Brian Pardo, Bobby Sparks, & Brannen Temple

Thu, Dec 07

Join us for a live taping and listening-room concert for the Brian Pardo, Bobby Sparks & Brannen Temple! Brian Pardo - guitar Bobby Sparks - hammond c3 organ Brannen Temple - drums Guitarist and composer, Brian Pardo has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz and popular artists including Jack McDuff, Stan Getz, John Clayton, Eddie Harris, and more. He holds a doctorate in Jazz Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree in Music Composition from Mills College, and a bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and Composition from Haverford College. Brian is a member of the Jazz faculty at Huston-Tillotson University and has previously taught at Texas State University, University of California, Berkeley, California State University East Bay, and the California Jazz Conservatory. Grammy Award Winning Musician and Producer, Bobby Ray Sparks II, son of Molly and Bobby Ray Sparks, Sr., was born February 1973, in Corsicana, Texas. A child prodigy, he began playing the organ when he was three years old. After high school graduation, he moved to the Dallas area (Mesquite TX), to study music at Eastfield College. While residing in Mesquite, he became exposed to many other budding musicians, one of whom was Kirk Franklin. Sparks having been an original member of the Kirk Franklin band served as Kirk’s music director from 1992-2005 traveling all over America and to many foreign countries playing for millions of people. A versatile musician of drums, a little bass guitar and primarily keyboards, Bobby plays all kinds of music. In addition to playing for Kirk Franklin for 20 years, he has worked with other musical giants such as Prince, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Tower of Power, Marcus Miller, Ray Charles, George Benson, Snarky Puppy, St. Vincent, and more. He has taken part in numerous music award shows and even played at The White House. Brannen Temple, hailing from Austin, Texas, is a 3 time Grammy Award winning American drummer, who is best known as a drummer for acts like Eric Burdon, Robben Ford, Lizz Wright, Eric Johnson, Sheena Easton, Patrice Rushen, Ruthie Foster, and Boz Scaggs. Since the early 1990s, Temple has become an accomplished session drummer and played on records by Chris Duarte, Patrice Rushen, Chris Smither, and more. In 1996 he was part of the first G3 Tour, drumming for Eric Johnson and was featured on their 1997 live album G3: Live in Concert. Since 2010, he has toured on and off with Chris Duarte Group, jazz vocalist Lizz Wright, and Ruthie Foster. Temple received several Austin Music Awards over the years for "Best Drummer" or "Best Jazz Band" categories for his bands Hot Buttered Rhythm, Blaze and Black Red Black. Temple is also in there “Hall of Fame” as well as a lifetime musician. And in 2020 as a part of the studio band for guitar / vocalist Gary Clark Jr. he received a Grammy for "Best Contemporary Blues Album" and "Best Rock Song" for the album and song title “This Land”. He continues to reside in Austin, Texas and has several local jazz and funk bands, amongst them Temple Underground and BTXpress.