After Hours with jazz-inspired soul group Nooky Jones
June 03, 2015
Welcome to episode two of After Hours!
When Evan and I first started talking about this new project, we knew one thing for sure: A new movement was afoot in the local music community that was getting a lot of people from our generation excited about live instrumentation and sounds that are rooted in jazz.
With showcases like the Funk on First series at First Avenue and a new crop of funk-influenced, horn-heavy bands popping up all over town, there does indeed seem to be a renewed interest in hearing saxophone solos, brassy trumpet lines, and unharnessed moments of improvisation alongside soulful melodies and more modern, hip-hop inspired grooves.
For this episode of After Hours, we wanted to dive head-first into this movement with the relatively new neo-soul group Nooky Jones. This is a six-piece group from Minneapolis that blends soul, jazz, R&B, and funk to create a warm, deeply grooving sound, and their band is made up of some of the most forward thinking players from this little corner of the scene. We'll talk about what draws them to this sound, how they landed on the name Nooky Jones, and what it's like performing in a band that's made up of music educators. And of course, we'll get them to play a couple of tunes, including the After Hours theme and two of their originals.
Performers
Cameron Kinghorn (vocals)
Reid Kennedy (drums)
Adam Meckler (trumpet)
Kevin Gastonguay (keys)
Ryan Christianson (trombone)
Andrew Foreman (bass)
Songs
"After One"
"Hello"
Credits
Hosted by Andrea Swensson
Produced by Evan Clark and Andrea Swensson
Engineered by Evan Clark
After Hours Theme by Andrea Swensson, performed by Nooky Jones
