2014 PV Jazz Fest: The Local Acts

Three years ago it was rained out. Last year, temperatures in the 90s reduced the crowd size until evening. So I started checking the forecast in the Weather Channel app on my phone ten days before the festival. I checked it four or five times some days, and every time it was different. Once – about nine days out – it predicted a high in the 90s with a 90 per cent chance of rain. That’s about as bad as it could get. But as the day of the event drew closer, rain chances dropped to zero and temperature predictions eased down to the mid-70s.

That’s where we wound up. The weather on Saturday, September 6th for the 2014 Prairie Village Jazz Festival could not have been better. Just as importantly, neither could the music. Every act, from start to close, performed at its best and gave the audience a sampling of the terrific range and the outstanding quality of jazz found in Kansas City today.

The audience was a bit smaller than last year. A $5 cover charge will do that. But it also was key to the festival turning its first meaningful profit and to providing much needed seed money for the 2015 Prairie Village Jazz Festival.

But before we move on, this week and next let’s take a look at photos from the 2014 festival. Below are shots of the local acts. Next week will offer photos of the headliners. As always, clicking on a photo should open a larger version of it.

Under a beautiful sky, an audience starts to gather for the Shawnee Mission East Blue Knights.

The festival lineup for Project H, left to right: Andrew Ouellette on piano, Dominique Sanders on bass, leader Ryan Heinlein on trombone, Matt Leifer on drums, Brett Jackson on saxophone, Nate Nall on trumpet. Hidden: Jeff Stocks on guitar.

The Project H front line of Ryan Heinlein, Brett Jackson and Nate Nall (and in the background, Jeff Stocks).

Shay Estes with Rod Fleeman and Matt Otto. Left to right: Mark Lowrey on piano, Shay Estes, vocals, Karl McComas-Reichl on bass, Matt Otto on tenor sax, John Kizilarmut on drums, Rod Fleeman on guitar.

The front lone of Shay Estes, Matt Otto and Rod Fleeman.

Shay Estes sings

Matt Otto on sax

Appreciating a Rod Fleeman solo

The Jazz Disciples on stage. Lest to right: Everett Freeman on piano, DeAndre Manning on bass, Gerald Dunn on saxophone, Michael Warren on drums and guest Jason Goudeau on trombone.

Pianist Everett Freeman

Saxophonist Gerald Dunn

 

For the festival, the Jazz Disciples added as guest vocalist the wonderful Stephanie Moore.

Also a Jazz Disciple guest: trombonist Jason Goudeau

Stephanie Moore and Everett Freeman

The Bram Wijnands Swingtet. Left to right: Bram Wijnands on piano, Dave Chael on alto sax, Barry Springer on trumpet, Carl Bender on baritone sax, Phillip Wakefield on drums

Pianist Bram Wijnands

The front line of Dave Chael, Barry Springer and Carl Bender.

As the sun sets, the audience grows.

In Lieu of 1000 Words: Bram Wijnands Trio at Winterlude

I first saw the name Bram Wijnands on the 1994 CD, Stand By. I bought the CD because it featured the wonderful KC vocalist Richard Ross. Bassist Lucky Wesley and drummer Tommy Ruskin were well known. But who was the pianist on this CD? Who was the kid who, on the insert photo, looked like a young Harpo Marx?

Whoever he was, on that CD he was a helluva a piano player.

Still is. According to his bio, Bram Wijnands, born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and graduated from Hilversum Conservatory in the Netherlands, moved to Kansas City in 1991, which places him here now for 20 years. His style of barrelhouse piano, boogie woogie, is unique in Kansas City today but fits in this city which was home to Pete Johnson and Jay McShann,

I make no secret that it was discovering the outstanding young jazz talent populating Kansas City today that inspired me to start this blog. But I’ve overlooked too often the greats who have kept jazz swinging here for decades. Bram is one of them. So are the other two members of this trio.

I first heard Rod Fleeman’s name when I was helping to stage jazz festivals in the 1980s. There was a terrific young guitarist in town, that was the word then going around. But when I got to know him was on his gig every Tuesday with Karrin Allyson at The Phoenix in the 1990s. Whether helping anchor the rhythm section of The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra or thrilling the audience with a solo as part of a trio, Rod Fleeman is an anchor of the Kansas City jazz scene.

As is drummer Tommy Ruskin. It’s probably quicker to name the jazz stars Tommy hasn’t backed. But if I mention he was part of Marilyn Maye’s group during her KC years, or in Pete Eye’s Trio at the Playboy Club, or that he organized the rhythm section for the Friends of Jazz series (which pre-dated the Folly jazz series), you know we’re talking top-tier drumming which KC is lucky to still enjoy.

So, Bram plus Rod plus Tommy, together on the Polsky Theatre stage for Jazz Winterlude, equals jazz about as good as it gets. You can hear them together some nights at The Majestic (check The Majestic’s calendar, linked in the column at the right). As far as how they looked on January 21st, we have a record of that below. Clicking on a photo should open a larger version of it.

The Bram Wijnands Trio. Let to right: Bram, Rod Fleeman, Tommy Ruskin

Bram Wijnands at the piano

Rod Fleeman on guitar and Tommy Ruskin on drums

Bram also sings

When he solos, Rod can be, um, expressive

Bram Wijnands

The Bram Wijnands Trio