Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Here's a nice remembrance of the late Pearl Thuston-Brown.

*Unlike Plastic Sax, KCJazzLark refuses to blame Shay Estes for the cancellation of the Prairie Village Jazz Festival. He does, however, provide a couple of nice photos.

*The PV Post offers a follow-up story on the Prairie Village Jazz Festival's cancellation.

*The free "14th Street Jazz Fest" is Sunday September 18 in the Power & Light district. Participating musicians include Mark Lowrey Will Matthews, Ida McBeth, Matt Otto and Darryl Terrel. More information is available here.

*Harold O'Neal did not win, place or show at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, but he did catch the attention of many, including a correspondent for Jazz Times.

*The UMKC Conservatory of Music commissioned a 30-second commercial for its upcoming gig at Kauffman Center.

*Hunter Long pledges to "figure out how to play with electronic beats in a non-cheesy way" in a new post about Hominid.

*Marc Myers examines the new Basie-Sinatra reissue with enthusiasm.

*A blogger recounts his visit to The American Jazz Museum.

*Here's an impressive performance video of Mouth at Crosstown Station on July 2.

*Tweet o' the Week: kcjazzlark: Storm moved through, ruined some electrical equipment. Rest of Prairie Village Jazz Fest is cancelled. Very sad.

*The wake for longtime Kansas City music industry personality Leroy Johnson is Sunday, September 18, from 2-5 p.m. at BB's Lawnside BBQ.

*The September 9 "Current State and Future of Jazz" program on Up To Date featuring Brad Cox, Deborah Brown, Shay Estes and Bobby Watson is available as a podcast.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Deborah Brown promotes the Prairie Village Jazz Festival in an interview with Joel Nichols.

*Charles Ferruza interviewed Marilyn Maye. Tony Botello reviewed the final set of her engagement last week at Jardine's. Maye's performance at Missouri State University is previewed by the Springfield News-Leader.

*Festival season is considered by KCJazzLark.

*Chris Burnett touches on a broad array of personal and professional topics in a new blog post.

*"The state of jazz today" is the topic of KCUR's Up To Date this Friday. (Tip via KCJazzLark.)

*A press release characterizes 12th Street Jump as "one of the most listened-to weekly live jazz radio shows in the country."

*Bobby Watson's contribution to the Chicago Jazz Festival is noted by the Chicago Tribune.

*Anima, a new duet album by Matt Otto and Leonard Thompson, is available at CD Baby.

*The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings of Frank Sinatra and Count Basie were reissued yesterday.

*New York's Charlie Parker Jazz Festival has been rescheduled.

*Geri Allen, who will perform March 24, 2012, at the Gem Theater, will be featured in a live webcast tonight (September 7) at NPR.

*The St. Joseph Jazz Festival in St. Joseph, Missouri, is no more. It's now the Coleman Hawkins Bikes & Blues Festival. Meanwhile, The Phoenix, once a dependable Kansas City jazz venue, is hosting a blues festival on October 1.

*Karrin Allyson and Rod Fleeman perform Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" at a radio station in Seattle. Allyson will return to Jardine's on November 28 and 29.

*Tweet o' the Week: ericbowersphoto: photoblogged - the Phoenix Jazz Club in Kansas City link to photo

*From Alaadeen Enterprises: (G)o to this site. Use coupon code CJ39C to get 20% off download of Alaadeen's book of memories: "Dysfunctional / life journeys of a second generation jazz musician". Available in formats for Kindle, Nook, Sony, Palm and more. Promotional price $3.99!

*From JCCC: Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and his band will appear Friday, Sept. 30, at Johnson County Community College in a musical and historical production that recalls the post-World War II jazz of Miles Davis. The Miles Davis Experience: 1949-1959, a collaboration with Blue Note Records, recaptures the sound and history of those years through the lens of the music that Davis created. The show includes live music performed in the manner it was first presented, with photos and film clips brought together by a beat poet-style narrator... Modest, Akinmusire would like you to know his band collectively with saxophonist Walter Smith III, pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Justin Brown.

*From Jeff Davis: Sir Threadius Mongus returns for a free show during First Friday for their Threads EP release celebration, as well as the debut of new music and a new lineup featuring Jeff Davis (guitar and composition), Matt Otto (saxophones), Andrew McGhie (saxophone), Stanton Kessler (trumpet), Mike Stover (bass) and Jonathan Taylor (drums), on October 7, at 8PM, at La Esquina.

*From the American Jazz Museum: Services for Pearl Thuston-Brown are scheduled for Thursday, September 8, 2011. Visitation: 9:00 am – 11:00 am. Service: 11:00 am. Location: Boone Tabernacle Church of God, 1317 East 12th Street.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Pearl Thuston-Brown passed away Sunday. She was 84. Chuck Haddix interviewed the one-time vocalist in Lionel Hampton's band in 2007. She was last featured at Plastic Sax in 2010.

*I didn't attend this year's gravesite service for Charlie Parker at Lincoln Cemetery. Neither, apparently, did you. In a report filed by my friend XO, he notes that just "(t)wo sax players, one singer and maybe a dozen observants" were present for the annual memorial.

*Headline: Council approves 18th and Vine renovation project. KCJazzLark approves.

*Tony's Kansas City gets the scoop on The Mutual Musicians Foundation's bottles of Kansas City wine.

*Libby Hanssen compiled a survey of forthcoming jazz performances for The Star.

*Here's a review of the first set of Marilyn Maye's current engagement at Jardine's.

*Elgin Smith and Joel Francis reviewed Friday's Return to Forever concert. Here's a bit of fan footage.

*"By modern jazz standards it was a complete hit and by free beer standards it was also good," Hunter Long writes of the most recent Black House Improvisors' Collective performance. Recent posts also include notification of the next season and a couple of video clips.

*Ahmad Alaadeen's Dsyfunctional is now available as an e-book at Amazon's Kindle store.

*Jeneé Osterheldt describes “Sweet Easy Sundays” at Danny's Big Easy.

*The CBC explores the "thirty year musical relationship between Canadian luthier Linda Manzer and guitar great Pat Metheny." (Via Peter Hum.)

*The threat posed by Hurricane Irene forced the cancellation of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York. Here's a preview of what might have been. "(L)ike many musicians of my generation, bebop was like a message from the messiah," Toots Thielemans told The New York Post in advance of his ill-fated appearance at the festival.

*Interesting background information about Dr. Reginald Buckner is included in the preview for the September 24 concert at the Blue Room featuring the Will Matthews Organ Quartet.

*Here's solid audio (and murky video) of one of the Brad Leali Tentet's August gigs at the Blue Room.

*Tweet o' the Week: THEFOLLYTHEATER: Tickets for the 2011-2012 Folly Jazz Series go on sale Monday at 10am. Don't miss out on great seats! 816-474-4444 www.follytheater.org

*From Community Christian Church: The lineup for the 2011 edition of Jazz Carol Fest includes Deborah Brown, Millie Edwards and Luzman Hamza. The house band features James Albright, Everette DeVan, Rod Fleeman, Stan Kessler, Jim Mair and Jurgen Welgen. Tim Whitmer is the Master of Ceremonies. The concert begins at 4 p.m.

*From the American Jazz Museum: A press conference regarding the 2011 Rhythm & Ribs festival is scheduled for 9:00 a.m., September 6, at the museum.

(Original image of UMKC campus by Plastic Sax.)

The Pearl Thuston-Brown Takeover

Because I arrived an hour after the scheduled start time of the official public debut performance of The Gates BBQ Suite, I was forced into a far corner of the packed Blue Room on October 18. Adding insult to injury, the complimentary barbecue provided by Gates was gone.

All was not lost. I closed my eyes and blissfully listened to Bobby Watson, his current UMKC students and a few alumni impeccably perform the second half of Watson's exceptional new album.

After he noted that the project had peaked at #6 on JazzWeek's airplay chart, Watson was quick to dampen unrealistic expectations.

"I'll be driving the same car next week," he laughed. "What part of number six don't you understand?"

Watson assured the audience that a brief intermission would be followed by a jam session. It never happened. Pearl Thuston-Brown, 83, commandeered the piano during the break. And that was that.

She performed an impressive array of jazz standards and bawdy blues. I blushed when "A Good Man is Hard to Find" became "A Hard Man is Good to Find." Transport this woman to Paris and she'd be the toast of the town within weeks.

Intimidated and respectful, the other musicians didn't dare interrupt Thuston-Brown. As her impromptu recital continued, they shrugged their shoulders, packed their instruments and left. By the time she finished playing, less than two dozens people- Ollie "O.G." Gates among them- remained.

(While I'm reluctant to feature this home footage of Thuston-Brown, no proper performance documentation is available.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*It almost sounds too good to be true. Ten dollars buys a ticket to see Fourplay, Kevin Mahogany and three local openers at the 40 Acres & a Mule campus on August 7. Details are here. Steve Penn previewed the event.

*An invaluable history lesson on the Jazz District is offered by KCJazzLark in his endorsement of the proposed reconstruction project on Highland Avenue.

*KCUR's Up To Date featured Alaturka on July 23. Download the podcast here. The Star reviewed Alaturka's July 25 performance at Jardine's.

*All About Jazz conducted an interview with guitarist Steve Cardenas.

*The Pitch catches Pearl Thuston-Brown at GiGi's.

*The challenges facing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum are detailed by a Canadian newspaper.

*A blogger notes his/her attendance at a lecture held at the American Jazz Museum.

*Here's the lastest dispatch from Black House Improvisors Collective.

*Listen to Bobby Watson working through an Ornette Coleman composition in 1985.

*I received the following message from a reader last week.

I have a problem with the Plastic Sax site. Too many of the links are outdated. I've spent way too much time this morning chasing dead ends. Any chance you can update them? Also, will you please add (my site) to you links?

Can you believe this guy? Still, I suppose he has a good point. I'm putting the local jazz community on notice- I've started the process of reviewing every link in the right-hand column. The dead links will be deleted accordingly. If you've migrated from MySpace, for instance, please email me your preferred address. Thanks in advance.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*KCJazzLark tells the story behind a historic facade in the Jazz District.

*The 2010-11 season of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has been announced.

*KCUR's KC Currents eulogizes Ruth Rhoden. She's also remembered by KCJazzLark.

*A visit to the American Jazz Museum rates on JazzTimes' jazz bucket list. (Tip via AZ.)

*The Pitch chats with Mark Lowrey.

*A blogger is mystified by fresh digging at the Charlie Parker grave site. I provided my best guess in his comment section but I suspect I'm wrong.

*Barbara Thomas of the American Jazz Museum is interviewed by the local NBC affiliate.

*KMBZ covered the "piano-thon" at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

*The latest album from Michael Pagan's trio is characterized as an "exceedingly pleasant release" by a California publication.

*Mike Metheny created an atmospheric video for a track from his new album. He chats about Miles Davis in this podcast. "It was great music to make out to," Metheny says of Kind of Blue. All of Metheny's commentary is fascinating.

*A blogger reports on his first visit to the American Jazz Museum.

*Here's a fan video of Orrin Evans' recent appearance at the Blue Room.

*Pete Dulin profiled Mixed Method.

*Playboy magazine listed the Mutual Musicians Foundation in its "Guide to America’s Greatest Bars."

*"If Charlie Parker seems a less filthy racket today than he did in 1950 it is only because... much filthier rackets succeeded him." The Independent examines poet Phillip Larkin's difficult relationship with jazz.

*The following notice about a July 25 appearance by Pearl Thuston-Brown was posted at the Facebook account of GiGi's on Troost: Kansas City's Own Legendary Jazz Pianist, Vocalist, and Song Stylist invites YOU to celebrate another fabulous birthday. Come dressed in roaring 20's attire and be transported to the GOLDEN AGE of Jazz and American Song.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Review: Jazz Carol Fest 2009

The unrepentantly silly but absolutely delightful lighting of Jurgen Welge's drums near the beginning of the 14th annual Jazz Community Carol Fest filled this curmudgeon with glee Sunday. The capacity audience of about 900 at Community Christian Church treated the two dozen participating musicians like royalty. In turn, they performed with panache.

Here are the moments I most enjoyed:

*The clever arrangement of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" referenced Chick Corea's "Spain." Violist Marvin Gruenbaum's playing on the piece was also spectacular.

*Stan Kessler's sensitive playing on "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was masterful.

*Pearl Thuston-Brown delivered a brief but magisterial "Go Tell It On the Mountain." What a treat!

*James Albright's goofy turn on "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" captured the spirit of the season.

*The slinky treatment given to "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was downright scandalous.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)