The Top Stories and Trends of 2025 in Kansas City Jazz

1. Fucinaro and Scamurra
The Kansas City saxophonists Pete Fucinaro and Henry Scamurra released strong debut albums in 2025. The ongoing youth movement represented by Fucinaro’s Little Window and Scamurra’s Urban Forum is a compelling reason for optimism.

2. Festival Revival
The KC Blues and Jazz Festival brought Stanley Clarke, Karl Denson and Bill Frisell to a baseball stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, on October 4. The event was the area’s first large-scale jazz event featuring touring artists since 2017.

3. Musical Chairs
Dr. Dina Bennett resigned as the Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum. Turnover at the institution is concerning.

4. Detour Ahead
The planned transformation of a portion of 18th Street into a pedestrian walkway made access to Jazz District landmarks including the American Jazz Museum and the Gem Theater difficult for much of the year. (See above photo.)

5. Evergreen
Green Lady Lounge remains the focal point of live jazz in Kansas City. Green Lady Lounge hosts more than three times the combined number of jazz performances at the Blue Room, the Ship and Westport Coffee House, the second, third and fourth most significant presenters of jazz in Kansas City.

6. Nevermore
Corvino is the most prominent of several establishments to either completely close or cease featuring live jazz in 2025.

7. Alt Jazz
Sonic experiments that are largely unwelcome in conventional venues thrive in hidden recesses including house parties, a bookstore, an underground cinema and a repurposed church.

8. Best Year Ever
No Kansas City jazz musician had a bigger year than Jackie Myers. Her relentless performance schedule included tours and festival placements. Myers’ ambitious album What About the Butterfly was reviewed by DownBeat magazine, a distinction among Kansas City artists shared only by Carl Allen in 2025.

9. Disinformation Campaign
Visit KC continues to insist that Kansas City is home to “more than 40 jazz clubs” as it promotes next year’s World Cup matches. The convention bureau’s dissembling is outlandish.

10. Persistence
Plastic Sax published 32 album reviews, two book reviews, nine concert reviews, six editorials and 45 gig previews featuring Kansas City musicians in 2025.

Last year’s recap is here.

The Complete List of Executive Directors and CEOs of The American Jazz Museum

The decline of news reporting and the fragility of archival records in the digital age can make fact-checking and research difficult. Upon discovering a consolidated listing of every Executive Director and/or CEO in the history of the American Jazz Museum didn’t exist, I decided to create one as a public service. KC Jazz Lark was consulted in the project inspired by the recent resignation of Dr. Dina Bennett, but any errors are my own.

1995-2002 Rowena Stewart
2002-2006 Juanita Moore
2006-2007 Carol Rhodes Dyson (interim)
2007-2015 Greg Carroll
2015-2016 Ralph Reid (interim)
2016-2018 Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner
2019-2020 Ralph Caro (interim)
2020-2023 Rashida Phillips
2023-2025 Dr. Dina Bennett (interim and Executive Director)

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*From the American Jazz Museum: Dr. Dina Bennett, Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum, will be stepping down from her role at the end of July. Dr. Bennett has been a visionary leader whose contributions have significantly advanced our mission, from elevating our national presence to deepening our local impact in the 18th & Vine District. We are incredibly grateful for her leadership, and while she will be deeply missed, we are excited for what lies ahead in her next chapter… Dr. Bennett will remain in her position through July 2025 to support a smooth transition. The Board of Directors will soon launch a national search for our next Executive Director, someone who can guide the Museum through its next stage of growth and innovation.

*Marcus Lewis was interviewed by Hampton Stevens.

*Adam Galblum chatted with Joe Dimino.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The New York Times’ look back at the 1958 “A Great Day in Harlem” photograph is loaded with Kansas City connections.

*Joe Dimino shared clips of performances at the Blue Room by David Watson and Warren Wolf.

*Dr. Dina Bennett is featured in a video produced by the American Jazz Museum.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Dan Kelly of The Kansas City Star and Steve Kraske of KCUR interviewed Angela Wildflower about her role in the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”

*Dr. Dina Bennett and Gerald Dunn of the American Jazz Museum discuss Dunn’s career in a forty-minute video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Harold O’Neal and Dr. Dina Bennett praised Charlie Parker in a television news report.

*The American Jazz Museum offers a new Charlie Parker-related souvenir.

*From a press release: Verve Records announces Bird in Kansas City, an album featuring a new set of rare recordings dating from between 1941-1951, to be released globally on October 25, 2024 on vinyl, CD, and digitally and available to pre-order here. Much of this collection has never been heard before and some recordings have never even been known to exist… To celebrate the announcement of Bird in Kansas City, the first track, “Cherokee,” is available now. Listen & watch the visualizer "Cherokee". Chuck Haddix — scholar and author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, who also produced and wrote liner notes for this album — says, “‘Ray Noble’s ‘Cherokee’ was one of Bird's favorite songs.