Now's the Time: Max Groove

Holiday celebrants at the Green Lady Lounge will ring in 2020 to the swinging sound of the Max Groove Organ Trio on New Year’s Eve.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Jessie Riggins asks “where are the younger audiences” as she laments the “small audience size” in her review of a Matt Otto concert at Polsky Theatre.

*The Lenexa Art Fair will double as a jazz festival.  The lineup for the May 12 event: Brian Scarborough Quartet, 10 a.m. - noon; Brad Allen Trio, noon - 1:30 p.m.; Brian Ruskin Quartet, 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.; Herschel McWilliams Quintet, 4 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.; Heat Index, 5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

*Max Groove was interviewed by Joe Dimino.

*Tweet o’ the Week: HOKNetwork- Excited to work with #KansasCity leaders and community on the revitalization of the 18th & Vine Historic District, renowned as a cradle of jazz and center of African-American culture (link).

*From a press release: The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra (KCJO), the region’s most prominent big band that strives to preserve the rich heritage of Kansas City jazz, is performing in its first international trip in two European cities. First, the KCJO will perform, May 9-10, 2018, at the Hannover Enercity Swinging Jazz Festival in Hannover, Germany. After the jazz festival concludes, the KCJO will travel on to Szczecin, Poland to perform in a smaller concert May 11-12, 2018… Other performers representing Kansas City will be Karla Bauer… and Greg Carroll.... To ensure the spiritual background of this event is not forgotten, an Ascension Day service will be held with a choir under the director of Karla Bauer... The festival was visited by more than 40,000 people in 2017, making it one of the largest open-air music festivals in Europe.

(Original image of the site that once housed Jardine’s jazz club by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Pat Metheny has been named a NEA Jazz Master.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Michael Shults- Thanks David and Dee! Always a pleasure to hang and play at @GreenLadyLounge . @smartinjazz is pushing boundaries in Kansas City jazz.

*Comment o’ the Week: Anonymous- Jazz has a legacy and tradition . It is important for musicians to both be curators and innovators. This music does neither. No opinion on whether it is pleasant entertainment. It is not JAZZ, thus your comparison to jazz is entirely misinformed

*From Kansas City Jazz Alive: Sullivan Fortner is already making a significant impact on the jazz world, even at his young age!  The Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianist Association is joining us in Kansas City to celebrate our native legend, Charlie "Yardbird" Parker.  August 17 - August 26, 2017, the New Orleans native will be performing at venues around Kansas City with local musicians and with a second Artist in Residence!.

(Original image of Max Groove performing at the Kansas City Jazz & Heritage Festival by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Max Groove

Although the era in which musicians including Kansas City’s Max Groove were promoted by airplay on dozens of terrestrial smooth jazz radio stations is a distant memory, the sound has survived.  Abetted by saxophonist Ernest Melton, Max Groove keeps the faith in the embedded video.  Max Groove performs a matinee show at the Green Lady Lounge on Saturday, Sept. 10.

Now's the Time: Max Groove

I used to think smooth jazz and fusion musicians were kidding when they talked about the Weather Channel's importance as an outlet for their music. I have no idea how Kansas City's Max Groove feels about the cable television network, but I know that "Fiesta Sol" from 1989's Midnight Rain sounds great in this context. Max Groove performs Wednesday at Chaz on the Plaza.