Editor’s note: Because of the Astros game tonight, Axelrad has decided to move the show from tonight to Wednesday, November 8.
Original story
Houston is often overlooked as a music town in general but especially for our city’s contributions to jazz. We have long been home to great artists like Arnett Cobb, Harry Sheppard, Jason Moran and legendary vocalist Jewel Brown, who is still alive and kicking in her representation of our city’s jazz history.
Axelrad and Wonky Power frequently work together to nurture and expand Houston’s musical community through their weekly Jazz Wednesday performances and constant wide array of musical events featuring local and global performers.
Now they are teaming up with Third Coast Recording Co. to further document and push our bustling jazz scene with the release of their first ever album Live At Axelrad, Jazz Wednesdays. The album features five of the artists who regularly perform at Axelrad including, Darrell Lavigne Quartet, Woody Witt Quintet, Mark Simmons Jr, Houston Ensemble and the Marlon Simon Quartet.
The album will be available for streaming and pre-ordering on vinyl on Sunday, October 22. Music lovers can attend the in person listening party and live performance on that day featuring special performances by two of the five recorded artists, the Houston Ensemble and Marlon Simon Quartet.
In between live sets, attendees will hear the Live At Axelrad, Jazz Wednesdays album and have the opportunity to pre-order the vinyl right then with the record scheduled to be released in December of this year. The release is part of the upcoming celebration for the physical building of Axelrad’s 100 year anniversary.
Jazz Wednesdays have been a weekly staple at Axelrad since they opened eight years ago bringing new life not only to the beautiful building, but to the surrounding neighborhood which has only continued to grow and blossom in the last eight years. The events are rain or shine, always free and always available for streaming online for those who cannot make it out.
“The intention is to build community within jazz musicians and music lovers as well for them to come out and enjoy a night full of live jazz music. Every jazz group has different elements and I think that’s what we love and it’s cool to actually have a way to put it out on vinyl now and put it out for everyone to listen to,” says Wonky Power founder Mario Rodriguez who has been recording the performances to compile tracks for the album.
“The intention is to build community within jazz musicians and music lovers as well for them to come out and enjoy a night full of live jazz music.”
Much like Houston’s famously diverse city, Live At Axelrad, Jazz Wednesdays highlights the varied musical influences that filter into the genre ranging from traditional swing style jazz to soul, neo soul, Afro and Latin beats all blending together to perfectly reflect the range of artists Houston houses and Axelrad provides a space for weekly.
“It was very hard,” says Rodriguez of selecting the recordings to be on the vinyl. “It was very difficult because there are so many talented musicians and so many great groups. We just did our best to our ability to find the ones that we thought would resonate with the audience. I think we chose some pretty great ones and I think people will like them.”
Since Axelrad opened, co-owner Monte Large and his partners not only had the vision of creating a comfortable place to encourage community building while fostering local talent but more specifically, Large hoped to capture some of the magic he saw first hand at old Houston blues clubs like The Silver Slipper and Etta’s Lounge where his music loving parents would take him.
“All those little house venues in Third Ward, they made such an impression on me growing up and the Axelrad building reminded me of those places when I first walked in. It is really sad that all these crazy talented musicians that were from these neighborhoods, their history is really out the window in a lot of ways.”
Along with their team, Large and Rodriguez aim to do their part to conserve and expand upon the efforts to push for our city’s musical talent. Who knows what will become of their additional recordings but it would be an easy stretch to see the tracks become a treasure trove and one day time capsule of the current state of jazz in Houston.
“We really envisioned from the get go having the neighborhood music,” says Large who went to Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and has seen many former classmates succeed in the Jazz world and beyond. “I was going to all these shows and thought, why don’t we make Axelrad this place that you can see these things and it can be a new generation of blues and jazz talents in the city and the neighborhood.”
Live At Axelrad, Jazz Wednesdays is available for streaming and pre order on vinyl The listening party and performance will take place on Sunday, October 22 Wednesday, November 8 at Axelrad, 1517 Alabama, free.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
