*"It amuses me that a group as cool as Diverse needed to go to Idaho to get more recognition in Kansas City." That's one of several provocative lines in an excellent post at the site of Black House Improvisors' Collective. They perform Friday at City Center Square.
*A New York Times travel feature about Kansas City calls the town "a former jazz mecca." The Mutual Musicians Foundation merits a mention.
*Flattering words and pictures of Shay Estes and Trio ALL are posted by KCJazzLark.
*Ink also featured Shay Estes.
*Mark Southerland does his thing on Frenchman Street in New Orleans on May 1.
*Two jazz artists are among the nine acts featured at June's Parkville Jazz, Blues & Fine Arts Festival.
*Here's a flier touting a May 21 benefit for the Prairie Village Jazz Festival.
*Mary Lou Wiliams is remembered by Tammy L. Kernodle.
*There's no Kansas City-specific content in Marc Myers' fascinating study of the savvy widows of jazz legends, but the piece merits careful examination by a handful of area women.
*Plastic Sax readers are advised to exercise caution while crossing the street in the Jazz District. I can't afford to lose any of my 17 readers.
*Hank Jones, the great pianist who collaborated with artists ranging from Charlie Parker to Marilyn Monroe, has died.
*From a press release from KCKCC: The Kansas City Jazz Summit is coming in 2011. To be held on the campus of Kansas City Kansas Community College April 28-30, the Summit will feature nightly performances by the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and the Kansas City All-Stars, Count Basie jazz competition, adjudication by top jazz professionals and countless workshops... Jim Mair said invitations will be sent to high schools and colleges in the surrounding area of Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Kansas as well as Mair’s native Manitoba and Saskatchewan Canada. “We want to make this a destination location festival attracting bands from all across the country,” said Mair. “We’re approaching it just like the Kansas Speedway, trying to reach the huge concentration of people living within 500 miles of Kansas City. With the economy the way it is, the days of high school groups going to New Orleans or Los Angeles to compete are gone. The University of Northern Colorado in Greeley has a festival but why drive to Colorado when they could drive half as far or less and come to Kansas City with all it has to offer for less than half the cost because hotels are more affordable here?”
(Original image of a panel session held the morning of April 29, 2010, at The Blue Room by Plastic Sax. From left to right: Greg Carroll, Steve Kraske, Alaadeen, Dan Morgenstern, Barrie Hall and Clark Terry.)
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