Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Dimino chatted with Greg Carroll about Charlie Parker prior to sharing footage of the Bringing Legends to Life concert in Liberty.

*A trad-jazz enthusiast praises the performance of the New Red Onion Jazz Babies at the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Becca Jane- @Harry_Styles if you like Jazz, you should come to Kansas City’s @GreenLadyLounge

*From the American Jazz Museum: As one of only two Smithsonian Affiliates in the Kansas City metro area, the American Jazz Museum will open its doors free of charge to all Museum Day ticket holders on Saturday September 21, 2019…  Museum Day tickets will be available for download at Smithsonian.com/museumday beginning August 15.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Oleta Adams will headline the Prairie Village JazzFest on September 9.  The complete lineup: 3:00 p.m.- Shawnee Mission East Blue Knights; 4:00 p.m.- The Project H; 5:20 p.m.- The Bram Wijnands Swingtet; 6:30 p.m.- Sax & Violins; 7:40 p.m.- Eddie Moore & the Outer Circle; 9:00 p.m.- Oleta Adams.

*Chris Hazelton received votes in the “Rising Star–Organ” category of the 65th Annual DownBeat International Critics Poll.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Gaslight Grill- Lynn Zimmer & The Jazz Band, live at the Gaslight Grill Wednesdays through Sundays!

*Comment o’ the Week: Anonymous- My favorite part of your site was the KC Jazz calendar. I'm sure it was a hassle to collect the info and post it, but it was appreciated. Thanks. Would you consider posting a weekly list of (random) suggested gigs? Maybe somewhat off the radar stuff?

*From a press release: The New Red Onion Jazz Babies have been exciting audiences for over 30 years. This Kansas City group is dedicated to the preservation of traditional Jazz, the way the Red Onion Jazz Babies played it in the 1920s. Spirituality & All That Jazz: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 5, 2017; Unity Temple on the Plaza; $7.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Cooking With Gas

I've been sleeping on one the region's most popular jazz bands.

Until I witnessed the excited frenzy at the Gaslight Grill last Monday, I didn't realize that the New Red Onion Jazz Babies' monthly appearance in the back room of the Leawood restaurant was one of the hottest tickets in town. I hadn't seen the band perform since Jardine's was shuttered and had wrongly assumed that it was running on fumes. 

With a average tab that probably exceeds $25, attending the monthly concert of traditional jazz is a pricey proposition.  Even so, reservations for the event are tough to secure.

Gregarious owner Dick Hawk claims that the New Red Onion Jazz Babies is the world's finest Dixieland band. He contributed a bit of enthusiastic keyboard work as he sat in with the large ensemble during the second of three sets.  Lynn Zimmer, the clarinetist who leads a band at the venue several nights a week, was just one of the group's outstanding soloists.

The toe-tapping music is complimented by excellent service and fine dining.   While I'd been oblivious to its popularity, the appeal of the monthly gathering isn't difficult to understand. 

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

The New Red Onion Jazz Babies

The New Red Onion Jazz Babies have been gigging around Kansas City since before a teenage Plastic Sax had even heard of Bix Beiderbecke. This live footage was captured at Jardine's earlier this week. It reminds me that I don't listen to nearly enough Dixieland. What a joyous sound! Download six free MP3s from the band's site, or better still, catch one of their regular performances.