Concert Review: The Will Matthews Quintet at Open Spaces

I didn’t detect a trace of irony in Dan Cameron’s introduction for the Will Matthews Quintet’s performance at Swope Park on Saturday, October 20.  Cameron, the artistic director of the Open Spaces festival, insisted that “Kansas City is a jazz town.”  The ten people who showed up for the free show were outnumbered by Open Spaces staffers, volunteers and craft vendors. 

Matthews reminded the members of the intimate gathering that he’s played guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for the last 22 years during a set that opened with an interpretation of “In a Mellow Tone.”  The sentiment expressed in the title of the Duke Ellington composition encapsulates Matthews’ accommodating swing.

Trombonist Louis Neal, keyboardist Matt Villinger and drummer Clarence Smith matched Matthews’ unhurried approach.  The woefully undervalued saxophonist Charles Perkins had other ideas.  Perkins’ intense evocation of Eric Dolphy averted any sense of routine complacency in the lightly attended but enormously satisfying outing.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*John Scott of the Green Lady Lounge and Deborah Brown, Chuck Haddix and Bobby Watson were guests on KCUR’s Up to Date on Monday and Tuesday.

*Clint Ashlock discussed an upcoming concert by the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra on KCUR’s Central Standard.

*Bram Wijnands chatted with Joe Dimino.

*Giovanni Russonello of The New York Times praised an outing by the Logan Richardson Quartet.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Ryan Hennessey- My favorite Jazz has some funk in the sound. Good segment. I was at the Green Lady on Saturday. Always a good time. Anxious to try the Black Dolphin.

*From a press release: ‘Ask a Jazz Dude’, a live talk show/vlog presented by KKFI 90.1 FM and Marcus Lewis, where Marcus and selected guests answer questions about music, performing, the music business, social media, and pop culture, will take viewers on the bandstand and backstage into the mind of working musicians and creators.  The Facebook Live format gives viewers an easy way to interact with Marcus and his guests and ask questions in real time.  ‘Ask a Jazz Dude’ kicked off February 5 and can be found at facebook.com/askajazzdude Mondays at noon. 

*From a press release: Jazz vocalist Kathleen Holeman and her band will perform on Sunday evening, February 11, 6:00 pm at Kansas City Jazz Vespers, held at the historic First Baptist Church of Kansas  City...  KC Jazz Vespers features 100 minutes of professional jazz in two acts… There is no entry charge though a free-will offering is taken. 

*From a press release: The American Jazz Museum is expanding its Kansas City Jazz Academy by launching a partnership with the Charlie Parker Memorial Foundation’s Kansas City Arts Outreach, an established music education program with mission similar to that of the Museum’s Jazz Academy...  The Kansas City Jazz Academy (KCJA), the museum’s most comprehensive music education program, completed its first year in May 2017. The program was successful in bringing 150 K-12 students together every Saturday for hands-on classes in Big Band, Combos, Improvisation, and more… Beginning in 2018, KCJA will be led by Mr. Clarence Smith

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Clarence Smith and two students enrolled in KC Youth Jazz chatted with Jabulani Leffall on KCUR's Central Standard program.

*KCJazzLark cleverly chastises himself.

*Kevin Mahogany is featured on the Pace Report.

*Chris Burnett considers the concept of competitiveness.  He also cites KC Youth Jazz as an positive indicator of jazz's future.

*Lee Langston, an R&B artist who performs frequently at the Blue Room, is the subject on an excellent feature on KCUR's KC Currents. 

*KC Metropolis offers a review of the Experimental Music Showcase at last week's Fringe Festival.

*Pauly Cohen recalls a dispute with Count Basie.

*Bobby Watson received another positive review from a jazz critic in London.

*Gigs by Pat Metheny's Unity Band and Harold O'Neal were previewed by the New York Times.

*The Kansas City Jazz Calendar has been updated.  It looks thinner than usual in part because Kansas City's best jazz club is one of several venues that have yet to publish dates for August.

*Tweet o' the Week: Brandon Draper- Cicadas make the most dope rhythms

*Comment o' the Week: Anonymous- Hey folks, Three givens in Kansas City. KCJO concerts always sell.  Jazz in the WOODS always attracts large audiences.  Tim Whitmer productions have longevity and huge followings.  Get out of your own miopic worlds. Not everything in Kansas City Jazz is a downer.

*From Brad Cox: The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City celebrates the fourth anniversary of Jeff Harshbarger’s Jazz Series at the RecordBar with a “Year in Review” performance Sunday, August 5, at 8:00pm at the RecordBar (1020 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO). Admission is $5.  The performance will feature material written for People's Liberation Big Band within the past year by composers Patrick Alonzo Conway, Brad Cox, Hunter Long, and Matt Otto, as well as arrangements of music by Virgil Thomson, and an appearance by The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City’s Special Mobile Tactical Unit.

*From Michael Pagán: Kansas City Youth Jazz organizers in collaboration with Piropos have announced a Dueling Piano Summit to be held Sunday August 19th 2012 at 3:00 PM inside Piropos Piano Bar in Briarcliff. The concert will last two hours. Participating in the event will be four of the Kansas City region’s premier jazz pianists – Roger Wilder, Joe Cartwright, Michael Pagán, and Bram Wijnands. The pianists will match up in different combinations and play two-piano jazz for approximately two hours. Proceeds will benefit Kansas City Youth Jazz...

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*KCJazzLark is a man with a (business) plan.

*Tony's Kansas City chronicles the Jardine's saga here. Hearne Christopher tracks the story here.

*Finally! A Kansas City jazz video. (Sort of.)

*From the American Jazz Museum: The American Jazz Museum’s Blue Room jazz club is the first among two Kansas City venues to be named to Down Beat Magazine’s “212 Great Jazz Rooms - An International Listing of the Best Places to See and Hear Live Jazz”.

*A track from the forthcoming Project H album is streaming here.

*Roy Hargrove will appear at UMKC Jazz Festival on February 3.

*A Lee's Summit publication features Clarence Smith.

*"Meet Chris Burnett."

*T-shirts, gigs and ideas are on tap at the latest post at the site of the Black House Improvisors' Collective.

*Miles Bonny has a new Kickstarter campaign.

*An exhibit at UMKC includes items related to Kansas City's jazz legacy. (Via KC Stage.)

*The title of the January 18 edition of KCUR's Central Standard Time is "Kansas City Jazz with musician Mark Lowrey."

*The Sun Session, the new album by Grand Marquis, has been released.

*The Glenn Miller Orchestra is performing at Shawnee Mission West on February 11.

*Tweet o' the Week: americanjazzkc- Count down to Benny Golson in the Blue Room 2.25.12...let us know your favorite Benny Golson tune!

*From Doug Talley: As you probably know, Westport Presbyterian Church suffered fire damage a couple of weeks ago. So our annual Martin Luther King Day concert has been relocated to Community Christian Church, 4601 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64112… As always, the concert will begin at noon on Martin Luther King Day, next Monday, January 16.

*From Central Seminary: Please be our guest at Central Seminary this year for the Sacred Arts Recital Series which began last fall in the Baugh-Marshall Chapel. These complimentary recitals feature some of Kansas City’s finest musicians. The spring series, which will be held on the third Sundays of the month at 4:00 p.m. begins this Sunday, January 15… This Sunday’s recital will feature jazz keyboardists Dr. Michael Pagan, Roger Wilder, and Joe Cartwright for a keyboard “play-off.”

(Original image of Russell Thorpe by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*"Let’s not have another jazz year like 2011," Joe Klopus pleads in a year-in-review column.

*Charles Feruzza reports that Jardine's has been sold to a new ownership group. Tony's Kansas City covers the kerfuffle over Jardine's here, here and here. Hearne Christopher writes about Jardine's here, here and here.

*KCJazzLark captures a remarkable Celebration of Life jam session.

*The Marshall Democrat-News offers a profile of Clarence Smith.

*"It's hard to own and operate a business promoting one of the least popular forms of music in our country," T.J. Martley says in a preview of a gig at the Blue Room.

*Will Matthews is interviewed.

*Mambo DeLeon is the subject of a video interview.

*An audio interview with Karrin Allyson was conducted by the pop group Mulberry Lane.

*Here's 66 minutes of excellent footage from Mark Lowrey's December 21 gig at the Record Bar.

*Kansas City native Frank Wess celebrates his 90th birthday today.

*The author of Outside-Inside-Out solicits the input of his friends in a review of the Owens/Cox Dance Group's most recent collaboration with the People's Liberation Big Band.

*The Star reports on Occupy KC's "jazz funeral."

*Hunter Long addresses a number of topics in a Black House Improvisors' Collective post.

*Howard Reich reports that Miguel Zenon will "re-examine" the Charlie Parker With Strings album in Chicago on February 24.

*Tweet o' the Week: paynic- @Toure The j word has oppressive overtones. It was the name for the white caricaturization of Black music.

*I'll gladly pay $30 for a two-day pass (and $35-$45 more to see Poncho Sanchez) at the Jazz Winterlude festival later this month. But man, $45 buys a two-day pass for this weekend's Winter Jazzfest in New York. It features hundreds of musicians including Marc Cary, Julian Lage, Lionel Loueke, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Marc Ribot, Wallace Roney, Ben Williams and Bernie Worrell.

*Road trip alert: The Robert Glasper Experiment performs February 10-11 at St. Louis' Jazz at the Bistro.

*Alas, the month of January looks slight at The Kansas City Jazz Calendar.

*From Drew Williams: The Drew Williams/Tim AuBuchon Quartet play music that is loose but accessible. Their compositions draw on musical inspirations as diverse as Ornette Coleman, Paul Motian, Igor Stravinsky, and Wilco... Drew Williams is a saxophonist and a composer originally from Kansas City, Missouri. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Jazz Composition from NYU… Saxophonist and composer Tim AuBuchon... is currently Professor of Jazz Studies at Truman State University... The pair performs with Bill McKemy and Matt Leifer on Friday, January 6, at Take Five Coffee Bar, Leawood, Kansas.

(Original image of Customer Quintet performing at Great Day Cafe by Plastic Sax.)