KC Alert: Matt Wilson

[Note: Video updated 01 Feb 08]

Hotshit drummer Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts ensemble is coming to the Blue Room on Friday (April 20) and the show is definitely worth checking out. Wilson is touring in support of a new album Arts and Crafts, just out on Palmetto.

To get a taste of what to expect, check out the eccentrically framed video of "The Scenic Route," captured in February at the Elmhurst Jazz Festival in Elmhurst, Illinoize. The Arts and Crafts group features of M@ (that's his new symbol) on skins, Terell Stafford on trumpet; Dennis Irwin, on the doghouse and Gary Versace, being heroic on the Hammond B3.

Versace should be as much fun to see as Wilson. They both did amazing work on Dan Balmer's recent Thanksgiving album. And Versace also lent his magic fingers to The Places You'll Go
(Songlines), a fine album by featuring guitarist Brad Shepik. He's taking the Hammond, that workhouse of the blues, to fascinating new places. Definitely not Butter For Yo Popcorn.

Terell Stafford, by the way, has a new album out: Taking Chances - Live at the Dakota (released March 13 on MaxJazz).