What is the Future of Jazz in Kansas City?

Transcription

JUNE + JULY 2016
What is
the Future
of Jazz in
Kansas City?
30
th
a n nive
r
y is
r
a
s
sue
Thoughts from
Mayor Sly James • Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner
Angela Hagenbach • Hermon Mehari
Gerald Dunn • John Scott • Dan Thomas • Bill McKemy
“The standout jazz vocalist of his generation.” -
““Allison Miller… She can play! It was groovy; it was funky; She was in the pocket.”
THURS./JUNE 02
- George Duke, Jazz Times
YEAR’S EVE -CELEBRATION
Newsweek
VERETTE DEVAN 7:30pm
KEVIN – 9:30pm ALLISON
MAHOGANY
MILLER’S
WILLIAMS QUARTET
w/ PAULA SAUNDERS
TWO SHOWS
BOOM TIC BOOM $10
& ASA BARNES 10pm
$20– Midnight
-9:30PM(unless otherwise noted)
$10 Admission Fridays7:30
& Saturdays
TUES
th
ER
JAM
7
WED
1
WED
ROY
YAN
LMAN
JAM
14
TUES
ES &
A WARD
JAM
21
J
U
N
E
IGHT
STER
JAM
28
S NEAL
BAND
FRI./JUNE
03
THURS
9
FRI
10
TURNER
Elder Statesmen
of Jazz 5:00pm
Max Berry 7:30pm
OWCASE
Herrara
n Smith
Melton
AM
11
OHNSON
&
VE 101
AM
18
JAM
NC
+
*
BRASIL
+
+
SAT./JULY 23
BAND/$20
SAT
12
3rd Annual BORDER
WARS Showdown!
KU vs. MU
“A friendly
big band exchange”
19
IDA
MCBETH
FRIDAY
WILDER 26
SAT
THURS 24
FRI 01 *LADY
25 D • ROGER
SATURDAY 02 CHARLES WILLIAMS & GENRE
03 *BMW • ROY AYERS 2 Shows
CHARLOTTE
CLOSED
8:30pm & 10pm $20
CLOSED
FLETCHER
&
Christmas
Christmas
MONDAY
04
CLOSED
SATURDAY 04 DOUG TALLEY w/ KATHLEEN HOLEMAN
Eve!
Day!
SOIGNE’
SUNDAY 05 NEO-SOUL LOUNGE 6pm to 9pm $5
THURSDAY 07 MATT OTTO
A percentage
of Blue
THURS 31
TUES
WEDGRANT
29
30
FRIDAY 08 JUST A TOUCH A CLASS
• BOBBY WATSON’S
w/ GROOVY
Vinyl
on the Vine
Room Pale Ale is
NEW YEAR’S EVE
”I HAVE A DREAM BAND”
$20
BLUE MONDAY 06 EVERETTE DEVAN
donated by North
CELEBRATION
09 MAX BERRY BAND Coast brewing to support
Everette DeVan SATURDAY
Charles Williams QuartetSUNDAY
programming
TO 9pm; $5 at the
10 NEO SOUL LOUNGE 6pm
THURSDAY 09 LESTER “DUCK” WARNER
w/ Paula Saunders
American Jazz Museum.
& Asa Barnes
FRIDAY 10 *LADY D • IDA MCBETH $15
BLUE MONDAY
SATURDAY 11 TODD WILKINSON
FRI 11 JAZZ
2
1 DISCIPLESSAT
+
JANUARY
FRIDAY 17 WILD MEN OF KC
TUES
5 18 JAMESWED
WARD BAND 6
SATURDAY
THURS 7
SATURDAY
25 TYRONE CLARK & TRUE DIG
BLUE MONDAY 27 LOUIS NEAL BIG BAND
THURS 14
19
WED
20
PALE ALE
A percentage of Blue Room Pale Ale
is donated by North Coast Brewing
to support programming at the
American Jazz Museum.
WED
27
9
JAMES
THURSDAY 21 BILL MCKEMY QUARTET WARD
MATTER • BRANDONBAND
DRAPER GROUP
FRIDAYSons
22 GRAYof
BRASIL
featuring PAUL DRAPER on Hamond B3
Happy Birth Day SAT
THOMAS HILL!16
SATURDAY
FRI 23 15
KYLE TURNER $15
+
IDA
+
SMITH MCBETH
BLUE MONDAY TC
25 HOUSTON
& *
True Dig
THURS 21
MATT
OTTO
TUES
BLUE26
ROOM
SAT
BMW
2
0
1
6
SHADES OF JADE
THURSDAY 30 ALLISON MILLER’S BOOM TIC BOOM $10
TUES
KANSAS CITY
Happy
DIVAS NIGHT OUT!:
THURSDAY 14 TJ MARTLEY QUARTET
Eboni Fondren
New
MEN OF KC Fletcher
FRIDAY 15 *BMW • WILDCharlotte
J Love
SATURDAY Year!
16 IDA MCBETH $15
Amber Underwood
*
ENSEMBLE
IBERICA
with
N
C
GRAY MATTER
THURSDAY 23 KANSAS CITY LATIN JAZZ ALL-STARS
TRUTH • KC13
DIVAS
TUES FRIDAY
12 24 * THEWED
J
U
L
Y
8 LEE
FRI 18 SETH
BLUE MONDAY
MAX
BERRY
BLUE MONDAY 20 JAZZ DISCIPLES
OORE &
R CIRCLE
RCUS
WIS
BAND
DEBORAH
WATSON
BROWN
I HAVE A DREAM
FRIDAY
PPY
Luther
DAY!
25
Sons of
5
BOBBY
MAHOGANY 23
THURSDAY
TUES
22 02 KEVIN WED
et with special guest
16 Heat Index
ble Berica withTHURSDAY
Matt Otto.
4
*
SAT
Kyle Turner who continues to
SAT
THURS 17
FRI
18
break barriers and
set new
MUSICIAN
$15
THE TRUTH
grounds.”
“APPRECIATION
DAY!”
16
BLUE
MONDAY 13 TYREE JOHNSON AND GROOVE 101
AIL to HALE”
exhibit.
JAM
11
KYLE
ANDSHAKE”
2
0
1
6
*
LESTER
Delynia Bailey
& the Boss Kings
“DUCK”
“'Wrapped Tight' is the fifth
WARNER
INTERSTRING
recorded studio album
for
AYERS
TWO SHOWS
$20
WED
15
8:30 -10:00PM
4
- Brent Black, Critical Jazz CEEJazzSoul
- Erykah Badu
8
FRI
BMW
“A significant release on a
Cheri Evans &
multitude of levels.”
“Roy Ayers is the KING of neo-soul music!”
TUES
FRI./JULY 08
THURS 3
2
THURS./JUNE 30
THURSDAY 28 PABLO SANHUEZA & KANSAS CITY LATIN JAZZ ALL-STARS
SAT
FRI 29 22
TRUTH • CHARLOTTE
FLETCHER23
& SOIGNE’
FRIDAY
JAZZ
DISCIPLES
featuring
TRACEY HAMMOND $15
SATURDAY
30
THE TRUTH
*
*Indicates Indigo Hour Performance
INFO:
THURS 28
GRUPO
816.474.8463
Everette DeVan
& 107.3
MAGIC
Eboni Fondren
INDIGO
HOUR:
29
JAZZ
DISCIPLES
Blue Room Martinis
DrinkSAT
Specials
30
IN THE • Beer, Wine & Wells
LADY
D
BLUE ROOM
DOUG
NO COVER • Live Music
TALLEY
ROGER CHARGE
WILDER
• Appetizer Buffet
FRI
AZTLAN
BlueRoomKC.org
1600 East 18th Street • IKansas City, MO 64108
•
•
*
QUINTET
QUINTET
$10 Admission Fridays & Saturdays (unless otherwise noted)
3RD ANNUAL
ARTISTS INDUCTION & CONCERT
SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2016
gem theater
1615 E. 18th Street | Kansas City, MO 64108
6:30 Pm
INDUCTION CEREMONY | Free & Open to the public
7:00 Pm
CONCERT at the GEM THEATER featuring
ELLIS MARSALIS • AL JARREAU • QUEEN BEY
Concert tickets: $30 per person
Available at the Gem Theater Box Office & thru Ticketmaster
AmericanJazzWalkOffame.cOm
Sponsored by
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
STEPHEN MATLOCK
30 Years of Jammin’
It’s been thirty years.
Thirty years ago this issue,
Jam was born. The magazine's
birth is brief ly recounted elsewhere in this issue. But it’s short
on purpose, because both Jam and
the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors
are looking ahead.
This issue asks the question,
what is the future of jazz in Kansas
City? Mayor Sly James discusses
the future of historic 18th and
Vine. Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner,
the American Jazz Museum’s
new Executive Director, talks
about the jazz district’s anchor
institution. Green Lady Lounge
owner John Scott and Blue Room
manager Gerald Dunn look at
clubs. UMKC Jazz Studies CoChair Dan Thomas and the jazz
museum’s Director of Education
bring a pair of views on jazz education. Angela Hagenbach, who last
year celebrated twenty-five years
of singing jazz, and Hermon Mehari, who is still relatively new
to the scene, examine the musician’s perspective.
At the risk of giving away the ending, the feeling that
comes through in all of these discussions is optimism. There’s
optimism for the vibrancy of Kansas City’s jazz scene today and
optimism for its outlook. Since the 1920s, this city has been a
special home to jazz. It still is.
Kansas City is also home to
some extraordinary visual artists.
In the December/January Jam we
announced a competition among
art students at Penn Valley Community College to design a poster
for Jazz Appreciation month
to honor a century of jazz. On
April 29th, at the Buttonwood
Art Space (3103 Main St., where
owner Jon McGraw leads KC Jazz
ALIVE and is a stellar supporter
of jazz in this city), the winner
was announced.
Samantha Offutt’s design,
with a sleek illustration of a trumpet melting into notes and other
musical instruments all against a
richly colored background, was
the Jazz Ambassador board’s
favorite.
Samantha started the project
with research. The shape of the
image was inspired by a CocaCola bottle. She graduated from
Penn Valley in May and is moving to Houston, MO with her
husband Cory.
You can purchase a signed and framed limited edition
print of the winning poster at the Jazz Ambassadors web site,
kcjazzambassadors.com. WEDNESDAY DJ
OLD SCHOOL
THURSDAY New Blues & Jazz
Jam Session 7pm-11pm Calling All Musicians
FRIDAY LIVE BAND 6pm-10pm
SATURDAY LIVE BAND 5pm-9pm
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY LUNCH 11am-3pm
2
1700 E 18th St. • Kansas City, Missouri
(816) 472-0013
Event space for parties
Looking for new bands
JUNE + JULY 2 016 • JAZZ AMBAS SADOR MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
JUNE + JULY 2016
VOLUME 20, NO. 3
30
th
a n nive
rs
issu
ary
e
Jam is published bi-monthly by the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, a non-profit 501(c)(3)
organization dedicated to the development and promotion of Kansas City jazz. All rights
are reserved. Reproduction of any material is prohibited without consent of the publisher.
To contact the KC Jazz Ambassadors, call (816) 886-8369.
For advertising information, call (816) 591-3378 or email
[email protected]. Letters should be addressed to:
Jam, P.O. Box 36181, Kansas City, MO 64171-6181. To contact the editor, email
[email protected]. “Jam” and “Jazz Lover’s Pub Crawl” are Registered
Trademarks of The Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, Inc. Jam/Jazz Ambassador
Magazine (Online) ISSN: 1533-0745
E D I T O R
Larry Kopitnik
C O N T R I B U T I N G
Roger Atkinson
Tony Bozarth
Carolyn Glenn Brewer
Bill Brownlee
Chris Burnett
W R I T E R S
Joe Dimino
Raymond Franson
Wayne Goins
Chuck Haddix
Connie Humiston
Larry Kopitnik
Danny Powell
Kevin Rabas
Michael Ragan
Michael Shults
A D V E R T I S I N G
Sharon Valleau (816) 582-3090
Connie ‘Crash’ Humiston (816) 591-3378
[email protected]
T Y P O G R A P H Y
&
G R A P H I C
D E S I G N
Rodric McBride
C O V E R
P H O T O G R A P H Y
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C O V E R
L A Y O U T
&
D E S I G N
Rodric McBride
P R I N T I N G
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I N T E R N E T
W E B M A S T E R
The Digital Agenda
2 0 1 6
B O A R D
E X E C U T I V E
O F
D I R E C T O R S
C O M M I T T E E
P R E S I D E N T Stephen Matlock
S E C R E TA R Y Dr. Tyler Craig
T R E A S U R E R Jennifer Wismeier
D I R E C TO R S AT L A R G E
Kris Siriwangchai | Lynn Abrams | Janice Kinney
ADVISORY BOARD
Dean Hampton | Tom Alexios | Jim Ramel | Angela Hagenbach
The Board of Directors gratefully thanks Darrell Hoffman and Bob Clark
and the Jam distribution team for their untiring contributions to the KCJA.
©2016 Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, Inc.
2
News & Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
In the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
President’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mayor Sly James On the Future
of 18th and Vine: Have a Plan . . . . . . .
8
Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner: A
Big Festival & Other Big Plans . . . . . 12
John Scott: A Jazz Club With a
Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Gerald Dunn: Blue Room Mentor . . 16
Dan Thomas: Bringing In the Best . . 18
Bill McKemy: Growing Musicians
and Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Angela Hagenbach: A Renaissance
is Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hermon Mehari: Pushing the Scene . 23
Off the Vine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Bits of the Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Club Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Next Jam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
On the Cover:
Hermon Mehari came
to Kansas City a
decade ago to study at
UMKC. He's one of the
young musicians who
are making jazz their
career and Kansas City
their home. This issue
asks musicians and key
leaders, what is the
future of jazz in Kansas
City?
JUNE + JULY 2016
What is
the Future
of Jazz in
Kansas City?
30th
a n nive
rsa
ry is
sue
Thoughts from
Mayor Sly James • Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner
Angela Hagenbach • Hermon Mehari
Gerald Dunn • John Scott • Dan Thomas • Bill McKemy
JAZZ AMBAS SADOR MAGAZINE • JUNE + JULY 2 016
3
NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS
$27.6 Million Proposed for 18th and Vine
This map illustrates proposed improvements to the 18th and Vine district.
A proposed investment of $27.6 million into the 18th
and Vine historic district in the form of a bond issue was announced on April 21st by Kansas City Manager Troy Shulte
and Councilman Jermaine Reed. The mayor discusses it in his
interview in this issue. Here’s a few of the jazz-specific details,
quoted from a document on the city’s web site:
$1,743,194 to the American Jazz Museum for “design
and construction of Blue Room expansion and new café, construction of exhibit and lobby improvements, and equipment
upgrades for the Gem Theater.”
$432,109 for an outdoor amphitheater (the site of the Jay
McShann Pavillion behind the jazz museum) for “repurposing
of the existing structure located at the north side of the American Jazz Museum to allow for a new fully equipped stage for
summer music events.”
4
$140,000 for the Mutual Musicians Foundation to “install
a wheelchair lift and new masonry walls along the historic
building.”
Money is included to complete conversion of the Paseo
YMCA to the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center.
Historic structures on Vine between 18th and 19th Streets –
including the Eblon Theater/Cherry Blossom facade profiled
a couple issues ago – would be preserved. The 18th Street
streetscape would be improved from the historic district to the
Bruce R. Watkins Roadway overpass. A parking lot would be
added in a block bounded by 18th and 19th Streets, Lydia and
Grove. A new headquarters for Friends of Alvin Ailey would
be built next to the Kansas City Call building. New housing
is planned. The Boone Theatre building, the Lincoln Building
and the Black Archives of Mid-America would all see improvements.
Winterlude 2.0
Winterlude in 2013.
A new program at Johnson County Community College’s
Carlsen Center is being touted as the return of Winterlude.
Winterlude, you may recall, was the college’s January
jazz festival combining two days of local groups with national
names in the evenings and student clinics. It returns, starting
in October, as a series of monthly concerts in Polsky Theatre
and a grand finale in March in Yardley Hall.
The grand finale is Jazz 100, a show celebrating the hundredth birthdays of Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella
Fitzgerald and Mongo Santamaria with Gillespie’s long-time
pianist, Danillo Perez, Chris Potter on tenor sax, Avishai Cohen
Live at Chaz on the Plaza,
Lucky Brewgrille in Mission &
The Art Factory at Prairieﬁre
"Kind Folk" CD now available from CDBaby.com:
www.cdbaby.com/cd/roncarlson
Ron Carlson | Bob Bowman | Roger Rosenberg | Rob Scheps
Angela Hagenbach | Kathleen Holeman | Shay Estes | Brian Steever
RON CARLSON
Available 4 Private Parties, Clinics, Guitar Lessons
913.515.0316 • [email protected]
on trumpet, Wycliffe Gordon on trombone, Ben Street on bass,
Adam Cruz on drums, Roman Diaz on percussion, and Lizz
Wright, vocals. That’s quite an ensemble.
Shows leading up to that night include the Will Matthews
B-3 Organ Trio featuring Bobby Floyd and Marty Morrison
on October 16th, the David Basse/Joe Cartwright Septet on
December 18th, Sons of Brazil on January 22nd, and Alaturka
on February 26th.
Tickets can be purchased at 913-469-4445 or online at
jccc.edu/TheSeries.
AUGUST 20 • 6:00 P.M.
TICK ETS O N S A LE N O W
THE RICHARD ALLEN
CULTURAL CENTER
PRESENTS
SAVE THE DATE
Leavenworth High School Performing Arts Center
Social Hour/Reception 5:00 PM
TICKETS $20 ADVANCE/$25 AT THE DOOR/STUDENTS $10
TICKETS: JAZZBYTHERIVER.COM OR 913-682-8772
5
In the Beginning
Ken Poston started Jam
in June, 1986.
Poston was Executive
Director of the Kansas City
Jazz Commission. “I went
to the JazzTimes convention
in New York in 1985 or ’86,”
he recalls. “I was on
a panel representing
the Jazz Commission.”
While there, he picked
up Hot House magazine, a guide to jazz in
the city.
W hen he ret u rned, Poston
broached to the Jazz
Commission board
the idea of starting a
6
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
Tommy Ruskin:
A JAM Q&A
Jim Mair and the KCJO Look Ahead
Catching Up with James Zollar and Richie Pratt • Alternate Take, Vine, Folly, News, and More
Z
6
01
2
similar magazine in Kansas City. The Commission approved
funding.
Poston edited the first issue, writing most of it with University of Kansas jazz expert Dick Wright. A printer on the
north side of 18th Street in Kansas City’s jazz district laid out
and produced the issue, matching the size and paper stock of
Hot House. Saxophonist Gary Foster was on the cover.
The Jazz Ambassadors took on magazine distribution
from the start. The Ambassadors had grown from a group of
volunteers assembled to work the Jazz Commission’s first pub
crawl. They wanted to do more. With the second issue, the
Ambassadors took over layout, printing and ad sales.
Today Poston splits his time between San Diego, where he
manages jazz radio station KSDS, and Los Angeles, where he
is founder and director of the Los Angeles Jazz Institute. The
Jazz Institute maintains one of the world’s premier jazz archives
and stages two festivals each year.
Today the Jazz Ambassadors own and publish Poston’s
creation, Jam.
That’s enough looking back. We celebrate 30 years of Jam
by looking forward and asking this question: What is the future
of jazz in Kansas City?
201
7
October 15 Bob James
December 10 Cecile McLoren Salvant
February 18 Robert Glasper Trio*
March 4 Aaron Diehl/Warren Wolf
April 7 Donny McCaslin Trio
May 19 Eliane Elias Quartet
ALL SHOWS 8:00 P.M.
JAZZ TALK @ 7:00 P.M.
*Pending
12th & Central • Kansas City, MO
FOR TICKETS 816-474-4444
www.follytheater.org
The Richard J. Stern
Foundation for the Arts –
Commerce Bank Trustee
Neighborhood Tourist
Development Fund
City of Kansas City, Missouri
7
Mayor Sly James On the Future of 18th and Vine:
8
Have a Plan
The 18th and Vine district is Kansas City jazz’s soul.
It’s a district at the cusp of major changes. In April, ground was
broken on construction of the nation’s seventh Major League
Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Parade Park, directly behind
the jazz and Negro Leagues museums. The next week, the city
unveiled details of proposed district improvements totaling
$27.6 million. And a new executive director is leading the
district’s anchor, the American Jazz Museum, into its twentieth year. Jam sat down with Kansas City Mayor Sly James to
discuss the future of 18th and Vine, starting with the MLB
Urban Youth Academy. What is it?
MAYOR SLY JAMES: It is first and foremost going to be
an opportunity to engage 600 to 1000 kids a year in baseball as
a vehicle for a lot of different things. It will teach kids the skills
needed to play baseball, and some who have talent will move
higher than others. But all who are there will be in contact with
people who know the game, know how to teach the game, and
follow a basic philosophy that’s been promulgated by [Kansas
City Royals General Manager] Dayton Moore and the way
that he built the team. You’re looking for certain things and
you’re teaching certain things, like team before self. Character
is important. Leadership is important.
But also it’s going to be an opportunity for kids who might
ordinarily just be hanging around to do something that’s conducted in a safe environment under the watchful eyes of adults
and have fun doing it.
It will also provide some academic support. They’ll calculate the flight of a baseball over the wall and use baseball and
statistics as a way of teaching math. There will be opportunities
for kids to learn what it means to be a groundskeeper, what it
means to be a concessionaire. You want to be a broadcaster?
Go up and broadcast this game. But the main thing is that it
is going to use baseball to improve the lives of urban kids in a
way that hasn’t been done.
The physical layout will consist of two large fields, one a
championship field – the fences, I think, will be 400 feet to
center, some big alleys – a little league field and a softball field.
And then a building where instruction can take place during
twelve months of the year with an infield, batting cages, pitching cages, and classrooms. The whole operation will be operated
by the Royals as a low level minor league type of a deal. They’ll
pay for it for twenty years and run it like they run their team.
I’m really excited about this for a number of reasons. What
it does for kids in this community is huge. We know from our
summer programming that when kids are engaged, juvenile
crime and victimization goes down 18 per cent. We also know
that kids, when given an opportunity to do something positive,
will take it.
What we’re doing is putting a bunch of kids in the area
of 18th and Vine, which means they’re going to be there with
their parents. There will be people from different parts of the
city and the region coming in to play games at 18th and Vine.
18th and Vine should have more foot traffic. Hopefully, retail
will spring up organically in order to satisfy some of the foot
traffic. There will be people who are in the Negro Leagues
museum and in the jazz museum, expanding the reach of those
two places. Bringing people to the area means there’s going to
be more exposure of the assets in the area.
The next phase is more assets need to be in the area. We
need more rooftops. We need more retail. We need more eateries. If I could, I’d probably go down there and try to get me
a space and get a little ice cream stand that’s open on Fridays,
Saturdays, and Sundays in the summer and sell tons of ice cream
to kids who are out there playing ball and waiting for games to
be played. That’s the type of stuff that may come about.
There are also other things that are going on, and this is in
conjunction with a different plan [the proposed $27.6 million in
improvements]. There will be lots of discussion about what that
should look like in the coming weeks, how do we make 18th
and Vine more viable and live up to the history and tradition.
Last but not least, I think there is something in the works
to stop having the Gem Theater be dark for three-fourths of
the year. It’s a great venue and we don’t have enough activity
there. There’s been conversations about a contract with some
entertainers who would fill that on an ongoing basis. That’s not
finished yet, but it’s something that I hope gets finished soon.
JAM: With the baseball academy attracting more people,
proposed improvements in the area, and the Crossroads area
growing towards the east, are we starting to see more of an
alignment of the district with the rest of the city?
MAYOR JAMES: That’s the goal. That’s the articulated
and tangible goal of connecting east Crossroads to 18th and
Vine in a seamless way.
The problem that we have is that along 18th Street it gets
kind of quasi-industrial, not very inviting. Lots of concrete,
the overpass, things that don’t necessarily say, hey, we’re pretty,
come see us. So we’re looking at some options to make changes
there.
Early on I did a Mayor’s Institute of City Design with
Charelston Mayor Joe Riley. When you do that, you select an
area of the city that you’d like to examine and talk about and
have some input on in terms of changing what it is. The area I
selected was 18th and Vine.
The biggest thing that came out of that was to get more
people down there as frequently as possible, for a couple of different reasons. Number one, the more people you have down
there, the more activity that will be generated and the more
incentive there will be for people, even on a pop-up basis or
a food truck basis, to create economic activity. Then you will
have incentive to increase that economic activity by connecting
to the east Crossroads. You also generate more buzz.
Getting the urban youth baseball academy there brings
more people down. The next step is working with the Downtown Council to get more people down on First Fridays and
those types of things, so we can start that constant flow. If you
have that constant and you’re a resident down there and you
see every week there’s an additional 2000 people walking on
the streets of 18th and Vine, and you’ve got an idea for shakes
and ice cream or hamburgers and hot dogs, or bandaids and
cigarettes, whatever it is you want to sell, now all of a sudden
you’re saying, this might be viable. How about a coffee shop?
Anything. Just get some retail activity down there so that you’re
always generating activity on the street.
But that also requires that we continue to build out housing.
We have to have the rooftops in order to be sustainable for those
9
SLY JAMES
CONTINUED
times when people aren’t there. If I live in the area and there’s
not a coffee shop on the street, then I’m going someplace else
for my coffee. If there is a coffee shop, then me and the other
people who live in the same area might bump into each other
there, have a conversation. Now we’re talking neighborhood.
Now we’re talking cohesiveness. When you have people come
together as neighbors in a cohesive way, good things happen.
That’s what we’re shooting for. That’s the plan and the target.
JAM: When the improvements proposal was first discussed
last year, you expressed concerns, perhaps about what kind of
private funding it would leverage.
MAYOR JAMES: My concern was simply this, and it
remains a concern regardless of what project it is: having money
is not a plan. Have a plan and then figure out how to finance it.
What we had was money but no real plan. It doesn’t make any
sense to have money out there and say, we’re going to use this
to help 18th and Vine, or we’re going to use it to help Brookside,
or anything else. What are you going to do with it? Is this the
best idea? Who’s vetting this? What are you going to need? Is
this sustainable on its own down the road, or is this something
that’s going to be a one-shot wonder? All of those things need
to be answered and that planning is still in the process.
I want to separate two things. Number one, I want to
separate my desire to see 18th and Vine completed in a way
that is responsible, that creates jobs and activity, and brings it
back to something approaching its original glory. I want to see
that happen. But I am going to always be critical of the way we
get there in order to make sure that we’re being efficient and
that we’re actually using money to accomplish the goals that
we need as opposed to shooting at a false target.
When we get the planning done, and it becomes clear what
the money is going to be used for, how it needs to be allocated,
then I’m for it. But until there is a complete plan and it’s been
vetted and everybody is on board, I’m going to reserve some
judgement on it, which is totally different than the overall goal
of seeing the improvements. That’s not going to change. This is
something that Councilman Reed has been championing and,
although I agree with the ultimate goal, I want to see more
meat on the bones before I join.
JAM: Do you have a reaction to the specific projects that
were announced?
MAYOR JAMES: I don’t have a reaction to specific projects. My reaction to any project of this type and scope is, is
it catalytic and is it sustainable? I don’t want to do something
where in five years it’s going to be, hey, we need another ten
million dollars or, hey, we need to do something different here
because it’s not working. I want to see all of that taken care of
on the front end. Sustainability is huge and being catalytic is
huge. We want things that cause other things to happen. We
want things that say to people outside, look what’s happening
here, maybe I ought to join. Then you’re having the influx of
private money that’s going to supplement it and make it a much
more vibrant area.
I look at the money coming from the city as a point of
leverage. We need to leverage those dollars into other things
10
that bring in private investment because that’s how you’re going to build wealth in the community. That’s how you’re going
to build minority businesses and minority pride in a minority
neighborhood that does the things that it used to do. Those are
my goals.
JAM: Is it appropriate for the jazz museum to continue to
receive substantial funding from the city?
MAYOR JAMES: Depends on what you mean by substantial. I do think it’s appropriate for us to ask the jazz museum,
when are you going to be able to live without it? The jazz museum is in the same building as the Negro Leagues museum.
They’ve been heading in different directions financially. Why?
There’s new leadership at the jazz museum in Cheptoo. I
have a heck of a lot of faith in that lady. I think she is going to
turn things around. So my position basically would be, let’s not
hamper her ability to turn it around by making her budgetary
problems so severe that’s all she’s able to concentrate on.
However, there has to be an understanding that, hey, we
expect you to be able to be self-sustaining at some point, so
what are you doing to work in that direction? I think that’s a
fair thing to do. It’s a fair thing to do with Negro Leagues and
I think they’ve done it. So if one can do it, the other can.
That’s especially true now that I think there’s going to be
more people in that area. There will be a lot more foot traffic in
that building when the the urban youth baseball academy starts.
It’ll be a lot of kids going to the Negro Leagues museum, but
it’ll be a lot of adults there with those kids who will want to see
both museums. It’s an opportunity to do some cross-marketing.
It’s an opportunity to make some sales that may not have been
made. It’s an opportunity to do programming. When you know
there’s going to be big crowds, you draw people in. There’s all
sorts of opportunities there. I have every belief that Cheptoo
will recognize those opportunities and seize on them. I know
she’s planning a jazz festival for next year. That’s marvelous and
a good thing to do.
JAM: Do you like to get out and hear jazz?
MAYOR JAMES: Oh yeah, I do.
JAM: Who do you like to hear?
MAYOR JAMES: Bobby Watson. I’ve asked Bobby Watson to play at two states of the city. I love going to 12th Street
Jump. I like Hermon Mehari. I love Joe Cartwright. I think
he’s a fabulous pianist. One of my favorite all-time musicians,
period, is Pat Metheny. I love Pat Metheny. There’s a lot of good
musicians. I also like blues, so I listen to a lot of blues.
JAM: Is there anything you’d like to add in conclusion?
MAYOR JAMES: I think we’re looking at the beginning
of a renaissance at 18th and Vine, which is why I want to make
sure it’s done right. I want to make sure that as we’re rolling
this out, it’s being done in such a way that it will excite people
and engage them and cause them to come down, and keep that
spirit growing. It’s all at our fingertips. When it happens, it’s
going to explode and it’s going to be a vibrant area. I’m also
keen on the economic activity phase because it should be an
economic center in the community. It’s not functioning quite
at that level yet but we have an opportunity to shape it in a way
that it will.
11
Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner:
A Big Festival
and Other Big Plans
Next year,
Kansas City is getting a major new free admission jazz festival.
Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner, the still-new Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum explains:
“We are launching the Kansas City Jazz Festival. It will
start on Memorial Day weekend, 2017. It will be a collaborative
effort with various organizations to launch something huge. We
will bring artists from out of town but we also want to elevate
Kansas City jazz and Kansas City music and made in Kansas
City. The festival is about celebrating our own brand. I want it
to be a legacy for generations to come. I want it to be something
that families prepare to go to every year.
“There are a lot of jazz festivals that happen all over the
world in major cities. People who love jazz go to these festivals,
12
a lot of them. I want our festival to be one where people say, I
must be in Kansas City for the Kansas City Jazz Festival.”
Those are mighty lofty goals for someone who has been
on the job just a few months.
But nobody who has met Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner
doubts that she will pull it off, including the mayor (as you can
read in his interview in this issue). She inspires that confidence.
The Mutual Musicians Foundation is the most historic and
revered building in Kansas City jazz. But the American Jazz
Museum is the elephant in the jazz room. It’s where the most
programs, education initiatives, a major club, a major festival
– and, oh yeah, a museum – begin.
For starters, out of the $27.6 million bond issue proposed
for the 18th and Vine district, over $2 million is targeted for
the museum.
Some of those funds will go towards reimagining the Blue
Room including, Kositany-Buckner says, “the furniture, the
look and feel, the ambiance and the food issue. That has really
been a challenge for us, not having food in the Blue Room.
Audiences sometimes leave to go seek food somewhere else.
“Our sound equipment is old. I tell people that we are an
organization that deals with sound. We need to have state of
the art technology to stream music, to allow people to connect
to the live music going on in the Blue Room. The entire experience, I think, will change.”
She turned towards the museum atrium. Other plans,
Kositany-Buickner says, “will allow us to create a new feel when
walking into the jazz museum. Having the ability to experience
jazz when you come in there, whether it’s through exhibits or
music or performance or different kinds of activities.”
“We plan to increase our public programming. We are
bringing in artists who have written books about jazz musicians. The Gem at 500 seats is sometimes too much for some
of the activities we want to do. We use the space now for jazz
storytelling. Every First Friday we have over 250 kids in the
atrium.
“There are people in the community who come into that
space to meet. It’s a community room.”
Plans are already proceeding for exhibits.
“There will be a number of changing exhibits,” KositanyBuckner explained. “There are going to be major exhibits that
will be in place for three months. That will mostly include art
with the theme of jazz or African American culture. One of
the visions that I have is for the jazz museum at 18th and Vine
to be the place where quality art is presented east of Troost.
“The other part of the temporary exhibits are going to
be mostly historical, looking at what is in our collections and
building temporary exhibits out of that. They may be themed
exhibits. For example, we have wonderful gowns from jazz
musicians. We’d love to do an exhibit of all of those gowns. We
have some of the Duke Ellington collection. We’d like to do
an exhibit on that. I met with the Marr Sound Archives, with
Chuck [Haddix], on a partnership to show some of the collections they have as temporary exhibits. Those could be up for a
month.
“We’re also thinking about traveling exhibits. The idea is
that some of the historical exhibits, we would build and launch
them here. After that, we would be sending them out. After all,
we are the American Jazz Museum. Our boundaries are not just
Kansas City. It’s the world.”
Kositany-Buckner is optimistic. But at the same time, she
understands the reality of how Kansas City’s jazz district is often
seen locally.
“Part of the challenge that we have is a perception issue,”
she said. “There is a lot going on. Jazz storytelling was in place
before I came here. Thousands of kids come through those
doors for tours day and night. The Blue Room is jamming four
nights each week. The Jammin’ at the Gem series is selling out.
There is a perception that nothing is going on but something is
going on. Part of the community has embraced 18th and Vine
but the larger community has not. As we infuse the funding
into 18th and Vine, we want to start a another conversation on
changing that perception.
“I’ll give you an example. Two months ago, a couple walks
in here. Staff started talking to them. They’re from Norway.
Because of the centennial of [the birthday of] Jay McShann,
they skipped every city in the United States, everywhere, and
landed in Kansas City to find out more about Jay McShann.
They were excited about the museum and being in the vicinity
where jazz was created. You should have seen them.
“We get people from all over the nation and all over the
world and they love it. But Kansas City says, nothing is happening there. Something has to change.”
The district is starting to work cohesively. They are participating in First Fridays, the Crossroads street celebration,
establishing the area as an eastern anchor.
“For First Friday, everybody was at the table. We all came
together and said we want to do this. We’re excited. We feel it
was successful. All of the businesses and the cultural institutions
from the district sat down and planned that First Friday.
“So I know we can do it.”
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13
John Scott:
A Jazz Club With
a Point of View
Stepping into the Green Lady Lounge feels like stepping
back into the 1940s. Dim lighting, red walls, red drapes and
faux-classic art lining the walls all build a classic ambiance.
This must be what a jazz club in Kansas City used to feel like.
That’s by design. It’s owner John Scott’s vision or, as he
puts it, his point of view.
“It’s the club’s responsibility to get the patrons in,” Scott
explains. “When I hear club owners say, we want that band to
get butts in seats, I don’t think that’s a useful phrase, and I don’t
ever want to hear anybody representing Green Lady Lounge to
use that phrase. It’s beyond the ability, generally, of a band in
the jazz genre to put butts in seats.
14
“There’s a lot of things marketing-wise that can make
a jazz musician or a jazz band popular. If you go somewhere
where they don’t get a lot of jazz, then maybe a jazz band can
put butts in seats. But in Kansas City there’s jazz everywhere.
It’s so rich. It’s like gold to the Mayans.
“So that can’t be the primary draw. You cannot expect
amazing, world-class jazz musicians to draw people into a barn.
The club has to have a certain aesthetic. It has to have a point
of view.
“That point of view comes from me. The look, the paint,
the color, the accessories, the dark lighting, all of those things
to me are pleasing. For a lot of reasons I’ve incorporated them
into the bar. Some of them are very pragmatic. The drop ceiling
is both an aesthetic, useful thing, and it’s practical, relatively
inexpensive. It connects the two sides of the building which
were cut in half originally. This building has been around since
1889.”
That point of view extends equally to the music.
“The first year was a sampler platter of a whole variety of
kinds of music,” Scott says. “I was listening and trying to figure
out the Kansas City sound. What was it in the past? What is it
now? What is it going to be in the future? And what do I want
to help give a home to?
“I learned to really dislike pick-up gigs, where people are
just kind of filling time on stage. I wanted bands. I wanted
people who play together on a regular basis to bring their best.
I don’t want jam sessions. This is not the venue for that. This
is a place where people come, experience the ambiance and
there’s a band that plays together and is also producing original
content.”
Often that content includes an organ. You will not find a
piano on the club’s main floor, unless a musician has brought
his own keyboard. Instead you’ll see a Hammond B-3 organ. A
favorite ensemble in the room is OJT. They’re the classic organ
trio with Ken Lovern on organ, Brian Baggett on guitar and
Kevin Frazee on drums.
Scott describes OJT as “a kind of a north star, a point to
guide everything else by. It’s a sound that I feel combines a
dirt road kind of blues and a real jazz sophistication. OJT is
a Kansas City sound to me that combines swing with a lot of
sophistication.”
Yet Scott also looks beyond classic jazz ensembles. Another
favorite is vibraphonist Peter Schlamb’s eclectic group Electric
Tinks.
“To me, Electric Tinks is not experimenting,” Scott says.
“It’s progressive. It is pushing the genre. You can see from where
he’s pulling but he’s doing a lot of original stuff. His musicianship is fantastic. And talk about a point of view. They’ve got a
great a future and I’m incorporating them into our rotation.”
Whether you agree with it or disagree, John Scott’s point
of view is working. He pegs half his customers as coming from
outside of Kansas City.
“Kansas City jazz is something that already exists out
there, this brand,” he says. “We just realize the product and
give it justice, give it support and help market it. People come
to Kansas City and if they hear on Huffington Post or some
Facebook feed, or however they heard about Kansas City jazz,
and then they hear about Green Lady, associate it with Kansas
City jazz, then they seek it out. That’s what’s happening.
“Green Lady is an evangelical jazz club because we’re not
just preaching to the people who already know they love jazz,
but rather I believe in getting people exposed to jazz and I
believe they will like it.”
That point of view extends to Scott’s vision for growing
Kansas City jazz.
“If there isn’t a jazz scene, then you take a shotgun approach.
But when a scene is vital and rich, clubs can more narrowly
define, deeply and richly, what your take on the Kansas City
sound is. Evidence of a rich scene would be that each club books
a more focused part of the overall scene.
“Other private people need to come along and join the
scene in earnest. If they don’t think it’s commercially viable,
they’re wrong. If they want some help, I can help them. That
doesn’t mean making it just like the Green Lady but it does
mean having an aesthetic that is unique to you and consistent
in your point of view and care.
“We have excellent, amazing musicians in Kansas City
who, given the right environment, will really spread the love
of Kansas City jazz.”
15
Gerald Dunn:
Blue Room Mentor
Gerald Dunn
16
has worked at the American Jazz Museum
since the day it opened. But he originally turned them down.
“I was living in New York at the time and had just come off
touring the south of France for the whole month of June with
Illinois Jacquet’s big band,” Dunn recalled. “I started working
in Harlem, subbing for different bands, subbing at the Cotton
Club. I felt at the time that if I left I would lose those connections.”
The museum asked again. He talked the offer over with
his parents.
“My dad said, ‘Let me help you out. You have no more
times to call to borrow money.’”
Today at the museum Dunn is Director of Entertainment
and Blue Room General Manager.
The Blue Room, Dunn said, “started out only booking
local musicians. We wanted to build a strong relationship with
the community.”
Dunn remembers discussing jazz with veteran musicians
like Jay McShann and Eddie Saunders. “Listening to them
talk about why people played the music,” he said, “what music
meant to them, what music meant to their friends, that gave
me a good foundation of understanding what to look for.
“The older guys set a level of consistency. When you saw
the Scamps perform on the stage, they brought an experience
to you. The tunes that they sang, you could feel the song, you
could feel the lyrics because they lived the lyrics. Those songs
excited them. When they were playing from the stage, you were
seeing that excitement. When it’s coming out of their horns, it’s
exciting, it’s happening.
“Sometimes Eddie [Saunders] would be one of the grumpiest guys on earth, but once he put the horn in his mouth it
became happy songs.
“I tell some of these stories to the young guys so that they
can see there are legacies that they are a part of.”
In a city overflowing with young jazz talent, nearly all
wanting to play at the fabled corner of 18th and Vine, Dunn
is looking “at how people are willing to work with others, how
people are willing to respond to the crowd, how they’re willing
to present themselves to the crowd.
“Make sure you have enough variety in your repertoire
to be able to entertain the crowd. You can play original music,
and that’s cool. But as people are coming in to understand you
as an artist it’s good to be able to accommodate them and give
them something that they might be able to grasp.
“It’s not always playing the best solo. A lot of times it’s being
able to release the audience. Give them a break. Lay something
in their lap. Get into their soul. Make them feel like clapping
is what they want to be doing.”
Dunn has worked to understand who comes to the Blue
Room.
“It’s people who want to have a Kansas City experience.
They read about it and they want to experience it. We’re conscious of trying to bring in diverse crowds and bringing in the
most diversity when it comes to artists.
Moving forward, the Blue Room will need to evolve.
“We’re changing now,” Dunn responded. “We’re constantly
moving. The scene forces you to change. You can’t stay the same.
“We’re opening up to other communities. We’re opening
up to the neo-soul community. We’re opening up to the Latin
jazz community. Those pieces are infusing into the jazz pieces.
Some of the younger jazz guys have a lot of those pieces. Fusion
is a part of Dominque [Sanders]’s music. Hermon [Mehari]
plays with some of the neo-soul acts.”
And when a young musician with a non-jazz background
approaches Dunn, “I don’t have to say, you can’t play here
because you don’t play jazz. Come in, check out what goes on,
and see how you can contribute to what’s going on. Let’s see
how you can fit in. Let’s find ways to include you.
“We pay respect to the traditions of Kansas City jazz. And
we pay respect to what kids have access to now.”
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17
Dan Thomas:
Bringing In the Best
The best musicians are recruited.
18
“And one of the blessings that we get to sell,” says Dan
Thomas, “is a vibrant jazz scene that is inclusive, that celebrates
one another.”
Thomas is Associate Director of Jazz Studies and Co-Chair
of Jazz Studies at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He’s
been at UMKC for 16 years and in his current position about
six years.
“I do a lot of national recruiting,” Thomas explains. “I go
out on the road and I’m performing with universities at their
high school jazz festivals. If I perform at a club on the road, I
hook up at a clinic somewhere to get in contact with the people
who may not know UMKC’s name. There are a lot of institutions that have name recognition. We’re getting that now.
“Students are looking for contact. If I sweep through, I
identify a few good kids. If I’ve given a good clinic, if I’ve
played well, we’re connected now because jazz is a family. Then
I can sell, for example, our bass instructor played with Thad
Jones. I might invite him to come study at our jazz camp in the
summer where you get a week-long workshop with our faculty,
and they’re hooked. It takes sweeping moves where you make
personal contact with folks.
“I spend 10 to 15 hours a week on the telephone and that’s
all year long. Some of the studs that have made it onto our scene
I’ve known since middle school.”
The number of jazz students coming into UMKC each year
varies because, Thomas says, “we do enrollment management. If
we have two trumpet players leaving, we’re only going to take
two trumpet players. This year we’ve got 12 or 13 guys coming in. They’re all specific to what the program needs. They’re
coming from all over the country. They’re amazing players.
“We carry 50-ish jazz majors, including undergrad and
grad. Then we have several students who are jazz aficionados
who participate in the program and need to participate in the
program because we believe in the value of music education
students. They need to have contact with us. If we don’t provide
them with the opportunity, we’re just feeding the performance
art. We need great music educators, too.”
UMKC’s program teaches five pillars of successful jazz
musicians: performance, pedagogy, composition, arranging,
and business and entrepreneurship.
“Duke Ellington traveled around and gave clinics,” Thomas
says. “For us to as educators to say that all the money is in performance, it’s not. All the money’s in composition, it’s not. All
the money’s in arranging, it’s not. All the money’s in teaching,
it’s not. It’s all of it. Everybody gets to dial up their percentages
and those percentages float. That’s the reality.”
The talent UMKC is bringing into Kansas City is some
of the best. “The students that are looking at our school are
bonafide jazz guys,” Thomas says. “They’re either going to be
known relatively quickly amongst our scene or when they leave
they’re going to be stars on their home turf.
“The depth of the program is significant. Every kid is
amazing. They’re really talented kids who ten years ago would
have been the star of the program. Now you’re looking at fifty
or sixty of them.”
Convincing that talent to come to Kansas City can be hard.
But, Thomas says, “once they get here, they realize how special
it is.”
After graduation, “the vast majority of students stay here.
That’s a testament to our scene. There’s some doomsday folks
who communicate about the lack of what’s going on in our
scene. But Kansas City is a pretty phenomenal place that can
absorb them.
“What’s unique about what we’re doing is that we’re trying
to build unique artists. Because everybody is unique there is an
opportunity for each one of them to generate revenue.”
Anyone who knows Kansas City’s jazz scene today recognizes that it is full of extraordinary young talent. But, Thomas
notes, “Young folks have romantic ideas. They’re trying to prove
something. That keeps old people young. You’ve got college age
kids with seasoned veterans and there’s a healthy collaboration.
Kansas City is not cutthroat and competitive. These students
are so welcomed into the scene and they still have reverence for
the old guard and what they can teach.”
19
Bill McKemy:
Growing Musicians
and Audience
Talk with Bill McKemy and it quickly becomes clear. Jazz
education isn’t just about building musicians. It’s about building jazz audiences.
“We tour a 6-piece group,” McKemy begins, “sometimes
adding a vocalist to that, to go to schools and do either general
assemblies performances or specific hands-on music clinics with
bands. We’ve been to Raytown South, Fort Osage, Hickman
Mills, the Blue Valley districts.
“We’ve played in some gyms and some school auditoriums.
On the top end, we've had a little over 400 kids at once.
“But we’ll also go in and work with just the music students
and work on the songs that they’re working on in jazz band.
We’ll also give them instrument clinics and improvisational
20
clinics while we’re there. We’re able to go hands-on. The teacher
in that situation is having their message reinforced. The kids
are right there with Hermon Mehari and Rich Wheeler and
Ryan Lee and all of the great players on the scene.
“The kids are enthusiastic and fired up about jazz, generally
with lots of questions and a high level of engagement.”
McKemy is the Director of Education and Public Programs
at the American Jazz Museum (and an incredible bassist).
On September 10th, he launches a new program for students ages 3 to 18 at the jazz museum. It’s Jazz Academy.
“There are three main components,” McKemy explains. “In
the mornings we’re going to have general music classes for ages
three through sixth grade. Those classes will be a mixture of
movement, music and other activities. The system is designed to
engage kids at play rather than sit them in rows and teach them.
It’s designed to get them having fun with musical instrumenttype toys, and eventually building not only their musical skill
but the way that they engage something that’s fun and playful.
“It also teaches as a key element reliance on their own ear.
They learn to hear and to trust what they hear.”
Improvisation is incorporated from the start. “The thing we
want to accomplish,” McKemy says, “is that improvisation isn’t
something they learn after they become an advanced musician.
It’s just something that you do with whatever you can play. If
you can hit two drumsticks together, you can improvise.”
From 1:00 to 3:00, McKemy continues, “we’ll have combos, big bands and improv classes. Rotating in with the improv
classes, we’ll infuse history about the music, about Kansas City’s
role in it and about its cultural significance.
“We’re hoping to build the audience as much as we’re
building bright young folks to play music.”
The staff includes Clarence Smith, Stan Kessler, Marcus
Lewis and John Kizilarmut. On a rotating basis, Bobby Watson, Dan Thomas, Matt Otto and Hermon Mehari will also
participate.
The third component, McKemy says, will be “an educationthemed jam session in the Blue Room from 3:00 to 5:00 with
the kids from the academy and whoever else wants to drop in
for it. We’ll have as mentors the Elder Statesmen of Kansas
City Jazz and other players to offer encouragement and show
the kids the way.”
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Nelson and Mary Ellen Farney
Mike and Debra Gerken
Dennis Gredell and Lori
Wohlschlaeger
Steven and Patty Hargrave
Jo Lowry
B everly and Ed Mann
B arbara Mathewson
Charles and Marada McClintock
Three sessions a year are planned to coincide with fall,
spring and summer school terms.
For the students, the program is free.
“It’s free but we also want to instill a sense of ownership of
the program and pride in the Kansas City community,” McKemy adds. “We’re going to ask the students to pay it forward by
participating in community outreach performances. We’ll go to
assisted living facilities or community events and perform. We
want to be able to teach some life skills to the kids and show
them the value they’ll get from performing community service.
“We won’t turn anyone away. I would be satisfied if for
that first term we have 40 or more kids. I’d like to see 100 or
more kids. Or 200 or 300. I’d like to have that problem.”
McKemy brings an even larger goal. “In Kansas City, in
terms of talented musicians, we have an embarrassment of
riches,” he says. “But historically, we have done just a so-so job
at connecting the actual living resources of jazz with the kids.
We can’t afford to let the resources go to waste. We need to have
Brian Baggett and Ryan Lee and Clint Ashlock and Charles
Perkins and Gerald Spaits sharing what they know. It has to be
across generational lines and racial lines and economic lines.
“I think it’s correct for our city to have the best jazz education that exists. We should be on a par with New York, Chicago
and New Orleans at a bare minimum.”
Sid and Carole McKnight
Edward Morris
Jamie and Alan Myers
Loren Myers
John and Linda Nobles
Penny Oathout
William Paprota
John Peterson
Randell Sedlacek and
Mary Ventura
Paul and Sara Smith
Merle Stalder
William Sullivan
Robert Thompson
and Mary Wurtz
Jon Trozzolo and Sara Touchette
Julie Turner Ruskin
Rich Turpin
Tom and Geri
Gregg and Melinda Wenger
SUNDAY
OCT 9
The UMKC Conservatory
of Music and Dance and
Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors
present the 15th Annual
UMKC Student Union
6 p.m.
Featuring UMKC’s
award-winning
Jazz Studies Program
under the direction of
Bobby Watson
and Dan Thomas
Honoring the life and
legacy of jazz legend
SONNY ROLLINS
CONSERVATORY OF
MUSIC AND DANCE
umkcjazzfriends.org
UMKC Jazz Friends
21
Angela Hagenbach:
A Renaissance is Coming
Last year, vocalist Angela Hagenbach marked 25 years
22
on Kansas City’s jazz scene.
“My first steady gig was at the Ritz Carlton,” she remembers. “It was up in the ballroom. I played with Russ Long and
Milt Abel [later, Gerald Spaits] and Ray DeMarchi. That was
four nights a week for about four years. That’s where I honed
my craft. It was wonderful because it was very glamorous and I
was still modeling at the time. I got to wear gowns four nights
a week, which was a model’s dream.”
At the time, Hagenbach says, “There were lots of festivals
and lots of places to play. Someone like me could work seven
nights a week if I wanted to, and several gigs a day. Through my
work at The Ritz I got tons of country club and private events
which were very lucrative, and a lot times they were off nights.
It really was great to bolster my income and broaden my fan
base.”
But a singer today may find the opportunities more sparse.
“If they solely want to perform,” Hagenbach muses, “that
could be a challenge. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of venues
for vocals. It used to be vocal-heavy. But now it seems to be
more instrumentally-heavy.
“One has to be creative if there’s not enough clubs available
by thinking outside the box. Find a void and fill it. We need to
have music here and I’m your girl. For example, I once started
the luncheon at the Majestic because I wanted to do an earlier
show on Wednesdays. I needed to work while my children were
at school. I did that at a couple of places.”
And 25 years later, the pay has changed.
“It’s gotten worse,” Hagenbach maintains. “It’s homogenized. This is what everybody gets. If you want to take a leader
fee, then everyone else is going to get less. I have a problem with
that. It used to be, you would set your rate based on your ability
to bring in a fan base and then you pay your guys a decent wage
and you take a leader fee. There’s so much that a leader does in
addition to perform. You get the gigs, promote the gigs, do the
1099, do the payroll. To me, that’s worth something. In a lot
places, I had to even provide the sound system. That shouldn’t
be free.”
Hagenbach is concerned about opportunities for veteran
musicians.
“This is a city that has an abundance of talent,” she said.
“It’s startling how much there is. There’s people moving to town
and these young people that are coming out of Bobby [Watson]’s
program are very high quality players. It’s great that they’re
going out and keeping the music alive.”
“But on the same hand, the older musicians and the people
in the middle have to remain viable. They have to keep the jazz
community vibrant. There’s not as many opportunities for the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 25
Hermon Mehari:
Pushing the Scene
On August 28, 2009,
the line to get into the Blue Room
ran out the door and threatened to circle the block. Inside,
Diverse was releasing their CD. The group, comprised mostly
of UMKC jazz studies students, had won the Gene Harris Jazz
Competition in June, 2008.
That night was when many in Kansas City recognized
something special was happening in the jazz scene here. Some
already knew. But others now understood that these young
musicians brought special talent.
Hermon Mehari, a member of Diverse, remembers.
“It was a catalyst for original music in jazz. We were all
pretty much working at that time individually. I feel like everyone from the get-go, all the players at UMKC, were on the
scene. Especially by 2009 I was being hired.
“During the competition I remember there was a lot of buzz
about Diverse. Anything that gives Kansas City notoriety and
the national spotlight, people around here get excited about.
“There wasn’t really a scene of young musicians with committed groups at the time, and especially committed groups
playing original music. Now there’s a lot of that going on.”
Today, Mehari stands as a prime example of a young musician building a career in jazz in Kansas City in the 21st century.
“There’s a lot of potential to work here,” says Mehari, who
moved to Kansas City to attend UMKC in 2006. “I’ve only seen
ten years of it, but I feel like the scene here has always worked
out in some way or another. It has its ups and downs but I think
it’s on an upward trajectory in general, especially recently. If
more players came here, it would be in concert with what I think
is a growing younger audience. And I’m sure there’s going to
be more venues opening up, and other places that maybe don’t
have jazz yet will start having jazz.
“There’s enough work here. With the closing of Broadway
Jazz Club and Take Five, the only thing that’s become more
difficult is when I hear from people from out of town who want
to come to Kansas City and play. That’s limited. One thing
that has been a little more difficult is to accommodate touring
musicians.”
Mehari has played a key role in enticing other outstanding
jazz talent to move here and make Kansas City their base. He
explains, “I kind of ushered in guys like Peter Schlamb, Karl
McComas-Reichl and John Kizilarmut, who are incredible
players who are not only part of the scene, they’re helping to
push the scene. It means a lot that players like that would live
here. It’s a testament to our scene. They love it. Those are guys
who are also doing stuff outside of Kansas City on a regular
basis. And all of that stuff is cool because it reflects on Kansas
City.
“Peter and I have taken an initiative to start trying to bring
people through here. I would never say that at the beginning the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 25
23
OFF THE VINE
CHRIS BURNETT
Welcomed Synergies
There’s a new energy, a genuinely positive excitement and
collegial cooperation throughout the 18th and Vine jazz district.
New district initiatives, such as the “First Fridays” that started
in May, bring together all of the district’s businesses with vendors, musicians and artists. “This initiative was developed and
brought to realization by all of the businesses and stakeholders
in the community,” states American Jazz Museum Executive
Director, Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner. “It demonstrates a wonderfully high level of civic teamwork as well.”
Also notable in the district:
• 2016 Jazz Walk of Fame induction ceremony and celebratory concerts.
• Luminaries such as Kevin Mahogany, Roy Ayers, Al Jarreau,
Ellis Marsalis, Bobby Watson and Queen Bey will be seen
and heard during June and July.
• The 2016 “Jammin’ at the Gem” performance series season
ended with another sold out show. The Lifetime Achievement Award concert featured three Kansas City icons:
Ida McBeth, Ronald McFadden and Lonnie McFadden.
Each was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award
Join us in celebrating
HOLIDAY
GET YOUR 30 YEARS!
MONEY’S WORTH
GIFT
IDEAS!
Advertise in Jam
“… The ad was really effective. We appreciate the quality
coverage of the arts that you bring to Kansas City. Jam has a
tremendous national reputation and continues to be a voice in
the jazz community.” — Patrice and Jay Sollenberger
• Approximate readership: 60,000 per issue.
• Added exposure through our website version.
• Jam is unique in reaching tourists, via online &
at tourist attractions & hotels.
“Everybody I know reads it …” — Karrin Allyson
Distributed to 300+ KC locations: retail, restaurants,
colleges, libraries, museums, hotels, visitor centers, casinos
& other tourist attractions + Missouri venues + mailed to
members + handed out at events
Closing date for the
August + September issue is July 15
Advertising:
Connie “Crash” Humiston 816-591-3378
Sharon Valleau 816-582-3090
www.kcjazzambassadors.com
24
by American Jazz Museum Executive Director Cheptoo
Kositany-Buckner, with Bobby Watson and Joel Nichols
assisting in the ceremony. Nichols brought a positive energy
to the entire event while serving as the moderator of the
pre-concert VIP reception conversation with the honorees.
He also served as emcee of the concert. It was another great
night on the Vine.
Jazz Speaks For Life
An exciting new exhibit has opened in the museum’s changing gallery. Executive Director Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner
describes it:
“‘Jazz Speaks for Life’ is taken from a quote by Martin
Luther King when he spoke in 1964 in Berlin during the jazz
festival and he talked about jazz being the music of life. This
exhibit showcases how jazz and art are intertwined or how jazz
and civil rights are intertwined, and also how African American
artists have used their art and their talent to interpret the human
condition during civil rights.
“It’s not just displaying the historical part. It’s beginning to
show jazz using different avenues and different angles to bring
people in to appreciate it and to understand jazz is more than
just performance and music. It impacts our everyday life.”
Award-Winning Jazz Venue
Presenting live music and jazz by national and international
artists, the Blue Room continues stellar programming four
night each week during June and July. See the inside cover of
this issue for the complete Blue Room schedule.
Education at the American
Jazz Museum
The Open Rehearsal Program is an American Jazz Museum
Education Department offering that gives community musical
organizations and performing arts organizations the opportunity to perform rehearsals and concerts in a public space before
an audience.
An Open Rehearsal is a fascinating opportunity to watch
the musical ensembles at work, and see how a piece of music is
shaped and polished for public performances by the ensemble
leader and musicians. Bring a lunch, get a cold drink from the
Swing Shop and listen to the music. Tour the museums after
the Open Rehearsal.
A new youth jazz education program initiative, the “American Jazz Academy” is scheduled to begin this coming fall.
Congratulations
And from the American Jazz Museum to Jam magazine: Congratulations on thirty terrific years! JUNE + JULY 2 016 • JAZZ AMBAS SADOR MAGAZINE
HAGENBACH
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22
older ones because it seems as though there’s a large group who
will play for less money just to play, which drives down our
ability to earn a living.”
But beside the challenges, Hagenbach also sees opportunities.
“It’s like any movement, the struggle continues. You’ve got
it keep it viable and keep it vibrant and relatable. It’s not going
to be easy because there’s all this new music coming out. But
there’s a renaissance coming. The young people are helping to
bring it. I want to branch out to the people who don’t even have
jazz on their radar. This is something that we as a city can use
as a selling tool. When you arrive at the airport, you should
have no doubt that you’re going to get some seriously good jazz
here.”
HERMON MEHARI
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23
purpose is, hey, do you want to move here? It’s, let’s play. Then
the love comes. I’ve brought Tony Trixier, who’s in Diverse now,
maybe four times in the past four or five years. Recently Ben
Van Gelder has come through a couple times. Travis Reuter, the
guitar player, has partially moved here. Those guys talk about
this place and all of a sudden young musicians in other cities
are talking about Kansas City.”
But is Kansas City an environment that demands a musician plays more traditional jazz?
“It does in gigs like the Majestic,” Mehari says. “You’re
mostly playing standards and swing. But with the Electric Tinks
I play with Peter, we play First Fridays at the Green Lady, and
it’s great. All original music and all electric music and it’s all
top-notch players. I have liberty when I go to the Blue Room. I
can do creatively what I want. And if I want to do the crossover
stuff, I’m always open to play at clubs like the Record Bar or
the Riot Room.
“It’s a balance. You can’t gig exclusively on the local scene
playing just creative music. You can’t make a living. It’s impossible. If my income was solely based on playing Electric Tinks,
and Peter was trying to book it as much as possible, it wouldn’t
happen. But that’s the great thing about jazz musicians, we are
very versatile. It’s important that we know the tradition anyway.
We all love the traditions. We play all of the old stuff and we
put our spin on the old stuff, too. It’s not just rehashing it in
museum-type ways. It’s bringing life to it. And we have the
original, creative stuff, too.”
Mehari and his peers find Kansas City to be a good base.
“We talk about this a lot with my peers and we feel strongly
about this. We feel like it’s a great scene and it’s a growing scene.
It’s an affordable city. It’s a city with a lot of culture and unique
things. And it’s a great community which makes it very appealing to musicians.”
Appealing enough for young musicians to continue joining
Kansas City’s jazz scene?
“I think it’s going to keep happening.”
7
th
ANNUAL
Jason Vivone & Billy Bats
Tim Whitmer & KC Express
Wild Women of KC
J Love Band
Stone Cutters Union
Amanda Fish
Brody Buster Band.
25
BITS OF THE BLUES
DANNY POWELL
Summertime Blues (The Good Kind)
It’s that time of year again when the weather and the music
starts heating up. It has been an active spring for the Kansas
City Blues Society and we’re looking forward to a great festival
season. On May 7th, KCBS was part of the annual Merle Jam
at Knucklehead’s Saloon. Nearly 1800 music fans came out to
hear great local and national blues acts with all of the proceeds
going to St. Luke’s Hospital-Merle Jam Transplant Fund.
On May 15th, KCBS will once again be accepting entries
for this year’s “Road to Memphis” International Blues Challenge. Solo/duo acts and bands will compete for the honor to
represent Kansas City at the International Blues Challenge
in Memphis in January, 2016. Preliminary rounds take place
throughout the summer with the finals in September. All
proceeds go to the winning acts to help defer costs for the trip
to Memphis. The cost of entry is $50 for a band and $25 for
a solo/duo act. KCBS also sponsors a youth band to make the
trip and play in several showcases on the famous Beale Street.
Thurs - Sun June 9-12
Oakdale Park • Salina • KS
Advance-price
admission Buttons
at Sunflower Bank in
Leawood, Overland
Park and Lawrence
through Mon June 6.
• Four Live Stages
• Fine Art Show/
Four Rivers Craft Show
• Artyopolis Kid’s Area
• Flavorful Festival Food
26
riverfestival.com
Judges for the preliminaries and finals are selected from radio
and music professionals from all around the region. If anyone
has an interest in competing or would like to be a sponsor, email
us at [email protected].
The Michael Shannon Golf Classic is scheduled for
Wednesday, September 7th at Hillcrest Country Club. All
proceeds will go to the Michael Shannon Musician’s Fund.
This will be the fifth annual tournament for a great cause. Last
year’s event raised over $20,000 for local musicians who have
economic need due to illness. To date, the fund has paid out
nearly $10,000. One week prior, on August 31st, there will be a
celebration and music event at Knucklehead’s Saloon to support
the fund.
The Blues for Kids program has been especially active this
year. With the help of a major donation from Lynxspring, Inc,
local professional musicians have been presenting programs
at area schools and in branches of the Kansas City Public
Library. These programs are introducing
young people to blues music and the history of the great Kansas City music scene.
The program has been well received and is
expanding.
The last Thursday of every month,
KCBS hosts a membership meeting at Prohibition Hall, 1118 McGee. The meeting
starts at 7:00 p.m. and a music jam starts
at 8:00 with the Amanda Fish Band. Each
month, KCBS provides a special guest artist.
Stop by, say hello, and hear some great
blues. Check us out at bluessocietykc.com
or on our Facebook page for information.
Become a member for a mere $30 by going
our web site. All of our funds go directly to
promoting this unique American art form
and supporting our local musicians.
Finally, the Board of Directors and all
of the members of the Kansas City Blues
Society wants to congratulate Jam as it
celebrates 30 years of providing the news
of interest in the jazz and blues community.
This is one of the greatest music communities in the world and Jam is one of the
reasons. Salute! JUNE + JULY 2 016 • JAZZ AMBAS SADOR MAGAZINE
CLUB SCENE
LOCAL LIVE JAZZ & BLUES
18TH & VINE
J The Blue Room
18th & Vine........................ 816-474-2929
Mon. — Blue Monday Jam
Thur. - Sat. — Live Jazz
BDanny’s Big Easy
1601 E. 18th St...................816.421.1200
Tues. — El Barrio Band, 6:00 p.m.
Thurs. — Millage Gilbert’s Big Blues Band 7:00 p.m.
Fri. - Sat. — Live Band
Sat. Blues Jam 2:00 p.m.
J Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House
1700 E. 18th Street............. 816-472-0013
Thurs. - Open Jam session 7:30-11:30 p.m.
Fri. - Live Band 6:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Sat.- Live Band 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.
J Mutual Musicians Foundation
1823 Highland................... 816-471-5212
Fri. - Sat. — Late Night Jazz 1:00 a.m.
D OWNTOWN
J American Restaurant
25th & Grand..................... 816-426-1133
Tues. - Sat. — Live Jazz, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
J The Brick
1727 McGee...................... 816-421-1634
Live Jazz & Eclectic
J The Chesterfield
14th & Main....................... 816-474-4545
Wed. — Western Swing
Fri. — Swing
Sat. — Salsa
JB
Coda
1744 Broadway.................. 816-945-8874
Tues. - Sat. — Live Music
J Green Lady Lounge
1809 Grand....................... 816-215-2954
7 days a week — Live Jazz
JB
The Kill Devil Club
14th & Main....................... 816-588-1132
M IDTOWN/WESTPORT
BDaily Limit
4124 Pennsylvania.............. 816-531-1097
BDirty Harry’s
JCalifornos
Live Jazz
J The Drop
409 E. 31st St..................... 816-756-3767
Millie Edwards & Tom DeMasters, 2nd Saturdays
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
JB Jazz - A Louisiana Kitchen
39th & State Line................. 816-531-5556
Mon. - Sat. — Live Music, 7:00 p.m.
BThe Levee
16 W. 43rd St..................... 816-561-5565
Wed. - Blues Jam 8:00 p.m.
Thurs.- Sat. — Live Music
JB
Westport Coffeehouse Theater
4010 Pennsylvania.............. 816-756-3222
Wed. - Thurs. — Live Music
BWestport Saloon
4112 Pennsylvania.............. 816-960-4560
Mon., Thurs. — Live Blues 9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Tues. — Blues Jam 10:00 p.m.
PL A Z A
J Café Trio
4558 Main Street................ 816-756-3227
Tues. - Wed. — Live Jazz 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Thurs. - Sat. — Live Jazz, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
J Capital Grille
4740 Jefferson.................... 816-531-8345
Sundays 5:00 - 9 p.m. – Dan Doran Trio
J InterContinental Oak Bar & Lounge
121 Ward Parkway............. 816-756-1500
Live Jazz Thurs. - Sun. Sets start at 8:00 p.m.
J Plaza III
4749 Pennsylvania.............. 816-753-0000
Sat. — Lonnie McFadden 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
J Raphael Hotel, Chaz Restaurant
325 Ward Parkway............ .816-756-3800
Fri. - Sat. 8:00 p.m - 1:00 a.m.
Mon. - Sat. — Live Jazz
Sun. — Jazz Brunch 10:00 - 1:00
NORTH
J Majestic Restaurant
931 Broadway.................... 816-221-1888
JB
The Phoenix
302 W. 8th Street.................. 816-221-jazz
Mon. - Thurs. — Live Music 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Fri. — Live Music 4:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sat. — Live Music 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
and 4:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
JB
Prohibition Hall
1118 McGee...................... 816-446-7832
Wed. — Live Jazz 7:00 p.m.
Thurs. — Blues Jam 7:00 p.m.
J The Ship
1217 Union Avenue ............ 816-471-7447
Thurs. — Live Jazz 9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
J Tank Room
1813 Grand Blvd................ 816-214-6403
Mon. — Live Music 8:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Sat. — Live Music 8:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
BWinslow's BBQ
20 E 5th............................. 816-471-7427
Fri. — Jam 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Sat. - Sun. — Blues on the Patio 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.
J Yj’s Snack Bar
128 W. 18th Street.............. 816-472-5533
Wed., Thurs., and Sun. — Live Jazz
J Cascone’s North
3737 North Oak Trfy........... 816-454-7977
Sat. — Live Jazz
BFrank James Saloon
10919 MO-45, Parkville...... 816-505-0800
Thurs. — Open Mic 7:00 p.m.
BThe Hideout
6948 N Oak Trafficway
Gladstone........................... 816-468-0550
Mon. — Blues Jam 7:00 p.m.
JB
Johnny’s Back Yard
1825 Buchanan, NKC......... 816-985-1157
Fri. - Sat. — Live Music 9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Sun. — Blues Jam 7:00 p.m.
EAST
BB.B’s Lawnside BBQ
1205 E. 85th Street............. 816-822-7427
Tues. - Sun. — Live Blues
Sat. 2:00 - 5:30 — Jazz & Blues Jam w/Mama Ray
BBodee's BBQ & Burgers
522 S Main, Grain Valley..... 816-867-5511
Fri. — Jam 8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
Sat. — Live Blues 8:00 p.m.
523 E Red Bridge Rd........... 816-942-0400
Fri. — Live Blues 8:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
3100 MO-7, Blue Springs.... 816-224-2779
Wed. - Fri. — Live Blues
BJoe’s Standard
1204 NW Hwy 7,
Blue Springs........................ 816-228-4878
Wed. — Jam 7:30 - 11:30 p.m.
BKnuckleheads
2715 Rochester Ave............. 816-483-1456
Wed. - Sun. — Live Music
Sat. - Sun. — Blues Jam 1:00 p.m.
BKonrads Kitchen
302 SW Main,
Lee’s Summit........................ 816-525-1871
Fri. — Live Blues 8:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.
J Louie’s Wine Dive
7100 Wornall Rd................ 816-569-5097
Fri. - Sat. — Live Jazz
J The Piano Room
8410 Wornall Rd................ 816-363-8722
Fri. - Sat. 8:00 - 12:00 — Dave McCubbin
SOUTH
J The Art Factory
5621 W 135th St................ 913-217-7861
Fri., Sat. - Live Jazz
J Bristol Seafood Grill
5400 W. 119th St............... 913-663-5777
Sun. 5:00 - 8:00 — Live Music
JCascone’s
6863 W.91st. Street............ 913-381-6837
Sat.— Live Jazz 7:00 -10:00 p.m.
J Gaslight Grill and Back Room
5020 W. 137th Street.......... 913-897-3540
Wed. - Sun. — 6:30 Lynn Zimmer Jazz Band
J La Bodega Tapas & Lounge
4311 West 119th St............ 913-428-8272
Sun. — Live Music 6:00 - 8 00 p.m.
BLlyewelyn’s
6995 W 151st.................... 913-402-0333
Tues. — Blues Jam 7:30 p.m.
Sat. - Sun. — Live Music
J Sullivan’s Steakhouse
4501 W. 119th St............... 913-345-0800
WEST
JB
4220 Rhythm & Blues Lounge
4220 Leavenworth Rd,
KCK................................... 913-232-9827
Sun. — Jazz/R&B/Blues Jam 6:00 - 10:00 p.m.
J Jazz at Legends
1859 Village W Pkwy,
KCK................................... 913-328-0003
Wed. - Sat. — Live Jazz
BKobi’s Bar and Grill
113 Oak, Bonner Springs..... 913-422-5657
Sun. — Live Blues 2:00 - 6:00 p.m.
J Lucky Brewgrille
5401 Johnson Drive............. 913-403-8571
Thurs. — Live Jazz 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
J Jazz B Blues
27
CODA
LARRY KOPITNIK
Our Culture of Jazz
The young guitarist was ecstatic.
Decades ago, on a Saturday afternoon at the Mutual
Musicians Foundation, the guitarist – I no longer remember
his name – was describing to friends a technique just taught
to him by Claude “Fiddler” Williams. Then, he said, “Fiddler”
told him, “I also taught that to Barney Kessel.”
Kansas City has long been home to a culture of jazz. Veteran musicians, often some of the the music’s best, have passed
down techniques and tips to aspiring or less experienced players.
Today it happens informally (Gerald Dunn advising performers on how to inspire an audience) and formally (UMKC’s five
pillars of a successful jazz musician).
This culture of jazz is a key reason why in Kansas City jazz
has not just survived, but has thrived with an extraordinary
level of musicianship.
We cannot boast as many clubs in the area as we could just
two years ago. All of us wish there were more, including club
owners (John Scott of Green Lady Lounge makes that clear).
Some venues may pay less than clubs paid a generation ago.
Kansas City’s jazz scene has challenges. But jazz musicians are
moving here – some recruited by UMKC, some enticed by their
peers – and they’re staying. They’re building opportunities. In
2016, exceptional talent is finding this city to be a viable base
for playing jazz.
Meanwhile, The American Jazz Museum is preparing to
introduce children as young as three years to the music. Sure,
most of those kids are not going to pursue a career in jazz. But
the educators are not just building musicians. They’re building
jazz audiences.
The MLB Urban Youth Academy is under construction in
Parade Park, part of Kansas City’s historic jazz district. Next
Memorial Day weekend, the jazz musuem will lead a coalition
of organizations in establishing a celebration intended to put
Kansas City on the nation’s jazz festival map. In a year, families
who may have never before visited will be coming to 18th and
Vine. Then mix in the likelihood of substantial investment, by
both the city and private resources, which would fund new
housing, renovations and opportunities to better connect the
arguably isolated district with a thriving Crossroads area and
downtown.
This issue of Jam is brimming with enthusiasm for Kansas
City’s jazz scene and its future. Honestly, that surprised me. It’s
easy to decry the music as dying. You know the arguments: It’s
not popular music. Few people listen to it anymore, and those
who do are old and don’t go out and don’t spend any money
and when they’re gone the music’s gone so you might as well
get used to hip-hop and Taylor Swift.
Yet, young musicians are coming to Kansas City to play
jazz. Crowds are flocking to Green Lady Lounge for a jazz
experience. Maybe the Blue Room is mixing in some neo-soul
and other music, but jazz is growing and absorbing those influences. This city that raised the Count Basie Orchestra also
raised Charlie Parker. Parker’s music is different. It changed
jazz. Jazz has always evolved and it always will. Smart venues
will understand their audiences and embrace that evolution,
while never turning their back on tradition, and they’ll thrive.
Today’s jazz scene in Kansas City feels like a jigsaw puzzle
with all of the obscure pieces being found and starting to link
together. It’s not yet complete and key pieces might yet not fall
into place. But the optimism is infectious.
Our culture of jazz is ready to grow.
NEXT JAM
August brings Kansas City’s third annual Charlie Parker celebration. Grammywinning saxophonist Tivon Pennicott will be this year’s artist in residence. We’ll
take a look at the complete schedule in the next Jam.
For the Record returns in the next issue.
28
Dick Hawk’s
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The exciting New Red Onion Jazz Babies join Lynn Zimmer for a
full evening of entertainment on the first Monday of every month.
ENJOY BEVERAGES AND DINING ON BEAUTIFUL GASLIGHT PATIO
Enjoy scintillating New Orleans jazz and mellow traditional
favorites by Lynn Zimmer and the Jazz Band featuring some of
K.C.’s finest jazz musicians Wednesday through Sunday every week.
PRIVATE ROOMS AVAILABLE FOR PARTIES AND BUSINESS EVENTS
No Cover Charge • Kansas Dry Aged Steaks • Seafood • Chef Specialties • Dance Floor
5020 W. 137th St. ( Just south of 135th on Briar Drive) Leawood, KS 66224
913.897.3540 • GaslightGrill.com

What is the Future of Jazz in Kansas City?

Transcription

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