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Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Dave Scott and Tim Brewer chatted with Joe Dimino about their past and present endeavors.
*The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center hosts a jazz-themed art exhibition through December 31.
*The author of this blog muses on the shifting landscape for music venues in a report by KCUR’s Laura Spencer.
*Tweet of the Week: John Armato- Veteran music journalist Bill Brownlee calls "The Drummer Loves Ballads" one of the Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2021. Thank you Bill! (link)
Released seven months ago, Conversation #1: Condensed was the best recording to date associated with the former Kansas City resident Hermon Mehari. Yet the estimable album merely foreshadowed the brilliance of the miniature masterpiece Arc Fiction. Issued by the French collective Mirr in October, the trumpeter’s exquisite duets with pianist Alessandro Lanzoni are superior European chamber jazz.
Had more reverb been applied, the recording would sound like a laudatory addition to the ECM Records catalog. If the cover art was splashed with primary colors, Arc Fiction would make for a notable ACT Music release. The prominent labels would surely be pleased to share Mehari’s artistic breakthrough. In finding a way to best exploit his fragile sound, Mehari turned a possible weakness into a formidable strength. The trumpeter’s tone on Arc Fiction express his thoughts and concepts with grace and eloquence. Lanzoni matches Mehari’s sensitivity.
The duo sets the dynamic tone at the opening of the first track "Savannah". Lanzoni dices his piano’s innards like an innovative chef while Mehari slips and slides like a child frolicking on ice. Mehari’s original composition "Dance Cathartic" is so immediately engaging it might be mistaken for a Chick Corea standard. Mehari has made valuable music for more than a decade. With the spartan Arc Fiction and Conversation #1: Condensed, he’s found his true métier.
Nasheet Waits, one of the world’s most remarkable drummers, will make a rare appearance in Kansas City this month. He’s slated to appear with the vigorous saxophonist JD Allen and the stellar bassist Eric Revis at the Blue Room on Thursday, November 11. Tickets are available here.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Steve Paul shared footage of Logan Richardson’s recent all-star concert at the Blue Room.
*Clarence Smith received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Central Methodist University.
*KCUR’s Luke Martin reported on Darryl Chamberlain’s A-Flat Youth Orchestra initiative.
*Tweet of the Week: American Jazz Museum- After more than a year and a half, the Blue Room jazz club officially brought back its Monday Night Jam Sessions tonight, and it feels so good! Check out other jams & performances coming soon: (link)
Original image by Plastic Sax.
That’s not music! The common objection to experimental noise came to mind during separate performances of manic improvisations presented by the Extemporaneous Music Society at the Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, October 20. Quadraphonic sound enhanced the maelstrom created by Jeff Kaiser (trumpet, electronics, gadgets), Kevin Cheli (drums, percussion) and Seth Davis (guitar). A dizzying racket spiraled around the audience of 25 from speakers in four corners of the room. Kaiser is a stupendously industrious trickster, so I didn’t mind the failure of Cheli and Davis to showcase material from their recently released album as a duo. My tolerance didn’t extend to the second set. Aaron Osborne (bass, percussion) made several interesting contributions to a collaboration with Benjamin Baker (saxophone) and Evan Verploegh (drums), but I’d hoped to hear the saxophonist and drummer present music from their outstanding new Singles album. Missed opportunities aside, the bold caterwauling was music to my ears.
The storied bassist Robert Hurst is part of an all-star band appearing at the Blue Room on Saturday, October 30. The Kansas City native Logan Richardson leads the auspicious date. The saxophonist will also be joined by saxophonist Mark Turner and drummer Damion Reid. Hurst performs with violinist Regina Carter in the embedded video. Tickets to Saturday’s show are available here.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Disney’s touring exhibit “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” will stop at the American Jazz Museum.
*Deluxe editions of Pat Metheny’s Road to the Sun album will be available next month.
*Tweet of the Week: dumb intellectual (scary)- the “Swing” episode from Ken Burns “Jazz” is a great little kansas city history lesson
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Pat Metheny told the approximately 1,500 people in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall on Sunday, October 17, that they were risking their lives by attending the concert. After striking that gloomy note, the iconic guitarist, keyboardist James Francies, drummer Joe Dyson and a scaled down version of Metheny’s robotic Orchestrion performed 130 minutes of incandescently optimistic music.
The dynamic recital presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra covered a satisfying portion of the vast expanse of the Lee’s Summit native’s career. In addition to grandiose fusion and straight-ahead jazz, the concert touched on pastoral folk, chamber music and honky-tonk harmolodics.
Most of the repertoire was familiar to Metheny fans, but the trio played classic compositions in bold new ways. The physically imposing Francies stole the show. Wearing a t-shirt aptly emblazoned with the album cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Francies showed why he’s hailed as one of the leading lights of contemporary improvised music.
Francies flouted the protocols of organ jazz on a couple straight-ahead selections and staggered unsuspecting members of the audience with the sounds of tomorrow on Metheny’s electronica-laced compositions. Conversely, the unflappable Dyson evoked the tried-and-true style associated with Jimmy Cobb.
Never an ostentatious guitarist, Metheny’s playing is more elegant than ever. Watching him lead a groundbreaking group at this stage of his career is as enlightening as it is inspiring. The Lee’s Summit native’s enduring brilliance makes his nearly decade-long embargo of Kansas City all the more painful. No performance is worth dying for, but Sunday’s concert in Detroit came close.
NPR listeners will flock to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, October 26. The faux jazz and grandiloquent pop produced by Pink Martini encapsulates the advanced-degree aesthetic of stereotypical Morning Edition enthusiasts.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Coal and Diamonds, an album by Kansas City Kansas Community College’s The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, was released last week.
*Stan Kessler and Bennie Moten were recently inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame
*The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a feature about Robert Boone, the current drummer of The Count Basie Orchestra.
*Tweet of the Week: Tom Jackman- Also in KC, the Green Lady Lounge is an all time great jazz joint. #opentil230
Singles, the fiery album by the duo of drummer Evan Verploegh and saxophonist Benjamin Baker, is the first release of the record label operated by the Extemporaneous Music Society. It’s an auspicious opening salvo from the latest initiative of the Kansas City collective.
“Locked Breath,” a two-minute burst of controlled ferocity, opens the album. The spirit of punk rock propels “Paved Lawn.” The duo ratchets back the vitriol without losing an iota of intensity on “Again Endangered.” The funk-infested “Remain in Dark” features righteous honking and pulverizing pummeling.
The 12-minute protest song “Necessity/Excess” doesn’t require vocals to convey a sense of societal indignation. The closing track “Ode to the Ghosts” possesses the sort of elegantly sensitive chaos associated with free-thinking jazz giants ranging from Charles Mingus to Henry Threadgill.
The potency of Singles shows the praise Plastic Sax has accorded the efforts of musicians associated with the Extemporaneous Music Society in recent months isn’t misplaced. The formation of EMS Records is another indication that the underground rebellion on Kansas City’s improvised music scene is gaining momentum.
Bob Bowman exhibits his formidable talent in a duo setting with saxophonist Matt Otto in the embedded video. The venerable bassist performs at Yardley Hall on Sunday, October 17. Tickets are available here.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Joe Dimino filmed portions of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s “Bird Lives” concert.
*A television station noted the opening of Johnnie’s Jazz Bar & Grille in downtown Kansas City.
*The man behind Plastic Sax raves about the latest release by Moor Mother in the new episode of his In My Headache podcast.
*Tweet of the Week: Count Basie Orchestra- Count Basie was a member of Walter Page’s Blue Devils, as well as Bennie Moten’s Orchestra, the band with which Basie first recorded in October 1929.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
I’ve spent several carefree Friday afternoons at The Market at Meadowbrook this year. The cafe attached to The Inn at Meadowbrook in Prairie Village features live music from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. every Friday. Most of the entertainers in the family-friendly setting perform jazz. Outings by small groups led by Adam Galblum and Jackie Myers have been particularly rewarding. Alas, not every booking is commendable. The efficient staff and excellent food offer consolation when the music is inferior. On those occasions, watching affluent travelers check into the tony hotel is sufficiently entertaining. Although I don’t benefit from the high-dollar transactions, the ingrained sound of a ringing cash register is music to my ears.
Jaleel Shaw and three notable bandmates pay tribute to the slain Cleveland youth Tamir Rice in the embedded video. The saxophonist from Philadelphia joins The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Charlie Parker at Helzberg Hall on Friday, October 8.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*John Armato discussed his new album with Nic Spacek for a feature in The Kansas City Star.
*Zach Shemon, Assistant Professor of Saxophone at UMKC’s Conservatory of Music and Dance, was part of an hour-long conversation about his ensemble Prism Quartet on Classical KC.
*Kansas City Magazine created a guide titled “The Best Places to See Live Jazz in Kansas City Right Now.”
*Tweet of the Week: KC Jazz Orchestra- Join us one week from today at Polsky Theater (on the Johnson County Community College campus) for a free masterclass with Jaleel Shaw featuring the music of Charlie Parker! We can't wait!
Original image by Plastic Sax.
The Antler’s Club, a den of iniquity during the Pendergast era in Kansas City, hosted a band featuring a teenaged Charlie Parker in 1938. In the same space in the West Bottoms on September 24, 2021, five musicians successfully pursued an extreme manifestation of Parker-inspired improvisation.
The itinerant new music luminary Thollem McDonas (keyboard) was joined by Kansas City musicians Seth Davis (guitar), Krista Kopper (bass), Jeff Harshbarger (bass) and Brian Steever (drums) in the tavern now operating as 9th & State. Following a set in which McDonas provided music for ACVilla’s short silent film Worlds In a Life, the quintet launched into an extended improvisation filled with strong interplay.
Although he’s acclaimed for high-profile collaborations, McDonas deferred to the Kansas Citians. Kopper and Harshbarger deftly took turns as de facto leaders. Kopper initiated many of the most interesting developments. Harshbarger’s impressive stunts included wielding two bows simultaneously.
The swing-oriented Steever thrived in the free setting. His bag of tricks included using bandanas as drumsticks. The jagged tones emitted by Davis’ instrument resembled concertina wire. Parker may not have recognized the sounds, but he probably would have approved of the quintet’s audacious flaunting of Kansas City’s established conventions.
Karrin Allyson returns to the Folly Theater on Saturday, October 9. She’ll be accompanied by pianist Miro Sprague, guitarist Rod Fleeman, bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Jerome Jennings.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Karrin Allyson chats with Steve Kraske on KCUR.
*Pat Metheny discusses the process of choosing new collaborators.
*Tweet of the Week: All Music TV- Wednesday night come see this book by Amiri Baraka brought to life when Logan Richardson Presents Blues People, inspired by this seminal book from author Amiri Baraka @mr_musichead Just Jazz Live Concert Series. Ticket link in bio!!!! Kansas City stand up!!! #justjazztv
Ghosts are real. The Count Basie Orchestra, the ghost band of the late Kansas City jazz legend Count Basie, is haunted by exceptionally lively spirits. Recorded at the New York City venue in 2020, the new release Live at Birdland may be the ensemble’s strongest album since Basie’s death in 1984. Imbued with refined elegance and propulsive swing, the two-and-a-half hour set finds the big band paying homage to the past without seeming old-fashioned or mechanical. The musicians’ succinct, blues-steeped solos are suffused with joy. Rather than sounding as if it belongs in a dilapidated theater, Live at Birdland is a radiant soundtrack for a festive party. Basie lives!