Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle, a youthful group of forward-thinking jazz-based musicians, is one of Kansas City’s most accomplished ensembles.
The core Outer Circle band currently consists of keyboardist Moore, guitarist Adam Schlozman, bassist DeAndre Manning and drummer Zach Morrow. The band occasionally tours (it has a gig in Austin later this month) and Moore hosts a weekly jazz jam session every Wednesday at Californos and a monthly showcase at the Tank Room, in which he collaborates with hip-hop artists.
These musicians won’t feel out of place at the rock-oriented Riot Room, where they perform on the indoor stage on Friday. While rooted in improvised music, the band’s repertoire includes not just introspective selections but also groove-based jams like "The L.B.C," from the 2016 album Kings & Queens:
Kings & Queens, Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle’s third album, was issued by the trendsetting Philadelphia-based label Ropeadope Records last year. Reviewing the record for KCUR last year, I found the album's title, its Egyptian-themed cover art and its potent music to be "a moving tribute to the kings and queens among us and to the accomplishments of their ancestors.”
Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle, Friday, April 14 at the Riot Room, 4048 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri, 816-442-8179. Opening the show is the Xtraordinair$, the duo of Kansas City producers Leonard Dstroy and Dominique Sanders; following Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle is the Kandinsky Effect, a jazz trio with members based in Paris and New York.
Bill Brownlee’s writing appears weekly in The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine. He blogs about Kansas City’s jazz scene at Plastic Sax.
