Music of Omaha
Other performances included Dinah Washington, Earl Hines, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton.
These newer venues include The Waiting Room (created by One Percent Productions, an Omaha-based booking company), Rock'N'Jocks (formerly the Rock), and The Mosaic.
[5] In addition to The Waiting Room Lounge, the Benson area features prominent venues, including The Barley Street Tavern, reputed to be the bar with the best acoustics for live music in Omaha due to its 'double barrel' layout.
In July 2011, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA) hosted more than 50 bands for the first annual Red Sky Music Festival at TD Ameritrade Park.
Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and the original Nat King Cole Trio.
The National Orchestra Service was an important company based in Omaha that managed white, black and integrated territorial bands.
Omaha-born Wynonie Harris, one of the founders of rock and roll, got his start at the North Omaha clubs and for a time lived in the now-demolished Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects at 2213 Charles Street.
As the leader of North Omaha's Cotton Club Boys, which included the amazing guitarist Charlie Christian,[12] Winburn traveled the local region as a typical territorial band.
[13] Born in North Omaha, she went on to write songs and sing backup with such legends as Chaka Khan, Rufus, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.
[citation needed] Singer-songwriter Criss Starr started his music career performing at venues in North Omaha under the tutelage of James Boone, founder and bassist for the band ‘Highlighters & Rhythm Machine,’ and owner of Go Ahead Magazine.
Criss Starr has recorded and released songs with former members of Prince’s band ‘The Revolution,’ and recently performed shows in Tokyo, Japan.
While African Americans have contributed greatly to the history of music in Omaha, they continue to impress black culture upon the city and the country as a whole.
In the 1980s he led a hip hop movement in North Omaha called the Scribble Crew as an alliance of graffiti writers who developed a reputation as the top tag artists in the area.
[16] Other artists from the late 80's that helped push the early years of hip hop in Omaha was the Young Rebels who had a semi-major record deal and an import of Offutt Air Force Base named Suavey Spy and his local DJ Disco Rick.
Currently with three projects on their resume, Xpreshin and Prominence 'The Commencement', OMC's 'It Is What It Is' and 'It Takes What It Took' and MOC with OTR Afta School's 'The Curriculum' featuring K2theillest and Young Nikko .
OTR Entertainment has had artists open up for acts such as Latin sensation bachata group Aventura, Kumbia Kings, Krazy Race, and Pitbull.
[22] Mars Black, perhaps the Omaha rapper with the most national exposure, has released an album on New York City's Team Love Records label.
Continuing about the album, the reviewer writes, "It's only in such a desolate music environment that his pitiful flow, painfully corny emo-rhymes, and insulting bling-boasts could exist.
"[23] The Raleigh Science Project Founded in 2009 by Omaha Rapper and Producer Marcey Yates aka Op2mus is a music and arts collective that focuses on growth, development, artist branding and community event planning.
This cutting edge label's sole purpose is to break into the mainstream music industry while keeping its roots firmly planted in the Midwest.
[25] Big Mista (Redemption, Back For the First Time, For the Last Time), Articulate, ShYnE, Chet Chapman, Dark Reign, Ice Money, D' Cypher, Crazze Chris (crazzechrisofficial), Ty-G & Drew Beatz, H.O.B Records, Papillion X, Benny Salz, DavieBoi, Dark Reign, Big Burn, Buck Bowen, Block Movement with Stylo and Latin Threat, El Genius, Aceo Tha Future, Guerrilla X, Dubbsixx, Foolie Auto, R.E.D., Prophecy, K2theillest, Verze, Galantz, Yung Smokeout, Murder Game, Ellmatiq P-tro, Rush-1, Conchance, Black Jonny Quest, D-Lo, Saint Patrick, Ramm, Jamazz, and Surreal The MC of Noizewave Tomas C of Original 5 Productions Durtee a.k.a.
Other 1960s surf and rock bands from Omaha include The Echos, 7 Legends, Velvet Haze, Little Denny Wonder, Freedom Road and The Beautiful People.
Wee Willie and The Rockin Angels broke all attendance records at The Peony Park Ballroom (National Historic Landmark on the Lincoln Highway).
Indie rock bands on the Saddle Creek record label out of Omaha, Nebraska, include notable artists such as Bright Eyes, The Faint, and Cursive.
The formation of the sound occurred in the mid-1990s with Commander Venus, Frontier Trust, Ritual Device, Clever, Twitch, Steve Walton and The Flash Action Band, Mousetrap, Solid Jackson, Fast Orange, and clubs such as the Cog Factory, and Sokol Music Hall.
The alternative music scene has produced such popular artists as 311, Grasshopper Takeover, The Seen, The Good Life, Civicminded, MANNA, Criteria, A Moment Lost, High Up, Dim Light, Ladyfinger (ne), Icares, Shelter Belt, Go Crash Audio, Tilly and the Wall, Dead Wave, and Secret Kitten & the Holy Steamroller.
Oberst founded Team Love in 2003 in part due to his frustration at not being able to sign and showcase talent quickly enough through the Saddle Creek label.
Omaha indie rock bands from 2012 to 2019 include Capgun Coup, Talkin Mountain aka Jason Steady, Haunted Gauntlet aka adamroberthauG, Bear Country, no.i'm.the.pilot, Howard, Thunder Power, Honey Bee, Baby Walrus, Gus & Call, Our Hearts Are Stars, Flamboyant Gods, Flowers Forever, Icky Blossoms, Places We Slept, Glow in the Dark, The Benningtons, The Derby Birds, Noahs Ark Was A Spaceship, See Through Dresses, Junior Varsity, Eric in Outerspace & The Regulation.
It also draws many other heavy musical acts, strongly of the Screamo genre (including bands Sutter Cane, Caught in the Fall, after*forever, & Robots Don't Cry).
Popular bands of the past in this area include The Confidentials, Strange Pleasures, Electric Soul Method, The Kind, and The Jazzwholes.
