In the Mood?

A new (but old) group is trying to resurrect a Springfield jazz tradition.

When we’re young, unless we are exposed to it by our parents or music teachers, most of us probably think jazz is a drag. As we get older, perhaps we develop an appreciation—if not for jazz’s history and chord structures, then for its potential aphrodisiacal benefits.
 
But a select few make jazz a passion, buying instruments as high schoolers and playing into their 20s. When the college scholarship runs out, the best of the best keep playing professionally, or recreationally in bars and ragtag bands. They’re like competitive softball leagues, with fewer daddy issues.

Finally, there are those who make jazz their everything. One of these lifers is Arzo Tureaud, 29, and he’s a genuine jazz article. (He refers to people as “cats,” and there’s no pretense about it.) A 1995 Central grad, Arzo, a trumpet player, has been in three branches of the military—touring with a few of its heralded big bands, like the Army Ambassadors and West Point’s Jazz Knights. He’s also played with several nationally recognized groups and recorded a number of soundtracks—you can hear Arzo’s brassy riffs during The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

Now he’s back in Springfield. Why would he move back? When was the last time you heard a local big band outside of a university? That’s exactly what Arzo wants to change.

That mission began this month, when Little Hoover’s Big Band convened for the first time in more than 60 years. The band—started in 1912 by Hoover Music founder Herbert L. Hoover (not the president)—played until the early ’40s.

When Arzo returned to Springfield early this summer, he wound up working at Hoover Music with high school bandmate and store manager Cheri Norton. The two quickly hatched the idea of resurrecting Little Hoover’s.

The band played its first show August 3 at Big Momma’s Coffee & Espresso Bar. A number of Springfield’s instrumental music luminaries—including Ned “The Band” Wilkinson and Evangel University jazz director Matt Warner—filled out the 18 piece group, which will play with varying lineups every Tuesday night at Big Momma’s. The reason? Arzo says it’s because they should.

“We’re the third largest city in Missouri, and we’re the only one without a prominent jazz scene,” Arzo says. “Columbia gets Wynton [Marsalis] two times a year.”

Hoover Music is sponsoring the band—they’ve made T-shirts, but that’s about it in the way of promotion. It’s more an educational tool than profit generator.

Indeed, the Tuesday night gigs at Big Momma’s will actually be a community reading band, where local players can sit in with the big “cats”—many of whom will be local jazz educators and touring pros like Arzo.

The target is local high schoolers and college students who want to get a taste of the real thing (hence alcohol-free Big Momma’s). But jazz dabblers and ex-players who haven’t played in years are invited, too. The band supplies the music, and you can either read along with the pro or play along. And once they get the hang of it? It becomes their seat for the night. “The goal is to eventually have the pros sit out in the crowd and watch kids do what we were doing,” Arzo says.

Evangel’s Matt Warner, who plays in another local big band made up entirely of current and former jazz educators, says he’ll encourage his students to attend the reading band sessions, where they’ll get a more “hands on” learning experience than he can give them in the classroom. “That’s the tradition of jazz,” Watson says.

“That’s really the way people learn the music, kinda getting their hands dirty and being around players that are better than them.”