Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Shows by Guitar Elation and Lonnie McFadden are among The Kansas City Star’s latest concert recommendations.

*Joe Dimino documented a performance by Dave Scott.

*Student saxophonist Henry Scamurra catches the attention of the St. Joseph News-Press.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra- Heading into 2020 and celebrating Pablo’s 17th Year of presenting Salsa and Latin Jazz on 18th & Vine. Longest running Salsa night in the region! A gozarrr #SalsaesCultura

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Dave Scott

The New York based trumpeter Dave Scott returns to his old stomping grounds for a couple appearances including a headlining show at RecordBar on Sunday, December 29.  His new album In Search of Hipness is one of the most intriguing releases of the year by a jazz musician affiliated with Kansas City.

Album Review: Dave Scott- In Search of Hipness

The great sage Willie Dixon insisted that “you can’t judge a book by looking at the cover.”  If I hadn’t already seen the former Kansas City area resident Dave Scott perform several times, the lamentable title and uninspired album art of In Search of Hipness would have compelled me to take a hard pass on his new release.

My shallowness would have caused me to missed out on of the new year’s most intriguing albums.  The packaging may not be hip, but trumpeter's off-kilter New York City chamber jazz is extremely stylish.  Even as the recording echoes the past masters Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Andrew Hill, it’s entirely au currant.  Violinist Sarah Bernstein, guitarist Nate Radley, pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Mark Ferber help Scott create up-to-the-minute soundscapes. 

Dixon also proclaimed that “you can’t judge right by looking at the wrong.”  Adventurous jazz fans shouldn’t allow the surface imperfections of In Search of Hipness to dissuade them from appreciating Scott’s extraordinarily beautiful work.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*The editorial board of The Kansas City Star questions the wisdom of Kansas City allotting more than $1 million of its next fiscal-year budget to the American Jazz Museum.

*Kurt Elling chatted with Steve Kraske on KCUR’s Up To Date.

*Controversy continues to swirl around the Garment House, the multi-story entertainment complex that includes the jazz-oriented Hush Speakeasy.

*Dave Scott chatted with Joe Dimino.

*Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston will perform at the Wichita Jazz Festival on March 30.  (Tip via PF.)

*Tweet o’ the Week: Grant- The Jazz Museum & NLB Museum next door deserve as much tax revenue as it takes to sustain them. Such rich culture and important history on display. They're critical in maintaining the identify of Kansas City, although it's astounding how many KC suburbanites haven't visited them.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Concert Review: Steve Cardenas at Black Dolphin

The band dropped out as Matt Otto took a solo on a bracing version of Ornette Coleman’s “Congeniality” at Black Dolphin on Thursday.  The saxophonist’s statement was so enthralling that even an offensively inattentive person at the bar fell silent.  Otto’s incandescent statement was the standout moment of the 80-minute opening set of an ensemble led by the New York based guitarist Steve Cardenas.  He was accompanied by Otto, trumpeter Dave Scott, bassist Ben Leifer and drummer Marty Morrison.  A full house of about 100 attended the free show.  Otto’s solo was the most blatantly adventurous outburst of the set, but Cardenas’ thoughtful solos intimated similarly knotty concepts. Video snippets of the show were captured by Joe Dimino and Plastic Sax.

Setlist: Spring (Matt Otto), Congeniality (Ornette Coleman), Song For Janie (Dave Scott, title uncertain), Subconscious-Lee (Lee Konitz), New Moon (Steve Cardenas), Rhythm-a-Ning (Thelonious Monk).

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)