Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Legends Field is slated to host the KC Blues and Jazz Festival on October 3 and 4. The lineup: Stanley Clarke (misspelled on the official flyer), Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Shemekia Copeland, Bill Frisell (with Greg Tardy, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston), Roosevelt Collier, Harrell Davenport, Brody Buster, OJT, High Society and Jackie Myers (also misspelled on the flyer). Two-day passes are $71.50-$136.50. Single day passes are $25-$60.

*Chalis O’Neal is the subject of a feature story published by The Kansas City Star.

*The most recent episode of Kansas Public Radio’s Live at Green Lady Lounge program spotlights the new band led by guitarists Matt Hopper and Jeff Shirley.

*A television news outlet reports on an attempt to fill several empty storefronts in the Jazz District.

*From a press release: In a must-see concert to cap the month-long Spotlight: Charlie Parker celebration, renowned Kansas City trumpeter Lonnie McFadden will lead the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra in a vibrant tribute to Parker’s musical genius on Saturday, August 23 at 7 p.m. at… the Folly Theatre… Tickets, starting at $28, are available… here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Leon Brady, one of Kansas City’s most eminent jazz educators for decades, has died.

*The Pitch published a profile of Matt Hopper.

*Carl Allen was honored by the Jazz Education Network.

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.