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| Horace Bray, Matt Young, Thaddeus Ford, Kevin Butler, Aaron Hedenstrom. |
Thaddeus Ford
Twilite Lounge
Dallas, TX
Saturday, February 8, 2016
Thaddeus Ford, the trumpet player, put together a group of
young players to put a modern interpretation on some traditional New Orleans
jazz and blues numbers. They played before a full house at the Twilite Lounge
in Deep Ellum, the historic music district of Dallas.
Playing at these club dates, a band comes together in a
fluid way. A band leader would just call around his musician friends to see who
is available. Luckily there is a world-renowned jazz university, University of
North Texas, just half-hour away.
Several of Thaddeus’ players were from UNT where they are taught
to learn all genres of music (funk, R&B, rock and roll, and more). And they
are taught the jazz technique of improvisation – within the context of the
song, put your own style and interpretation on it.
And that is how great music is made. For the famous record,
A Kind of Blue, no music was written ahead of time. Miles Davis’ only
instruction to the drummer was: ‘Make it sound like it’s floating.’
Thaddeus Ford’s drummer Matt Young had the music floating.
Matt Young, originally from Georgia, is
one of those UNT students. He is studying under UNT professor Ed Soph, a
quality drummer in his own right, who has helped to develop famous drummers
like Ari Hoening, Keith Carlock, Rich Redmond, Jason Sutter and Robert ‘Sput’
Searight.
Guitar player Horace Bray, another UNT student, was the
featured artist in Thaddeus Ford’s band. Horace Bray is from the historic music
town of St Louis where he was a member of the Jazz St Louis All Stars, The
Missouri All Suburban and All State Jazz bands. Horace Bray is preparing to
release his own album in a few months.
Aaron Hedendstrom played alto saxophone and keyboard. He is
from St. Paul, Minnesota, and already building a reputation as a composer as
shown on his recent album A Moment of Clarity. He has won the Herb Albert ASCAP
Young Jazz Composer Award, the nation’s highest honor for young jazz composers.
He has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a Master’s
in Jazz Arranging from UNT and is currently working on his Doctorate in Jazz
Studies at UNT.
Also on the bill was Kevin Butler who played some bass lines
on the tuba. Kevin, who studied at Baylor University, in addition to the
Thaddeus Ford band is seen around town in numerous other bands like the Obscure
Dignataries, The Freeloaders, and The Big Ass Brass Band.
Thaddeus Ford, originally from New Orleans and steeped in
the tradition with songs like Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor and Saints Go
Marching In, brought in some young university-trained musicians to put a modern
spin on some classics.
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