The Top 25 Kansas City Jazz Albums of the Past 25 Years

Despite enduring constant turbulence during the first 25 years of the new millennium, Kansas City’s jazz musicians never ceased creating timeless art. The following list highlights a fraction of the vital recordings released since 2000. The recency bias on display reflects Plastic Sax’s founding in 2007 as well as the uptick in the quantity and quality of releases in recent years. A corresponding non-jazz albums ranking is here.

1. Peter Schlamb- Tinks (2004)
2. Logan Richardson- Shift (2016)
3. Bobby Watson- Back Home in Kansas City (2022)
4. Hermon Mehari- Asmara (2022)
5. Bob Bowman- Songs for Sandra (2014)
6. Pat Metheny- Orchestrion (2010)
7. Ahmad Alaadeen- And the Beauty of It All (ASR 2007)
8. Karrin Allyson- Imagina: Songs of Brasil (2008)
9. Steve Cardenas- Panoramic (2002)
10. Mike Dillon- Inflorescence (2023)

11. Deborah Brown- Songbird (2003)
12. Adam Larson- With Love, From Kansas City (2022)
13. Myra Taylor- My Night to Dream (2001)
14. Matt Otto and Ensemble Ibérica- Ibérica (2017)
15. The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City- The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City (2010)
16. Kevin Mahogany- Pride & Joy (2002)
17. Micah Herman- The Ship, Vol. 1: The Studio Sessions (2011)
18. EMAS Quartet- EMS (2022)
19. Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle- Kings & Queens (2016)
20. Rod Fleeman Trio- Saturday Afternoon Live at Green Lady Lounge, Volume 3 (2024)

21. Alaturka- Tamam Abi (2010)
22. Betty Bryant- Lotta Livin' (2024)
23. Everette DeVan- For the Love of You (2014)
24. Gregory Hickman-Williams- Passages (2006)
25. Marcus Lewis Big Band- Brass and Boujee (2018)

Album Review: The Wild Women of Kansas City- Live at Pilgrim Chapel 9/26/2010

A delightful blast from the past hit the internet without any fanfare last week.  The mystery project with decidedly slapdash album art might be linked to the filmmaker Ben Meade, but background information and recording credits aren't available.

Live at Pilgrim Chapel 9/26/2010, a concert at the 75-capacity Kansas City room best known for weddings, documents a typically lighthearted set by the Wild Women of Kansas City.  The vocal quartet of Myra Taylor (1917-2011), Millie Edwards, Geneva Price and Lori Tucker was a popular attraction at the time.

The Wild Women’s repertoire belied its billing as a jazz group.  The 55-minute recording includes readings of the disco anthem “I Will Survive,” Ray Charles’ earthy hit “Night Time Is the Right Time” and the proto-rock gem “Don’t Let Go.”

Backed by an unidentified organist, bassist and drummer, the crowd-pleasing entertainers also perform familiar warhorses like “Sentimental Journey,” “Stormy Weather” and the inescapable “Kansas City.”  Edwards sings lead on “What a Wonderful World” and Taylor does her playful Louis Armstrong impression during “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”

The women assert their intent on “Let the Good Times Roll”: “Tell everybody: Wild Women are in town/Sometimes we’re serious, sometimes we got to clown/ We don’t let nobody play us cheap/We got heart, soul- ooh, listen to the beat.”  Thanks to the invaluable Live at Pilgrim Chapel 9/26/2010, their vital beat plays on.

Now’s the Time: Myra Taylor

Myra Taylor was one of Kansas City’s last living representatives of the area’s jazz heyday.  She chats about her 1941 recording of “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” in the embedded video.  (The audio is only in one channel.)  Taylor died in 2011.