The Top Jazz Performances of 2025

The Top Performances of 2025 by Kansas City Musicians
1. Nick Hmeljak, Henry Scamurra, Isaiah Petrie, Jordan Faught and Jaylen Ward at Westport Coffee House
Plastic Sax review.

2. Drew Williams, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at the Stray Cat Film Center
Instagram clip.

3. Bram and Lucy Wijnands with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.

4. Vanessa Thomas, Kara Smith, Michael Pagán and Steve Rigazzi at the Blue Room
Instagram clip.

5. Henry Scamurra, Isaiah Petrie, Spencer Reeve and Jade Harvey at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival
Instagram clip.

6. The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society’s “3 Expressions of Light and Sound” at Charlotte Street Foundation
Instagram clip.

7. Matt Villinger, Peter Schlamb, Sebastian Arias and Matt Robertson at the Blue Room
Instagram clip.

8. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
Plastic Sax review.

9. Deborah Brown and George Colligan at Upcycle Piano Craft
Instagram clip.

10. David Chael, Danny Embrey, Gerald Spaits and Brian Steever at Green Lady Lounge
My Instagram clip.

The Top Performances of 2025 by Touring Musicians
1. Christian McBride and Brad Mehldau at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
Plastic Sax review.

2. Terence Blanchard at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
There Stands the Glass review.

3. Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.

4. Samara Joy at the Folly Theater
There Stands the Glass review.

5. Devin Gray at the Ship
There Stands the Glass review.

6. Alexander Adams, Jeff Goulet (and Seth Davis) with Kristen Kopper and Shanté Clair at Grand Avenue Temple
Instagram clip.

7. Cory Weeds (with Chris Hazelton) at Westport Coffee House
Plastic Sax review.

8. Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda and Antonio Sánchez at Helzberg Hall
Plastic Sax review.

9. Helen Sung (with Bach Aria Soloists) at the Folly Theater
Plastic Sax review.

10. OHMA at the 1905 (Portland)
Plastic Sax review.

Last year’s survey is here.

Concert Review: Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda and Antonio Sánchez at Helzberg Hall

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.

Now’s the Time: Carmen Bradford

Carmen Bradford, a vocalist affiliated with the current edition of the Count Basie Orchestra, will perform in the Kansas City Symphony’s Uptown Nights concerts on Friday, January 6, Saturday, January 7, and Sunday, January 8, at Helzberg Hall.

Now’s the Time: Sean Jones

The marketing material promoting Sean Jones’ concert with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at Helzberg Hall on Friday, September 30, asserts that “there is no more essential practitioner of the brass arts” than the trumpeter. Advocates of Ambrose Akinmusire, Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton might beg to differ. Nevertheless, Jones’ solo in the embedded video is extraordinary.