Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Dimino posted new interviews with Jeff Harshbarger and Clint Ashlock at Neon Jazz.

*KCJazzLark alerts his readers to a BBC report about Herb Jeffries and shares a vintage photograph of the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

*The Grand Marquis created a new Kickstarter campaign.

*Jeneé Osterheldt spoke to Fanny Dunfee, Ahmad Alaadeen's widow, about her new book of poetry.

*Diana Krall's concert at the Midland theater was reviewed by The Kansas City Star.

*A critic raves about a Kansas City-inspired band's performance at a British jazz festival.

*Tweet o' the Week: parkavepirate- Easy Listening Jazz is like the Kansas City Royals...unobtrusive and yet secretly enjoyable with no real threat.

*Comment o' the Week: Russell- Time is no longer linear anymore.. it's a retrovirus

*From Rob Scheps: Early Notice: The Rob Scheps / Jim O'Connor Quintet- Rob Scheps - tenor sax, Jim O'Connor - trumpet/ flugelhorn, Roger Wilder - piano, Bob "Dwight" Bowman - bass, Brian Steever - drums, makes its Kansas Debut in these shows: Thursday October 3, 2013- Jazz On The Lake, Kansas City Kansas Community College, 12 pm - 1 pm.  Friday October 11, 2013- Take Five Coffee Bar, 7 pm - 10 pm…  Jim O'Connor is one of the greatest jazz trumpeters I've ever heard.

*From Doug Talley: This Friday, May 10, 8:30pm, we'll be performing the music of Wayne Shorter at the Blue Room, 18th and Vine, KCMO.  Don't miss this opportunity to hear pianist Sean Giddings, Shawnee Mission Northwest graduate currently living in Texas. Doug Talley - saxes, Joe Parisi - trumpet and flugelhorn, Sean Giddings - piano, Tim Brewer - acoustic and electric bass, Keith Kavanaugh - drums and cymbals.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Five locally-released albums are recommended by KCJazzLark.

*Downbeat offers a report on the First China Jazz Education Festival in Shanghai.  Clint Ashlock was among the participants.

*Grand Marquis is in the news for the whistle-blowing role its members played in an animal abuse scandal.

*Nextbop offers a preview of the Next Collective's forthcoming project featuring Logan Richardson.

*Chris Burnett recently updated his Tumblr.

*Tweet o' the Week: John Hilderbrand- Chris Botti is the best selling instrumental artist in America since 2004. That’s what my press release about his Blue Note residency says.

*Comment o' the Week: Jim Mair- Perhaps #12… The Kansas City Jazz Summit (last week of April) band and combo enrollment doubled for year number two. Our Kansas City Jazz Heritage big band competition sign ups went up 33%. The top two bands playing exclusively the music of Basie had a playoff format and the audience members were able to TEXT their vote for the winning band. The texting was worth 35% of there score. This is a first for a competitive jazz festival anywhere. One of our guitar students received a full ride to attend the Pat Metheny Guitar camp last summer. Good things happening in KCK! We are just scratching the surface. KCKCC is the place to be!!

*From Take Five Coffee + Bar: It's our great pleasure to present a series of performances by bassist, composer and bon vivant Jeff Harshbarger in January and February at Take Five Coffee + Bar. Jeff performs with some of the most inventive musical groups in the country, and he'll bring a sampling of them for four performances in the intimate surroundings of what has become one of the Kansas City area's favorite listening rooms… So we're turning over four straight Saturday nights at Take Five to showcase the many faces of Jeff Harshbarger…

• Saturday, January 19 - 10:30pm to 12:30am: Alaturka- Join us for the official JCCC Jazz Winterlude After Party hosted by Alaturka. Jeff Harshbarger (bass), Brandon Draper (drums/percussion), Rich Wheeler (sax) and Beau Bledsoe (guitar) bring you Turkish jazz, and oh, how they bring it. Help us celebrate Kansas City's amazing jazz community. Mistura Fina with Shay Estes will play the earlier set, 8pm to 10pm.
• Saturday, January 27 - 8pm to 10pm: Snuff Jazz with Brian Haas- As if somehow the madness of Snuff Jazz weren't exciting enough on its own, on this night they add the frenetic energy of Brian Haas, whose piano drives Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and the Dead Kenny Gs. We're only kind of sure the roof won't come down.
• Saturday, February 2 - 8pm to 10pm: Sequel- This ferocious trio will play two sets of funk jazz by Medeski, Martin and Wood. It's Ken Lovern on keys and Brian Steever on drums joining Harshbarger for extended explorations into the deepest grooves.
• Saturday, February 9 - 8pm to 10pm: Jeff Harshbarger Quartet- Rich Wheeler on sax, Roger Wilder on piano, Mike Warren on drums. Serious jazz.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Quasimodo

The grand (re)opening of the retooled Quasimodo takes place this weekend.  The new promotional video for the southern Johnson County establishment serves as a microcosm of the actual status jazz holds in the community.  Of the 21 acts booked on its July calendar, there's one true jazz group (Chris Hazelton's organ trio) and a fine jump blues act (Grand Marquis).  Otherwise, there's an assortment of post-Stevie Ray Vaughan blues acts, dance-oriented blues ensembles and classic rock cover bands.  In its previous incarnation, the venue booked a higher ratio of jazz musicians.  I doubt that Quasimodo's management holds an institutional bias against jazz.  They probably found that the non-jazz acts simply attract larger crowds that spend more money.  Please- tell me I'm wrong.

Now's the Time: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

The retro-swing act Big Bad Voodoo Daddy perform in the Kansas City Symphony's pops series Friday and Saturday, February 24-25. When they encounter this crowd-pleasing ensemble, many nostalgic listeners express a desire to hear more music from "the good ol' days." The most active local band with a similar sensibility is Grand Marquis. This footage gives a sense of the band's approach. Grand Marquis have seven performances scheduled in the Kansas City area next month.

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.)

Now's the Time: The Grand Marquis

The Grand Marquis host an album release party Friday, September 17, at The Mission Theater. An amazingly insightful review of Hold On To Me in the print edition of this week's Ink suggests that the band's "faithful recreation of Prohibition-era jazz has never sounded more invigorating." Polish your dancing shoes.