Now's the Time: Lonnie McFadden

Lonnie McFadden indulges his Vegas-style inclinations in the embedded video.  The multi-faceted showman dubbed Mr. Kansas City performs at Chaz on Thursday, July 25, at the Phoenix on Friday, July 26, at Black Dolphin on Saturday, July 27, and at Johnnie’s Jazz Bar on Sunday, July 28.

From the Ashes

Although a band had yet to set up, I was delighted to knock back a Pale Ale at the Phoenix last Friday night. The jazz venue- an increasingly endangered species in Kansas City- has reopened. The 8th Street tavern was doing solid business. Alas, I was one of the youngest people in the room. EDIT: (I'd link to the Phoenix's site, but none exists.) A reader came to the rescue: The Phoenix Jazz Club.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Reviews for Love Letters From Ella range from "charming" to "a shameless cash grab." Some critics are concerned that Fitzgerald's voice is transposed over contemporary recordings on most of the new release's tracks. The current version of the Count Basie Orchestra is one of the groups providing new sounds. Those are the living versions of Fitzgerald and Basie in the 1979 video above.

*The August 3 Star ran a flattering profile of Gregory A. Carroll, the new executive director of the American Jazz Museum.

*The same issue of the Star reported that new management at the Phoenix "hopes it will reopen Aug. 10." As of August 8, however, the club's site doesn't confirm this news.

*Here's an interesting hand-written letter from Mary Lou Williams and a photo from the related Vancouver gig. (Tip from my friend M.)

*I'm just as annoyed by mimes as the next guy. Yet this dramatization of a "jazz dispute" between Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie is pretty well done.

Like a Phoenix?

I'd been hearing disturbing rumblings about The Phoenix. Sure enough, the doors were locked on the night of July 26. The site now confirms that the jazz bar is "temporarily closed." While the 8th Street establishment is just as much of a destination for revelers as it is a listening room, it's a vital part of Kansas City's jazz and blues scene. My fingers are crossed...

(Image pulled directly from the Phoenix's site.)