On March 11, 1989, plans for The International Jazz Hall of Fame were announced. It would be located at 21st and Vine, incorporating renovated public works buildings facing Vine Street, a new plaza and a new 535 seat theater. Dizzy Gillespie spoke at the press event. A booklet handed out included a color rendering and architectural plans.
The plans show that a smaller existing building behind the structures fronting Vine, connected directly to the theater and to the renovated public works buildings through new corridors, would house administrative offices. And, on the first floor, a jazz radio station.
None of that happened. The Hall of Fame was downsized and combined with the Negro Leagues Museum to fit the available funds. Its name changed and today it stands as part of the complex at 18th and Vine.
Other than a short-lived soft jazz commercial station, to my knowledge, Kansas City has heard no serious talk about all-jazz radio in the 23 years since those 1989 plans were unveiled.
Until, apparently, now.
Last week, the Mutual Musicians Foundation staged a press event to unveil the new interpretive panels, which I wrote about last week. Among the announcements was news that the Foundation has been granted, by the FCC, a license for a low power radio station.
The Foundation has forged a partnership with Brand USA, established by the 2010 Travel Promotion Act. It began operations in May of last year to “spearhead the nation’s first global marketing effort to promote the United States as a premier travel destination” (from their web site, here). Michael Bennett, a representative of Brand USA, attended the press conference.
When I asked for more details about this radio venture, I was told Mr. Bennett will return to Kansas City for another press event on September 10 and more will be revealed then.
*****
I didn’t know the man sitting next to me at the press conference, upstairs at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. He asked me what I thought about the new panels on the first floor. I told him, as I wrote last week, I found them a mistake, changing the experience of stepping into the Foundation and the character of the downstairs space in a negative way. That was his reaction, too, he responded.
So it’s not just me.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver attended to accept a plaque in his honor. During his remarks, Rep. Cleaver noted that he had helped secure a $163,000 federal grant which made the new interpretive panels possible.
Wait a minute. One hundred and sixty three thousand dollars?
Let’s be clear upfront: I don’t know that the money went only to the panels. A cursory internet search uncovered no further details about the grant. Hopefully, it paid for far, far more than three interpretive panels.
Because I managed art and print production for a large ad agency in the KC area for 14 years. I estimated projects like this every week. And I know three panels like these can be designed, written, assembled, proofed, printed and hung – all three of them – for less than a third of that amount.
I suspect the grant was targeted at a specific cause. Nonetheless, I’m aware of far more pressing needs at the Foundation than fumbled redecorating (I’ve been told the floors contain asbestos, for instance).
So I sure hope that grant covered substantially more than three interpretive panels. Maybe it’s helping to establish the radio station, too.
After all, the only thing worse than calling those panels a mistake would be to call them a $163,000 mistake.
*****
The highlight of the press event, though, was the screening of a new documentary on Kansas City jazz in general and the Mutual Musicians Foundation in particular, titled Still Jammin’.
Stinson McClendon and Rodney Thompson, in the 1980s, produced outstanding documentaries on Jay McShann and Claude “Fiddler” Williams, each released on video tape. Their third documentary was to be on Andy Kirk, but the Kansas City Jazz Commission mistakenly declined to help them secure funding for it (I say that as the Commission Chairman who, after consulting the board, stupidly told them we couldn’t help).
At the time, they filmed interviews with legends of Kansas City jazz when the musicians visited, and with those who lived here. Their archives include unseen footage of Big Joe Turner (shot, they said, at a club on 63rd Street), Andy Kirk, Jay McShann, “Fiddler” Williams, Step-Buddy Anderson, “Piggy” Minor and more.
They started with portions of those interviews. They added new interviews with Chuck Haddix and other historians, and with current KC jazz prodigies (such as Harold O’Neal). Then they included archival photos of Kansas City, 18th and Vine, and our long-gone jazz clubs. The result is a fascinating, well-written and exceptionally well-produced history of the Kansas City the rest of the world knows and wants to know about more.
The documentary will be available soon on DVD at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.
(Would it be petty to add that in all of the documentary’s interviews filmed at the Foundation, the subjects are seated before the glorious photos now removed and replaced with interpretive panels?)
Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
They Changed the Mutual Musicians Foundation
When you stepped into the Mutual Musicians Foundation, history embraced you.
You first see, looming over the lobby, larger than you ever imagined it really was, the 1930 portrait of members of Musicians Local 627 lined up before this building. There’s Bennie Moten. There’s Bill Basie. There’s little Jimmy Rushing. This is our version of the more widely known A Great Day in Harlem. But ours came first.
You stepped into the first floor’s main room, and you were engulfed by photos, clustering all walls, of the musicians who made this building unique. You saw their faces and felt decades of their presence. You understood that you were standing, exactly, where Count Basie stood, where Lester Young played, where Mary Lou Williams socialized, where Ben Webster enjoyed a drink. You’d be surprised if the ghost of Bennie Moten tapped your shoulder here, but it wouldn’t be unexpected.
You understood you were welcome in the space some of history’s greatest jazz musicians created. It was a feeling unlike any other, at least in Kansas City. You knew otherwise, yet every sense suggested you had stepped out of the 21st century.
Not anymore.
The lobby photo remains. But the photos filling the downstairs walls are gone. They have been moved upstairs, where they’ve lost the cluster, accessibility and overwhelming intimacy they enjoyed for decades downstairs.
They have been replaced by interpretive panels.
Each of the three new panels reproduces select photos from the Foundation’s collection, with more significant musicians pictured individually. A few paragraphs of well-written history expand on the time period the panel covers. Photos and copy connect through swirls of names.
Why the change? Mutual Musicians Foundation (MMF) Vice President Anita Dixon explained:
But these interpretive panels are the wrong solution.
They change the basic character of the Foundation. You’re no longer stepping into a cacophony of photos. You no longer feel like you’re experiencing a space as Prez and Ben and Mary Lou knew it. The feeling, the magic, of stepping out of the 21st century is gone. Now, you’re standing among three big, modern interpretive panels.
They were not necessary to achieve the Board’s goals. Just three of the photos which were already hanging, one per wall, could have been moved to accommodate the new historic copy. Tags identifying faces in the photos would have always been welcome. Those simple updates would have conveyed as much information as the interpretive panels reveal, but in a way that would have made you look for it a little bit, a way where it would have stuck with you more.
More than that, just walk outside. Look at the houses and hotel surrounding the Foundation. They’re being rebuilt. As soon as the construction is complete, stepping into the neighborhood will provide context to the kind of life which surrounded this landmark. Details and elaboration on the Foundation’s walls, done right, are fine. Experiencing the restored neighborhood will be better.
Part of the Foundation’s magic is that it is not a museum (“We are still not a museum,” Anita declares). It is living, thriving history. If interpretive panels providing historic context for 18th and Vine are needed, someone should be taking that up with the museum down the block and around the corner.
The Foundation’s new panels have been up for several weeks. But they will be officially unveiled at a ceremony this Friday, August 24th, at 2 p.m. at the Mutual Musicians Foundation at 1823 Highland.
You first see, looming over the lobby, larger than you ever imagined it really was, the 1930 portrait of members of Musicians Local 627 lined up before this building. There’s Bennie Moten. There’s Bill Basie. There’s little Jimmy Rushing. This is our version of the more widely known A Great Day in Harlem. But ours came first.
You stepped into the first floor’s main room, and you were engulfed by photos, clustering all walls, of the musicians who made this building unique. You saw their faces and felt decades of their presence. You understood that you were standing, exactly, where Count Basie stood, where Lester Young played, where Mary Lou Williams socialized, where Ben Webster enjoyed a drink. You’d be surprised if the ghost of Bennie Moten tapped your shoulder here, but it wouldn’t be unexpected.
You understood you were welcome in the space some of history’s greatest jazz musicians created. It was a feeling unlike any other, at least in Kansas City. You knew otherwise, yet every sense suggested you had stepped out of the 21st century.
Not anymore.
The lobby photo remains. But the photos filling the downstairs walls are gone. They have been moved upstairs, where they’ve lost the cluster, accessibility and overwhelming intimacy they enjoyed for decades downstairs.
They have been replaced by interpretive panels.
Each of the three new panels reproduces select photos from the Foundation’s collection, with more significant musicians pictured individually. A few paragraphs of well-written history expand on the time period the panel covers. Photos and copy connect through swirls of names.
Why the change? Mutual Musicians Foundation (MMF) Vice President Anita Dixon explained:
The MMF is facing new times, new directions and was questioning whether the status quo was serving us. We came to the conclusion that it was not. We then consulted on several levels (both local and national) as to what would tell the story of the MMF through the eyes of the community from which it organically grew.Anita is a dear friend who I respect tremendously. And I understand when she further explains that the Board wanted panels to relate the history to the visitors who still crowd the Foundation for Friday and Saturday night jam sessions. And they did not just want to tell the history, but to portray it in the context of the African American community where the Foundation grew.
Local 627 was not just the place to play. It was a gathering place for children studying music, church groups with their box lunches and socials and many other things that Basie, Mary Lou and those we revere and love had much to do with. We wanted the story of the MMF to come through and the panels represent the entire picture of what happened.
But these interpretive panels are the wrong solution.
They change the basic character of the Foundation. You’re no longer stepping into a cacophony of photos. You no longer feel like you’re experiencing a space as Prez and Ben and Mary Lou knew it. The feeling, the magic, of stepping out of the 21st century is gone. Now, you’re standing among three big, modern interpretive panels.
They were not necessary to achieve the Board’s goals. Just three of the photos which were already hanging, one per wall, could have been moved to accommodate the new historic copy. Tags identifying faces in the photos would have always been welcome. Those simple updates would have conveyed as much information as the interpretive panels reveal, but in a way that would have made you look for it a little bit, a way where it would have stuck with you more.
More than that, just walk outside. Look at the houses and hotel surrounding the Foundation. They’re being rebuilt. As soon as the construction is complete, stepping into the neighborhood will provide context to the kind of life which surrounded this landmark. Details and elaboration on the Foundation’s walls, done right, are fine. Experiencing the restored neighborhood will be better.
Part of the Foundation’s magic is that it is not a museum (“We are still not a museum,” Anita declares). It is living, thriving history. If interpretive panels providing historic context for 18th and Vine are needed, someone should be taking that up with the museum down the block and around the corner.
The Foundation’s new panels have been up for several weeks. But they will be officially unveiled at a ceremony this Friday, August 24th, at 2 p.m. at the Mutual Musicians Foundation at 1823 Highland.
Monday, August 13, 2012
In Lieu of 1000 Words: Gerald Spaits Quartet
I ran into Gerald the night before. I told him I’d be at Take Five the next evening to hear his group, and I’d bring my camera. I’ve featured plenty of the terrific young jazz musicians in Kansas City today, but not so many of the guys who….
“Are old?” Gerald interjected.
No, not old. I haven’t showcased nearly enough of the guys who were playing jazz in Kansas City when I first discovered the music in the 1980s. Because these musicians are still performing at their magnificent peak.
Take Gerald Spaits, for instance. This in-demand bassist will support both Karrin Allyson and Mike Metheny in this year’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival. You only command those gigs when you’re acknowledged as one of the best.
There’s far too few opportunities to hear Charles Perkins these days. I first learned his name as the star alto soloist with Eddie Baker’s New Breed Jazz Orchestra. Charles stood out as a saxophonist I couldn’t hear enough. He still is. Meanwhile, Jack Lightfoot dominated as one of this city’s premiere trumpeters. Arny Young on drums fits right in.
Last Friday night at Take Five Coffee + Bar, the Gerald Spaits Quartet proved why Kansas City has been known as home to jazz masters continuously from Basie to today.
These four you can call outstanding. You can call them incredible. You can apply nearly any adjective of praise.
Just don’t call them old.
(As always, clicking on a photo should open a larger version of it.)
“Are old?” Gerald interjected.
No, not old. I haven’t showcased nearly enough of the guys who were playing jazz in Kansas City when I first discovered the music in the 1980s. Because these musicians are still performing at their magnificent peak.
Take Gerald Spaits, for instance. This in-demand bassist will support both Karrin Allyson and Mike Metheny in this year’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival. You only command those gigs when you’re acknowledged as one of the best.
There’s far too few opportunities to hear Charles Perkins these days. I first learned his name as the star alto soloist with Eddie Baker’s New Breed Jazz Orchestra. Charles stood out as a saxophonist I couldn’t hear enough. He still is. Meanwhile, Jack Lightfoot dominated as one of this city’s premiere trumpeters. Arny Young on drums fits right in.
Last Friday night at Take Five Coffee + Bar, the Gerald Spaits Quartet proved why Kansas City has been known as home to jazz masters continuously from Basie to today.
These four you can call outstanding. You can call them incredible. You can apply nearly any adjective of praise.
Just don’t call them old.
(As always, clicking on a photo should open a larger version of it.)
The Gerald Spaits Quartet. Left to right: Gerald Spaits on bass, Arny Young on drums, Charles Perkins on alto saxophone, Jack Lightfoot on trumpet.
Gerald Spaits
Charles Perkins on alto
Jack Lightfoot
Arny Young
Charles on bass clarinet
Charles, Arny and Jack
Enjoying Gerald's bass
Charles on flute
The Gerald Spaits Quartet at Take Five Coffee + Bar
Monday, August 6, 2012
Three Years of kcjazzlark
In the Blue Room: Matt Otto on tenor sax, Gerald Dunn on alto, and Shay Estes, vocalizing, harmonize into a single instrument, a unique sound on Matt’s unique composition. It’s a sound like none I’ve heard before, not live, anyway. Instinctively, I lean closer to the stage. I don’t want to risk missing any of it. I want to hear more.
At the Mutual Musicians Foundation: The trumpet is as big as his torso. But even at age five, Charles can hold his own in this band. Every Saturday morning, kids from Charles’s age through high school benefit from free music lessons at the Foundation. The morning I visit, they’re preparing for a competition at The Gem. But right now, I see young students rehearsing, surrounded by photos of the jazz royalty who preceded them in this room. I shoot a photo of Charles. He shoots back a dirty look.
At Take Five Coffee + Bar: Hermon Mehari on trumpet, Andy McGhie on sax, Andrew Ouellette on piano, Ben Leifer on bass, Ryan Lee on drums. This is a collection, a subset, really, of some of the outstanding young talent dominating Kansas City’s jazz scene today. They have captured the crowd. Hermon and Andy blend perfectly, then fly off into wonderful solos. This, I realize, must be the 21st century equivalent of what it was like to hear “Sweets” Edison and Jimmy Forrest perform together fifty years ago.
In this blog: The commentator passionately disagrees. He doesn’t like what he perceives the message of a post to be and defends what he feels I’ve attacked. Others respond and the first commentator posts again. I don’t participate in the exchange because, after all, I’ve already offered 800 to 1000 words on what I think. But I appreciate the disagreements. I welcome the counter opinions. I respect their passion. I enjoy the flow of thoughts.
At the Westport Coffee House: Ryan solos first. His drumming has always been impressive, since I first heard him with Diverse, but there’s more subtlety, more maturity evident now. Brian responds, building on Ryan’s lead and delivering an equally masterful solo back to him. Ryan takes that fastball and returns it. Then Brian. Then again. Stan Kessler promoted this new group heavily, through his newsletter, through Facebook posts, through personal emails. He knew this group would be special, featuring two of Kansas City’s best young drummers, Ryan Lee and Brain Steever. I have a confession: I generally don’t enjoy drum solos. Too many come across as so much banging without the intricacy of a good trumpet or sax or piano solo. I have another confession: I love listening to the drums, to the back-and-forth of two young masters, this night.
At Lake Winnebago: Mike and Pat Metheny, Tommy Ruskin, Paul Smith, Bob Bowman, Gerald Spaits and Marilyn Maye unforgettably swing a celebration of the the life of Lois Metheny. Gary Sivils tells stories about Pat that Pat’s children, sitting up front, probably shouldn’t hear. After the music concludes, as the sun sets behind the waters, Mike and Pat, and Pat’s wife and children, spread Lois’s ashes across the lake. I’m honored to have been invited, to have been asked to bring my camera, and to have the opportunity to share photos of a magic afternoon.
At the Plaza Library: Seeing the film Battleship Potemkin to the score of the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City played live, you understand what home theaters can’t do. They are not a large screen in an auditorium.They don’t accommodate a big band. They can’t replicate the experience of being mesmerized by what’s in front of you, accompanied by live music, a communal experience shared by hundreds of fans. At the time, I described this show as spectacular. Looking back, yes, that was the right word.
In this blog: A post, one of my blog posts, is linked to by NPR’s web site. I get a big head. Later, NPR’s jazz blog challenges both Plastic Sax and me to respond to an Atlantic Cities article, focused on 18th and Vine, on the sustainability of jazz branding. NPR links to my response. I get a bigger head.
At Take Five Coffee + Bar: Rich Wheeler and Matt Otto, both on tenor sax, own the crowd. This is contemporary jazz, mostly Matt’s compositions, not something easy to swing or swing with. Folding chairs have been set up, but those filled, too, so some of the audience is leaning against counters or walls. Nobody is talking. We’re in the suburbs, in Leawood, Kansas. On a Friday night, a packed coffee house is where to find jazz. While Jardine’s withered, Take Five quietly grew into an engaging jazz venue. The KC area hosts the same number of jazz sites as we did when this blog began. Only the neighborhoods and atmosphere have changed.
At The Blue Room: I'd had a bad day, and a friend offered to buy me a drink at The Blue Room. A big band and vocalist were performing and, my friend assured me, they should be good together. A young, red-haired waif strutted onto the stage and belted an up-tempo version of Miss Otis Regrets. I was astounded. Here was a jazz vocalist as outstanding as anyone, anywhere. Hearing Megan Birdsall that night inspired me to go out and discover other young performers capturing Kansas City’s jazz scene. And finding them inspired me to start this blog.
These are some of the reasons you’ll find a new post on Kansas City and jazz here most Mondays.
This week marks the third anniversary of this blog, kcjazzlark.
Thank you, everyone, for coming back and taking another look.
At the Mutual Musicians Foundation: The trumpet is as big as his torso. But even at age five, Charles can hold his own in this band. Every Saturday morning, kids from Charles’s age through high school benefit from free music lessons at the Foundation. The morning I visit, they’re preparing for a competition at The Gem. But right now, I see young students rehearsing, surrounded by photos of the jazz royalty who preceded them in this room. I shoot a photo of Charles. He shoots back a dirty look.
At Take Five Coffee + Bar: Hermon Mehari on trumpet, Andy McGhie on sax, Andrew Ouellette on piano, Ben Leifer on bass, Ryan Lee on drums. This is a collection, a subset, really, of some of the outstanding young talent dominating Kansas City’s jazz scene today. They have captured the crowd. Hermon and Andy blend perfectly, then fly off into wonderful solos. This, I realize, must be the 21st century equivalent of what it was like to hear “Sweets” Edison and Jimmy Forrest perform together fifty years ago.
In this blog: The commentator passionately disagrees. He doesn’t like what he perceives the message of a post to be and defends what he feels I’ve attacked. Others respond and the first commentator posts again. I don’t participate in the exchange because, after all, I’ve already offered 800 to 1000 words on what I think. But I appreciate the disagreements. I welcome the counter opinions. I respect their passion. I enjoy the flow of thoughts.
At the Westport Coffee House: Ryan solos first. His drumming has always been impressive, since I first heard him with Diverse, but there’s more subtlety, more maturity evident now. Brian responds, building on Ryan’s lead and delivering an equally masterful solo back to him. Ryan takes that fastball and returns it. Then Brian. Then again. Stan Kessler promoted this new group heavily, through his newsletter, through Facebook posts, through personal emails. He knew this group would be special, featuring two of Kansas City’s best young drummers, Ryan Lee and Brain Steever. I have a confession: I generally don’t enjoy drum solos. Too many come across as so much banging without the intricacy of a good trumpet or sax or piano solo. I have another confession: I love listening to the drums, to the back-and-forth of two young masters, this night.
At Lake Winnebago: Mike and Pat Metheny, Tommy Ruskin, Paul Smith, Bob Bowman, Gerald Spaits and Marilyn Maye unforgettably swing a celebration of the the life of Lois Metheny. Gary Sivils tells stories about Pat that Pat’s children, sitting up front, probably shouldn’t hear. After the music concludes, as the sun sets behind the waters, Mike and Pat, and Pat’s wife and children, spread Lois’s ashes across the lake. I’m honored to have been invited, to have been asked to bring my camera, and to have the opportunity to share photos of a magic afternoon.
At the Plaza Library: Seeing the film Battleship Potemkin to the score of the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City played live, you understand what home theaters can’t do. They are not a large screen in an auditorium.They don’t accommodate a big band. They can’t replicate the experience of being mesmerized by what’s in front of you, accompanied by live music, a communal experience shared by hundreds of fans. At the time, I described this show as spectacular. Looking back, yes, that was the right word.
In this blog: A post, one of my blog posts, is linked to by NPR’s web site. I get a big head. Later, NPR’s jazz blog challenges both Plastic Sax and me to respond to an Atlantic Cities article, focused on 18th and Vine, on the sustainability of jazz branding. NPR links to my response. I get a bigger head.
At Take Five Coffee + Bar: Rich Wheeler and Matt Otto, both on tenor sax, own the crowd. This is contemporary jazz, mostly Matt’s compositions, not something easy to swing or swing with. Folding chairs have been set up, but those filled, too, so some of the audience is leaning against counters or walls. Nobody is talking. We’re in the suburbs, in Leawood, Kansas. On a Friday night, a packed coffee house is where to find jazz. While Jardine’s withered, Take Five quietly grew into an engaging jazz venue. The KC area hosts the same number of jazz sites as we did when this blog began. Only the neighborhoods and atmosphere have changed.
At The Blue Room: I'd had a bad day, and a friend offered to buy me a drink at The Blue Room. A big band and vocalist were performing and, my friend assured me, they should be good together. A young, red-haired waif strutted onto the stage and belted an up-tempo version of Miss Otis Regrets. I was astounded. Here was a jazz vocalist as outstanding as anyone, anywhere. Hearing Megan Birdsall that night inspired me to go out and discover other young performers capturing Kansas City’s jazz scene. And finding them inspired me to start this blog.
These are some of the reasons you’ll find a new post on Kansas City and jazz here most Mondays.
This week marks the third anniversary of this blog, kcjazzlark.
Thank you, everyone, for coming back and taking another look.
Monday, July 30, 2012
This 'n That 'n Chastised
So who among Kansas City jazz fans doesn’t receive this email?
This listing of area jazz events, emailed weekly, has become an increasingly invaluable calendar of where to hear our favorite music around KC. Currently The Blue Room and other American Jazz Museum venues, and The Phoenix, participate. If Take Five, The Majestic and the Mutual Musicians Foundation would also submit listings, this could become the most complete place to find where to find live jazz in the area.
I can report that the Magic Jazz Fairy (whose tales we’ve related many times before) was delighted to see this schedule. Absolutely thrilled. Well, there was one thing that didn’t thrill it, but never mind about that.
The email is free. It’s sent weekly by AllAboutJazz.com. You can sign up here. After you do, select Update Profile and from there the Content tab to enter your zip code and to click on a box to receive the emailed schedule.
If you’re a club, to enter an event after signing in, go here (instructions for uploading multiple events are here) or click on Calendar on the site.
*****
One advantage of having all area clubs participate would be the inclusion of this event: Parallax at Take Five on August 9th.
This is Stan Kessler’s new group with a pair of outstanding drummers.
I noted last week, after hearing Matt Otto’s sextet at The Blue Room, that some of jazz’s best musicians reside in Kansas City. Parallax is further proof, as demonstrated during their first performance at the Westport Coffee House. Stan Kessler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Roger Wilder on piano, Bill McKemy on bass, and both Ryan Lee and Brian Steever on drums, are jazz musicians who could perform anywhere, anytime, with anyone.
The unique sounds of Ryan and Brian driving each other on drums, one responding to the other, edged further by Roger and Bill, and complemented by Stan, sets this group apart.
Even more….
*****
Hey, this is the Magic Jazz Fairy. I’m jumping in here. I’m taking over the rest of today’s blog, because I got to tell you about what a moron it is who’s writing this.
Not about Parallax. Everything he says about them, he’s got that right. That show, you got to see.
But let’s talk about this weekly schedule he started with.
I’m looking the schedule over. I’m looking to see what’s there and what ain’t. Now, you know how this blogger, the moron who writes this blog, you know how he jumps all over venues that don’t promote their jazz events. You know how he’s always talking about how some places don’t use the free media available to them. You’ve read that stuff, right? And he’s on track with that talk.
And you know how he’s talked about his helping with the Prairie Village Jazz Festival.
So I’m looking over this schedule, this free media schedule that this blogger moron’s been getting for months.
Guess what event ain’t on there.
Oh, there’s a festival on there all right. Rhythm and Ribs, the one he wrote “bleh” about, that one’s promoted.
But the one mister raving-about-not-using-social-media helps with? The festival mister moron blogger booked?
Well, it’ll be on that schedule this week. Moron blogger and me, we had a talk. He understands the way I see things now. At my urging, he spent a little time on the computer to get that Prairie Village festival listed.
You know, I try to spread the word on jazz. I try to keep everyone informed. I try to do my job and help. But the organizers, do they help?
Some, yeah, they do. But sometimes, they turn out to be a damned moron blogger.
I can report that the Magic Jazz Fairy (whose tales we’ve related many times before) was delighted to see this schedule. Absolutely thrilled. Well, there was one thing that didn’t thrill it, but never mind about that.
The email is free. It’s sent weekly by AllAboutJazz.com. You can sign up here. After you do, select Update Profile and from there the Content tab to enter your zip code and to click on a box to receive the emailed schedule.
If you’re a club, to enter an event after signing in, go here (instructions for uploading multiple events are here) or click on Calendar on the site.
*****
One advantage of having all area clubs participate would be the inclusion of this event: Parallax at Take Five on August 9th.
This is Stan Kessler’s new group with a pair of outstanding drummers.
I noted last week, after hearing Matt Otto’s sextet at The Blue Room, that some of jazz’s best musicians reside in Kansas City. Parallax is further proof, as demonstrated during their first performance at the Westport Coffee House. Stan Kessler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Roger Wilder on piano, Bill McKemy on bass, and both Ryan Lee and Brian Steever on drums, are jazz musicians who could perform anywhere, anytime, with anyone.
The unique sounds of Ryan and Brian driving each other on drums, one responding to the other, edged further by Roger and Bill, and complemented by Stan, sets this group apart.
Even more….
*****
Hey, this is the Magic Jazz Fairy. I’m jumping in here. I’m taking over the rest of today’s blog, because I got to tell you about what a moron it is who’s writing this.
Not about Parallax. Everything he says about them, he’s got that right. That show, you got to see.
But let’s talk about this weekly schedule he started with.
I’m looking the schedule over. I’m looking to see what’s there and what ain’t. Now, you know how this blogger, the moron who writes this blog, you know how he jumps all over venues that don’t promote their jazz events. You know how he’s always talking about how some places don’t use the free media available to them. You’ve read that stuff, right? And he’s on track with that talk.
And you know how he’s talked about his helping with the Prairie Village Jazz Festival.
So I’m looking over this schedule, this free media schedule that this blogger moron’s been getting for months.
Guess what event ain’t on there.
Oh, there’s a festival on there all right. Rhythm and Ribs, the one he wrote “bleh” about, that one’s promoted.
But the one mister raving-about-not-using-social-media helps with? The festival mister moron blogger booked?
Well, it’ll be on that schedule this week. Moron blogger and me, we had a talk. He understands the way I see things now. At my urging, he spent a little time on the computer to get that Prairie Village festival listed.
You know, I try to spread the word on jazz. I try to keep everyone informed. I try to do my job and help. But the organizers, do they help?
Some, yeah, they do. But sometimes, they turn out to be a damned moron blogger.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Changing of the Jazz Club Guard
Step inside and you first notice everything not there anymore. There’s no piano, no soundboard, no speakers. The stage lights have been stripped from their hooks. The stage is stacked with unopened mail, mostly bills. If you stepped in the pile, it would cover your ankles.
A group contemplating a jazz club where Jardine’s once ruled recently asked for my assistance. I walked through the empty space then met with restaurant consultants who had also seen it.
There’s good reason that space still sits empty. Deferred maintenance is apparent. A knowledgeable operator will see the need for investment before reopening, especially anyone planning to stay there awhile. We’re talking investment in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which needs to be balanced against the potential financial return of a relatively small space (less than 1800 square feet on the main floor).
For instance, there’s no grease traps, a modern necessity of most full-service kitchens. But balance the costs of adding those (likely in the tens of thousands of dollars) against a different concept, maybe one featuring more limited food offerings. How would those adjusted income projections impact a business model supporting a substantial annual cost to book live jazz?
That’s just one example in an admittedly enticing space – because a jazz club did operate there, for decades – full of such considerations.
The Jardine’s space can reopen as a jazz club. But only a savvy, experienced operator, with a solid concept and a carefully considered business plan, is likely to succeed there.
*****
So, look elsewhere.
The Kill Devil Club is under construction in the second floor space at 14th and Main in the Power and Light District, and is scheduled to open in September (delayed from a previously announced August opening). At their website, www.killdevilclub.com, you can sign up for a promised email newsletter but, currently, little more. They also offer a Facebook page, here, and a Twitter feed, here.
(Hint, Kill Devil people: Link to your Facebook page and your Twitter feed on your web site. And on your Twitter and Facebook pages, link to your new website, not to the Power and Light District site.)
An email describes the music the club will feature as, “upbeat and vivacious jazz music, funk, and other tunes that local artists bring to the venue,” with an emphasis on upbeat.
It’s a solid and promising direction for a new jazz club. The fact that they’re already getting their promotional toes wet with an online presence is encouraging. So is the fact that they’re reaching out to the jazz community. And so is the involvement of Manifesto owner Ryan Maybee.
My main concern is that Power and Light’s Marquee Lounge (now the Chesterfield Club) started as a live jazz club, but tales of operational discord quickly upended that focus. I trust district operator Cordish learned some lessons from those travails and will give The Kill Devil Club the time to find its jazz audience.
*****
Besides, another newer jazz spot keeps looking more and more enticing.
At the other end of the Kansas City world, geographically, in suburban Leawood, sits Take Five. Its bookings as a jazz venue rank second to no other establishment. There’s no coddling a Johnson County crowd here. Last Friday night, Rich Wheeler, Matt Otto, T.J. Martley, Ben Leifer and Sam Wisman performed Matt’s complex contemporary jazz compositions to a standing room only house. And, unlike so many other places, everybody was listening (except maybe the yawning little girl, who might have been out past her bedtime).
It’s a unique environment, a cozy living-room-like space, not designed for music which nonetheless captures the sound with near perfection. It’s like listening to a live jazz band at home among friends.
Take Five has blossomed into a bona-fide jazz venue while Jardine’s wilted then closed. It does not completely fill the Jardine’s void. It programs fewer nights. And its suburban context cannot replace Jardine’s gritty urbanism or Plaza panache. It’s a different place. But it’s a place in the Kansas City area where you’ll consistently find outstanding jazz.
*****
Last Saturday night, I heard Matt Otto again, at The Blue Room, with the sextet I photographed last January (here). The room was packed. The music proved that some of today’s greatest jazz musicians reside in Kansas City.
The Blue Room reigns as this area’s premiere jazz club. We can also boast of The Majestic. Some might toss The Phoenix into the mix, though I’ll argue it’s more blues than jazz. Meanwhile, the Mutual Musicians Foundation swings unopposed on weekends overnight.
But beyond those venues, we’re witnessing a changing of the jazz club guard. The Jardine’s space could yet reopen with jazz. Making the business case is challenging but possible. The empty club is waiting for the right operator. Yet, regardless of what happens there, Take Five is thriving as a suburban jazz hotspot. And The Kill Devil Club promises that the chance for a little more downtown grit with your jazz is in KC’s very near future.
A group contemplating a jazz club where Jardine’s once ruled recently asked for my assistance. I walked through the empty space then met with restaurant consultants who had also seen it.
There’s good reason that space still sits empty. Deferred maintenance is apparent. A knowledgeable operator will see the need for investment before reopening, especially anyone planning to stay there awhile. We’re talking investment in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which needs to be balanced against the potential financial return of a relatively small space (less than 1800 square feet on the main floor).
For instance, there’s no grease traps, a modern necessity of most full-service kitchens. But balance the costs of adding those (likely in the tens of thousands of dollars) against a different concept, maybe one featuring more limited food offerings. How would those adjusted income projections impact a business model supporting a substantial annual cost to book live jazz?
That’s just one example in an admittedly enticing space – because a jazz club did operate there, for decades – full of such considerations.
The Jardine’s space can reopen as a jazz club. But only a savvy, experienced operator, with a solid concept and a carefully considered business plan, is likely to succeed there.
*****
So, look elsewhere.
The Kill Devil Club is under construction in the second floor space at 14th and Main in the Power and Light District, and is scheduled to open in September (delayed from a previously announced August opening). At their website, www.killdevilclub.com, you can sign up for a promised email newsletter but, currently, little more. They also offer a Facebook page, here, and a Twitter feed, here.
(Hint, Kill Devil people: Link to your Facebook page and your Twitter feed on your web site. And on your Twitter and Facebook pages, link to your new website, not to the Power and Light District site.)
An email describes the music the club will feature as, “upbeat and vivacious jazz music, funk, and other tunes that local artists bring to the venue,” with an emphasis on upbeat.
It’s a solid and promising direction for a new jazz club. The fact that they’re already getting their promotional toes wet with an online presence is encouraging. So is the fact that they’re reaching out to the jazz community. And so is the involvement of Manifesto owner Ryan Maybee.
My main concern is that Power and Light’s Marquee Lounge (now the Chesterfield Club) started as a live jazz club, but tales of operational discord quickly upended that focus. I trust district operator Cordish learned some lessons from those travails and will give The Kill Devil Club the time to find its jazz audience.
*****
Besides, another newer jazz spot keeps looking more and more enticing.
At the other end of the Kansas City world, geographically, in suburban Leawood, sits Take Five. Its bookings as a jazz venue rank second to no other establishment. There’s no coddling a Johnson County crowd here. Last Friday night, Rich Wheeler, Matt Otto, T.J. Martley, Ben Leifer and Sam Wisman performed Matt’s complex contemporary jazz compositions to a standing room only house. And, unlike so many other places, everybody was listening (except maybe the yawning little girl, who might have been out past her bedtime).
It’s a unique environment, a cozy living-room-like space, not designed for music which nonetheless captures the sound with near perfection. It’s like listening to a live jazz band at home among friends.
Take Five has blossomed into a bona-fide jazz venue while Jardine’s wilted then closed. It does not completely fill the Jardine’s void. It programs fewer nights. And its suburban context cannot replace Jardine’s gritty urbanism or Plaza panache. It’s a different place. But it’s a place in the Kansas City area where you’ll consistently find outstanding jazz.
*****
Last Saturday night, I heard Matt Otto again, at The Blue Room, with the sextet I photographed last January (here). The room was packed. The music proved that some of today’s greatest jazz musicians reside in Kansas City.
The Blue Room reigns as this area’s premiere jazz club. We can also boast of The Majestic. Some might toss The Phoenix into the mix, though I’ll argue it’s more blues than jazz. Meanwhile, the Mutual Musicians Foundation swings unopposed on weekends overnight.
But beyond those venues, we’re witnessing a changing of the jazz club guard. The Jardine’s space could yet reopen with jazz. Making the business case is challenging but possible. The empty club is waiting for the right operator. Yet, regardless of what happens there, Take Five is thriving as a suburban jazz hotspot. And The Kill Devil Club promises that the chance for a little more downtown grit with your jazz is in KC’s very near future.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Classic Shots: Claude "Fiddler" Williams
I miss the Julys in Kansas City of the 1990s.
Not because it was cooler then (though it may have been), but because that was the month of the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, a much grander jazz event than any this city hosts today.
The festival was a combination of the KC jazz fest I once helped organize and the city’s annual blues festival. To the credit of its organizers, most years it was far greater than the sum of its parts.
And most years, the festival delivered the treat of hearing Claude “Fiddler” Williams. Claude first recorded with Andy Kirk’s band in 1929. He was guitarist with the Count Basie band which left Kansas City in 1936. He was part of our jazz history, internationally renowned on jazz violin, who until the end played magnificently. Every opportunity to hear him was a delight.
I’ve posted photos before of Fiddler playing with Bobby Watson in the 2000 festival (here). Below are more shots of a genuine KC jazz legend. These are from the 1998 Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, staged in Penn Valley Park 14 years ago this month, and five months past Claude’s 90th birthday. As always, clicking on a shot should open a larger version of it.
I miss hearing many of the Kansas City jazz greats who have passed since I discovered the music in the 1980s. I miss none more than Fiddler.
Not because it was cooler then (though it may have been), but because that was the month of the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, a much grander jazz event than any this city hosts today.
The festival was a combination of the KC jazz fest I once helped organize and the city’s annual blues festival. To the credit of its organizers, most years it was far greater than the sum of its parts.
And most years, the festival delivered the treat of hearing Claude “Fiddler” Williams. Claude first recorded with Andy Kirk’s band in 1929. He was guitarist with the Count Basie band which left Kansas City in 1936. He was part of our jazz history, internationally renowned on jazz violin, who until the end played magnificently. Every opportunity to hear him was a delight.
I’ve posted photos before of Fiddler playing with Bobby Watson in the 2000 festival (here). Below are more shots of a genuine KC jazz legend. These are from the 1998 Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, staged in Penn Valley Park 14 years ago this month, and five months past Claude’s 90th birthday. As always, clicking on a shot should open a larger version of it.
I miss hearing many of the Kansas City jazz greats who have passed since I discovered the music in the 1980s. I miss none more than Fiddler.
Monday, July 9, 2012
PV Jazz Fest: The Photo Schedule
I hold a vested interest in this one.
I booked the talent for this year’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival, with the mayoral-appointed committee’s advice and consent. The festival takes place September 8th in Prairie Village’s Harmon Park (at 77th and Mission Road, next to Prairie Village City Hall and Shawnee Mission East High School). The sponsor is BRGR, with a pair of terrific restaurants in Prairie Village. The lineup was announced last week.
This suburban festival aims at celebrating Kansas City jazz, seeking headliners with KC roots and filling out the schedule with a sampling of some of the best local talent. Last year’s event was rained out after the second act. This year’s number one goal: Clear skies.
With the lineup officially announced, let’s take a look at the September 8th headliners and the full schedule, peppered with photos I’ve taken of these KC jazz all-stars over the last couple of years.
The Headliners
The Schedule
I booked the talent for this year’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival, with the mayoral-appointed committee’s advice and consent. The festival takes place September 8th in Prairie Village’s Harmon Park (at 77th and Mission Road, next to Prairie Village City Hall and Shawnee Mission East High School). The sponsor is BRGR, with a pair of terrific restaurants in Prairie Village. The lineup was announced last week.
This suburban festival aims at celebrating Kansas City jazz, seeking headliners with KC roots and filling out the schedule with a sampling of some of the best local talent. Last year’s event was rained out after the second act. This year’s number one goal: Clear skies.
With the lineup officially announced, let’s take a look at the September 8th headliners and the full schedule, peppered with photos I’ve taken of these KC jazz all-stars over the last couple of years.
The Headliners
Karrin Allyson performed a few songs with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra in the first Prairie Village Jazz Festival a couple years back. This year she returns for a full set with her own group, her first KC performance in nearly a year. Since then, her album, ’Round Midnight, was nominated for a Grammy.
Bobby Watson was rained out last year, so of course we wanted to hear what the drenching made us miss. After all, Bobby is an international jazz superstar from whom we cannot hear enough.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m: Diverse – I've raved about the various incarnations of this young group since the blog began. After the festival, I get to rave once more, because drummer Ryan Lee (pictured above) leaves town in August. Brad Williams will join trumpeter Hermon Mehari and bassist Ben Leifer (also pictured above) to open the day.
4:20 - 5:20 p.m: Rich Wheeler Quartet – Rich is one of KC’s best saxophonists whose name few beyond musicians know, because he usually plays as a sideman. But not this time. At the festival, the secret is out, as he heads most of the group I photographed in May: Rich Wheeler on tenor sax, T.J. Martley on piano, Bill McKemy on bass and Sam Wisman on drums (Brian Steever drums in the photo above).
5:40 - 6:40 p.m: Mike Metheny Quartet – I’ve told Mike repeatedly we have far too few opportunities in KC to hear him play. Last year’s festival was going to correct that but Mike, like Bobby, was rained out. When you hear Mike Metheny on trumpet, flugelhorn, and/or EVI, with T.J. Martley on piano, Gerald Spaits on bass and Todd Strait on drums, you’ll understand why we were thrilled when Mike agreed to try again. You’ll also find him at the Metheny Foundation tent at the festival.
7:00 - 8:00 p.m: Megan Birdsall Quartet – Megan is one of KC’s most magnificent vocalists. I can’t say it any more plainly than that. If you haven’t had the delight to hear her live, here's your chance. If you have heard her, you know why you want to be in the audience on September 8th. Her group will include Megan Birdsall on vocals, Wayne Hawkins on piano, Bob Bowman on bass and Matt Leifer on drums.
8:20 - 9:20 p.m: Bobby Watson Quartet – Bobby will be performing with the quartet pictured above, the one with whom we’d hoped to showcase him with last year. With Bobby Watson on alto sax, his longtime bassist Curtis Lundy flying in from New York, Chris Clarke on piano and Michael Warren on drums, it’s hard to imagine a better headliner in any jazz festival.
9:40 - 10:55 p.m: Karrin Allyson Quintet – When Karrin lived in KC, I went to The Phoenix nearly every Tuesday night and sat at the piano bar to hear her on vocals and piano with Rod Fleeman on guitar. I knew I was hearing a talent who would someday be internationally recognized as a jazz star. With multiple Grammy nominations now under her belt, here's a chance to see one of jazz’s best vocalists, with Karrin Allyson on piano and vocals, Bob Sheppard from Los Angeles on tenor sax and flute, Rod Fleeman on guitar, Gerald Spaits on bass and Todd Strait on drums.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Compared to Our Peers
It was the middle of the week, a Wednesday night. I didn’t recognize the name of the leader of the group, but he was a drummer from California, and quite good. He brought a clarinetist with him. The group was rounded out with a local bassist and trumpet player.
Much of the audience was in their 40s, and younger. The cover charge was $15.00. Nearly everyone held a drink. Maybe half had ordered dinner. The jazz club, about a hundred seats by my guess, was sold out.
On a Wednesday night. With a $15.00 cover charge.
In Denver, Colorado.
*****
I wanted to hear them, last Saturday night at Take Five, because these are five of Kansas City’s best young jazz musicians. I knew I’d hear good jazz. But I didn’t expect this.
Andy McGhie on tenor sax and Hermon Mehari on trumpet meshed like a single instrument, then on solos individually exploded. Andy and Hermon play a more modern sound, but I know where I’ve heard this before: On recordings of “Sweets” Edison and Jimmy Forrest. This is what “Sweets” and Jimmy would sound like if they were raised a couple of generations later and recorded in 2012 instead of 1958.
Behind them, Andrew Ouellette on piano and Ben Leifer on bass provided perfect support and provocative solos. But the night’s best interplay was between Hermon and drummer Ryan Lee. The synergy between these two musicians, the way one drives the other and each instinctively responds, is jazz at its best.
Some groups of young musicians try to stretch the music's edge, and sometimes that doesn’t work. But Saturday night, I heard young masters playing modern jazz, and everything worked. The music was fresh, accessible and superb.
*****
A vacation in Denver a couple weeks back included a peek at the city’s jazz scene. With a metro area population about 600,000 more than Kansas City, a large downtown thriving day and night with new art and history museums and Coors Field, an expansive light rail system, nearby University of Colorado, and mountains, Denver is home to a couple of well known downtown jazz clubs.
Most famous is Dazzle, sporting a reputation as Denver’s premiere jazz and supper club. Walk in and choose to sit at a bar outside the music area or pay the cover charge and slip through black drapes into the entertainment room. There, a large stage stretches across the front. Small tables are packed together, wait staff barely able to slip between them. Maybe 100 patrons will fill the room. Sound is excellent. Meals run in the $16 to $20-plus range. Food is good but not exceptional. This is the Denver equivalent of Jardine’s.
Dazzle’s website says cover most weeknights runs $5 to $7, so apparently I caught a special act. Regardless, I was impressed that the room was filled in the middle of the week despite the substantial cover. And this was the first of two shows that night. Another cover was required for the 9:00 performance.
I left impressed but despaired. Dazzle made obvious the hole ripped through Kansas City’s jazz scene by the loss of Jardine’s. Kansas City currently hosts no comparable venue.
The Blue Room is an outstanding jazz club. But no suppers – or any kind of food – are found there. The Majestic serves suppers, but priced to make them a rare experience. Take Five offers meals, and its environment is wonderful, but it’s not a jazz club.
*****
The music at Dazzle was good but, outside of the drummer leading the group, the musicians seemed tight. At the end of the set, I sensed more relief than enthusiasm.
The night before, I visited other Denver jazz spots. El Chapultepec, a couple blocks from the baseball stadium, has featured jazz for over thirty years. Walls are lined with photos of Milt Hinton, Slide Hampton, Budd Johnson, Buddy Tate, Sweets Edison, and dozens others. It’s a mix between Milton’s and The Phoenix when Karrin Allyson played there. A piano dominates the small stage. Music starts at 9. This night, the singer was fun, and her pianist and bassist were good. But with a drummer who pounded his instrument like his goal was to break it, one set was enough.
The bartender suggested checking out Herb’s, an easy walk away. There a jam session, anchored by a Hammond B3, was swinging the bar, with some fine musicians rotating in and out. The manager said Herb's books a variety of music, but Tuesday is jazz jam night.
*****
In Kansas City, there’s hope. A new jazz club opens next month in downtown’s Power and Light District, where Peachtree once served. Developer Cordish has brought in Ryan Maybee, who knows Kansas City’s jazz scene and whose bar Manifesto is arguably the best place in town to buy a drink.
To be called The Kill Devil Club, its 5400 square feet and 120 seats sounds large for a jazz venue. And they’re talking a food menu of small plates, which was not a rousing success when Cordish tried to open the nearby Marquee Lounge as a jazz club. But between Cordish’s backing (they will own and operate the club) and Ryan’s experience, there’s reason to be optimistic that The Kill Devil Club will be given the chance to find its audience.
Meanwhile, the Marquee has been rechristened the Chesterfield to recount KC’s jazz age, though it’s not clear whether that recounting will include live jazz.
And I’m aware of at least one other group working to establish a new jazz club in Kansas City.
*****
We do not have a jazz supper club. Not right now. But we have the musicians. That’s what sets Kansas City apart.
Granted, a couple weeknights on the town provides just a glimpse of Denver’s jazz scene.
But the jazz I heard in Denver does not approach the quality and excitement of the jazz I heard in a Kansas City suburb last Saturday night.
I’m jealous of Denver’s venue.
But we have the musicians.
Much of the audience was in their 40s, and younger. The cover charge was $15.00. Nearly everyone held a drink. Maybe half had ordered dinner. The jazz club, about a hundred seats by my guess, was sold out.
On a Wednesday night. With a $15.00 cover charge.
In Denver, Colorado.
*****
I wanted to hear them, last Saturday night at Take Five, because these are five of Kansas City’s best young jazz musicians. I knew I’d hear good jazz. But I didn’t expect this.
Andy McGhie on tenor sax and Hermon Mehari on trumpet meshed like a single instrument, then on solos individually exploded. Andy and Hermon play a more modern sound, but I know where I’ve heard this before: On recordings of “Sweets” Edison and Jimmy Forrest. This is what “Sweets” and Jimmy would sound like if they were raised a couple of generations later and recorded in 2012 instead of 1958.
Behind them, Andrew Ouellette on piano and Ben Leifer on bass provided perfect support and provocative solos. But the night’s best interplay was between Hermon and drummer Ryan Lee. The synergy between these two musicians, the way one drives the other and each instinctively responds, is jazz at its best.
Some groups of young musicians try to stretch the music's edge, and sometimes that doesn’t work. But Saturday night, I heard young masters playing modern jazz, and everything worked. The music was fresh, accessible and superb.
*****
A vacation in Denver a couple weeks back included a peek at the city’s jazz scene. With a metro area population about 600,000 more than Kansas City, a large downtown thriving day and night with new art and history museums and Coors Field, an expansive light rail system, nearby University of Colorado, and mountains, Denver is home to a couple of well known downtown jazz clubs.
Most famous is Dazzle, sporting a reputation as Denver’s premiere jazz and supper club. Walk in and choose to sit at a bar outside the music area or pay the cover charge and slip through black drapes into the entertainment room. There, a large stage stretches across the front. Small tables are packed together, wait staff barely able to slip between them. Maybe 100 patrons will fill the room. Sound is excellent. Meals run in the $16 to $20-plus range. Food is good but not exceptional. This is the Denver equivalent of Jardine’s.
Dazzle’s website says cover most weeknights runs $5 to $7, so apparently I caught a special act. Regardless, I was impressed that the room was filled in the middle of the week despite the substantial cover. And this was the first of two shows that night. Another cover was required for the 9:00 performance.
I left impressed but despaired. Dazzle made obvious the hole ripped through Kansas City’s jazz scene by the loss of Jardine’s. Kansas City currently hosts no comparable venue.
The Blue Room is an outstanding jazz club. But no suppers – or any kind of food – are found there. The Majestic serves suppers, but priced to make them a rare experience. Take Five offers meals, and its environment is wonderful, but it’s not a jazz club.
*****
The music at Dazzle was good but, outside of the drummer leading the group, the musicians seemed tight. At the end of the set, I sensed more relief than enthusiasm.
The night before, I visited other Denver jazz spots. El Chapultepec, a couple blocks from the baseball stadium, has featured jazz for over thirty years. Walls are lined with photos of Milt Hinton, Slide Hampton, Budd Johnson, Buddy Tate, Sweets Edison, and dozens others. It’s a mix between Milton’s and The Phoenix when Karrin Allyson played there. A piano dominates the small stage. Music starts at 9. This night, the singer was fun, and her pianist and bassist were good. But with a drummer who pounded his instrument like his goal was to break it, one set was enough.
The bartender suggested checking out Herb’s, an easy walk away. There a jam session, anchored by a Hammond B3, was swinging the bar, with some fine musicians rotating in and out. The manager said Herb's books a variety of music, but Tuesday is jazz jam night.
*****
In Kansas City, there’s hope. A new jazz club opens next month in downtown’s Power and Light District, where Peachtree once served. Developer Cordish has brought in Ryan Maybee, who knows Kansas City’s jazz scene and whose bar Manifesto is arguably the best place in town to buy a drink.
To be called The Kill Devil Club, its 5400 square feet and 120 seats sounds large for a jazz venue. And they’re talking a food menu of small plates, which was not a rousing success when Cordish tried to open the nearby Marquee Lounge as a jazz club. But between Cordish’s backing (they will own and operate the club) and Ryan’s experience, there’s reason to be optimistic that The Kill Devil Club will be given the chance to find its audience.
Meanwhile, the Marquee has been rechristened the Chesterfield to recount KC’s jazz age, though it’s not clear whether that recounting will include live jazz.
And I’m aware of at least one other group working to establish a new jazz club in Kansas City.
*****
We do not have a jazz supper club. Not right now. But we have the musicians. That’s what sets Kansas City apart.
Granted, a couple weeknights on the town provides just a glimpse of Denver’s jazz scene.
But the jazz I heard in Denver does not approach the quality and excitement of the jazz I heard in a Kansas City suburb last Saturday night.
I’m jealous of Denver’s venue.
But we have the musicians.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Wanted: Aspirations
Headliners for this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival, over Labor Day weekend, in Detroit’s Hart Park: Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Pat Metheny Unity Band, Chick Corea and Gray Burton, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Joe Lovano, Art Blakey Tribute with Terence Blanchard, Lew Tabackin Quartet featuring Randy Brecker, Charles McPherson/Tom Harrell Quintet, Donald Harrison Quintet, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Pancho Sanchez, Artuto O’Farrill Septet with Donald Harrison, Ellery Eskelin Trio, Kenny Garret Quartet, Louis Hayes Quaret.
Wow.
Headliners for this year’s Rhythm and Ribs Jazz and Blues Festival, on October 13 in the 18th and Vine district: Arturo Sandoval, Joe Louis Walker, Angie Stone.
Bleh.
This year we’ll see the third downsized festival since Rhythm and Ribs’s resurrection. And let’s recognize that last year, organizers staged an extraordinarily professional event. They expertly managed virtually every detail, from the staging of the music right down to the signage. It was marketed strongly. The vendors with whom I spoke were thrilled. I estimated crowd size at around 7000 for the day (as far as I know, no official numbers were announced), and most of them appeared thrilled, too.
The American Jazz Museum’s 2011 audit report, available on the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation website (download PDF here) covers the first revived festival, in 2010. Without breaking out details, it notes that 2010 was the first Rhythm and Ribs Festival ever to turn a profit. It seems reasonable to assume last year’s did, too.
But something is missing.
Museum officials two years back spoke of the 2010 event as a fresh start. After a year’s absence, in 2010 Rhythm and Ribs was back. It was downsized, out of Parade Park, into a more confined (and, presumably, more affordable) space between the American Jazz Museum and the Gregg Community Center, and with a more limited line-up. But that was just the start, officials said. The festival would grow from there.
Two years later, the festival shows no aspirations of growing.
The space is good, the right fit for the crowd the festival currently attracts.
But festival talent seems settled in a pattern of one good but not particularly major jazz headliner, one blues headliner, and one headliner with crossover appeal who presumably will be the one to draw a crowd.
That’s a pattern to bring about 7000 people into 18th and Vine for a day. That’s a pattern to maintain a day of profit and high profile for the American Jazz Museum. Both are solid goals.
But that’s a pattern, not a start. It’s not a pattern showing any confidence in jazz. It’s not a pattern showing any aspiration of building into a significant jazz festival.
And it’s largely not the American Jazz Museum’s fault.
Look at the Detroit Jazz Festival’s web site (here). Look at its history. That festival started in 1980 and received an endowment of ten million dollars in 2006. That’s why it can afford Rollins and Marsalis and Metheny and dozens more in 2012.
The Kansas City Jazz Festival in the 1980s grew not from a bunch of jazz fans, but from a civic organization of young professionals, with strong connections to Kansas City’s business and philanthropic communities, looking to make a contribution to the city.
That’s the support a jazz festival needs to grow beyond a well organized annual fundraiser. Lacking a ten million dollar benefactor, it requires the resources and stature which follow the civic community stepping forward and saying Kansas City needs and deserves something better.
I wrote after last year’s festival that it appeared the civic community had coalesced behind Rhythm and Ribs as Kansas City’s annual jazz event. Now, I’m dubious. Rather, some businesses are contributing to a fundraising day for the Jazz Museum in the guise of a festival.
Every one of us should support that.
But in its third year, Rhythm and Ribs appears to have settled into a comfort zone, and that zone includes no apparent aspirations to be anything more than a profitable day with a jazz guy, a blues guy and someone who will draw a bigger crowd than either the jazz guy or blues guy will draw.
Unquestionably, this city will support a major jazz event. The Kansas City Jazz Festival of the 1980s attracted tens of thousands of people over a weekend. It can happen again.
But it requires more than jazz fans. It requires an organization with strong business ties.
Or maybe there’s another answer.
Maybe an organization can build a jazz festival in Kansas City with the support of a company looking to bring its brand into this market with a major new venture, looking to garner civic support and acclaim, which can be sold on the benefit of attaching itself to a major community celebration.
The Kansas City Google Jazz Festival, anyone?
Wow.
Headliners for this year’s Rhythm and Ribs Jazz and Blues Festival, on October 13 in the 18th and Vine district: Arturo Sandoval, Joe Louis Walker, Angie Stone.
Bleh.
This year we’ll see the third downsized festival since Rhythm and Ribs’s resurrection. And let’s recognize that last year, organizers staged an extraordinarily professional event. They expertly managed virtually every detail, from the staging of the music right down to the signage. It was marketed strongly. The vendors with whom I spoke were thrilled. I estimated crowd size at around 7000 for the day (as far as I know, no official numbers were announced), and most of them appeared thrilled, too.
The American Jazz Museum’s 2011 audit report, available on the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation website (download PDF here) covers the first revived festival, in 2010. Without breaking out details, it notes that 2010 was the first Rhythm and Ribs Festival ever to turn a profit. It seems reasonable to assume last year’s did, too.
But something is missing.
Museum officials two years back spoke of the 2010 event as a fresh start. After a year’s absence, in 2010 Rhythm and Ribs was back. It was downsized, out of Parade Park, into a more confined (and, presumably, more affordable) space between the American Jazz Museum and the Gregg Community Center, and with a more limited line-up. But that was just the start, officials said. The festival would grow from there.
Two years later, the festival shows no aspirations of growing.
The space is good, the right fit for the crowd the festival currently attracts.
But festival talent seems settled in a pattern of one good but not particularly major jazz headliner, one blues headliner, and one headliner with crossover appeal who presumably will be the one to draw a crowd.
That’s a pattern to bring about 7000 people into 18th and Vine for a day. That’s a pattern to maintain a day of profit and high profile for the American Jazz Museum. Both are solid goals.
But that’s a pattern, not a start. It’s not a pattern showing any confidence in jazz. It’s not a pattern showing any aspiration of building into a significant jazz festival.
And it’s largely not the American Jazz Museum’s fault.
Look at the Detroit Jazz Festival’s web site (here). Look at its history. That festival started in 1980 and received an endowment of ten million dollars in 2006. That’s why it can afford Rollins and Marsalis and Metheny and dozens more in 2012.
The Kansas City Jazz Festival in the 1980s grew not from a bunch of jazz fans, but from a civic organization of young professionals, with strong connections to Kansas City’s business and philanthropic communities, looking to make a contribution to the city.
That’s the support a jazz festival needs to grow beyond a well organized annual fundraiser. Lacking a ten million dollar benefactor, it requires the resources and stature which follow the civic community stepping forward and saying Kansas City needs and deserves something better.
I wrote after last year’s festival that it appeared the civic community had coalesced behind Rhythm and Ribs as Kansas City’s annual jazz event. Now, I’m dubious. Rather, some businesses are contributing to a fundraising day for the Jazz Museum in the guise of a festival.
Every one of us should support that.
But in its third year, Rhythm and Ribs appears to have settled into a comfort zone, and that zone includes no apparent aspirations to be anything more than a profitable day with a jazz guy, a blues guy and someone who will draw a bigger crowd than either the jazz guy or blues guy will draw.
Unquestionably, this city will support a major jazz event. The Kansas City Jazz Festival of the 1980s attracted tens of thousands of people over a weekend. It can happen again.
But it requires more than jazz fans. It requires an organization with strong business ties.
Or maybe there’s another answer.
Maybe an organization can build a jazz festival in Kansas City with the support of a company looking to bring its brand into this market with a major new venture, looking to garner civic support and acclaim, which can be sold on the benefit of attaching itself to a major community celebration.
The Kansas City Google Jazz Festival, anyone?
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