Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*KCJazzLark hauls out heavy artillery- two previously unreleased live tracks by Jay McShann- in an adamant retort to this Plastic Sax post.  My friend knows that I'm deeply devoted to McShann.  For the record, I stand by my assertion that "(s)wing-based jazz will never die, but I expect it to take a permanent seat next to Dixieland on the cultural sidelines by 2042."

*A lengthy essay by Bob McWilliams praises the efforts of Take Five Coffee + Bar and the Blue Room.

*Robert Trussell admires a Marilyn Maye performance at the Quality Hill Playhouse.

*Pat Metheny was voted "Guitarist of the Year" in the 2012 DownBeat Readers Poll.

*Bobby Watson is the subject of an interesting interview in a Pennsylvania newspaper.

*A video documents the construction of the Folly Theater's new signage.

*A stammering buffoon extolled the virtues of Pat Metheny, Deborah Brown and The Project H on KCUR's Up to Date last week.  The show about Kanas City's music scene is available as a stream or as a download.

*Tweet o' the Week: IsleOfCapriKC- #FREE LIVE Jazz and Blues EVERY SUNDAY in the Lone Wolf Bar @IsleOfCapriKC! (performance schedule)

*Comment o' the Week: Matt Leifer- As to anon's comment and the responses to it...  I think it's safe to say that the primary base of readers of this blog are A) musicians or B) jazz fans, most of whom fall in to that born before 1960 category. Aside from the fact that it's obviously not the opinion of someone who would belong to category B, people born before 1960 have higher standards of grammar and generally present themselves in a more educated way.  So, since I would put money on Anon being a musician of some sort I'd deduce that either 1) everybody just was trolled, hard, or...  2) Anon is a musician, and a plebe, destined to continue on a course of musical mediocrity until he either dies or gives it up. (The former, if we're lucky.) Now, I'm not saying that musicians that don't play jazz are plebes, I'm saying that musicians who don't RESPECT jazz are destined for f***ing failure. Whatever musical path someone is on, I don't think there's anyone worth a god damn who doesn't at least accept its validity and importance, whether or not they choose to be a practitioner of it. If you are that musically shallow and narrow minded, your music is going to suck.  I'm going to go with troll, however.

*From AfterGroove: Some of you may not be aware, but we lost our good friend (& drummer) Quinton McDonnell to cancer in August. We have planned a fund raiser/celebration event on what would have been his 46th birthday at Aftershock Bar & Grill. AfterGroove will be performing with the various great musicians who have had the opportunity to play with Quinton throughout the years. It will be an exciting evening with LOTS of great music. There will be a $5 cover and we will also be selling raffle tickets for $5 each. We have $1000.00 worth of merchandise donated by various businesses. So your odds of winning are extremely good! The lose of Quinton has left his family in a very bad financial position. Please come out and support the cause. (November 18, 5-8 p.m.)

*From Jim Mair: A full house stood and applauded the Bram Wijnands Trio long and loud at Kansas City Kansas Community College Thursday.  The second in a “Jazz by the Lake” noon concert jazz series held the first Thursday of the month, the performance drew a standing room only crowd in the College’s Conference Center adjacent to the campus lake… The Joe Cartwright Trio will be featured in the third concert of the series from noon-1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6. The 2013 schedule will feature Diverse Feb. 5, Chris Hazelton and Friends March 7 and Tim Whitmer April 4.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Oscar "Lucky" Wesley of The Scamps died March 27th. The Star has the story.

*The Jazz In the Woods festival has announced its 2010 lineup. Plastic Sax is very pleased to note that Erin Bode and Bobby Watson are included this year. Bode, Mingo Fishtrap and Mindi Abair perform June 11. Matt Marshak, the Bobby Watson Quartet featuring Curtis Lundy and Nick Colionne/Steve Cole play the following day.

*The Pitch and KC Confidential comment on 12 O'Clock Jump's unceremonious exit from the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

*In addition to the aforementioned controversial item, the agenda of a recent Foundation meeting includes an entry titled "MMF Jazz Radio Show."

*The live entertainment accompanying the May 6 film premiere of Sue Vicory's Kansas City Jazz & Blues: Past, Present & Future is very compelling. Diverse, Matt Otto, Stan Kessler, Lonnie McFadden, Mama Ray and Marilyn Maye are slated to perform. Jazz trumpeter Mike Metheny and country vocalist Jessi Colter will also be on hand for the event at the Gem Theater.

*The greatness of Myra Taylor is documented by KCJazzLark.

*From AfterGroove: "We are looking for your ideas for the name and concept of our next cd. We are recording it now. If we use your idea, you will be listed on the cd and you will receive your own copy."

*Black House Improvisors' Collective continue to post intriguing content at their site.

*Here's a new video of Mouth performing live on KKFI.

*I've heard a rumor that GiGi's Jazz Inn, an establishment on Troost without any internet presence, has obtained a liquor license.

*The Kansas City Jazz Calendar has been updated. Careful observers will note that I usually omit R&B, blues and cabaret acts. Yet I couldn't resist including Greg Ginn's April 6 gig at the Record Bar. I'm one of the jazz-punk genre's 326 fans.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Valuable information about the American Jazz Museum and the Mutual Musicians Foundation is provided by Steve Penn. (Can any Plastic Sax readers offer additional insights into the reference to the album collection from Milton's?)

*The Phoenix might be remodeled according to Hearne Christopher.

*Ken Peplowski's tribute to Benny Goodman is previewed by The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. The show is at the Folly Theater on December 18.

*AfterGroove has an impressive new promotional video.

*A Diverse gig is reviewed at a senior citizen's blog. Awesome.

*Sue Vicory has announced that her Kansas City jazz and blues documentary will have its official premiere on May 6.

*Ten live performance videos by the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra were recently uploaded at YouTube.

*Tony of Tony's Kansas City continues his Dave Stephens coverage here and here. Hearne Christopher chimes in here.

*Between Kevin Mahogany, Mark Pender and the Hatchlings, the Cherokee Jazz & Blues Festival in Iowa has strong ties to Kansas City.

*Mouth may or may not be a jazz band, but they sure work hard to promote their gigs. "Everything that you wish that the jazz bands had- they've got it," a reggae musician says of Mouth in this promotional video for their Funk & Reggae Dance Summit at the Beaumont Club on December 18.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Good news! A "Jazz Winterlude" will be held at Johnson County Community College in January. Artists participating in the three-day festival include the Luqman Hamza Trio, the New Red Onion Jazz Babies, Danny Embrey/Rod Fleeman, the Greg Carroll Quartet, the Rich Hill/Charles Perkins Quartet, 9 Plus 1, the James Ward Trio, the Doug Talley Quintet, Sherry Jones/Mike Ning, Sons of Brasil, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and the Dan DeLuca Trio. Tickets are available here. (Tip via a generous reader.)

*A stellar quartet featuring David Basse, Kim Park, Jerry Hahn and Bob Bowman play the R Bar four consecutive Thursdays starting October 15. The new venue is at 1617 Gennessee in the West Bottoms.

*Hearne Christopher makes an unflattering insinuation concerning David Basse. He also notes the passing of John Albertson.

*Joe Klopus' most recent column reminded me of Johnson County Community College's lunch hour jazz series. I've added the remaining dates to the Kansas City Jazz Calendar.

*Friend o' blog Lee Ingalls has unleashed the second New Low Down podcast. It features a new Sons of Brazil track as well as audio from the sorely missed Rhythm & Ribs festival. Download it here. Well done, Lee!

*Here's the week in jazz according to Mark Edelman.

*I was surprised but encouraged to spot one of Kansas City's brightest jazz musicians among the capacity crowd of 3,000 at last night's Wilco concert.

*Gary Sexton of AfterGroove informed me that Chris Botti and his band relaxed after their September 25 concert at the Midland by catching AfterGroove's set at the Drum Room. Botti's guitarist even sat in with the band.

*From Jeremy of Mouth: To promote our CD release party at Jardine's on October 10th, we're making available a three-song sample of our upcoming release. You can download it here.

*From Allen Myers: I have composed a suite which draws inspiration from the famous Coleman Hawkins recording of Body and Soul. The suite will be apart of the Northwinds Jazz Band concert to be held on October 11th at 3:00 p.m. The performance will take place at the outdoor amphitheater in Oak Grove Park in Gladstone, MO. (Tip via a Myers fan.)

*From a press release: The first session of the Black House Improvisors' Collective will conclude with a performance of new music as part of the Charlotte Street Foundation's Urban Culture Project third friday event... All music to be performed at the concluding performance has been newly composed by members of the collective. The participants are: Stan Kessler, Derek Worthington, Peter Lawless, Russell Thorpe, Hunter Long, Patrick Ketter, Brad Baumgardner, Blake Rayfield, Alex King and Sam Wisman. The free event takes place October 16 from 8-9:00pm in City Center Square at 1100 Main.

(This is the first non-original image I've posted at Plastic Sax since 2007. As everything about it fills me with mirth, I just couldn't resist sharing it. Image via J.P.)

The Angry Epicurean

I was forced to swallow a bitter cocktail consisting of two parts nostalgia and one part disappointment last Sunday afternoon.

Eager to get the Chiefs' painful loss to the Raiders off my mind, I scanned MySpace's live music calendar. Lo and behold, contemporary jazz band AfterGroove was playing a matinee show at the Epicurean.

The Epicurean! I hadn't been to the club at 75th and Troost in years. I was a regular when it served as one of Kansas City's many jazz-oriented venues in the '80s and early '90s. Claude "Fiddler" Williams played to attentive audiences in the space. I also recall that the funky sound of organ jazz combos would often pack its dance floor.

Not counting the two women busily preparing for a birthday party, four lonely patrons took in AfterGroove's fine first set Sunday.

It saddened me to witness such a desultory scene on the site of so many past glories. Besides, AfterGroove is really good at what they do. While their David Sanborn-based sound isn't exactly to my taste, AfterGroove surprised me by playing selections from two of my longtime favorite albums, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage and Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer. This video captures their approach.

The poor attendance shouldn't have surprised me. The Epicurean doesn't advertise. They don't use Twitter. They don't even have a web site. Furthermore, while musicians are under no obligation to submit their dates to me for inclusion in the Kansas City Jazz Calendar, it's discouraging when they fail to do so. At least AfterGroove listed their gig at MySpace. It managed, after all, to get me to their show.

Nonetheless, the bad taste in my mouth remains.

The Smooth Jazz of AfterGroove

Few formerly popular genres of music are more out of favor than smooth jazz. The style is derided by elitists and ignored by the masses.

It's never bothered me. I first realized smooth jazz was my friend when I witnessed a classmate's older sister gyrating to Mister Magic in the mid-'70s.

I even chose to spend part of Fat Tuesday checking out smooth jazz band AfterGroove at Jardine's. They focused on the staples- Grover Washington, Jr., Herbie Mann and the like.

It didn't matter that the excellent musicians have virtually no stage presence. They were smooth.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)