Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Downbeat reviewed Bobby Watson’s forthcoming Made in America album.

*Jessie Riggins praised a collaboration between the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and the Kansas City Chorale.

*Joe Klopus highlights the week’s jazz events for The Kansas City Star.

*Eater magazine reports on the live music component of Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room.

*The Jefferson City News Tribune interviewed Hermon Mehari.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Urban Music Scene LISTEN To Guitarist Norman Brown’s Duet With Chanté Moore “Holding You” from New Album "Let it Go" Coming April 14! (link)

*From a press release: On April 25 David Basse will begin a year-long weekly engagement on Tuesdays with Jim Lower’s 18 piece Big Band at Jazz Nebula inside Californos Westport. With a full dinner menu and an intimate setting, this new nightspot will provide dinner and a true focus on live jazz, an element that has long been missing from the Kansas City Jazz Scene… David’s long successful run as host of The Jazz Scene on Kansas Public Radio, which also began 16 years ago, now appears to be coming to an end. Due to recent state budget cuts, Saturday, June 24, will be the final day of the popular radio program.

*From a press release: On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, the American Jazz Museum will host a book launch event for local author... Steve Penn’s new book Last Call: A History of the Kansas City CODA Jazz Fund. (T)he program (is) at 6:30pm (and) includes a guest appearance from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II, and performance by Adam Galblum, a Kansas City instrumentalist… As part of the program, Mrs. Blanche Williams, the  widow of Claude "Fiddler" Williams, will officially gift her late husband’s violin to the American Jazz Museum.  Last Call: A History of the Kansas City CODA Jazz Fund features biographies and photos of many of the musicians for whom the organization has provided funeral services and burials. The CODA Jazz Fund pays these expenses for area jazz musicians whose families can't afford the cost.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Pam Hider Johnson promoted a series of Charlie Parker-related events on Kansas City's official YouTube channel.  (Via Tony’s Kansas City.)

*Joe Klopus notes the commencement of the annual Charlie Parker-related functions in his column for The Kansas City Star.  Larry Kopitnik highlights the annual observation for The Pitch.

*KANU won Jazz Week's Station of the Year award in the category of "stations with fewer than 40 hours" of weekly jazz programming.

*Kurt Elling will perform with the Branford Marsalis Quartet at Helzberg Hall on May, 11, 2017.

*Carol Duboc’s new album Open the Curtains was reviewed at All About Jazz.

*Tweet o’ the Week: McClain Johnson- Nels Cline was tearing up the solo in "Impossible Germany" last night. A full moon was glowing in the sky as the breeze was wafting through.

*Comment o’ the Week: Dean Minderman- I'm glad to see positive comments about David Sanborn, who's a fine musician and seems to be a genuinely decent person. But I've got to push back a bit against the notion that he's a deliberate knock-off of Maceo Parker.  Sanborn has said many times (including to me when I interviewed him a few years back) that his thing is heavily influenced by Hank Crawford and David "Fathead" Newman… (continued at link)

*From a press release: This year’s Kansas City’s Charlie Parker Celebration 2016 at the American Jazz Museum commemorates the 96th anniversary of the birth of legendary jazz great Charlie Parker with… a presentation by Dr. Ron McCurdy… who speaks on The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker on Thursday, August 18, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. in the Atrium of the American Jazz Museum. A 6 p.m. public reception precedes the program. Admission is free.  Complementing McCurdy’s talk, will be the unveiling of a new temporary exhibit titled A Musician in the Making: Charlie Parker in Kansas City, 1920-42. The five-panel traveling display, created from the collections of the American Jazz Museum and other archives… McCurdy’s presentation also kicks off the Museum’s new speaker series, called Riffing on the Repertoire that will bring top jazz scholars and authors to the 18th & Vine Jazz District throughout the rest of 2016. The lineup features noted authority Ted Gioia… and… Rashida Briggs.

*From a publicist: Seattle area saxophone and flute master Mark Lewis will be in Kansas City to play at the Majestic with Bram Wijnands on Aug. 26 and 27.  Mark’s new CD The New York Session is ready for listening! We will have it with us on the tour, though it won’t be officially released and promoted until January… The CD features Mark on alto sax and flute, George Cables on piano, Victor Lewis on drums and Essiet Essiet on bass.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*A seven-song set and a six-minute interview recorded during Louis Armstrong’s 1957 visit to Lawrence, Kansas, have been unearthed.  The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the material will air on KANU on Saturday.  (Tip via Plastic Sax reader Phil F.)

*KC Jazz Lark documented Saturday’s Art Blakey tribute at Take Five Coffee + Bar.

*Jeff Harshbarger and Hunter Long will receive $10,000 grants from the Charlotte Street Foundation.

*The Kansas City Star reports that the American Jazz Museum will receive a $427,000 appropriation from the city this year, $65,000 less than it received last year but $60,000 more than the $125,000 cut initially proposed in the new city budget.

*Jason Jackson was featured in Joe Klopus’ column for The Kansas City Star.  The Pitch also notes the trombonist’s appearances. 

*The world premiere of the new opera ”Charlie Parker’s Yardbird” will take place in Philadelphia on June 5.

*Pat Metheny will serve as the artist-in-residence at the Detroit Jazz Festival in September.  Here’s the festival’s schedule.

*The Matt Otto Quartet and the People’s Liberation Big Band will perform at the Wichita Jazz Festival later this month.

*Benny Heckman is among Joe Dimino’s latest interview subjects.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Dave Douglas- @sunthekevin @HappyInBag Raspberry zone! Unfortunately we were all in range of the joke. We winced. BTW He only told it once, never again.

*Comment o’ the Week: Anonymous- Let's do the math. About 25 people attended that NYC gig with a metro area of around 20 million. The KC metro area is about 2.3 million. Hmmm. Several times I've been one out of 5-6 patrons at "outside jazz" gigs in KC. Oh crap... I hope this doesn't start another "jazz is dead" rant ;)

*From the Green Lady Lounge: Wed: Adam Schlozman's Earth Trio 7:30 to 8:30 - Adam begins his every weds 1 hour gig working on all original compositions for a new album - Adam Schlozman, Joel Stratton, John Kizilarmut. OJT 9 to mid - New Album release date April 22nd - Next album will concentrate on original compositions from all three members of OJT - Ken Lovern, Brian Baggett, Kevin Frazee. Thurs: Kevin Frazee Trio 9 to mid - Matt Hopper (Matt Hopper... has completed recording most of a studio album concentrating on his original compositions with Kevin and Ken), Kevin Frazee and Ken Lovern… Fri: Tim Whitmer Quart 5:30 to 8:30 - Tim Whitmer, Ray DeMarchi, Taygun Ozakinci, Todd Wilkinson.  Electric Tinks 8:30 to 10 (Orion Room) - This is Peter Schlamb's Quartet or Quintet depending on night, focusing on playing music from his 2014 Tinks Album - Peter Schlamb, Hermon Mehari, Karl McComas Riechl, Ryan Lee, etc... band will vary but it's every 1st Friday 8:30 to 10pm in our Orion Room through the rest of 2015... except with Paul Shinn Trio is in town.   Chris Hazelton's Boogaloo 7​ 10pm to 1:30am - Boogaloo7 is back the 1st 4 Fridays of every month through the rest of 2015 (Mark Lowrey Trio has 5th Fridays)…  Boogaloo7's newest 45 record will release in May of 2015...  I'm happy to say he's going to record a live at Green Lady album sometime this summer or fall... Sat: Brett Jackson Quart 6 to 9…. OJT 9:30pm to 1:30am.

*The Kansas City Jazz Calendar has been updated for April.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)