
The recent sad death of WILTON FELDER means that drummer STIX HOOPER is the last surviving original member and though now aged 77, he’s still active in the music biz – most notably fronting up his own record label…. STIX HOOPER ENTERPRISES.
The label is currently promoting three new releases. First up there’s Stix’s collaboration with Viewpoint – a band specially created to “explore the universality of music in relation to jazz and its global significance”. Amongst the band’s members is flautist, Hubert Laws and the album is simply called ‘LIVE IN L.A.’ Most of the tracks are Hooper originals but the set also features a version of Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’ and a treatment of Bartok’s ‘Romanian Folk Dance’.
The second long player is ‘WE WENT WEST’. The 11 tracker’s theme is that all the personnel (including Hooper, of course) “went West” to follow their musical dreams and ambitions, while the third album (produced by Hooper) is another live set. ‘A JAZZ MOMENT IN TIME’ was recorded at the 2007 Solvang jazz festival in California and band members include Freddie Hubbard, Patrice Rushen, Hubert Laws and Airto Moreira.
All three albums are available now.