Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and his Uptown Jazz Orchestra headline Johnson County Community College’s Winterlude Jazz Festival at Yardley Hall on Saturday, February 24.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Kansas City Star checked in with Will Matthews.
*A New Jersey publication interviewed Lucy Wijnands.
*From a press release: Kansas City Area Youth Jazz will conduct its annual auditions for fellowships on February 18 at BRC Audio Productions… The program is scheduled to present a “Next Generation Showcase” in July at The Folly Theater and the last Sunday in July is the capstone album recording session in Studio A at BRC Audio Productions.
Nil
Original image of Akkā by Plastic Sax.
Kansas City’s successful pitch in attracting six World Cup matches in 2026 includes a boast of “40 jazz clubs throughout the area.” That’s absurd. Not even New York City, the jazz capital of the world, is home to forty jazz clubs.
If “jazz club” is defined as a music-first venue centered on live jazz, Kansas City has four such spaces. Green Lady Lounge offers live jazz nightly. Three additional jazz-oriented venues- the Blue Room, the Mutual Musicians Foundation and Black Dolphin- feature two or more jazz performances weekly.
Live jazz provides ambiance at fine dining establishments including Chaz, Corvino, Eddie V’s and the Majestic. Lonnie’s Reno Club is a supper club established to present the estimable entertainer Lonnie McFadden. Additionally, several concert halls, rock venues and coffee shops occasionally feature jazz.
Sure, there are at least forty places in the area at which jazz is performed at least once yearly. That’s pretty great. But that figure doesn’t magically transform a Christian coffee shop, a punk bar or a city park into a jazz club.
The misinformation isn’t deliberate. The utter indifference to jazz among civic boosters doesn’t allow them to question the validity of a number that hasn't been true in their lifetimes. The area’s power brokers care about jazz only when it might help distinguish Kansas City from Dallas or Denver.
Now’s the Time: Jackie Myers
The new season of Johnson County Community College’s free jazz recital series opens with a noon performance by Jackie Myers on Tuesday, February, 20. The vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader has become an esteemed component of Kansas City’s music scene since relocating from Austin several years ago.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Pat Metheny’s new 29-city American tour doesn’t stop in Kansas City.
*KCUR’s February concert recommendations include Delfeayo Marsalis’s forthcoming appearance at Winterlude Jazz Festival at Johnson County Community College.
*The Kansas City Star and KCUR published items about potential and certain business displacements should plans for the Kansas City Royals’ new stadium move forward.
Album Review: Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas and Ted Nash- Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols
Drummers are the worst. That’s a natural response to the flawless new album by the drummer-less trio of bassist Ben Allison, the one-time Kansas City guitarist Steve Cardenas and saxophonist Ted Nash. Without a drummer muddying the waters with percussive clatter, the chamber jazz of Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols shimmers with undiluted clarity. Allison explains the set consists of “eight tunes that Herbie never recorded.” Nichols died in 1963, but the trio’s interpretations of his compositions are entirely up to date. The addition of a drummer would have broken the delicate spell cast on Tell the Birds I Said Hello.
Now’s the Time: Alber
The Kansas City based trumpeter Alber performs at Farewell on Saturday, February 10. Plastic Sax suggested in 2021 that Alber creates “consummate chill-out music for the cool kids of today”. Experimental ensembles including representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society are also on the bill.
Now's the Time: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Count Basie Orchestra’s Basie Swings the Blues won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album on Sunday.
*Nina Cherry commends Isaiah Petrie for Kansas City magazine.
*The Kansas City Star previewed concerts by The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of a performance by UMKC student bands.
*The Kansas City Star notes the January 2 passing of “Groovy” Grant Hopkins.
*A satirical Super Bowl-inspired item in Riff magazine suggests “the Kansas City jazz scene fell out of popularity nearly 70 years ago”.
Album Review: Scott Dean Taylor and Seth Andrew Davis- Infidels
Infidels is the first Bob Dylan album I bought as a new release. It’s maintained a spot in my rotation for four decades. Scott Dean Taylor and Seth Andrew Davis apparently share my affinity for the undervalued 1983 recording.
The itinerant drummer and the Kansas City guitarist exchanged banter about Infidels during a performance featuring Maria Elena Silva and Devin Gray last year. The four track titles of their new improvised duo album Infidels are lyrics from the Dylan songs "Jokerman" and "Union Sundown".
Portions of “They Used To Grow Food in Kansas” could pass for guitarist Mark Knopfler and drummer Sly Dunbar warming up at Dylan’s recording session. The duo’s squiggles, blurps, taps and thumps intimate melodic intent.
The 17-minute opening selection “You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing” is more aligned with the severe extemporization that characterizes much of Davis’ output.
Dylan accuses an antagonist of being a “noisemaker, spirit maker, heartbreaker, backbreaker” on the Infidels’ song “License to Kill”. Taylor and Davis fit the bill on their remorseless version of Infidels.
Now's the Time: KC Carnival Ball
The Ship hosts the 24th Annual KC Carnival Ball on Saturday, February 3. The Back Alley Brass Band is one of four party-oriented ensembles featured at the celebration. The Kansas Citians interpret a New Orleans standard in the embedded video.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image of a 1999 book promoting the Kansas City Jazz Museum by Plastic Sax.
*The Kansas City musician and jazz devotee George Boje has died.
*WBGO hosts the second installment of Pat Metheny’s conversation with David Sanborn.
*A Kansas City music blogger includes a host of jazz items in his January synopsis.
*From Chris Burnett: “The Kansas Historical Society is going to preserve the KC metro based ARC record label. An acquisitions team of archivists is coming to pick up physical copies of recordings, posters, and documents related to the record label on Wednesday February 7, 2024. Other items like digital audio files of recordings that were not issued in physical product formats, and periodic updates to the label catalog will be delivered as applicable on an ongoing basis going forward.”
Album Review: Betty Bryant- Lotta Livin’
Betty Bryant was born in 1929. The pianist and vocalist moved from Kansas City to Los Angeles in the 1950s. Yet Lotta Livin', the new album by the vocalist and pianist, is a vital set of undiluted Kansas City jazz. All those who miss the Kansas City legends Jay McShann or Myra Taylor will be bowled over by the earthy, sultry and vibrant Lotta Livin’. Backed by a swinging band, Bryant dishes out salty banter on playful songs like “Put a Lid On It” and reinvigorates standards including “Stormy Monday.” Bryant sighs “ain’t life grand” in the album’s closing moments. Indeed, Lotta Livin’ is a curative fountain of youth.
Now’s the Time: Henry Scamurra
The young saxophonist Henry Scamurra leads a band at Westport Coffee House on Wednesday, January 31.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Prominent Kansas Citians including Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and Bobby Watson consider the local erasure of Charlie Parker’s legacy in Ian Ritter’s think piece for Belt magazine.
*Charlie Parker and Bobby Watson are referenced in a Classical KC feature about the intersection of jazz and classical music.
*A vlogger shared footage depicting the atmosphere at Green Lady Lounge.
Swing Low
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Mocking old folks and the music they love is a regrettable tradition. Yet the joke was on latecomers at The Market at Meadowbrook on Saturday, January 14. Each of the approximately four dozen chairs in the cafe were occupied by geriatric fans of dixieland jazz for the entirety of a two-hour performance by a sprightly trio led by Lynn Zimmer. Old-timers braved sub-zero temperatures to warm their souls to satiny renditions of tunes like “Wolverine Blues,” “Amazing Grace” and “Stardust.” The clarinetist and his colleagues worked the room like vote-hungry politicians at the break. Zimmer has earned what many of the more artistically stylish Kansas City based jazz musicians lack- a large and enthusiastic fan base eager to show up for every performance. There’s nothing old-fashioned about that.
Now’s the Time: The Hot Sardines
The Hot Sardines are becoming the house band of the Folly Jazz Series. The New York based ensemble returns to the concert hall on Saturday, January 27.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The lineup of the spring recital series at Johnson County Community College has been announced.
*Nina Cherry checked in with Bram Wijnands for Kansas City magazine.
*The American Jazz Museum created a brief video tribute to Jay McShann.
*David Sanborn chatted with Pat Metheny.
Album Review: Wire Town- Kansas City
The beautiful ballad “Tell Me Now” closes the debut album of Wire Town. No less rapturous than the collaboration of legendary guitar heroes Jim Hall and Pat Metheny, the hushed “Tell Me Now” is an outlier on Kansas City.
The eight tracks preceding “Tell Me Now” exemplify Green Lady Lounge’s signature sound: jaunty instrumental jazz rendered by elite musicians. Each of the esteemed members of Wire Town- guitarists Danny Embrey and Rod Fleeman, bassist Gerald Spaits and drummer Todd Strait- are closely associated with Green Lady Lounge.
Recorded live at the bustling Kansas City venue, the 69-minute Kansas City is a winning showcase for the considerable talents of the quartet. With the exception of “Tell Me Now,” the uptempo selections are vehicles for engaging soloing and seamless interplay.
The album’s official release show is 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, January 28, at Green Lady Lounge.
Now’s the Time: Isaiah Petrie
Isaiah Petrie leads a quartet at Corvino on Friday, January 12. The vibraphonist is one of Kansas City’s most exciting young musicians.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Seth Davis, Mike Dillon and Matt Otto received votes in El Intruso’s 16th Annual International Critics Poll.
*A slightly different version of the audio feature about Charlie Parker’s Grafton saxophone created for KCUR in December aired nationally on NPR’s Morning Edition program last week.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of recent performances of bands led by Pete Fucinaro and Adam Larson.
*WBGO aired a travelog set in Kansas City’s Jazz District.