Band Bio: Mo’s band career began with Invincible Groov a funk/groove band that enjoyed a successful residency at the Green Room, one of St. Louis’ first Washington Ave. hotspots. From Invincible Groov, Varga...   Read More »

Band Bio: Mo’s band career began with Invincible Groov a funk/groove band that enjoyed a successful residency at the Green Room, one of St. Louis’ first Washington Ave. hotspots. From Invincible Groov, Vargas Soundsystem was formed by combining some of the premier jazz players in the area to back veteran funk/rock vocalist Pete Bold. 1997 saw the Soundsystem become Vargas Swing, which quickly gained the reputation as one of the Midwest’s top show bands. Vargas Swing recorded an album “FIRE” in 1998, toured the country in 1999 and appeared on two national compilations in 1999-2000. Currently Vargas continues as one of St. Louis’ most prominent bands. As a pianist Mo, who did his graduate work at Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville), is a respected chamber player and accompanist. He has performed with the Nuevo Tango (New Tango a la Astor Piazolla) ensemble ConcerTango that featured current and former St. Louis Symphony Orchestra players along with Webster University Faculty members. In 2000, Mo accompanied musical collaborator Dawn Weber at the Ellsworth-Smith International Trumpet Competition in Bad Sackingen, Germany. Continuing to work with Dawn but now in Urban Jazz Naturals (2000- 2005), Mo began to switch his focus to the electronic aspects of music. The experience gained doing the arrangements for most of UJN’s studio releases gave Mo the ability to assume all production duties for mo & dawn once the duo went solo as an electronica act. As of October 2008, Mo has taken a pause from work with long time collaborator Dawn Weber (.com). Look for an expanded focus on the education studio in 2009 as well as new projects with Lamar Harris and CocoSoul.   Read Less »

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