Concert Review: Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society’s “A Convocation of Exoplanets” at Charlotte Street Foundation

Kansas City’s experimental music scene might never have recovered had the massive celestial sounds generated at Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, July 15, managed to transport the art space to a different galaxy. Several dozen people attended the free event.

The conclave of 21 musicians guided by Aaron Osborne included a significant portion of the region’s most notable talent. A single “long-form improvised music composition (drew) inspiration from how planetary objects align and their relationships to each other in space.” The initiative lasted almost an hour, providing plenty of time for cosmic forces to intervene.

Each of the four groupings of musicians dubbed “Chthonian Planet,” “Terrestrial Habitable,” “Gas Giant” and “Rogue Pulsar” were triggered by overhead lighting cues. The sound ranged from intergalactic roars to lonely tones generated by the “Rogue Pulsar” represented by Kelley Gant.

Not only was the cumulative effect of the sprawling opus magnificent, the stellar aggregation of locally based talent was intrinsically momentous. Here’s hoping someone had the foresight to organize a formal group portrait. The image would document one of the most auspicious assemblies in the history of Kansas City jazz.

From the program notes: 

The planetary types and groupings are as follows:

Chthonian Planet (lava): Cliff Dunn (bass flute), Elena Collins (bass Clarinet, Clarinet), Michael Eaton (sax, flute), Zak Pischnotte (saxes), Nick Howell (trumpet), Loren Broddeus (cornet), Sam Hughes (bari sax), Rosie O’Brien (tuba)

Terrestrial Habitable: Dwight Frizzell (windjammer), RJ Schultxe (percussion), Pat Conway (percussion), Shanté Clair (prepared guitar), Shawn Hansen (piano), Jackson Graham (vibes)

Gas Giant: Stephanie Priddy (viola), Cliff Hoitt-Lange (viola), Jeff Harshbarger (bass), Spencer Reeve (bass), Seth Davis (guitar), Brooke Knoll (harp)

Rogue Pulsar: Kelley Gant (vocals whistling electronics)

Concert Review: Dan Clucas at World Culture KC

Established jazz clubs occupy hallowed grounds for devotees of improvised music. The venues are more essential than ever. Due to ongoing attrition, however, many of the most rewarding performances are increasingly transpiring in unconventional settings.

A sextet played compelling new music on the porch of a home known as World Culture KC in Kansas City on Monday, September 4. The droning of cicadas, the buzz of aircraft and the lonesome whistles of trains accentuated the outing.

The event was a forum for the Los Angeles based Dan Clucas. The multi-instrumentalist has recording credits on albums by artists ranging from guitar hero Nels Cline to the rock band the BellRays. His most recent release is a harsh “hypothetical meeting between trumpeter Fats Navarro and drummer Peeter Uuskyla.”

Representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society (EMAS)- guitarists Shanté Clair and Seth Davis, harpist Brooke Knoll, bassist and electronics manipulator Aaron Osborne and drummer Evan Verploegh- deferred to their guest. Poor sightlines for the handful of attendees made it unclear which of the musicians adeptly echoed Clucas’ trumpet and violin riffs.

Ideally suited to the informal setting, the gently anarchic and carefully considered chaos might not have fared as well in a conventional jazz club. Thanks in large part to the scrappy persistence of EMAS, Kansas City’s position on the cutting edge of the international jazz map is being reasserted.