Chris Hazelton Trio and "Peregrination"

Chris Hazelton got me in trouble.

I was listening to his latest CD, Peregrination, at work, through headphones. I stopped, hearing the first cut, Harlem Groove. Then, I didn’t realize, I started swaying to the beat, moving one shoulder up, then down, then the next, listening to that swinging Hammond B-3 organ play. Then Danny’s solo flowed in and just intensified my concentration. All the while, Kevin’s beat kept the music moving perfectly.

Then someone tapped my shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

Sure I was okay, I thought. I was enjoying Chris Hazelton’s jazz organ, stepping right into the traditions set by Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Smith, supplemented by Danny Embrey’s always intriguing and wonderful solos, and Kevin Frazee’s drums driving the tempo right. I was better than okay. I was enjoying this.

“You'll have that spreadsheet in a half hour,” I said.

Ever since Jimmy McGriff performed as the headliner who wasn’t rained out the year I presided over the Kansas City Jazz Festival, I’ve been a fan of the Hammond B-3. With Peregrination, whether on an updating of a Rogers and Hart classic, or on a ruminative ballad, or on an original by himself or Danny, Chris shows a masterful touch. And the interaction between himself and Danny regularly results in compelling lines tossed back and forth, organ to guitar to organ.

Peregrination can be purchased from Amazon here or downloaded from iTunes here. Or, better yet, catch this trio live this Friday at Take Five Coffee + Bar (151st and Nall) for their second CD release party, and pick up a copy there.

Their first CD release party was held last Thursday at The Blue Room, where about a hundred of us heard just how good this group sounds in person. Below is a glimpse at how it looked.

Chris Hazelton

Chris Hazelton Trio. Left to right: Chris on Hammond B-3 organ, Kevin Frazee on drums, Danny Embry on guitar

Danny Embry

Chris and, in the background, Danny

Kevin Frazee

Chris Hazelton Trio in The Blue Room

Chris and, in the background, Kevin

In Lieu of 1000 Words: Sons of Brazil 20th Anniversary

I think we take them for granted, because they’ve always been here.

After all, just how many jazz groups stay together for 20 years? And how many jazz bands in Kansas City can claim to have performed Brazilian jazz every week since their inception two decades ago? How many hold a twice monthly gig at a premiere jazz club? How many celebrated their anniversary June 6th at that jazz club?

Just one: Sons of Brazil.

I saw founder Stan Kessler introduced once, jokingly, as an elder statesman of KC jazz. Stan laughed (though if looks could kill, Mark Lowrey might not be here today). Yet, there’s something to that. Not an elder statesman, but a mainstay, one of this city’s hardest working jazz musicians since before I grew aware of KC jazz in the 1980s, and today Kansas City’s premiere jazz trumpeter.

Ask anyone who knows KC jazz to make a short list of our best jazz pianists and Sons of Brazil keyboard man Roger Wilder will be on it. Now make a list of best jazz guitarists, and in KC it will include Danny Embrey. Doug Auwarter is noted for educating as well as drumming, while he and percussionist Gary Helm complement each other, often as if they’re one complex instrument. All the while, bassist Greg Whitfield is providing the perfect underlying glue.

I started this blog to celebrate discovering the tremendous young jazz talent in Kansas City today. But too often that’s been at the expense of the tremendous jazz musicians who I may just take for granted because they’ve always been around. But with twenty years of outstanding musicians playing outstanding Brazilian jazz, it’s past time to celebrate Sons of Brazil.

Here’s a look at how they celebrated to a packed house at Jardine’s earlier this month. As always, clicking on a photo should open a larger version of it.

Sons of Brazil. Left to right: Roger Wilder, piano, Stan Kessler, trumpet, Greg Whitfield, bass, Danny Embrey, guitar, Doug Auwarter, drums, and Gary Helm, percussion.

Trumpeter, and Sons of Brazil founder, Stan Kessler

Bassist Greg Whitfield

Stan and Greg

Guitarist Danny Embrey

Drummer Doug Auwarter

Danny and Doug

Pianist Roger Wilder

Percussionist Gary Helm

Greg and Danny