Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*KCUR aired an audio feature about Mike Dillon.

*Pat Metheny’s appearance at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is among KCUR’s June concert recommendations.

*Ian Bennett suggests Kansas City jazz is a cultural ghost in an essay for The Pitch.

*Tweet of the Week: Jeff Shirley- Terrarium (Official Video Teaser) Listen to Jeff Shirley’s album “Blue Gold” now: Spotify: (link) Amazon Music Streaming: (link) iTunes: (link) (video clip)

*From a press release: On Monday, June 19, the Sunflower Music Festival at White Concert Hall on the Washburn University campus (in) Topeka, will welcome Kansas City’s popular City Light Jazz Orchestra back for Jazz Night. The orchestra, under the direction of Angela Ward, will present A Tribute to Black Female Composers.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Paula Saunders, Amber Underwood and Angela Ward anticipate a cultural exchange in Chile in a television news report.

*Hermon Mehari looks forward to his performance in the Folly Jazz Series in a Kansas City magazine feature.

*Following a month-long stoppage, The Blue Room reopens with a jam session led by Matt Villinger on Monday, January 30.

*The Pitch relays an update from Chaz on the Plaza.

*Jakob Baekgaard composed an overview of Mary Lou Williams’ career for All About Jazz.

*Portions of the Miguel Zenón Quartet’s concert at the Folly Theater were captured by Joe Dimino.

*Tweet of the Week: Green Lady Lounge- In 2022, Green Lady Lounge & Black Dolphin musicians earned $942,582.81 in performance pay & credit card tips from fans. By the merit of their performances & demand from fans, these Kansas City jazz musicians showed their success & robust viability in the free market.

Now’s the Time: The James Ward Band

Plenty of family bands call Kansas City home. The James Ward Band is among the best of them. The trio returns to the Blue Room on Saturday, May 21. The interpretation of Marcus Miller’s “Panther” in the embedded video typifies JWB’s robust approach to contemporary jazz.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Ship hosts a tribute to the late Kansas City organist Dave Creighton on Wednesday, April 6.

*Angela Ward chatted with Joe Dimino.

*The Newton Kansan previewed an appearance by the Kansas City based trumpeter Aaron Linscheid.

*Tweet of the Week: Darin Murphy- After our last show of the March tour, we threw down at the Green Lady in Kansas City, one of the coolest jazz rooms anywhere on earth. @trishmurphy, Gina, Prairie, Beth and I are madly in love with KC MO!

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Kansas City musician Marvin Jones has died.

*Johnnie’s Jazz Bar & Grille in downtown Kansas City will transform into a Harry Potter-themed space for seven days in April.

*Steve Paul filmed a portion of Steve Cardenas’ appearance at recordBar.  Joe Dimino documented Angela Ward Trio’s recent midday show at the Blue Room.

*Marc Myers admires Frank Foster at JazzWax.

*Tweet of the Week: Michael Eaton- I'm in Kansas City on April 20, playing with Second Nature Ensemble for the EMAS series at @CharlotteStreetaround 8:30pm. A great concert series worth your support! SN is a mix of free jazz, new music, and electronic music, aiming to do something different in KC jazz + improv.

Now's the Time: The James Ward Band

In addition to participating in an auspicious concert last month, the funk, R&B and jazz luminary Bill Summers spent time jamming with locally based musicians while in Kansas City. Summers revisits the Herbie Hancock and Bernie Maupin composition “Butterfly” in a groovy collaboration with The James Ward Band. (Tip via Plastic Sax reader JW.)

Now’s the Time: Bukeka Blakemore, Amber Underwood, Aryana Nemeti and Angela Ward

Vocalist Bukeka Blakemore, flautist Amber Underwood, saxophonist Aryana Nemeti and keyboardist Angela Ward perform jazz and jazz-related music in a four-song set filmed at the Kansas City Museum in the embedded video.