Woerner comes home to Berks with latest project, Jazz Speak
The drummer who formerly played in a number of local rock bands has been exploring his true musical love, jazz, since moving to Lancaster.
By Jim Speese ,Eagle/Times Correspondent
A sort of homecoming happens this weekend as this years Berks Jazz Fest welcomes, among other very talented musicians, one Brock Woerner, formerly of Temple, now of Lancaster.
Woerner plays drums ... and does a whole lot more, as it turns out.
He has played in numerous local bands, including a long stint in the very popular local rock outfit Frozen Poet, and played virtually every style of music.
"I started with rock," Woerner said, "switched to blues, went back to rock, joined a few variety bands, played some funk rock."
But his true love has always been jazz.
Woerners newest project, Jazz Speak, reflects his eclectic tastes.The group will play tonight (and next Friday) at 6 at Jambalya J's, 16 S. Fifth St.
The band features rotating personnel whose one common trait is a love of music and an ability to improvise. For the Jazz Fest shows, guitarist Art Lumsden, saxophonist Doug Hill and bassist Nick Burcher will join Woerner.
"It was an idea conceived two years ago," Woerner said. "I started filling in with a Jazz Jam in Lancaster, and it started taking off. I began hosting my own jazz night, with different musicians coming in and playing along each night."
One thing led to another, and Jazz Speak was born.
The band has played quite a bit, especially in the Lancaster area, and tonights show will be Woerners first show in his hometown in four years.
"Its very cool," he enthused. "Its a totally different situation than anything I used to play in Reading."
Jazz Speak is a venture that capitalizes on the feel of talented musicians and where that talent may lead them each night. Each show is different,allowing for musical excursions.
"Its appealing to a broader spectrum of people," Woerner said. "You can be really creative on the spot, but its a little more structured than the typical jam band."
Indeed, Jazz Speak gives Woerner a chance to wear many musically stylistic hats, and that allows him to have more fun than he has ever had in his storied musical career. It also allows him to incorporate all styles into the tunes the band plays, allowing jazz grooves to mix with funk grooves, and to simply mix everything together into a musical collage of sorts.
"Yeah, its fantastic," he explained. "I can pull everything I've done in the past and put it into this. Its constant change."
And it also keeps him on his musical toes, so to speak.
"Every nights in the moment," said Woerner, attempting to describe what happens as his band plays a live show, "so you've got to pay attention to everyone in the band."
Its more exacting than playing the latest matchbox 20 song verbatim, but, added Woerner, its also more rewarding.
"Its a lot of fun," he said by way of understatement.
Ever since he was a child, Woerner has been called "fidgety." Constantly tapping, playing percussion on whatever was nearby, Woerner would've driven lesser parents a little crazy. Luckily, his family recognized that he was a drummer early on.
Woerner has been playing drums since he was 5 and has been playing professionally since he was 18.
Among the bands Woerner has played with are Blues Night Out (blues) and Notcho Ma (ska, funk and swing).
And now, even as he has discovered the music that truly inspires him to greater heights, Woerner is also passing on his knowledge to a new generation, teaching drums to some 40 students in Lancaster.
Its been a long road for Woerner, but one that, at least for a couple of Jazz Fest weekends, leads back home.