*The American Jazz Museum has unveiled the lineup for the 2013-14 season of Jammin' at the Gem. It includes, Poncho Sanchez, Najee, the Newport 60th Anniversary Tour, Curtis Fuller and Bill Charlap.
*Leon Brady's new Kickstarter campaign is titled The Kansas City Percussion Project: Educating and Creating Musical Collaborations for Children and Seniors.
*Ryan Heinlein was interviewed by Joe Dimino of Neon Jazz.
*The history of The Pla-Mor is recounted by KCJazzLark.
*Nate Chinen provides insights into the interview he conducted with Pat Metheny and John Zorn.
*The one-time Oklahoman Champian Fulton recalls her relationship with Jay McShann in her entertaining blog.
*Ed Shaughnessy, a popular drummer who played with the likes of Count Basie, has died.
*Tweet o' the Week: Dana A. Coleman- TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY: Andy Kirk was born on this date in 1898. He was an African American musician, composer…
*Comment o' the Week: Toby Tucker- Very well said Hap!
Toby
*From Jim Mair: Dan DeLuca lost his battle with Leukemia on Saturday May 25. Dan had an encyclopedic knowledge of the American Popular Songbook. He new the original changes of all the tunes but at the same time played very logical and inventive substitution chords which always kept things fresh. He could play in any key and transpose in a split second. He could carve any tempo with virtuosity and clarity. His bass lines rivaled the best bass players. In five years of playing with him every weekend I was never able to anticipate how he would end a song. Every tune became a lesson in harmony and melodic lines. He personally increased my repertoire by at at least 150 tunes. We would often segue tunes together for over an hour using hand gestures to signal the key we were moving to. Three fingers down meant three flats or the key Eb. Five fingers up meant five sharps or the key B etc. He loved Bill Evans and one of his most favorite compositions was The Bad and the Beautiful by David Raksin. He was a quiet giant of the piano.
*From a press release: How many artists can claim praise like "punk rock provocateur," "jazz vibraphone visionary" and "percussion master" in the same sentence? There's only one: Texas-native Mike Dillon. Whether it's through his affiliation with artists like Les Claypool and Ani DiFranco, collaborations like Garage A Trois, The Dead Kenny Gs and Critters Buggin or bands he's fronted, including Billy Goat and Hairy Apes BMX, Mike D (as fans refer to him) has set his own standard going on 25 years now. His current full-time focus, The Mike Dillon Band, is perhaps the perfect storm of all these past experiences. Dillon's manic creative energy has found a foil in three young New Orleans-based musicians. Carly Meyers on trombone provides melodic and harmonic counterpoint to Dillon's vibes and percussion as she feverishly whirls about the stage driving audiences into a frenzy. The rhythm section of guitarist/bassist Cliff Hines and drummer Adam Gertner turns on a dime from blinding punk rock assaults to deep funk go-go, skanked-out ska grooves to old school hip-hop beats with all points covered in between. The band performs at the Brick in Kansas City on June 28.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
