*Joyce Smith posted a preliminary report on X about plans for a new jazz club in the Watts Mill district.
*A local television news outlet considered the impact of Charlie Parker.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Album Review: Logan Richardson- Sacred Garden
Sacred Garden, the latest essential statement from the Kansas City saxophonist Logan Richardson and Blues People, opens with a clip of a Charlie Parker interview. The deafening arena rock anthem “Twenty Twenty Four” immediately follows. Richardson and his colleagues sound prepared to accompany a current pop trailblazer like Travis Scott, SZA or The Weeknd. The message seems clear: the truest way to uphold Parker’s spirit in 2024 is to work at the vanguard of contemporary music. Sacred Garden is decidedly up to date. “Back to the Point” blends a sticky funk groove with shards of heavy metal. Richardson refines his signature sound on tracks including “Moonlight,” “The Fallen” and “The Walls Speak.” In the interview, Parker said “most likely in another twenty-five, or maybe fifty years some youngster will come along and take the style and really do something with it.” Richardson clearly isn’t afraid of inviting bold comparisons. His audacity is justified on Sacred Garden.
Now’s the Time: Norman Brown
Norman Brown makes another appearance in the Folly Jazz Series on Saturday, March 9. A cover of Janet Jackson’s 1993 hit “That’s the Way Love Goes” was the breakout track on the Kansas City guitarist’s 1994 album After the Storm.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Julie Turner reminisces in Kansas City magazine.
Album Review: Brian Scarborough- We Need the Wind
A gentle breeze elevates We Need the Wind. Brian Scarborough’s second album as a leader soars on an uplifting current of optimism. The trombonist is joined by four prominent Kansas City jazz musicians. Saxophonist Matt Otto, keyboardist Roger Wilder, bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer Brian Steever assent to Scarborough’s innate cheerfulness. The Fender Rhodes wielded by Wilder adds a jaunty texture to the session. Otto adds characteristically thoughtful commentary to Scarborough’s melodies. The sturdy resolve of Harshbarger and Steever bolster the nine tracks. As for Scarborough, the multiplicity of his lofty talent continues to necessitate comparison to the Kansas City jazz icon Bob Brookmeyer.
Now’s the Time: Delfeayo Marsalis
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.