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Stix Hooper

A native of Houston, Texas, Stix developed an interest in music, drums and percussion at a very early age. Starting in junior high, under the direction of George Magruder, the school’s band director, Stix began devoting much of his time to the study of all aspects of music including composition, song writing, etc. Studying at Phillis Wheatley High School, spearheaded by band director, Sammy Harris, Stix eventually formed a band called the Swingsters, later on the Modern Jazz Sextet. While matriculating at Texas Southern University, Stix received continual coaching from members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and other local professional musicians. Upon moving to the west coast, he studied music at California State University, Los Angeles, and also received coaching from well-known private instructors and his personal mentors. During this time the Jazz Crusaders were formed, under Hooper’s leadership, eventually becoming the Crusaders, a world renowned entity.

This intensive musical education helped Stix polish his artistry and enabled his craftmanship to be so diverse that he's been able to perform and collaborate with a wide range of artists in the mainstream of pop and contemporary music. Stix has performed, collaborated, composed with and produced for a wide range of music greats, including Arthur Fielder, George Shearing, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, B.B. King, Grover Washington, Jr., Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Nancy Wilson, Rolling Stones and many more.

Stix is credited with creating an original style of drumming that has been incorporated in Jazz as well as other musical genres, called “Jazz Funk.” He is a long time endorser, player and contributor to Pearl through it’s development during the 60’s and 70’s beginning in Chiba, Japan. It’s been said, “Stix Hooper should be any drummer’s go-to-guy when they wanna learn about “the pocket.” (Music Connection) “Drummer Stix Hooper’s band, Viewpoint, set the bar high for what was to follow. Paced by Hooper’s dynamic percussion work, the group moved easily and smoothly from brisk mainstream jazz to more propulsive grooves.” (Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times; RE: The Playboy Jazz Festival)

In addition, Stix Hooper has contributed much to the world of music and to the Jazz Community through his work with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammy Awards organization), where he served as the National Vice Chairman (the first African American to do so), having previously served three terms as President of the Los Angeles Chapter of NARAS (the first ever three term President, and only the second African American President of that chapter).

Awards

Among the numerous acknowledgements and accolades Stix has garnered are 12 Grammy nominations, #1 awards from various music media, named one of the top drummers/musicians by Downbeat, Playboy Magazine and other publications, received an invitation to the White House, keys to major US cities and several international honors.


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323
Album Review

The Jazz Crusaders: The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions

Read "The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions" reviewed by George Harris


If songs like “Scratch" come to mind when you think of the Jazz Crusaders, you are in for a real treat with this six-CD set. Originally including “jazz" in their moniker, Wayne Henderson (trombone), Wilton Felder (tenor), Joe Sample (piano) and Stix Hooper (drums) put together a collection of studio recordings that offers a pleasant surprise for mainstream jazz fans. This rocking set reveals the origins and many directions this multifaceted band took during the musically tumultuous '60s.

Listening to ...

612
Album Review

Jazz Crusaders: The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions

Read "The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


You would think that in this day and age of compact disc reissues and with many years of activity under our belts that just about everything worthy of release has at one time or another made it to the stores. But even though jazz stands in good steed these days in terms of the availability of classic music, there still exists small pockets of music that have somehow eluded us and that is where this set falls. And when a ...

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434

Education

Jazz for Kids: Stix Hooper and Bobby Rodriguez

Jazz for Kids: Stix Hooper and Bobby Rodriguez

Source: All About Jazz

Jazz luminaries Stix Hooper and Bobby Rodriguez, fronting an ensemble of professional instrumentalists, opened the ears and minds of Santa Ynez Valley students Sept. 25 at Solvang School. More than 800 kids from local schools filled the bleachers and floor of the school’s gym as Rodriguez, Hooper and the band took them through the various forms of jazz. The students represented 11 area schools, grades three through twelve. The jazz professionals were in Solvang for the second annual Jazz Festival, ...

103

Recording

Acclaimed Jazz Artist, Stix Hooper, Records in Vienna, Austria

Acclaimed Jazz Artist, Stix Hooper, Records in Vienna, Austria

Source: All About Jazz

Stix Hooper heralds another peak of global music and adds to his illustrious solo career, as he records in Austria, late September, 2005, with his very special international jazz trio. The trio, recording at MG Sound Studios in Vienna, brings together Hooper along with world class, European pianist, Andre Kitaev, and American bassist, Al Criado. “Jazz is a wonderful freedom of expression,” Hooper says. “It is America's indigenous musical art form, it's the music culture we have contributed to the ...

64

Music Industry

Stix Hooper Continues Flurry of Activity in 2004

Stix Hooper Continues Flurry of Activity in 2004

Source: All About Jazz

Stix Hooper Continues Flurry of Activity in 2004 It all culminates with this. Stix has been named, ten times, one of Playboy and Downbeat magazines' top three drummers. As a composer, producer, actor, vocalist, songwriter, and recording company executive, Stix Hooper has at least as much, and quite possibly more knowledge about virtually all aspects of music than anybody in the business. Among his many accomplishments, Stix is a ten time Grammy nominee and relentlessly tireless worker. As the first ...

180

Music Industry

Stix Hooper To Depart As President Of Mack Avenue Records

Stix Hooper To Depart As President Of Mack Avenue Records

Source: All About Jazz


196

Music Industry

Producer Stix Hooper and Mack Avenue Records Proudly Announce A September Jazz Release: The Legacy Lives On

Producer Stix Hooper and Mack Avenue Records Proudly Announce A September Jazz Release: The Legacy Lives On

Source: All About Jazz

Featuring The Living Legends Of Jazz: James Moody, Kenny Burrell, Cedar Walton, Ray Brown, Jon Hendricks, Al McKibbon, Ernie Andrews, Shirley Horn, Teddy Edwards, Oscar Brashear, and more.

NEW YORK, NY -- The Living Legends of Jazz came together in Los Angeles recently for an historic recording session that has resulted in the production of a milestone double CD set that will undoubtedly become a classic for jazz lovers -- as well as the uninitiated -- for years to come. ...

"There are people who have come and translated the sounds I hear into music. L.A. jazz greats like Stix Hooper, Charles Wrights and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, and Grover Washington and his album 'Winelight.'" Poet Wanda Coleman; "Go, stop, order, chaos: the rhythm of Los Angeles What is the rhythm of Los Angeles?" Hector Tobar, Los Angeles Times

Drummer, Stix Hooper is well known for being a former members of the Crusaders. Significantly at Colburn School of Music's Zipper Hall, he made a point of showing that his range surpasses boundaries and labels, while also being a very capable bandleader. Chris Walker, LA Jazz Scene

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

We Went West

Stix Hooper Enterprises
2015

buy

Live in L.A.

Stix Hooper Enterprises
2015

buy

A Jazz Moment in Time

Stix Hooper Enterprises
2015

buy

The Pacific Jazz...

Mosaic Records
2005

buy

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