The State of Jazz? Go Ask Brian Wilson

I'd be lying if I claimed that I didn't read Ben Ratliff's de facto state-of-jazz commentary with great interest earlier this week. "What's your take, Mr. Fancy Pants Plastic Sax?" a couple guys have asked me. I'll let this video of The People's Liberation Big Band performing a Beach Boys song at the Record Bar serve as my succinct response.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*I'm a bad person- I've never purchased anything from the gift shop at the American Jazz Museum. The news that the jazz gift shop at Lincoln Center has been shuttered makes me feel even worse.

*Alacartoona and the People's Liberation Big Band received grant money. Here's the Pitch's take.

*Plastic Sax! A white Grafton is being restored in England.

*Joe Klopus spoke with Orbert Davis.

*Local label ARC is getting busy at their Blip account. Miles Bonny also utilizes the tool to great effect. Anyone else?

*Harold O'Neal secured a prestigious gig in Philadelphia.

*Mosaic, a new album by the Blue Note Records all-star group that will perform February 20 at the Gem Theater, was released this week. Doug Ramsey reviewed the second show of the collective's tour.

*Jason Harper takes umbrage at the debut edition of "The Miles Bonny Show".

*The Plastic Sax staff is atwitter about the new look of the Saturday afternoon jam session at Jardine's. The core group consists of Jeff Harshbarger, Roger Wilder, Rich Wheeler and Mike Warren. The fun starts at 2 p.m. January 17.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

You Say Happy I Say Birthday

My regular Monday night buddies weren't having it. Neither were most of my regular associates. One person even told me, "Well, I'll go as long as I don't have to listen to any jazz."

I had my usual difficulties convincing others to accompany me to a jazz-oriented event. In spite of the regular resistance, I made it down to the Jay McShann birthday party detailed in the previous Plastic Sax post.

So did a lot of other jazz fans. The upstairs room at the Mutual Musicians Foundation was packed. Smiles and good cheer filled the historic venue.

Still, I couldn't help feeling a little blue. Only a handful of the hundred or so people at the event were younger than me. Half were over the age of sixty.

The great Ahmad Alaadeen was trudging through the bitter cold toward the Foundation as I hurried to my car. I'm sure his contribution was greeted with appreciative cheers. It's a shame that almost none of them would come from anyone without gray hair.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Celebrating Jay McShann's Birthday

Had he not died twenty-five months ago, Jay McShann would have turned 92 on Monday. An event acknowledging the date will take place at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. Details are below.

The occasion serves as a great excuse to post an excerpt of Gary Giddins' American Masters documentary about Charlie Parker. Jay McShann stars in this segment.

From a slightly reconstructed press release:

Rolling With the Keys: Celebrating Jay McShann's Birthday Kansas City Style at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. Monday, January 12, 2009 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm. Free admission.

Come get your fingers greasy and enjoy some great music.

Featuring Ahmad Alaadeen, Pearl Thuston Brown, Chris Clarke, Tyrone Clark, Everett DeVan, Gerald Dunn, Luqman Hamza, Al Pearson, Ray Reed, Greg Richter, Tommy Ruskin, Gerald Spaits, Mike Warren, Bobby Watson, Charles Williams, Bram Wijnands and Dennis Winslett.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Klopus acknowledges the flagging support for Kansas City's jazz scene.

*Steve Paul spotlights ten forthcoming jazz shows. (And don't forget the Plastic Sax Event Calendar.)

*A free MP3 by Dojo is available for download at All About Jazz.

*Jardine's' donor appreciation party for prospective and actual members of the "Society For Charter Members of the New Piano" is scheduled for January 11.

*The Pitch took great pictures of Sunday's gig by the People's Liberation Big Band.

*Pianist Paul Smith, unquestionably one of Kansas City's finest jazz musicians, now has a MySpace page. I won't name names, but it sure would be wonderful if a handful of our town's other notable veterans followed suit.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

The People's Liberation Big Band

4'33"!

John Cage's infamous composition is not the type of work one expects to hear performed on a Sunday night inside a Kansas City rock venue.

Yet there it was. The sound of silence from the bandstand competed with the shrill shushes of po-faced patrons, an indifferent bar staffer yammering on his cell phone and my bemused cackle. I couldn't believe it was actually happening.

I would have paid the Record Bar's five dollar cover charge for that experience alone. Yet The People's Liberation Big Band offered a lot more than five minutes of serious silence.

Two compositions by P. (Pat) Alonzo Conway provided the best moments of the first set. The profane funk of "Scat Rut" and the loose improvised feel of "Seven" showed the twelve-or-so piece ensemble at the peak of their power. The set's weakest moments resembled a failed rebellion by high school band nerds.

The second set opened with a rousing one-two punch. A relaxed Sun Ra composition was followed by a burly rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." That's precisely the free-wheeling aesthetic that the audience of approximately sixty expected.

It ain't your dad's Stan Kenton show. In fact, last night's performance represents the most exciting, engaging and surprising effort by Kansas City-based musicians I've heard in several months.

Last night represented the thirteenth installment of the "Jeff Harshbarger Presents" series. The next event is January 18.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Andy Kirk- Blue Clarinet Stomp

This is the sound of Kansas City eighty years ago. The Andy Kirk session was recorded at WDAF's studios at the Kansas City Star. According to Frank Driggs' and Charles Haddix's Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop- a History, that's Claude "Fiddler" Williams on fiddle, John Harrington on clarinet, John Williams on baritone saxophone, Bill Dirvin on guitar, Kirk on tuba and Ed "Crackshot" McNeil on drums. Harry "Big Jim" Lawson scats.