*The most recent episode of the Kansas Public Radio program Live at Green Lady Lounge features Jeff Shirley’s trio.
*Joe Dimino interviewed David Watson.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Album Review: Henry Scamurra- Urban Forum
Diverse’s 2009 debut album is a significant landmark in Kansas City jazz history. In addition to heralding the arrival of a vital new youth movement, the self-titled album was the first major statement by Hermon Mehari, the trumpeter who has since achieved international acclaim.
It’s entirely appropriate that Mehari contributes to two tracks on Henry Scamurra’s first album Urban Forum. The new recording announces a fresh round of auspicious young Kansas City based jazz musicians.
The outstanding saxophonist Scamurra is joined by vibraphonist Isaiah Petrie, bassist Spencer Reeve and drummer Jade Harvey on eight selections that connect to Kansas City jazz tradition by way of the recent innovations of Mehari, Logan Richardson and Peter Schlamb.
“Top of My Head” is among the new tracks that may become Kansas City standards. Based on the artistic promise displayed on Urban Forum, the album is likely to become at least as momentous as the arrival of Diverse.
Now’s the Time: Deborah Brown
Deborah Brown tops the bill at the Winterlude Jazz Festival at Johnson County Community College on Saturday, February 15. The Kansas City vocalist also performs with pianist George Colligan at the Blue Room on Friday, February 14, and at Upcycle Piano Craft on Sunday, February 16.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Michael Pagán’s Paganova performed on Kansas Public Radio’s Jazz in the Night program.
*Snippets of a David Watson gig were shared by Joe Dimino.
*Joel Harrison marvels at the visionary creativity of Pat Metheny in an appreciative essay.
Album Review: Wire Town- Riffin’ on Grand
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The folksy expression applies to Wire Town’s artful new album Riffin’ on Grand. As with the band’s 2024 debut recording, Wire Town’s new release documents four of Kansas City’s finest artists honoring the town’s jazz tradition with seventy minutes of exquisite musicianship and life-affirming spirit.
Riffin’ on Grand again features guitarists Danny Embrey and Rod Fleeman along with bassist Gerald Spaits. Brian Steever ably replaces Todd Strait on drums on the set recorded at Green Lady Lounge eight months ago. The quartet has nothing to prove and no axes to grind. The four men strike an ideal balance of reserved tastefulness and articulate individual statements.
Embrey and Fleeman display the sort of mindmeld that can only be attained by close friends through decades of collaboration. Sublimating their egos, the guitarists and their band mates craft sonic landscapes as modestly majestic as the most dignified shan shui painting.
Green Lady Lounge hosts the album release show for Riffin’ on Grand at 6 p.m. Sunday, February 16.
Now’s the Time: Moon City Big Band
Moon City Big Band has been featured at Homer's Coffee House for years. The ensemble returns to the downtown Overland Park establishment on Saturday, February 1.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Bukeka Blakemore and Anita Dixon-Brown are among the Creative City KC representatives pitching World Cup-inspired music initiatives in television news reports here and here.
*Joe Dimino interviewed Brian Steever.
Album Review: Eboni Fondren with the Laurent Marode Orchestra- An American in Paris
It’s been almost impossible for mainstream jazz vocalists to capture even modest glimmers of attention since Samara Joy hit the scene. A generational talent with a voluptuous voice, Joy makes all other comers suffer by comparison. Even so, Kansas City’s Eboni Fondren equals Joy in at least one way: she possesses a similar amount of charisma. Fondren’s ebullient personality shines on An American in Paris. Accompanied by a European jazz band and a string quartet on a concise set of seven standards, Fondren is wonderfully elegant. The refined approach is mostly absent on her rough-and-tumble debut album The Journey. An American in Paris may not be Joy-ful, but it’s very good nevertheless.
Now’s the Time: Marbin
The members of Marbin are pranksters, online pedagogues and road warriors. The Chicago based band touches down at the Ship on Saturday, February 1.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The new episode of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program features the Rod Fleeman Trio.
*A University of Kansas student’s report about jazz in Kansas City cites Green Lady Lounge as “the city’s highest-paying gig for musicians.”
*Joe Dimino interviewed Carl Allen.
*Kemet Coleman is lobbying for additional government investment in Kansas City’s music scene.
*An academic gives a lecture about Kansas City’s jazz legacy at UCLA on January 22.
Kansas City Cachet
Original image by Plastic Sax.
The most compelling jazz has always been rebellious, adventurous and innovative. Yet a debilitating perception pervasive in Kansas City and beyond posits jazz as a moldering art form best applied as relaxing background music.
The refutation of this notion is among the reasons I treat the annual publication of the Francis Davis Jazz Poll and the El Intruso’s Periodistas Internacionales jazz poll as a holiday. Sifting through the data published January 10 is a powerful affirmation of the artistic vitality of jazz.
I’m honored to be consulted in the enterprises. Sunny Five’s caustic Candid is my selection for the top album in both polls. The attack of the avant-garde all-stars aligns with my ongoing affinity for punk rock. The improvisatory onslaught was all too necessary in 2024.
The polls can be used as barometers of Kansas City’s current stature in the jazz universe. The 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll focuses on recordings. Six of the approximately 600 albums released in 2024 receiving votes are connected to the Kansas City area.
Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols, an exquisite trio recording featuring Kansas City guitarist Steve Cardenas, came in at #67. Pat Metheny’s solo guitar statement Moodial finished at #70. Charles McPherson’s excellent Reverence is ranked #107.
In a separate vocal category, Betty Bryant’s delightful Lotta Livin’ is graded at #16. Although attention was lavished on it locally, the latest archival Charlie Parker release Bird in Kansas City placed at a humble #24 in the reissue division. I gave it a nod on my ballot.
Where the Francis Davis poll is open to critics favoring both conventional and anarchic styles, El Intruso’s 17th Annual International Critics Poll 2024 is intended to reward “creative music, jazz and beyond, free improvisation, art-rock, and experimental music.”
Albums are just one of many classifications at stake in El Intruso’s referendum. No Kansas City musicians were among the finalists in any section, but Seth Andrew Davis, Marvin Gruenbaum, Pat Metheny, Aryana Nemati and Peter Schlamb were recognized.
Amusingly, El Intruso puts faces to the names of voters. Anyone who has imagined what a typical jazz critic looks like will have their suspicions confirmed as they scroll through the individual selections of the electors. A goofy photo antithetical to the spirit of rebellion accompanies the ballot of the man responsible for Plastic Sax.
Now’s the Time: The Yellowjackets
Smooth jazz practitioners The Yellowjackets may hold the record for most appearances in the Folly Jazz Series. The quartet returns to Kansas City on Saturday, January 25. The current lineup consists of Russell Ferrante, Bob Mintzer, Dane Anderson and Will Kennedy. The embedded video captures a portion of a 1981 performance with a young Ferrante on keyboards.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Jacob Schwartzberg is featured in The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.
*Rob Scheps created a fundraiser connected to a recording session in Kansas City.
Album Review: Carl Allen- Tippin’
Two tracks on Tippin', the phenomenal new album by Carl Allen, Christian McBride and Chris Potter, exemplify the most artistically consequential segment of Kansas City culture.
The genial swing applied to the Pat Metheny standard “James” represents kindhearted Midwestern values. And the momentous rendering of Charlie Parker’s “Parker’s Mood” that opens Tippin’ suggests that Allen now identifies as a Kansas Citian since becoming the Director of Jazz Studies at UMKC in 2021
As one of the most respected drummers in mainstream jazz for more than thirty years, Allen is accustomed to working with the form’s top talents. Bassist McBride and saxophonist/clarinetist Potter are among the biggest names in jazz. Accordingly, the trio’s burly approach proves that new ideas and fresh approaches are still possible within a conventional swing format.
“L’s Bop” careens toward the outer boundaries of the form while “Song For Abdullah” delivers gorgeous epiphanies. The intensity subsides on two or three tracks, including a relaxed take on “Put on a Happy Face.” Tippin’ is a necessary reminder of the enduring resilience of jazz in Kansas City.
Now’s the Time: OJT
OJT has always been solid but the accomplished organ trio took a considerable leap forward with the excellent 2024 album Ground Level. The Kansas City band’s next appearances at Green Lady Lounge are Thursday, January 9, Friday, January 10, and Saturday, January 11.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Camila Meza and Vernon Reid select Pat Metheny tracks and Steve Cardenas praises Jim Hall in The New York Times’ "5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Jazz Guitar" feature.
*Joe Dimino interviewed Bryan Hicks and shared footage of a Jeff Shirley performance at Black Dolphin.
Album Review: Norman Brown- It Hits Different
It Hits Different is sexy. While every note of Norman Brown’s fourteenth album conforms to the smooth jazz format, the Kansas City’s guitarist’s 2023 album is designed to stimulate romance rather than relaxation. Not coincidentally, it’s the most popular jazz-adjacent album released by a Kansas City musician not named Pat Metheny last year. Songs featuring vocals possess the crossover appeal of hits by Brown’s role model George Benson while the funk-forward instrumental tracks are the smooth jazz equivalent of Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro.” The album certainly does hit differently.
Now’s the Time: Erin Keller
Erin Keller performs at the Ship on Thursday, January 9. As with her 2023 EP Songs for Times Like These, Keller will be backed by the James Ward Band.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The American Jazz Museum advised patrons that its live music venue “(t)he Blue Room will be closed from January 1st to January 25th.”
Album Review: Arnold Young and the Roughtet- Young Spirit
The brazen title of the 1959 album The Shape of Jazz to Come seems idealistic today. Few of Ornette Coleman’s innovations have been adopted by mainstream jazz musicians. The harmolodics devised by Coleman thrive only in the fringes of improvised music.
Arnold Young has personified outsider jazz in Kansas City for more than 50 years. The drummer’s 2024 album Young Spirit often seems like an homage to Coleman’s initial conceptions. Young also looks beyond early Coleman on the 69-minute recording. The funky “Monkey Motor Company” is reminiscent of Coleman efforts like the 1982 album Of Human Feelings.
Adam Galblum evokes the free jazz fiddler Leroy Jenkins on “The Stone the Builder Refused.” Song titles alluding to additional iconoclasts such as Nduduzo Makhathini, Roscoe Mitchell and Charlie Parker suggest additional variations. While Young is always front and center, the powerful presence of bassist Gerald Spaits is no less essential. Their sturdy foundation allows several young Kansas City horn players to shine.
The revolution incited by Coleman and his cohorts converted surprisingly few followers, but Young remains a true believer. A young spirit who refuses to lose his edge, Young continues to spread Coleman’s audacious directive in a dauntless mission to change the shape of jazz in Kansas City.