In the Sept. 3 issue of Oklahoma Gazette, we reveal the history — and modern influence — of OKC jazz great Charlie Christian. Here, read a Q&A with Christian’s second cousin, Freddy Jenkins.
jazz
Posted inMusic
Odyssey of the mind
The No. 1 thing that Brian Haas — pianist and founder of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey — wants to get across is gratitude. Of course, a lot of musicians say this. But Brian Haas perhaps has more to be thankful for than your typical grateful artist. Think about it. Haas started a jazz band in […]
Posted inNews
LIFE
Oklahoma City University is partnering with the Oklahoma Humanities Council to present Ellison at 100: A Centennial Symposium to celebrate author Ralph Ellison’s 100th birthday. Ellison is the author of the novel Invisible Man, many short stories and essays on jazz, literature and American culture as seen in Shadow and Act and Going to the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Happy birthday
Ellison is considered by many to be one of the most important literary figures of American literature in the 20th century. His existential novel Invisible Man is about race, identity and alienation. It was published in 1952 to critical acclaim and won the National Book Award the following year. In cooperation with Oklahoma City University, […]
Posted inMusic
Got that swing
After making a name for himself in the Oklahoma music scene as a solo act, Kyle Reid returns to the stage with a toe-tappin’, finger-snappin’ brass band. They have crowned themselves the Low Swingin’ Chariots, and it has become a project that Reid can’t believe took him so long to get to. “I saw a […]
Posted inMusic
Brian Haas / Matt Chamberlain — Frames
That an artist would become enamored with divination after moving to the sprawling, mountain-laden countryside on the outskirts of Santa Fe, N.M., makes perfect sense. So, too, does Frames. While not improvised, per se, the album does toe the line between boundlessness and structure. A methodically composed exercise through the tempered scale, Frames clocks in […]
Posted inMusic
Frame of mind
Brian Haas wasn’t always a jazz musician. The Tulsa native and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey ringleader was instead trained from a young age to play classical piano. Even within the more structured confines of classical music, though, Haas has always been an improviser at heart. “I would always get super nervous before competitions or recitals,” […]
Posted inBest of OKC
Best of OKC 2013 – Places
Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Best place to volunteer REGIONAL FOOD BANK OF OKLAHOMA 3355 S. Purdue Its motto is “Fighting hunger … feeding hope.” Volunteers help the largest private hunger-relief organization in the state do this by sorting and distributing enough food to feed 90,000 people every week. That’s vitally important in a state […]
Posted inMusic
All that jazz
Jeremy Gossett On July 5, many months of work and sacrifice paid off when the first episode of Backstage Jazz hit the airwaves on Norman-based public radio station KGOU-FM 106.3. After the first show aired, Gossett received praise from his new legion of followers via the phone and Internet. “That night, we got about 30 […]
Posted inMusic
Bowled over
Photo: Kerry Amanda Myers Description defies Oklahoma City trio Bowlsey. With guitar, organ, synthesizers, rapping and singing all making their way into the mix, “music” is about the only apt descriptor for the sounds Bowlsey makes. “People will ask us what we think we sound like, and I honestly don’t know what to tell them,” […]