KC’s Cup Runneth Over

England’s national football team has taken over a hotel complex that houses my favorite neighborhood café. I’ll try not to hold the inconvenience against the squad during the World Cup this summer. The following guide is designed to inspire athletes and affiliates of Three Lions to break away from their base in Prairie Village for a sampling of Kansas City’s jazz scene. I’ve created four itineraries wheeled around venues unique to Kansas City. Several good rooms aren’t mentioned, and it’s worth noting that catching elite musicians in a lousy setting is preferable to hearing unexceptional artists in an excellent room. Start here if you’re looking for a list of Kansas City’s most accomplished jazz musicians.

Itinerary #1: Mutual Musicians Foundation
The modest appearance of The Mutual Musicians Foundation (1823 Highland Avenue) belies its importance. The site is the most authentic link to Kansas City’s jazz heyday. Hitting the 1:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. weekend jam sessions is a rite of passage. Night owls can pre-game at The Blue Room (1600 E. 18th Street), a music venue operated by The American Jazz Museum.

Itinerary #2: Knuckleheads
Jazz bands rarely perform at Kansas City’s best music venue. The blues, country and roots-rock oriented Knuckleheads (2715 Rochester Avenue; rideshare recommended) should be on the itinerary of jazz fans anyway. The J. Rieger & Co. distillery is a short but perilous walk across the train tracks.

Itinerary #3: Black Dolphin/Green Lady Lounge
Kansas City’s premier jazz club Green Lady Lounge (1809 Grand Boulevard) is temporarily closed due to fire damage. Its similarly swanky sister club Black Dolphin (1813 Grand Boulevard) features live jazz seven nights a week. Ted’s Taproom (1829 McGee Street) is strategically located nearby. The old-school showman Lonnie McFadden is the featured entertainer seven blocks away at Lonnie's Reno Club (1111 Grand Boulevard).

Itinerary #4: The Ship
Located in the Stockyards District, The Ship (1221 Union Avenue; rideshare recommended) offers live jazz on Thursdays. Plenty of cocktail lounges are promoted as throwbacks to the speakeasy era, but the Ship is the real deal. Youthful hipsters congregate at the nearby In the Lowest Ferns (1105 Hickory Street), a space specializing in underground dance music. The outdoor concert venue Lemonade Park is several blocks south of the Ship.

Don’t trust me? Try these alternatives:

*FIFA recommends Green Lady Lounge and the Blue Room.

*Kansas City’s official guide suggests the town is home to “more than 40 jazz and fine-dining venues.”

*A British tabloid namechecks Green Lady Lounge and Prairie Village.

*Scuzzy pop-up ads aside, a soccer-themed guide is worth a look.

Jazz Night in Kansas City (Is Every Night)

Attending performances by locally based jazz musicians is what I miss most about Kansas City while traveling. While I regularly take advantage of high-profile concerts by cutting-edge improvisers who rarely appear in Kansas City in my destinations, few locales match the depth of artistry showcased nightly in the Kansas City area.

Following a trip to the tropics, I caught up with a portion of the embarrassment of riches on Thursday, November 15. My outing began at the Music House School of Music in Prairie Village. The storied trumpeter Stan Kessler joined the house band of guitarist Aaron Sizemore, bassist Forest Stewart and drummer Michael Warren.

Sizemore tends to incorporate European innovations of recent decades into his sound, a disposition that differentiates him from his peers in Kansas City. The singularity didn’t make an impression on harried music students on strict schedules at the busy facility. The small audience at Thursday’s no-cover event consisted of the usual suspects. A video of the concert streams here.

In the Lowest Ferns couldn’t be more different. The West Bottoms club specializing in electronic dance music occasionally hosts jazz musicians. About 25 fashion-conscious people paid a $15 cover charge to take in the first set by saxophonist Ernest Melton, keyboardist Parker Woolworth, bassist Jordan Faught and drummer Jaylen Ward. The quartet’s spiritual soul-jazz was enhanced by a fog machine.

Two blocks away, Peter Schlamb unveiled an instrument he described as his “new toy” in a free show at The Ship.  The slippery tones of the MalletKAT added another weapon to the vibraphonist’s formidable arsenal. The high-energy improvisations of Schlamb, saxophonist Matt Otto, keyboardist Matt Villinger, bassist Sebastian Arias and drummer Zach Morrow were stunning.

In an act that felt like a cultural misdemeanor, the two eldest people among the audience of 20 left at the conclusion of the first set at 10:15 p.m. I nodded in agreement when a savvy old head suggested “that’s the best band in Kansas City” as we shuffled to the door. For me, Shlamb’s electric band sounds like home.

Now’s the Time: Ernest Melton

The shape-shifting Kansas City saxophonist Ernest Melton performs at the fashionable dance club In the Lowest Ferns on Thursday, August 1, and leads the weekly jam session at the Blue Room on Monday, August 5. Melton tackles Jimi Hendrix in the embedded video.