St. Louis: Duke 'n Jazz

Duke Ellington at Hurricane Club in 1943. Source: Wikipedia.

Duke Ellington's birthday is (was) April 29.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

In honor of same, The Focal Point and pianist Christopher Parrish pulled together seven local, exemplary musicians to celebrate Mr. Ellington's gifts.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The Focal Point is an important community space. It calls itself a "listening room." The Focal Point is small, but hosts roots and regional music that includes string bands, bluegrass, folk, Irish, tango, some swing, and I'm not sure what else.

Dawn Weber, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

With eight musicians on the stage - plus a grand piano! - it was a crowd up there!

Kendrick Smith and Eric Slaughter, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The octet was formed just for this performance - they had never performed together before. So the group operated in the spirit of an after-hours jam session - one of the criteria Christopher Parrish used to select the one-night only band members was their familiarity with Duke Ellington's music.

David Gomez and Kendrick Smith, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

I learned a new musical term during the concert - the "head," which is the melody. After one song, Christopher Parrish explained that he'd wanted to signal the drummer for his solo, but the signal got missed before the musicians "returned to the head" - returned to the melody.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

Later in the concert, I saw Christopher Parrish touch his head while looking at the band, after all had done a solo, and with my new knowledge, I took this to mean: "Return to the melody now." I felt right smart.

Take a listen to the 15-minute set in the video below, in which you can relish how each musician gets to do their solo thing and how all eight work together:

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The vibe of the group reminded me of my trip to D.C. in 2016, when my friend and I kicked back at Twins Jazz.  That video of the Michael Thomas Quintet below:

Dawn Weber, Kendrick Smith and Eric Slaughter, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.