The keyboardist flew in from Los Angeles, the drummer from New York City. They came to Omaha to join an all-star show in the epicenter of North Omaha’s jazz revival.
Several of the musicians on stage shared one thing in common: They discovered a passion for music in Omaha, then headed elsewhere to find a career. These were not necessarily cases of the so-called “brain drain” that continues to plague Nebraska. Across the country, artists often head for larger coastal cities to earn a living and, hopefully, make it big.
“You have to be a bit of a bubble to take things as seriously as we have, to be where we are, and to progress and develop. It’s not the norm in Omaha,” said David A. Hawkins, the drummer who flew in from New York, where he gigs with Branford Marsalis and others…