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Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Joe Dimino interviewed Brian Baggett.
*A man laments the location of a new parking lot being built on the east side of Paseo Boulevard in the Jazz District in a television news report.
*Corvino, a restaurant that once regularly hosted live jazz performances, will close at the end of the year.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Horrid pop hits associated with one of the goofiest pop stars of the 1980s were transformed into dazzling reveries at Westport Coffee House on Sunday, November 9. Fifty people paid a $15 cover charge to witness the soul-jazz miracle.
Reminiscing about a road trip he took with the Kansas City organist Chris Hazelton more than a decade ago, the Canadian saxophonist Cory Weeds recalled a Huey Lewis compact disc provided the sole sonic diversion on the trek.
Still uneasy with the “stupid idea,” Weeds confessed thinking that “these tunes lend themselves to a greasy organ quartet.” Along with guitarist David Rourke and drummer Rudy Petschhauer, Weeds and Hazelton fulfilled that vision by means of immense talent and supercolossal swing.
Hazelton’s arrangements made Lewis material like “Do You Believe in Love” no less effective than interpretations of a few jazz-rooted compositions during the 90-minute performance. Weeds’ assessment was accurate: “in the hands of Chris Hazelton anything is possible.”
Setlist: The Power of Love, Measy’s Back in Town (sp?), Hip to Be Square, At Long Last, I Want a New Drug, Bad Is Bad, Boop Bop Bing Bash, Do You Believe in Love, If This Is It
Russell Gunn will perform with Marcus Lewis’ Brass and Boujee and the UMKC Jazz Orchestra at White Recital Hall on Monday, November 17. The trumpeter has pushed against jazz’s status quo for more than thirty years.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Basie Rocks, the Count Basie Orchestra’s collaboration with vocalist Deborah Silver, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Just Us, the new album by Bob James and Dave Koz, received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of performances led by Clint Ashlock and Cory Weeds.
*Nina Cherry checked in with pianist Ryan Marquez.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
My return to Portland’s resurrected jazz supper club The 1905 wasn’t quite perfect on Sunday, November 2. One couple amid the capacity audience of 50 occasionally raised their voices above the cosmic future-jazz of OHMA. Aside from that blemish, the experience was copacetic.
OHMA, the duo of multi-instrumentalists Mia Garcia and Hailey Niswanger, appeared at the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle the previous night. Supplemented by drummer Cory Limuaco, OHMA leaned more into jazz than it did at its 2022 concert at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City.
Both The 1905 and OHMA seem to be flourishing. The club’s atmosphere was even more welcoming than on my previous visit. And Garcia and Niswanger are at the crest of a musical wave that includes fashionable acts like Carlos Niño and SML. Given the $30 cover charge, near-perfection was good enough.
Acute Inflections interprets R&B, neo-soul and reggae standards with a jazz sensibility. The New York based duo with a DIY approach to touring performs at the Gem Theater on Tuesday, November 18.
*OJT is featured on the most recent episode of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program.
Brian Baggett is the most rock-leaning guitarist on the auspicious roster of the Live at Green Lady Lounge album series. Nothing Left to Lose: Live at Green Lady Lounge, Volume 2 is the collection’s most adventurous album to date.
Recorded April 28, 2025, the album draws on sounds beyond the upbeat Kansas City swing associated with Green Lady Lounge. Baggett, bassist Seth Lee and drummer Sam Platt offer shades of surf rock on “Looking for the Right Places.”
The title track suggests the flair of John Barry’s iconic James Bond theme. In spite of the black metal-sounding moniker, “Borborygmus” is closer to the space age bachelor pad music of Esquivel than the malevolent thrash of Behemoth.
The pulsating dissonance opening a hairy version of the Green Lady Lounge staple “Manly Bunny” gives jazz-curious rock-and-rollers an even better reason to check out Baggett. Nothing Left to Lose will be available on streaming services on November 10. The release show for the album is Monday, November 17, at Green Lady Lounge.
Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra return to the Lied Center on Thursday, November 6. The ensemble will premiere a University of Kansas-themed piece titled “Wave the Wheat Suite.”
Original image by There Stands the Glass.
*A television news outlet suggests The Phoenix may be haunted.
*The New York Times reports that Charlie Parker 78s are spun at The Hot Club of New York.
*Bram Wijnands’ live accompaniment to a vintage horror film is among the upcoming events recommended by In Kansas City magazine.
Many of Kansas City’s most accomplished jazz musicians recoil from social media hijinks and resist shameless self-promotion. Too often, their meritorious reticence results in comparative inconspicuousness.
The commendably serious Drew Williams is one such musician. The saxophonist is among Kansas City’s most forward-thinking artists. His new release Live at Weights and Measures reminds listeners that Williams is equally adept in straight-ahead settings and freer formats.
Williams is joined by the similarly versatile keyboardist Matt Villinger, bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer Jaylen Ward on the session. Williams’ creativity is further evidenced by the availability of Live at Weights and Measures in both audio and video formats.
On Thelonious Monk’s “We See”, Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way”, Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “Minor Blues”, Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” and Williams’ original “Fix Your Heart (Or Die)”, the quartet demonstrates the splendid quality of jazz flourishing at the periphery of Kansas City’s jazz spotlight.
In spite of the initial buzz accompanying the booking of Lakecia Benjamin in the 2025-26 season of the Folly Jazz Series, most seats for the saxophonist’s concert remain unsold ten days prior to her appearance on Saturday, November 1. The embedded video suggests Benjamin and her band are ideally suited for a sophisticated Saturday night.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Pat Metheny returns to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on April 4, 2026. Marilyn Maye plays the Folly Theater on December 21.
*Charles Williams and James Ward discuss their recent trip to China with a television news reporter.
*David. W. “Smiley” Wallace Jr., a prominent booster of ragtime in Kansas City, has died.
*Jeff Shirley was interviewed by Joe Dimino
Original image by Plastic Sax.
A popular meme pictures a man at a table displaying a sign with a provocative statement followed by the words “change my mind.” Were I inclined to share social media posts of that nature, my version would proclaim “Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride are the best musicians alive.”
The duo’s recital at Muriel Kauffman Theatre on Thursday, October 10, indicated the pianist and bassist perform at a markedly higher level than everyone else. An audience of more than 400 were on hand for the magnificent display of genius. (I paid $43.50 for the least expensive ticket.)
In spite of his explorations of other genres, McBride is a traditionalist at heart. Mehldau catered to McBride’s conservative inclinations on interpretations of works by Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Burt Bacharach and Jule Styne.
McBride’s monumental solo reading of “Fly Me to the Moon” was countered by Mehldau’s unaccompanied rendition of Fred McDowell’s “Jesus on the Mainline.” Mehldau also got to be Mehldau in an exquisite take on his composition “Love is Fragile” that included a distressed allusion to “America the Beautiful.”
The balance of contrasting styles was perfect. Having recently read his autobiography, I know Mehldau loves playing standards. Of the three times I’ve seen Mehldau and the seven times I’ve caught McBride, neither giant has sounded better. Change my mind.
Saxsquatch is an outlandish novelty act. A person in a bigfoot-esque costume plays Boney James-ish saxophone over electronic beats. recordBar hosts Saxsquatch on Sunday, October 19.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Original image of Pete Escovedo’s band at the Folly Theater by Plastic Sax.
I opted for the season opener of the Folly Jazz Series over the revived KC Jazz & Blues Festival on Saturday, October 5. Several people have insisted an explanation is in order. My decision was based on equal parts money and art.
The festival would have put me back $89.50 ($69.50 for the least expensive ticket and $20 parking at the baseball stadium hosting the event). I paid $30 for the cheapest ticket to Pete Escovedo’s concert at the Folly Theater. I found a free parking spot on a nearby street.
Familiarity also played a role in my choice. Bill Frisell- the crown jewel of the festival’s lineup- comes through Kansas City regularly. Stanley Clarke, the de facto headliner, played a free concert in Kansas City in 2019.
I don’t care for the music of the festival’s closing act Karl Denson. As for the locally based professional musicians in the festival lineup, I’ve heard every one of them at least once in recent months.
I’ve only seen Escovedo perform as a member of Santana at the Uptown Theater in the 1970s. Escovedo’s octet played low-stakes Latin jazz for an audience of more than 200 on Saturday. The vibes were good, but missing Frisell feels bad.
A fortuitous confluence of personal favorites, a celebrity newsmaker and a concert date made posting the embedded video seem mandatory today. Jeffrey Osborne, the R&B luminary responsible for my fourth favorite concert of 2024, appears on Christian McBride’s latest big band album. Osborne and McBride revisited LTD’s 1977 hit “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again” on Jimmy Kimmel’s program two days ago. McBride performs with Brad Mehldau at Muriel Kauffman Theatre on Thursday, October 9.
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Joe Dimino provided footage of performances at the Kansas City Jazz & Blues Festival.
*Kelley Gant’s talent as a whistler was featured on KCUR.
*Jaylen Ward participated in an interview.
Original music by Plastic Sax.
Longing for Sunday morning serenity, I was slapped by Saturday night dissipation at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Mondays can be like that.
I’d hoped BEATrio- banjoist Béla Fleck, harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez- would focus on thoughtful meditations on Monday, September 29. Instead, much of the 100-minute set was dedicated to aggressive fusion.
The audience of more than 500 in Helzberg Hall heard a five-minute Sanchez solo, Castañeda’s unwelcome invocation of New Age luminary Andreas Vollenweider and Fleck’s flashy rendering of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Extended showboating by virtuosos who know better was disappointing. Still, the $37.50 I spent on a ticket in the rafters wasn’t wasted. Fleck’s music has been a through line in my life for more than forty years. He’s worth hearing even at his gaudiest.
As when I last attended a Fleck concert in 2021, the volume was disarmingly hushed. Unlike in Portland, however, hippies behaved, allowing appreciation of the crisp sound field. And there were several fleeting moments of quiet beauty.
I may have yearned for more of the kind of spiritual solace Fleck displayed on the transcendent 1996 cross-genre collaboration Tabula Rasa. Even so, I don’t regret hearing three elite musicians show off on a Monday.