Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

















*Sue Vicory is selling unpackaged screener versions of her Kansas City Jazz & Blues: Past, Present & Future documentary at her new site. Each DVD is $10 plus $1 shipping through her PayPal link.

*Greg Carroll of the American Jazz Museum tells Steve Penn about Blue Room Ale.

*An intriguing new track from a rehearsal is available at the latest post by the Black House Improvisors' Collective.

*I never tire of saying it- KCJazzLark is a great photographer. He documented last month's Junior Mance Quintet performance at the Blue Room.

*Tim Finn explains how many Kansas City musicians celebrate carnival season.

*NPR provides yet another (wholly deserving) feature on Joe Lovano's Charlie Parker tribute album. The saxophonist plays the Folly Theater on April 2.

*Jay McShann and Ollie Gates are invoked in an interesting story about schoolchildren in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

*Brad Mehldau will perform in Columbia, Missouri, on April 8. (Initial tip via Steve Paul.)

*Here are reports #56 and #57 on Dave Stephens from you-know-who.

*A tourist asks where he can hear jazz while dining on barbecue during a visit to Kansas City. That's a real head-scratcher.

*Uruguayan jazz pianist Gustavo Casenave performed the music of Astor Piazzolla in Kansas City last weekend. A dullard reviewed the concert.

*Tweet o' the Week: KCTrumpeter I'm playing Jardines tonight from 6-10 w/ Peter Schlamb (STL/NYC), Karl McComas-Reichl (Iowa/NYC), and Ryan Lee!. (I also recommend following trumpeter Nicholas Payton.)

*From Jim Mair of Kansas City Kansas Community College: Yale University's student a cappella vocal jazz ensemble, Redhot & Blue, will give a midday performance in PAC on March 14th at 2pm. They will also have an exchange with our vocal jazz ensemble, "The Standard" at Noon in the Choir Room. Both events are free and the public is invited! Watch the ensemble perform "Summertime" here.

*From the University of Kansas: The KU School of Music is pleased to present the 34th Annual KU Jazz Festival on March 4-5, and a new component to this year’s festival is the KU Jazz Festival After Hours Jazz Sessions held at The Oread--All Seasons Den (1200 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS), Friday and Saturday evening, March 4-5, from 10pm-12:30am. These jazz sessions will feature various performers from the KU Jazz Festival: Friday evening performers include pianist and KU graduate Nick Weiser and saxophonist and Eastman School of Music graduate Will Cleary. Wayne Hawkins, KU lecturer in jazz piano, will headline the Saturday evening session, and on both Friday and Saturday evenings Jeff Harshbarger, KU lecturer in jazz bass, and Sam Wisman, Kansas City jazz drummer, will perform. Admission to these sessions is free; cash bar will be available.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)