Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Wall Street Journal published William H. Smith's fond recollections of Kansas City's jazz heyday. Smith recalls seeing Charlie Parker sitting in with Jay McShann at Martin's-On-the-Plaza in 1938. The August 14 piece is here, but to avoid fancy-pants registration, try Googling "Wall Street Journal"+"Charlie Parker." (Thanks to M. for the tip.)

*Here's a link to Lee Ingalls' latest installment of jazz on KCUR.

*Hearne Christopher recaps the Mutual Musicians Foundation's good news in the August 15 Star.

*Bobby Watson provides a thorough update of his recent activities at his MySpace page.

*Jazz pianist Sal Mosca died July 28. He worked with Charlie Parker and other giants of jazz.

*Basie At Birdland was reissued with eight bonus tracks August 14.

*The proprietor of jazz blog Song With Orange recently visited Kansas City. He failed to let me know he was here, but he does name-check Plastic Sax in his impressions of our town. Don't miss his excellent photos of the Flint Hills.

*The Phoenix on 8th Street remains shuttered.

Way Out West With Abel Ramirez

Something remarkable happens every Tuesday evening in a nondescript strip mall at the remote edge of western Johnson County. A group of aging music and dance fans pour into an otherwise typical tavern for a vivid big band revival.

There's scarcely room to move at Tony's Bar & Grill as the Abel Ramirez Big Band tunes up. Squeezing onto the packed dance floor seems like the only reasonable option. The bar's adjacent game room serves as an overflow space for dancers.

Just because theirs is a functional music played explicitly for dancers doesn't mean the sound they produce isn't without artistic merit. They expertly work through charts based on the books of Artie Shaw, Perez Prado, Benny Goodman and the Dorseys. It's remarkably well executed.

















It wasn't all giggles last Tuesday, however. Bandleader Ramirez was forced to make a difficult announcement before the night's first song.

"Management has asked me to inform you that you will no longer be able to reserve tables," Ramirez said. Cries of horror filled the room.

This minor gem of a video features the Abel Ramirez Big Band starting at the 5:15 mark. I'm sure that the same enthusiastic dancers on stage with the band at the Johnson Community College performance can be spotted at Tony's on Tuesdays.

Move it or lose it.

(Original photos taken by Plastic Sax on 8/07/07. I couldn't resist adding the sepia tint.)

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.

Megan Birdsall: Next Big Thing?

Who will be the next Kansas City jazz artist to claim some of the international stardom enjoyed by Eldar, Karrin Allyson and Kevin Mahogany? Some might select Gerald Dunn, Charles Gatschet or Bram Wijnands. I'd put my money on Megan Birdsall.

Pretty and vivacious, Birdsall knows how to attract talent- that's Danny Embrey on guitar, Bob Bowman on bass and the hands of pianist Paul Smith in the photo. Birdsall also owns a forward-thinking approach to repertoire- she seems happiest when singing new standards by the likes of Joni Mitchell and the Beatles. Oh, by the way, she also has an excellent Ella-esque voice.

A few things still need to be ironed out. If Birdsall made me her manager tomorrow, I'd immediately pull down this unflattering video. Sure, it captures the vocalist's carefree sense of fun, but there are surely better ways to convey joie de vivre. And while I'd actively market her to record labels, clubs and festivals as a crossover artist, I'd fight to keep her recordings squarely in the jazz tradition. The temptation would be to push her into the Norah Jones and Michael Buble camp, but that's not the right move.

At least not until she's already a star.

(Original image captured by Plastic Sax at Blayney's, 8/03/07.)

This Is My Condition

"This is my condition."

The statement, delivered after two minutes of scraping metal, raging percussion and excruciating feedback, is both funny and disturbing.

Demented one-man-band Craig Comstock, a.k.a. This Is My Condition, makes quite a racket. I witnessed him clear out the Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence during my first encounter with him a couple years ago. The rockers there to see The Hold Steady couldn't handle his fierce raging. It was quite an accomplishment. Only the bravest among Plastic Sax readers should dare watch this video of a typical TIMC performance.

Comstock calls his music "hardcore classical," and he'd probably disavow any connection to jazz. But it's jazz to me. I'll allow his deconstruction of Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" to serve as Exhibit A in my case (MP3 hosted at TINC's site). It embodies a couple of jazz's best attributes- unpredictability and ingenuity.

This is my condition, too.

(Original photo taken by Plastic Sax on 8/03/07 at the Westport Beach Club.)

Meet Kansas City's Jazz Audience

Meet Kansas City's most enthusiastic jazz supporters. (I'm fourth from the left.) As I told The Pitch a few months ago, I'm tired of being one of the youngest people in the room when I attend live jazz events. And my hair turns grayer by the day.

These are desperate times for jazz. Acclaimed new releases by Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins struggle to sell 10,000 units. In Kansas City, The Phoenix jazz club is shuttered, hopefully only temporarily.

Will any jazz enthusiasts remain twenty years from today?






















Hippies may be jazz's last hope. They dig improvisation and appreciate a groove. Every decent jam band counts John Coltrane among its influences. Back in May, I attended one of two sold-out shows at the Uptown Theater by jazz-inflected act Widespread Panic. A week or two later, I caught jazz-funk band The Greyboy Allstars at Crossroads. Who was there? Me and 500 hippies.

Ken Lovern knows this. The area jazz organist plays Friday night at Davey's Uptown as part of the "Jerry Garcia Memorial Stomp." That's a good gig, the type that's needed if the music is to forestall its date with a bottle of formaldehyde.

(Lovern gig tip via The New Low Down; photos borrowed without permission from web.)

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*NPR aired a fine downloadable program about Mary Lou Williams last week. They also list a Bobby Watson concert online here.

*The Shawnee Mission version of today's Star features a profile of Eldar.

*Are you excited about the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival? You'll have to travel to New York. This year's lineup includes Chico Hamilton and Abby Lincoln. Additional events are listed here.

*Did you know that there's also something called the Charlie Parker Jazz Prize? It's given away annually in New York. This year's recipient is Jose Bevia.

*Leon Brady received an award from the Johnson County Library Foundation.

*Kansas City's Jay Sollenberger is participating in a reunion of jazz-rock band Chase.

*Lee Ingalls, KCUR's jazz critic, recaps his recent survey picks in his July 27 post at The New Low Down. He also highlights two upcoming shows at the Blue Room at the site.

*The Call ran a detailed story about forthcoming events at the American Jazz Museum, but the piece is no longer available at its site.

*Chamber Music Northwest recently featured the premiere of an "ode to Charlie Parker" composed by David Schiff.

*The Star reported that the Alloy Orchestra will perform at Screenland Granada in Kansas City, KS, on October 12-13.

(Image of Mary Lou Williams borrowed from Rutgers University.)