greenwood.
Ah, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. One of my hometown’s finest treasures. It’s the QuikTrip of eclectic, often improvisational fusion jazz.
The band recently headed out to the Greenwood District in Tulsa with This Land Press to shoot an impromptu performance of one of the songs on its most excellent, most recent LP, “The Race Riot Suite,” which tells the mostly untold story of the Tulsa Race Riot in 12 songs.
Also of note is pianist Brian Haas’ melodica, which is much more convenient than lugging a piano around the streets of Tulsa. Watch:
OKG7 things to do Gazette staff
Perhaps last seen sleeping with Michael Scott on “The Office,” actress
Linda Purl takes a different kind of Mike — the microphone — when she
appears in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.