*Ken Lovern released a second music video in advance of the release of Blind Boone the Musical.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*James McGee gave The Kansas City Star a tour of the Jazz District.
*The rollout for Ken Lovern’s forthcoming album Blind Boone the Musical includes a music video.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Tim Whitmer discussed his new album with Steve Kraske on KCUR’s Up To Date.
*Ken Lovern told Joe Dimino about OJT’s new album.
*The New York Times remembered the Missouri-born Nora Holt and KCUR recalled Kansas City native Dana Suesse.
*From a press release: Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Alyssa Bell Jackson today announced the next concert for the 2024-2025 Signature Series, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at Helzberg Hall… The annual Kansas City Jazz Orchestra holiday concert, set against visuals from the cherished television special, will feature swinging big band arrangements from KCJO Artistic Director Clint Ashlock.
Album Review: OJT- Ground Level
What’s the best American band of the last 75 years? Variations of the question frequently pop up in barrooms and internet forums. Acceptable responses range from Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet to Creedence Clearwater Revival. The correct answer, however, is Booker T. & the MGs.
The three members of OJT- organist Ken Lovern, guitarist Brian Baggett and drummer Kenny Watson Jr.- display their affinity for the legendary Memphis group on the new album Ground Level. “Loose Space” is an interpolation of “Time Is Tight” while the title of “Baggy Blues Jeans” may allude to Booker T. & the MGs’ “Hip Hug-Her”.
The jazz filter OJT applies to the framework of timeless soul amplifies the profoundly groovy sound. Their ten-minute “It’s Not That Bad” touches on the history of organ jazz from Jimmy Smith to Medeski, Martin & Wood. The inclusion of the colossal performance makes Ground Level the year’s most robust Kansas City party album.
(Ground Level will be be available at streaming services on September 6. Green Lady Lounge hosts a vinyl and CD release party on Wednesday, October 2.)
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s return to the Folly Theater is plugged by The Kansas City Star.
*Danny Embrey is interviewed by Ken Lovern in four new videos.
*Mary Lou Williams was remembered on an episode of KCUR’s Up To Date program.
*Pinball, a new album by Seth Davis and Kevin Cheli, was reviewed by a blogger.
Faux Fest
Original image of Brian Haas and Mike Dillon at the Brick by Plastic Sax.
I attended a cutting-edge jazz festival in Kansas City on Wednesday, January 4. What’s that? You didn’t know about the event? Well, since Kansas City hasn’t hosted a proper jazz festival in five years, I’ve taken to curating one-night festivals for myself.
On Wednesday I spent five hours at three venues taking in an immensely rewarding blend of touring and locally based artists. The faux festival got off to a rough start at Westport Coffee House ($10 cover). When guitarist Seth Andrew Davis thanked members of the audience for attending, the Bay Area keyboardist Scott R. Looney sneered “three people!”
The other musicians seemed to brush off Looney’s disappointment in the turnout. Looney, Davis and the New York based percussionist Kevin Cheli began by playing what sounded like devilish variations on the cartoon music of Raymond Scott.
Looney, bassist Krista Kopper and drummer Evan Verploegh toyed with extreme dynamics in the second set. In staving off mere anarchy by holding the center, Kopper was the most valuable contributor to a third set featuring all five musicians. The first stage of the festival concluded with an improvisation on what may have been an inverse version of Miles Davis’ “All Blues.”
The second phase of the bespoke festival transpired at Green Lady Lounge ($5 cover). I joined about 75 revelers for a set by OJT, the popular venue’s de facto house band. Seated directly behind drummer Sam Platt, my appreciation of the ways in which guitarist Brian Baggett and organist Ken Lovern apply their roots in rock to update the organ jazz trio tradition was strengthened.
Funkadelick headlined the fake fest at the Brick ($10 cover). Drummer Nikki Glaspie had the night off, so the peripatetic Mike Dillon and Brian Haas, the keyboardist best known for his groundbreaking work with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, operated as a duo for most of their nearly two-hour set.
Dillon manned his expansive rig like punk-jazz’s answer to Carl Palmer as he and Haas interpreted the entirety of the forthcoming album Inflorescence. The tandem was later joined in musical roughhousing by guest drummer Arnold Young. A violent interpolation of the Stooges’ proto-punk classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog” typified the raucous attack.
Drawn to the pocket-size stage like a moth to a flame, I posted up front and center for most of the riveting performance. The approximately 50 people seated behind me couldn’t have been pleased that I obstructed their sightlines. I didn’t care. After all, it was my festival.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Rod Fleeman chats with Ken Lovern about his debut album, his relationship with Pat Metheny, working with notable vocalists and Kansas City’s jazz legacy in a set of five videos: one, two, three, four and five.
*Joe Dimino discussed the Uptown Lounge with Alan Stribling and shared footage of a youth jazz performance.
*Tweet of the Week: Menace- Enzo Carniel returns to MENACE alongside Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon as No(w) Beauty. The self-titled album will be released on February 24, however, the first single 'The Art of Four' is available today on all platforms. (link)
Confirmation: OJT
Ken Lovern’s organ jazz trio, commonly known as OJT, is the de facto house band of Green Lady Lounge. The good-time group’s next gig at Kansas City’s most popular jazz venue kicks in at 6 p.m. Friday, November 25.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Brian Baggett and Ken Lovern discuss Baggett’s forthcoming album in a promotional video.
*The Kansas City debut of the Los Angeles duo Ohma is reviewed at There Stands the Glass.
*Bobby Watson promoted a concert in Schenectady in a candid interview with a correspondent for Albany’s The Times-Union.
*Jazzwise considers the sound of Britain’s Big Band Metheny ensemble.
*Joe Dimino interviewed Morgan Faw and shared clips of performances by the Greg Meise Trio, Lisa Henry and the Hannover Big Band.
*Tweet of the Week: Midwest Music Foundation- JUST ANNOUNCED! Check out the official lineup for Apocalypse Meow, Nov 5th at the @recordBar, ft. Eddie Moore, MellowPhobia, The Electric Lungs, purextc, and Nathan Corsi and My Atomic Daydream! Grab tickets: (link) #apocalypsemeow #abbysfund
*From a press release: The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Lea Petrie today announced the next concert for the 2022-2023 20th Anniversary season, The Voice featuring guest artist Deborah Brown, Thursday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at … Helzberg Hall… Brown is one of many American jazz performers who found her greatest fame and recognition overseas rather than in the U.S.
Album Review: Matt Hopper’s Agora- Live at Green Lady Lounge
The formidable reputations of three locally based mainstream jazz guitarists position the distinguished men head-and-shoulders above their peers. Danny Embrey, Rod Fleeman and Will Matthews deserve the respect and acclaim they’ve garnered.
Matt Hopper is among the younger musicians who are actively demonstrating the future of jazz guitar in Kansas City is in good hands. Quietly released at the end of 2021, Live at Green Lady Lounge captures the sound of the band featuring Hopper and organist Ken Lovern, percussionist Pat Conway and drummer Todd Strait.
The recording exemplifies the distinctive sound that’s helped make Green Lady Lounge the most popular jazz venue in Kansas City. The music performed in the room at 1809 Grand Boulevard is invariably cheerful, sweetly harmonious and assertively propulsive.
While Live at Green Lady Lounge is no exception, the 2018 recording is no ordinary guitar-and-organ album. The quiet groove of “Marcelo’s Guitar” contains a slight intimation of psychedelic rock. Hopper’s trippy solo elevates a slinky reading of his “Green Lady Low Down.”
The dual tandems of Hopper and Lovern and Conway and Strait propel the ecstatic sensibility. Yet the guitarist merits the spotlight. Live at Green Lady Lounge indicates Hopper will eventually join the ranks of Embrey, Freeman and Matthews as a member of Kansas City jazz royalty.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The American Jazz Museum’s Rashida Phillips was interviewed by Northeast News and KC Studio.
*Ken Lovern remembers the late Joe Miquelon in a conversation with Joe Dimino.
*The New York Times notes the ongoing interest in Mary Lou Williams’ “Zodiac Suite.”
*Tweet of the Week: Pat Metheny- Today @librarycongress @LibnOfCongress Carla Hayden named ‘Bright Size Life’ among 25 selections as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage. #NatRecRegistry