Kick back with Brazz Sunday @ Mellow Mushroom

As school winds up for the summer,  more warm-weather music venues open. Marshall Smith and acoustic brass quintet Brazz play their dinstinctive Jazz on the patio at Mellow Mushroom, 217 E. Hickory St., Denton. Brazz, will play on the patio, Sunday, Noon-3 p.m.

For more information and full menu, click: www.mellowmushroom.com/denton.

 

Management of the pizza and beer place has scheduled Brazz to perform on Sundays as the weather cooperates.

The latest line-up of Brazz is Marshall Smith, trumpet; Jordan Gheen on trumpet; Catherine Gilstrap, French horn; trombonist Kevin Hicks; and A.G. Robeson on Bass trombone and tuba. But substitutions on some of the “chairs” will take place, according to Brazz leader Marshall Smith.

Marshall Smith, left, and Jordan Gheen

Marshall Smith has led the band for “five or six years,” (and 40 years leading various versions of the band) but professes to get band members “better than me,” usually from the One O’Clock Lab Band, “so they really elevate my playing.” Brazz encompasses the pop, classical and jazz genres, but will ramp up an exclusive jazz playlist for the Mellow Mushroom serenade.

Some of the music you’ll hear at Mellow Mushroom include a mix of Dixieland to straight ahead jazz ala Charlie Parker.

Smith enriches listeners by introducing each song with a bit of history or an interesting anecdote about the piece. “Actually, since endurance is a real factor in playing brass instruments, the introductions gives us a chance to rest before starting the next song,” Smith said.

Kevin Hicks, left, and A.G. Robeson

Catherine Gilstrap