Kansas City's Counterfeit Jazz

The namesake of this blog is displayed in a case at the publicly-funded American Jazz Museum in Kansas City's Jazz District. The institution isn't located at the corner of 12th Street and Vine. The famous intersection no longer exists. Want to see Charlie Parker's childhood homes? They've also been leveled. Many of the most historically valuable properties in the Kansas City area are gone. Even though I openly mock the city's decision to spend $144,500.00 in taxpayer dollars on a plastic sax once played by Bird, I applaud the motives that inspired the purchase.

Rather than a case of too little and too late, I see the efforts described in Brandon R. Reynold's The Jazz District Authenticity Problem essay as a noble last-ditch effort to formally acknowledge and preserve a portion of what remains of Kansas City's formidable jazz legacy.

Patrick Jarenwattananon of NPR's A Blog Supreme encouraged Plastic Sax and KCJazzLark to respond to Reynold's piece with locally-based insights.

As Reynolds suggests, redevelopment at 18th and Vine has been halting. Before I offer my jazz-oriented explanation of why the the top-down approach to civic engineering has resulted in a disappointing amount of progress, I'd like to surprise longtime Plastic Sax readers by offering a heartfelt tribute to the American Jazz Museum.

Just last night a capacity audience packed the museum's nightclub for Benny Golson's second appearance at the Blue Room in less than a year. It was precisely the sort of event that could only transpire under the auspices of the American Jazz Museum.

While the museum's displays may not inspire repeat visits, its entertainment programming and outreach efforts have added immeasurably to my quality of life. I've met Randy Weston. I've experienced performances by brilliant musicians including Roy Ayers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lionel Loueke, Christian McBride and Nicholas Payton. I've attended panel discussions featuring underappreciated artists like Ben Kynard. I'm grateful that the museum continues to provide these invaluable opportunities.

I just wish more people recognized jazz's intrinsic rewards. Unlike barbecue, Kansas City's other ballyhooed gift to the world, jazz simply isn't attracting hordes of eager consumers in 2012. While the Blue Room has been a constant beacon of quality, the past few years have been tough ones for Kansas City's jazz fans and musicians. Even as the indie rock, hip hop and fine arts scenes have become all the rage, the jazz environment has endured a series of humbling setbacks. Unlike the infighting that's weakened support for the Mutual Musicians Foundation and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, most of the challenges faced by the American Jazz Museum aren't self-inflicted.

Kansas City's deep-seated racial divide is the other primary reason the Jazz District has failed to thrive. The town remains segregated. Last night's Benny Golson concert aside, a lot of people are simply unwilling to visit a part of town that they associate both with crime and with people of a different race. No amount of urban planning can rectify biases of that nature.

Time, however, has a a way of changing such perceptions. And there are reasons to be hopeful. Thanks in large part to Bobby Watson's work as the director of jazz studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, dozens of promising young musicians are bringing fresh ideas to the scene. I'll pit Kansas City's top two dozen jazz-based musicians against the talent pool of any North American city other than New York, New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles.

I have to believe that enthusiastic audiences will eventually embrace the relevant, #BAM-friendly music being performed by these young innovators. Hopefully, the proper infrastructure will be in place in the Jazz District when that day finally arrives. Kansas City's Jazz District may then seem less like a contrived counterfeit and more like the authentic article.

(Original image of sign at 18th & Paseo by Plastic Sax.)

The Marketing of the Irish

I marveled at the sight of teeming masses Friday at Kansas City Irish Fest. Organizers expected to top last year's attendance of 100,000 during the three three-day event.

How did this happen? Why does a city closely associated with the role it played in the development of jazz lack a major jazz-based festival even as an Irish-themed event attracts massive crowds? The answer, of course, is complicated. Kansas City has a long history of defunct jazz festivals.

Kansas City Irish Fest wasn't always a big deal. I recall attending a modest affair in a Westport parking lot about a dozen years ago. Organizers have dealt with a few setbacks, but the festival continues to grow. I attribute a large part of its success to organic support from the close-knit Irish community. I repeatedly had to fend off eager volunteers Friday. The event's organizers are also brilliant, hardworking and efficient. Take a look at their Thorough. Social. Media. Presence.

Don't tell me these tactics don't pay off. With ticket prices of $5 on Friday and $15 on Saturday and Sunday, the festival clears over a million dollars in gate receipts. It doesn't hurt that the festival boasts one ringer. Kansas City-based band The Elders can easily attract over 1,000 dedicated fans for its one-off concerts. There's just no equivalent on Kansas City's jazz scene.

Before addressing why the local jazz community can't capture the "luck" of the Irish, I'd be negligent if I didn't mention a few existing efforts. The American Jazz Museum presents the Rhythm & Ribs festival next month. I'm a big fan, but this year's version is a one-day event that has a '70s funk band and a blues legend as its top-billed performers. Jazz Winterlude and the Prairie Village Jazz Festival , both Johnson County, Kansas, events, are excellent showcases of top locally-based talent. Jazz In the Woods draws a big crowd for its lineups of smooth jazz and pop.

I support all four events, but where's the Kansas City festival with James Carter, Ornette Coleman, Robert Glasper, Charlie Haden, Vijay Iyer, Pat Metheny, Sonny Rollins and John Scofield?

Regular readers of Plastic Sax already know my answer to that vexing question. The potential of another serious top-tier jazz festival in Kansas City is buried under the seemingly insurmountable burdens of audience indifference, preconceived bias and a disjointed jazz community. There's no need for me to address the first of these issues at length. I write it about it with predictable frequency at Plastic Sax. Kansas City's best jazz musicians regularly perform for audiences of less than two dozen enthusiasts. Even fewer attended Charlie Parker's gravesite service last week. Recent performances by both The Bad Plus and Ernie Andrews were woefully under-attended.

Semi-professional provocateur Nicholas Payton digs into my second point in an essay he published last month. It doesn't matter if the subject is Coleman Hawkins or Anthony Braxton- the negative baggage attached to the word "jazz" has become exceedingly oppressive. Irish music, on the other hand, is a blank slate for most Americans.

Finally, the jazz community is divided. The lack of grassroots support means that area jazz musicians and jazz presenters must turn to foundations, corporations and government entities to merely subsist. With so many groups competing for dollars, the jazz landscape has become a political minefield.

Our best hope, at least for the foreseeable future, is that one of the festivals mentioned above will evolve into a top-tier jazz event. Until then, Kansas Citians can be content with hosting one of the world's most successful Irish festivals.

(Original image of Kansas City Irish Fest by Plastic Sax.)

Jazz Is Up to Date

"The impact that someone like John Coltrane had on the music... has jazz had anyone one like that in the last decade or even fifteen years, because I'm thinking, 'Not really.'"

Steve Kraske, my favorite radio talk show personality, posed that question on his KCUR program last week. (Download a podcast of the April 29 show here.) Although Kraske's query wasn't directed at me, I'm compelled to respond.

Jazz's diminished popularity means that it's simply no longer possible for a jazz artist to have the impact Coltrane had in the '60s. That doesn't mean, however, that quiet revolutions aren't occurring at this very moment. Two contemporary trends, I believe, qualify.

The first is the exciting wave of classically-influenced jazz that's presented and recorded with a rock sensibility. Key figures in this movement are the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, The Bad Plus, James Farm, and Brad Mehldau. Kansas City's Brad Cox is part of this scene.

The second "new thing" is the ongoing integration of hip hop and jazz. Robert Glasper and Nicholas Payton are obvious examples. Ryan Lee, Ben Leifer and Hermon Mehari of the locally-based Diverse are also in this camp. Kansas City's Mark Lowrey does a bit of both.

I'm certainly not the first to identify these developments but I probably qualify as one of the most enthusiastic advocates of both new schools. That said, my favorite jazz album of 2011 is Joe Lovano's Bird Songs. It has nothing to do with either trend.

(Original image of Ambrose Akinmusire sign by Plastic Sax.)

Do You Realize?

I thought about jazz during Friday's concert by The Flaming Lips in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

It didn't cross my mind as confetti rained on me. I didn't think about it as the band's vocalist scurried over my head in an inflatable hamster ball. And I forgot about it when images of naked women were projected on the screen behind the stage.

But when the Oklahomans ponderously slogged through Pink Floyd-style jams I wondered why so few jazz artists incorporate crowd-pleasing theatrical elements into their live presentations. I love the Flaming Lips but I'll be the first to admit that they're not exactly the greatest band in the world. That didn't stop almost 5,000 people from paying $35 to $40 to partake of the band's generous spirit and spectacular stage show.

Look at the picture I took Friday. Then look at the image I captured of Lionel Loueke's appearance at the Blue Room last November. Which show looks like more fun?

There's a catch. The fifty people at Loueke's performance heard better music. Loueke's refreshing fusion of indigenous African music, pop and jazz is instantly accessible. I suppose it's a little more esoteric than the bombast of the Flaming Lips but I refuse to believe that one out of twenty Flaming Lips fans wouldn't be completely down with Loueke's slightly psychedelic sound if they only knew of him. I'm simply not willing to accept the tired adage that jazz is too sophisticated for the average person.

Just like jazz musicians, the Flaming Lips are largely ignored by radio and music television. What gives? It's no mystery- the Flaming Lips put on a show. Two acts with Kansas City connections are also addressing the expectations of today's audiences.

Dave Stephens has created what he calls a "jazz circus." Watch this representative video. A lot of uptight jazz snobs (I'm one of them) roll their eyes at Stephens' antics, but his routine has made him one of this town's most successful entertainers.

Another Kansas City act with an emphasis on presentation is Quixotic. As seen in this video, Quixotic's Cirque du Soleil sensibility is astounding.

Quixotic, Dave Stephens and yes, even the Flaming Lips, represent the competition for jazz musicians. I'm not suggesting that exotic dancers and freaky videos are the solution to jazz's dwindling popularity. But business as usual clearly isn't working.

Projecting Sam Peckinpah films behind 81-year-old pianist Hank Jones obviously wouldn't work. But what does a young act have to lose? I believe there's an audience eager to embrace jazz musicians who are willing to acknowledge that it's 2010.

















(Original images by Plastic Sax.)