Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Guitarist Brian Baggett is the latest area jazz musician to be interviewed by Joe Dimino on Neon Jazz.

*Vine Street Rumble made a television appearance.

*The Kansas City Star reports on a possible new museum dedicated to Negro league baseball in Birmingham, Alabama.  The institution would ostensibly compete for funding and artifacts with Kansas City's Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  The adjoining American Jazz Museum already faces competition from entities including The Jazz Museum in Harlem.

*The author of a letter recalls an encounter with the late John Elliott.

*The Pitch plugs a performance by the Bram Wijnands Swingtet.

*Jazz pianist Paul Smith has died.  Thankfully for the regional jazz scene, the Kansas City jazz pianist Paul Smith is still very much alive.

*Tweet o' the Week: Brian Scarborough- Standing room only at The Record Bar tonight for People's Liberation Big Band. Great music, great crowd, great band. #kcjazz #fivemoreyears

*Comment o' the Week: Anonymous- I could care less what Stanley Crouch has to say about Charlie Parker. I'm way more interested to read the new Parker bio coming out by Kansas City's own Chuck Haddix!

*Via Anita Dixon regarding The Foundation Big Band: Come hear a fresh new big band in Kansas City's original home for jazz: The Mutual Musician's Foundation.  The band, comprised of KC-area musicians, will perform original works as well as staples of the big band repertoire, including tunes from the Count Basie Orchestra - the lead purveyors of the KC big band sound.  $5 cover goes to the musicians. Come be a part of a new thang in a historic place. (Wednesday, July 10, 7:30 p.m.)

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Chris Robinson praises albums by Alaturka, Matt Otto, Eddie Moore, Chris Hazelton, T.J. Martley, Roger Wilder and Clint Ashlock in the August issue of Downbeat magazine.

*A cursory scan of the 2013 Downbeat’s Critics Awards revealed the following Kansas City-related winners: Pat Metheny- 2nd place, Guitarist; Bobby Watson- 16th place, Alto Saxophone; Pat Metheny- 15th place, Album (Unity Band); Karrin Allyson- 1st place, Rising Star, Female Vocalist.

*Three songs from Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7- including a cover of “Suit & Tie”- are available at Bandcamp.

*KC Jazz Lark documents last weekend’s trumpet summit of Hermon Mehari, Stan Kessler and Mike Metheny at the Blue Room.

*John Elliott, a beloved instructor of many Kansas City musicians, has died.

*Black House Collective will host a "2 month long new music festival called Black Lab".

*The Pitch offers a lengthy feature on the “sophisticated dissonance” of the People’s Liberation Big Band in advance of the ensemble’s performance Sunday at the RecordBar.

*Stanley Crouch discusses his forthcoming book about Charlie Parker.  (Via Tony’s Kansas City.)

*Here’s a video preview of Harold O’Neal’s Man On the Street album.

*Ahmad Alaadeen, Matt Kane and Pat Metheny were among the artists discussed in a roundup of the The Best Kansas City Music of 2013 (So Far) on KCUR’s Up To Date.

*St. Louis Jazz Notes reports that Marilyn Maye will play an integral role at the 2013 St. Louis Cabaret Festival.

*Bobby Watson is a guest on Intuition, the new album by the Czech-based Libor Šmoldas Quartet.

*Pat Metheny accompanies Buika on ”No lo sé”, a track on the Spanish vocalist’s new album.

*Here’s the latest edition of 12th Street Jump’s ”Blues In the News”.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Ben Leifer- Deborah Brown is the baddest! Thank you for your wonderful spirit! #kcjazz #swinghard #jazztradition @GreenLadyLounge

*Comment o’ the Week: Sam- YES!  I'm not sure J.C. Deagan could've imagined this when he was making Xylophones in the '20's.

*Here’s a flyer touting the July Jazz Jam at Community Christian Church.

*From a press release (note change of venue from a previously published notice): Alaadeen Enterprises (AEI), the non-profit education organization founded in 1995 by the late Ahmad Alaadeen – jazz musician and educator – plans to re-launch its jazz educational initiative on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 (his 79th birthday) at the Jazz District Patio Terrace, next to the Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker Memorial, on 18th & Paseo.

*The Kansas City Jazz Calendar has been updated for July.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)