Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*A local jazz blog extols the virtues of the People's Liberation Big Band.

*Eldar was featured by NPR. (Tip via KCJazzLark.)

*KCJazzLark shares compelling war stories from jazz's trenches.

*Nick Rowland is interviewed at the site of the Black House Improvisors' Collective.

*I just discovered a 2009 interview in which Jazz Wax's Marc Myers provided an update on the whereabouts of former Kansas Citian Ronnell Bright. (The segment begins at the 7:49 mark.)

*"... some differences of opinion" resulted in an organizational change within the Prairie Village Jazz Festival. (Via KCJazzLark.)

*A local television station covers an American Jazz Museum fundraising initiative.

*Here's a review of Diverse's Michael Jackson tribute at the Record Bar. The Star reviewed recent concerts by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Del McCoury, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, Jeff Beck and Terence Blanchard.

*Tweet o' the Week: beauzmuzik: Every time I start learning a new song from Guinga, it's like discovering a beautiful garden with little animals and flying babies.

*In a stringent bout of spring cleaning, I deleted dozens of defunct and dormant artist links. MySpace accounts without 2011 logins, for instance, have been eliminated. Several of Kansas City's most prominent jazz artists, consequently, are no longer listed in the column to the right. I implore these musicians to rectify the situation- not for Plastic Sax, but for the sakes of their careers and legacies.

*From the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra: With a jazz heritage that began decades ago in Leavenworth, KS, has touched nearly 200 movie soundtracks, and added to numerous studio recordings along the way, saxophonist Gary Foster returns to Kansas City on April 29 to join The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra in concert. Dubbed "Big Band Summit: The Master Returns," the limited seating performance is set for 8 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza.

*From Brad Cox: The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City celebrates International Workers Day, Sunday May 1 with an 8:00 pm performance at the RecordBar. The band will perform excerpts from its score for Battleship Potemkin (with video screening), selections from Threepenny Opera (arranged by Brad Cox and Jeffrey Ruckman) and present a lively musical debate on the subject of intellectual property and copyright law. Cover price at the door is $5. Here's an amusing PLBB plea for funding at Kickstarter.

(Original image of Logan Richardson in 2009 by Plastic Sax.)