Swing band The Chrome Addicts knows how to hook music lovers

By Keenan J.M. Singleton
Daily Cougar Staff

Jazz will be on the menu at the Moores Opera House Friday and Saturday night.

The 12th Annual Dinner Concert Gala will feature the World Famous Count Basie Orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday. The Moores School Jazz Orchestra performs with featured tenor-saxophonist Michael Brecker at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

These concerts will serve as a fund-raiser for scholarships, and the Friday night performance will honor vibist Milt Jackson.

In 1936, William Basie assembled his big band in the former jazz capital of the world, Kansas City, and later relocated to New York City.

The band would eventually be known for its endless hard swinging as well as the precise lightness and relaxation they possessed. His contributions and influences to jazz are unparalleled. Unlike the work of other musicians from all genres, his style has remained popular throughout half of a century.

On a more modern note, Brecker visits Saturday night for his highly anticipated concert. He has been on the scene since the late ‘60s with his trumpeter-brother Randy. They gained acclaim in the ‘70s with numerous funk/fusion-based, Brecker Brothers' records.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Brecker has focused on a more modern, progressive style, earning him seven Grammys. Brecker will be performing four original tunes with the entire Orchestra and two with the rhythm section (piano, bass and drums).

Noe Marmolejo, director of jazz studies at the Moores School of Music, expressed nothing but praise for Brecker.

"Brecker is a new generation of player," Marmolejo said. "He doesn't play what we typically play. His style has a more modern, progressive feel than we are accustomed to."

While visiting the Moores School of Music, Brecker will also be giving clinics to students of UH and from around the state of Texas.

The Moores Jazz Festival also includes an educational component. On both dates, there are student performances scheduled throughout the day.

High schools from Austin and Garland will be in attendance. Although awards are given out at the end of the day, this is not a competition. The schools will receive critiques and comments from a panel of judges, and awards will be handed to the best soloists of the day.

The most coveted award will go to the overall best band, who returns at the end of each day to be the warm-up band for Basie and Brecker.

In all, there will be approximately 30 bands, each with 30 minutes to perform for the panel.

Marmolejo felt that, especially during Black History Month, UH should pay homage to jazz music's black originators.

"By bringing in a top-name talent such as Brecker," he said, "I think it can reduce some of UH's stigma of being located in a predominantly black neighborhood and being not exactly a jazz 'Mecca.'"

This concert is directed to three audiences: the UH audience, public schools in the area and the surrounding areas. In the future, Marmolejo wants the other jazz-concert venues in Houston to bolster the quality level of their incoming talent. Perhaps if this is accomplished, Houston will not be percieved as a jazz dead end.