Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Hermon Mehari spoke to Tim Finn about his victory at a trumpet competition in Texas.

*A large swathe of Kansas City’s jazz community will receive new grants from ArtsKC.

*Sam Mellinger comments on the Kansas City Royals’ new baseball youth academy in the Jazz District.  KC Jazz Lark speculates that the project could lead to a brighter future for the area.

*The Kansas City Star reports that four people were shot in the Jazz District early Sunday morning.

*The Kansas City Star reviewed Zappa Plays Zappa’s concert at Crossroads KC.

*Joe Dimino’s recent interview subjects include Ron Miles.

*Phil Woods, one of Charlie Parker’s most devoted acolytes, has died.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Tony Tixier- Playing a house concert with #Diverse on a beautiful lawn under the #lunareclipse @kctrumpeter (photo)

*Comment o’ the Week: Anonymous- Glad to have you back. Thrash metal and hip hop ain't got nothing on melodic bop!

*From a press release: The vivacious vocals of Lori Tucker performing with Tim Whitmer & The Consort Band, Wednesday, October 7, 2015, at Unity Temple on the Plaza.  Tickets at the door only $7.00.  The Pitch recommended the concert.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Album Review- Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein

Karrin Allyson performed a concert of adult pop at the Folly Theater ten months ago.  I expected her next release to sound like James Taylor.  Instead, she resembles Marilyn Maye on the sophisticated cabaret album Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Backed by pianist Kenny Barron and bassist John Patitucci, Allyson sings material from The King and I, Oklahoma, The Sound of Music and South Pacific.

Allyson makes it clear that she has no intention of playing it straight on the seemingly unpromising album opener “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’”.  Her blues reading of the composition that’s often subject to cornball interpretations demonstrates Allyson’s aversion to cliches.  All 14 tracks contain similarly unconventional twists. 

Effortlessly sensuous and wise without seeming sanctimonious, Allyson is never overshadowed by the impeccable work of Barron and Patitucci.  Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein is an entirely welcome surprise.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Larry Carlton

It must not be the hair.  The awe-inspiring coiffure Larry Carlton sports in the embedded clip is long gone, but the guitarist is still capable of playing like a man possessed.  Best known for his session work for artists including Michael Jackson and Steely Dan, Carlton appears at the Gem Theater on Thursday, October 1.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Hermon Mehari won the 2015 Carmine Caruso International Trumpet Solo Competition in Huntsville, Texas.

*Bobby Watson was interviewed on a morning television program.

*The Pitch recommends a gig led by Will Matthews.

*The complete schedule of the 18th & Vine Jazz & Blues Festival has been posted.

*A new documentary about Mary Lou Williams inspires an extensive essay about the artist in The New Yorker.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Brian Scarborough- Always love rehearsing and playing with the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater KC. Happy to be playing with them moving forward #kcjazz

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Concert Review: The Bobby Watson Quartet at the Folly Theater

I didn’t know what I’d been missing.

Even though I hear Bobby Watson perform a few times every year, I was stunned by what transpired at the Folly Theater on Friday.

The heights that Watson is capable of reaching when he’s backed by his touring band in a proper listening environment exceeded my abundant expectations.  An audience of more than 350 witnessed the musically exuberant and profoundly spiritual outing by the man that was named the Plastic Sax Person of the Decade in 2009.

Joe Klopus got it right in his preview of the concert.  The vast majority of Watson’s appearances in Kansas City aren’t on his terms.

Watson frequently sits in on other musicians’ sets.  In recent years he’s been featured at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival, the Jazz in the Woods festival and in a concert with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.  He also occasionally headlines at the Blue Room. 

Until Saturday, however, I failed to grasp the degree to which those performances were compromised.  With his band of pianist Richard Johnson, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Eric Kennedy, Watson was able to properly display the breadth of his vision in his hometown for the first time in years.

Watson clearly savored his role as the featured attraction at the Folly Theater.  He noted that until Friday that he hadn’t headlined a show at the historic venue since he returned to Kansas City approximately 15 years ago.  He made the most of it. 

The set list of Watson’s best known material ranged from “Appointment In Milano” to material from the 2013 album Check Cashing Day.  The set list was loaded with Watson classics including “Wheel Within a Wheel,” “Karita,” “Love Remains,” “Lemoncello” and “In Case You Missed It.”  The band’s interplay was faultless.

A couple minor blemishes precluded perfection.  Watson rightfully cringed when many in the audience tittered at the album title of Check Cashing Day.  There’s nothing funny about it.  The concept album is a lamentation of the unfulfilled promise of the civil rights movement.  And a slight bass boom occasionally marred the otherwise excellent sound.

The concert revived my lagging interest in mainstream jazz.  During the past several months I’d begun to think that contemporary renditions of the form may never again excite me.  Watson and his bandmates proved that melodic bop performed at a high level remains capable of sending me over the moon.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Mark Lowrey

Mark Lowrey has a way with pop, rock and folk material.  He interprets Leonard Cohen’s “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong” in the embedded video.  The pianist performs with a trio at Broadway Kansas City on Saturday, September 19 and at the Majestic on Thursday, September 24.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*KC Jazz Lark reports on the ongoing struggles of Broadway Kansas City.

*Bobby Watson’s concert at the Folly Theater was previewed by The Kansas City Star and The Pitch.

*The Prairie Village Post documented the Prairie Village Jazz Festival.

*Shades of Jade was interviewed by a representative of the Johnson County Library.

*The Pitch reports that Major League Baseball may invest in the Jazz District.

*Karrin Allyson was a guest on KCUR’s Up To Date program.

*Hommage a Eberhard Weber was released last week.  Pat Metheny’s contribution to the project has received a great deal of attention.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Jerry Wilkinson- Digging on how I can sit in my back yard in front of a fire and hear the Prairie Village Jazz Fest in the distance…….

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)