Album Review: Deborah Silver and the Count Basie Orchestra- Basie Rocks!

Basie’s Beatle Bag and Basie on the Beatles are degrading totems of a cultural changing of the guard. The very existence of the crass 1960s albums belittles the legacy of a Kansas City jazz institution. Even so, the recordings aren’t half bad.

In a similar fashion, Basie Rocks!, a new release by vocalist Deborah Silver and The Count Basie Orchestra, often overcomes a tacky premise. Eleven classic rocks staples are given campy makeovers. Interesting arrangements, Silver’s enthusiastic crooning and a procession of A-list guest stars make the project listenable.

The push-and-pull of Elton John’s 1973 hit “Bennie and the Jets” lends itself to the concept. A guitar solo from Bill Frisell adds a touch of gravitas to the Steve Miller Band staple “Fly Like an Eagle.” Kurt Elling brings star power to “Tainted Love.”

Only a cover of the Three Dog Night hit “Joy to the World” featuring Trombone Shorty is entirely cringey. The inclusion of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” is appropriate. Now that rock has joined jazz as a subordinate form of popular music, the nostalgic cross-genre alliance is bittersweet rather than demeaning.

Now’s the Time: Charles Williams

The esteemed Kansas City keyboardist Charles Williams performs in First Baptist Church’s Jazz Vespers series on Sunday, May 18.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Kansas Public Radio presents audio and video of Stan Kessler and three pianists performing material from Kessler’s 2024 album Two’s Company.

*Joe Dimino shares footage of the Mitch Towne Trio’s gig at the Blue Room.

*The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that a $30,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant designated to the We Always Swing concert series has been retracted.

Album Review: Hermon Mehari and Tony Tixier- Soul Song

Inspired musical partnerships have characterized the signature sound of Kansas City for a century. Among the fruitful pairings featuring one or two notable Kansas City musicians are Count Basie with Eddie Durham, Andy Kirk with Mary Lou Williams, Pat Metheny with Lyle Mays and more recently, Bobby Watson with Curtis Lundy.

Hermon Mehari and Tony Tixier have enjoyed a similarly productive artistic relationship for the past 15 years. Upon forging a friendship with the French pianist, the trumpeter invited Tixier to Kansas City in 2011.

The old friends deepen their bond on Soul Song, a duet album recorded in France on November 12, 2024. With Tixier on Fender Rhodes, the duo investigates four compositions from the 1970s- Stanley Cowell’s “Maimoun,” George Duke’s “The Black Messiah,” Bobby Hutcherson’s “Now” and Marius Cutler’s “Laini.”

A pair of original pieces and two improvisations round out the impeccably spartan and sensitively performed set of spiritual jazz. As the careers of Mehari and Tixier continue to ascend the duo is likely to continue refining an artistic pact that’s an estimable extension of a hallowed Kansas City tradition.

Now’s the Time: Mitch Towne

The Omaha based organist Mitch Towne performs at the Blue Room on Friday, May 9. “Steepian Faith,” the selection featured in the embedded video, is the fifth track on Towne’s new album Refuge.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*A feel-good story about an elderly Count Basie fan is shared by a TV reporter. Joe Dimino offers his perspective and documents portions of the Count Basie Orchestra’s concert at the Music Hall.

*Bassist Chase McRoy is featured by In Kansas City magazine.

*A television news outlet reports on the latest Jazz District redevelopment project.

Book Review: Twenty Years on Wheels, by Andy Kirk as told to Amy Lee

I scoured area thrift shops and used bookstores for Andy Kirk’s Twenty Years on Wheels for more than a decade without success. Conceding defeat, I recently borrowed the single well-loved copy of the out-of-print book available in the Kansas City Public Library system.

I was surprised by the brevity of the book published by the University of Michigan Press in 1989. The often stilted as-told-to format assembled by Amy Lee is also a bit disappointing. Yet the 147 pages of Twenty Years on Wheels contains plenty of essential material of interest to Kansas City jazz history completists.

Thanks in part to the contributions of Mary Lou Williams, Kirk’s Clouds of Joy was one of the country’s biggest acts during the commercial zenith of Kansas City jazz. Following a happy childhood in Denver, Kirk came to Kansas City with a unique perspective, partly because his career in music commenced prior to the jazz age.

Catering to white audiences, Kirk’s territory band usually played in the “sweet” format. Even so, he was mandated to record uncharacteristic “race” music like 1929’s "Mess-a-Stomp". He eventually cajoled a reluctant record label to record and release a song for the white market. His instincts were correct- “Until the Real Thing Comes Along” was a nationwide hit in 1936.

Kirk’s accounts of Kansas City’s nightclubs correspond with the colorful stories told by T.J. English in the 2022 study Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld. Twenty Years on Wheels concludes with Kirk’s disappointment upon visiting Kansas City in 1975 after years of living in New York. Kirk called the disrepair of the Jazz District “the saddest thing.”

By then the big band era was long over and Kirk was no longer able to make a living through music. Yet Twenty Years on Wheels is suffused with joy. Just one caveat: library patrons should be advised that the coffee and food stains throughout the book aren’t mine. I wouldn’t dream of defacing the sacrosanct Kansas City relic.

Now’s the Time: Spyro Gyra

Formed 51 years ago in Buffalo, New York, Spyro Gyra is one of the most commercially successful jazz fusion bands. “Morning Dance,” the song featured in the embedded video, was in radio rotation alongside hits by Elton John and Kenny Rogers in 1979. Spyro Gyro appears at Knuckleheads on Friday, May 2.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Aarik Danielsen reports on Bobby Watson’s International Jazz Day performance with the Columbia Jazz Orchestra.

*Scotty Barnhart and Will Matthews promoted tonight’s Count Basie Orchestra concert at the Music Hall on KCUR.

*The American Jazz Museum is one of seven jazz museums in the United States highlighted in a travel guide.

*A television news outlet reconsiders Kansas City’s place in the global music scene.

*In Kansas City magazine highlights free area concerts by Airmen of Note.

Album Review: Vinny Golia, Dan Clucas, Kevin Cheli and Seth Andrew Davis- Orchid

An area music enthusiast recently insisted my embrace of new music necessarily meant that I no longer cared about the mainstream jazz performed in Kansas City. It’s simply not so. Plastic Sax consistently covers conventional, swing-oriented jazz.

Nonetheless, the April 4 release of Orchid validates my big ears. The tenacity of a small coterie of Kansas City renegades reasserts Kansas City’s status as a meaningful contributor to the adventurous fringe of improvised music. An outline of the album’s backstory follows.

The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society has hosted dozens of concerts in Kansas City by touring musicians since its formation about four years ago. The collective presented separate concerts by two renowned California based musicians- trumpeter and violinist Dan Clucas and woodwind master Vinny Golia- in 2023. St. Louis percussionist Kevin Cheli of St. Louis is a more frequent participant at these events.

Seth Andrew Davis, a co-founder of the collective, joins those musicians on Orchid, an exhilarating session recorded in Los Angeles 20 months ago. The Kansas City based Mother Brain Records released the album. The mastery of the improvisors make much of Orchid seem composed. Passages of “Cloud” even echo Eric Dolphy and Freddie Hubbard.

Confidently issuing electric glurts and skizzles, Davis clearly belongs among the rarified company. While the free jazz of Orchid is decidedly an underground phenomena, the album is a significant milestone in the annals of Kansas City’s artistic counterculture.

Now’s the Time: The Count Basie Orchestra

Organizers are promoting The Count Basie Orchestra’s concert at the Music Hall on Wednesday, April 30, as the world’s biggest event on International Jazz Day. Alas, the current ticket availability at Ticketmaster tells a different story. Even if it plays to a sea of empty seats, the band led by Scotty Barnhart is certain to swing.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Nina Cherry ​​explores Jackie Myers’ new album.

*Michael McClintock chatted with Joe Dimino.

*Local television station personalities visit the American Jazz Museum.

Album Review: Michael McClintock- Here and There

A passionate subset of Pat Metheny enthusiasts favor the Lee’s Summit native’s subdued solo guitar albums. Beloved recordings such as 2003’s One Quiet Night and last year’s MoonDial showcase the guitarist’s penchant for sensitive meditations.

Those listeners will relish Michael McClintock’s new album Here and There. McClintock, an expansive guitarist born in Neosho, Missouri, is cut from the same cloth as Metheny. McClintock is best known for his work in Brazilian and Cuban contexts, but Here and There consists largely of contemplative Metheny-esque instrumentals

The title of “From Topeka to Zurich” alludes to McClintock’s life as a globetrotting musician. The heartland folk-jazz composition possesses enough sophistication to resonate in Europe’s most cultured cities. The melodic “St. Matthew” sounds like an enchanted music box.

Given McClintock’s specialty, it’s odd that “Matancera” is Here and There’s only unsuccessful track. The jaunty workout feels out of place amid the otherwise serene recording that’s both emotionally soothing and intellectually invigorating.

Now’s the Time: James Singleton

Mike Dillon performs with bassist James Singleton and drummer Earl Harvin at Greenwood Social Hall on Sunday, April 20. Dillon goes gonzo on vibraphone in the embedded Singleton music video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Joe Dimino shared footage of Bob Bowman and Bobby Watson at the Blue Room.

Concert Review: Helen Sung and Bach Aria Soloists at the Folly Theater

Plenty can go wrong at one-off, cross-genre collaborations. Performances of this ilk can be stilted, fussy and worse still, boring. A collaboration between the New York based jazz pianist Helen Sung and Kansas City’s chamber music ensemble Bach Aria Soloists dodged those traps at the Folly Theater on Saturday, April 5.

An audience of more than 300 was entertained by the charming tone of the baroque-meets-jazz experiment. (I paid $33.50 for a seat in the upper balcony.) Much like an elevated variety show, the casual approach staved off priggishness. 

Separate segments featured torch songs, solo piano, a take on Bach with swinging harpsichord and a four-movement suite commissioned by Bach Aria Soloists. Sung explained the latter composition was inspired by Charles Mingus, but the work was infused with echoes of Chick Corea classics like “Spain.”

The great misfortune of the concert was its timing. Habitues of the Folly Theater were thrilled at a March 7 recital by arguably the world’s finest classical pianist and violinist. An eminent jazz band’s homage to Keith Jarrett played the room March 15. While Sung and Bach Aria Soloists didn’t match that level of artistry, their presentation was much more fun.

Now's the Time: Bob Bowman

Bob Bowman is back in town. The storied bassist’s ​​bustling schedule in the Kansas City area includes an appearance at the Blue Room on Saturday, April 12.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Joyce Smith provides an update on the uncertain future of Westport Coffee House.

Album Review: Jackie Myers- What About the Butterfly

Witnessing the transformation of Jackie Myers from a peripheral figure on Kansas City’s jazz scene to one of the region’s most compelling artists has been extraordinarily gratifying. Quietly upping her game in incremental steps, Myers’ resolute work in recent years is reaping dividends. 

On any given night, Myers applies her talents in a variety of contexts in Kansas City cafés, restaurants and barrooms. The variety of sounds- pop, rock, blues and, yes, jazz- coalesce on What About the Butterfly. The new album marks the culmination of a remarkable metamorphosis. 

Not only is What About the Butterfly superior to Myers’ previous recordings, the album makes most jazz-rooted efforts seem unimaginative and simplistic. Her ambitions extend well beyond conventional Kansas City jazz.

Support from elite collaborators including Bobby Watson helps the album compare favorably to the arty pop of Laura Nyro, the contemporary soul of Cory Henry and the fastidiousness of Jacob Collier. Rarely has Kansas City been the setting for a more pleasing musical glow-up.

Now’s the Time: Iver Cardas

The Norwegian guitarist Iver Cardas will be joined by the top-tier Kansas City musicians Pete Fucinaro, Jeff Harshbarger and Ryan Lee at the Ship on Thursday, April 10.