*The Kansas City all-star band Wire Town is featured in the new episode of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Concert Review: Bram and Lucy Wijnands with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at the Folly Theater
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Lucy Wijnands introduced a rendition of “I’m Old Fashioned” with disarming candor at the Folly Theater on Saturday, March 1. She admitted “we thought this would be appropriate for tonight.” The presentation of period music would have been excruciatingly corny in lesser hands. Instead, the evening of retro-jazz was an artistic triumph.
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra featured keyboardist Bram Wijnands and his daughter Lucy in a generous acknowledgement of an area mainstay that demonstrates the organization’s ongoing commitment to the Kansas City community. The concert was a capstone in Bram’s career. For the New York based Lucy, the night was a memorable coming out party.
Bram Wijnands, a noted stride piano specialist prone to madcap antics, arranged all the material aside from the opening selections of the first and second sets. The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra may never have sounded better than on Wijnands’ chart for the Count Basie Orchestra’s 1937 classic “Topsy”.
Turns in the spotlight by trumpeter Trent Austin and saxophonist Brad Gregory stood out amid dozens of impeccable solos. Wijnands’ statements on piano and celesta were similarly thrilling. Kansas City audiences have come to expect excellence from Wijnands and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. Wijnands’ daughter Lucy is a relative newcomer.
Lucy Wijnand’s fully realized talent stunned unsuspecting members of the audience of approximately 350. (I was comped.) She shone most brightly while focusing on material Ella Fitzgerald recorded from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Just as her father didn’t attempt to copy Basie’s signature piano style, Lucy didn’t ape Fitzgerald. Instead, her rich vocals resembled Judy Garland as much as Fitzgerald. Stale moments were few and far between. The vim and vigor of the Wijnands and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra made old-fashioned sounds seem brand new.
Now’s the Time: The Branford Marsalis Quartet
The ironic title of the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s potent 2000 album Contemporary Jazz seems even more contentious 25 years later. The embedded video features a rendition of the opening track “In the Crease.” The band will attempt to substantiate its primacy at the Folly Theater on Saturday, March 15.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Brian Ward Trio is featured in the latest installment of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program.
*KCUR looked into one of Kansas City’s Fat Tuesday traditions.
*Joe Dimino interviewed Rob Scheps and Lucy Wijnands. He also shared footage of Bram and Lucy Wijnands’ collaboration with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at the Folly Theater.
Concert Review: Aaron Sizemore, Forest Stewart and Mike Warren at Music House School of Music
Original image by Plastic Sax.
The trio of Aaron Sizemore, Forest Stewart and Mike Warren occupy a unique niche in the Kansas City area. During its regular gigs at Music House School of Music, a Prairie Village instruction emporium overseen by Sizemore- the trio performs an otherwise neglected form of jazz.
On Thursday, February 27, the trio entertained more than a dozen people with an approach that might have sounded more in keeping with jazz heard in Lisbon, Oslo or Vienna than Kansas City.
Sizemore’s deliberate approach evokes contemporary guitarists including Kurt Rosenwinkel and Pat Metheny. Stewart often sounds indistinguishable from famed electric bassist Steve Swallow. And Warren is a first-call drummer with the range of Billy Hart.
Yet it’s repertoire that sets the trio apart. Strong original material is supplemented by impeccable covers. On Thursday the trio tackled Keith Jarrett’s “Bop-Bee” and “Alliance” by the expansive Kansas City saxophonist Matt Otto. Elegant echoes of Europe resounded in a Kansas suburb.
Now’s the Time: Bram and Lucy Wijnands with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
The Folly Theater hosts the inspired pairing of the father-daughter tandem of Bram and Lucy Wijnands with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra on Saturday, March 1. The Wijnands perform at the London cabaret Crazy Coqs in the embedded video.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Leon Brady, one of Kansas City’s most eminent jazz educators for decades, has died.
*The Pitch published a profile of Matt Hopper.
*Carl Allen was honored by the Jazz Education Network.
Album Review: Brennan Connors, Seth Andrew Davis, Jakob Heinemann and Evan Verploegh- Alchemy of Stone and Star
“That’s Not Art, That’s Not Music”, the title of Lonnie Holley’s rancorous new single, is a phrase I’ve encountered while sharing my enthusiasm for sounds made by members of Kansas City’s The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society.
Alchemy of Stone and Star, a live 2023 recording released four months ago, won’t win over listeners for whom free jazz is anathema. Yet the freewheeling collaboration of guitarist Seth Andrew Davis and drummer Evan Verploegh of Kansas City with the northern Midwest saxophonist Brennan Connors and bassist Jakob Heinemann is riveting.
Inventive interactions between Davis and Verploegh in the 19-minute “Decoding the Maps” achieve transcendence. Connors’ maturity is a revelation while Heinemann brings cohesiveness to the exceptionally artful music.
Now’s the Time: säje
säje makes its Folly Jazz Series debut on Friday, February 28. The vocal quartet consists of Erin Bentlage, Sara Gazarek, Johnaye Kendrick and Amanda Taylor. The song performed in the embedded video won a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals” earlier this month.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Brian Baggett Trio is featured on the latest episode of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of performances by Deborah Brown and Wire Town.
*The Pitch checked in with Eddie Moore.
Album Review: John Stein: Next Gen: Jazz for my Grandchildren
An interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s “Mysterioso” scrubbed of shadowy ambiguities is emblematic of the tone of guitarist John Stein’s nineteenth album. Clean and precise, Next Gen: Jazz for my Grandchildren sounds like the product of a music teacher. Stein retired from the Berklee College of Music in 2020 after spending 36 years as a professor at the Boston institution. Yet Next Gen isn’t antiseptic. Along with bassist Ed Lucie and drummer Mike Connors, the Kansas City native applies polite swing to standards and original compositions dedicated to his grandchildren. It’s only natural that grandfatherly jazz should be sweet, gentle and suffused with love.
Now’s the Time: Eddie Moore
The high-profile Kansas City keyboardist Eddie Moore next performs at the Majestic on Saturday, February 15.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*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.
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.