The Top Stories and Trends of 2023 on Kansas City’s Jazz Scene

1. Last Train Home
The Lee’s Summit native Pat Metheny snapped an eleven-year embargo of the Kansas City area with a concert at Muriel Kauffman Theatre in June. 

2. Larson vs. Otto: Everybody Wins
The astounding productivity of Adam Larson and Matt Otto, Kansas City based saxophonists in their artistic primes, resembled a friendly cutting contest.

3. Too Marvelous for Words
The Kansas City mainstay Marilyn Maye celebrated her 95th birthday with a concert at Carnegie Hall.

4. Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City
The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society presented performances by cutting-edge touring musicians including Vinny Golia, Maria Elena Silva, Eli Wallace and Jack Wright. 

5. Absinthe Ascendent
Green Lady Lounge tightened its stranglehold as Kansas City’s dominant jazz venue. A program on Kansas Public Radio and an ongoing series of live albums furthered its hegemony.

6. Outside the Lines
Just two of  Plastic Sax’s 20 Favorite Performances of 2023 transpired in jazz clubs. Venues including concert halls and art galleries hosted much of the most interesting improvised music performed in Kansas City.

7. Ticketed
Attendance at concerts by Samara Joy, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Pat Metheny and Domi and JD Beck indicates the Kansas City area is home to about 1,500 people who are willing to pay $25 or more to hear instrumental jazz.

8. Turnover
Rashida Phillips resigned her position as Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum.

9. It Takes a Village
The Prairie Village Jazz Festival, a one-day, single-stage event featuring locally based musicians, remains the region’s most notable jazz festival.

10. Con Man
Con Chapman’s Kansas City Jazz A Little Evil Will Do You Good provided new insights into the area’s jazz history.

Last year’s recap is here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Pat Metheny was heckled at a concert in San Diego. George Varga of The San Diego Union-Tribune filed a report on the incident.

*An appearance by Terence Blanchard is among KCUR’s November concert recommendations.

*The American Jazz Museum created a video recap of its recent Charlie Parker birthday celebration concert.

*David Hudnall highlights the live music presented at the Gates Bar-B-Q location in the Jazz District for The Kansas City Star.

*Marilyn Maye checked in with Steve Kraske on KCUR’s Up To Date program.

Now’s the Time: Marilyn Maye

Marilyn Maye, the last of the great saloon singers, returns to the Folly Theater for concerts with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28. She delivers “I’m Still Here” in a March appearance at Carnegie Hall in the embedded video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Danny Embrey chatted with Joe Dimino.

*The Kansas City Star plays up Marilyn Maye’s return to Kansas City.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Pat Metheny’s 2013 album Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol. 20 is among the hundreds of albums released by Tzadik Records made available at streaming services last month.

*Performances of jazz at the Folly Theater and the Uptown Theater are among KCUR’s October concert recommendations.

*From a press release: Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Lea Petrie today announced the next concert for the Conversations in Jazz 2023-2024 Season, She’s the Talk of the Town, featuring Marilyn Maye, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Folly Theater. At 7 p.m., Artistic Director Clint Ashlock will lead a pre-concert Jazz Chat.

Now’s the Time: Marilyn Maye

Ninety-five has never looked better.  The embedded video captures Marilyn Maye celebrating her 95th birthday at 54 Below in New York City last week.  Marvelous!

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Kansas City Star caught up with Marilyn Maye.

*Lucy Wijnands was interviewed by Joe Dimino.

*Tweet of the Week: MCC Kansas City- The 18th & Vine Jazz Festival is a non-competitive event that gives middle school, high school and college students with musical experience the opportunity to gain an appreciation for Kansas City's rich jazz heritage. Info: (link)

*From a press release: Legendary American jazz guitarist, composer and improviser Pat Metheny announces his newest album, Dream Box, on the BMG Modern Recordings label on June 16... Comprising nine “found tracks” for “quiet electric guitar,” Metheny describes it as "a unique recording for me; it is essentially a compilation of solo tracks recorded across a few years that I only discovered while listening on tour.”

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*From a press release: Outside In Music is thrilled to announce the April 7, 2023 release of With Love, From New York from saxophonist Adam Larson. Marking Larson’s eighth release as a leader, With Love, From New York is most notably the last installment in his series of trio albums recorded in 2021 and 2022, each featuring rhythm section mates who hail from cities important to his musical development: Chicago, his current home of Kansas City, and his former home of New York City. It serves as a punctuation mark on his flurry of recent activity, with first-call New York musicians Obed Calvaire and Matt Clohesy assisting with effortless elan on drums and bass.

*Tweet of the Week: Carnegie Hall- Cabaret legend Marilyn Maye joined Steven Reineke and @TheNewYorkPopson stage at Carnegie Hall for a program of standards and musical theater classics. The sensational evening made clear why she’s been celebrated as one of America’s greatest jazz singers.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The New York Times caught up with Marilyn Maye.

*Eboni Fondren and Rashida Phillips considered the role of women in the development of Kansas City jazz on KCUR’s Up To Date program.

*KCUR published A Guide to the Best Venues for Live Music Around the Metro.

*​All Night Trio and Back Alley Brass Band submitted entries to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest.

*Tweet of the Week: Coalback- Saw u last night @GreenLadyLounge. Excellent show!

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Rod Fleeman discussed his new album with Steve Kraske on KCUR’s Up to Date program.

*Nina Cherry caught up with Marilyn Maye.

*A television station reports on concerns related to the latest round of development plans for the Jazz District.

*Snippets of a Jackie Myers performance at Ophelia’s were captured by Joe Dimino.

*More than 500 albums received votes in the 17th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.  Kansas City is represented by Bobby Watson’s Back Home in Kansas City (#106), Steve Cardenas’ Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley (#125), Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye NYC (#347) and Hermon Mehari’s Asmara (#414). My ballot is here.

*No Kansas City establishments are among the 106 venues listed in Downbeat’s 2023 International Jazz Venue Guide.

*Tweet of the Week: StrayhornProject- Congratulations to Caden Bradshaw from Kansas City, winner of our ‘Strayhorn; An Illustrated Life’ book raffle. Caden is an up and coming jazz pianist himself. We will continue to wish him well on his musical journey! (photo)

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*CBS Sunday Morning checked in with Marilyn Maye.

*Chris Burnett pays tribute to the late Bob Cowan.

*Joe Dimino interviewed musicians affiliated with the late Everette DeVan, shared snippets of a show at Lonnie’s Reno Club, and documented an event memorializing DeVan.

*The Pitch admires the efforts of the Kansas City Jazz Academy.

*The Fisher Center in New York presents a concert titled Genius Mother Mary: A Sonic Retrospective of Mary Lou Williams on July 29.

*Tweet of the Week: Barrio KC- Get ready for a good time because we’ve got the Max Groove Duo from 7-10pm at Red Bridge! #tequilaandtunes

*Announced four months ago, but only recently uncovered by Plastic Sax: The UMKC (Conservatory) is pleased to announce that Carl Allen will join our faculty Fall 2021 as the newly appointed William D. and Mary Grant/Endowed Professor of Jazz Studies. Mr. Allen is one of the most celebrated jazz artists of his generation, having performed and taught all over the world and recorded with legendary jazz greats Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Michael Brecker, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Lena Horne, Herbie Hancock, Benny Golson, Christian McBride and many others.

Album Review: Molly Hammer- I’m Feeling Mellow

Lukewarm reviews of Molly Hammer’s albums at Plastic Sax incited incensed reactions among friends of the Kansas City vocalist.  I’ve repeatedly suggested Hammer’s talent is better suited to sophisticated cabaret standards and brooding torch songs rather than the uptempo jazz that dominates her recordings.  

That’s why I’m over the moon about Hammer’s new album I'm Feeling Mellow.  Accompanied by guitarist Rod Fleeman and bassist Gerald Spaits, she interprets selections associated with Julie London.  By emphasizing her strengths, Hammer made the album I’ve always wanted from her.

London was joined by guitarist Barney Kessel and bassist Ray Leatherwood on her classic 1960 debut Julie Is Her Name.  Even though four of I’m Feeling Mellow’s ten tracks mirror the setting of Julie Is Her Name, Hammer’s tribute isn’t a mere facsimile.

Rather than imitating London’s icy and crystalline voice, Hammer invests heartfelt urgency in her scuffed, dented and bruised instrument.  The worldly I’m Feeling Mellow is the work of a woman who knows a lot about life.

Fleeman, a musician best known outside Kansas City for his work with Karrin Allyson, plays with his usual tasteful flair.  And as he’s done innumerable times for the cabaret star Marilyn Maye, Spaits thoughtfully accentuates the vocals.

I’m Feeling Mellow is the definitive Hammer recording.  I’m likely to turn to the album rather than to London’s catalog when I want to hear “Cry Me a River” or “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” ten years from now.  It’s enormously gratifying to finally give a Hammer album my unqualified endorsement.

Now’s the Time: Kansas City Jazz & Blues: Past, Present & Future

Kansas City Jazz & Blues: Past, Present & Future was released to great fanfare in 2010.  Marilyn Maye performed at the premiere of Sue Vicory’s documentary at the Gem Theater.  The entire film now streams at YouTube.