Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious
Advertisement
This program takes place at our French Quarter Visitor Center - 419 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130. Admission is free and open to the public, seating is limited and offered first come, first served basis.
Tom Hook is a veteran pianist, composer, and arranger who brings his years of experience in the entertainment industry – from theme parks to riverboats – to any stage he graces. The veteran performer, who is at his best when playing energetic traditional jazz, grew up playing in rock and jazz bands around his native Kansas City, and took to the river as an entertainer and bandleader on the Mississippi Queen, the Delta Queen, and other venerable boats. When not on tour or working with his various entertainment projects, he performs regularly on the New Orleans riverboats with his New Orleans All-Stars, at Preservation Hall, or at other clubs. He wrote the one-man show, “Becoming Jelly Roll,” and starred in the National WWII Museum’s “Jump Jive and Wail, the Music of Louis Prima.”
Wendell Brunious embodies the spirit and history of everything that is New Orleans jazz: intensely qualified musicianship, deeply woven family ties, the sense that music is a conversation, and an unquestioned passion for the craft and the art. Brunious, who has been playing jazz-based trumpet since he was a youngster, was in 2023 named the first-ever musical director for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, arguably the most enduring and well-known symbol of a cultural force and art form.
Over the years, Brunious has performed with a top-shelf artist roster, from the Dirty Dozen and Tuxedo brass bands to Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and many others. He and guitarist Justin Adams initiated the jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace in the 1970s, and toured worldwide. He has recorded several of his own albums, guested on many more, and, most recently, received acclaim for his work on the soundtrack to the hit Netflix movie, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
Photo of Tom Hook singing into a microphone courtesy of Tom Hook.
See our full calendar of events at https://www.nps.gov/jazz/planyourvisit/calendar.htm
Tom Hook is a veteran pianist, composer, and arranger who brings his years of experience in the entertainment industry – from theme parks to riverboats – to any stage he graces. The veteran performer, who is at his best when playing energetic traditional jazz, grew up playing in rock and jazz bands around his native Kansas City, and took to the river as an entertainer and bandleader on the Mississippi Queen, the Delta Queen, and other venerable boats. When not on tour or working with his various entertainment projects, he performs regularly on the New Orleans riverboats with his New Orleans All-Stars, at Preservation Hall, or at other clubs. He wrote the one-man show, “Becoming Jelly Roll,” and starred in the National WWII Museum’s “Jump Jive and Wail, the Music of Louis Prima.”
Wendell Brunious embodies the spirit and history of everything that is New Orleans jazz: intensely qualified musicianship, deeply woven family ties, the sense that music is a conversation, and an unquestioned passion for the craft and the art. Brunious, who has been playing jazz-based trumpet since he was a youngster, was in 2023 named the first-ever musical director for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, arguably the most enduring and well-known symbol of a cultural force and art form.
Over the years, Brunious has performed with a top-shelf artist roster, from the Dirty Dozen and Tuxedo brass bands to Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and many others. He and guitarist Justin Adams initiated the jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace in the 1970s, and toured worldwide. He has recorded several of his own albums, guested on many more, and, most recently, received acclaim for his work on the soundtrack to the hit Netflix movie, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
Photo of Tom Hook singing into a microphone courtesy of Tom Hook.
See our full calendar of events at https://www.nps.gov/jazz/planyourvisit/calendar.htm
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
419 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA, United States, Louisiana 70130
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherNew Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
