Now's the Time: The Last of the Blue Devils

It’s time to bring out the biggest gun in the arsenal.  “The Last of the Blue Devils” is an invaluable film about Kansas City jazz.  Its ongoing availability as a free stream on YouTube astounds me.  The first 15 minutes of the documentary in the embedded video capture a reunion of titans at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Trumpeter Snooky Young, veteran of the bands of Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie, has died. He was 92.

*Filmmaker Bruce Ricker has died. Here's Steve Paul's personal tribute to the man behind The Last of the Blue Devils.

*Return to Forever and Zappa Plays Zappa will perform at the Midland Theater on August 26. (I'm not gonna lie- I'm all about this.)

*Steve Paul notes the charms of the Folly Theater and encourages patrons not to forget about Kansas City's many fine venues when the Kauffman Center opens later this year.

*The MarchFourth Big Band plays a free show at Crossroads on June 14.

*The fourth installment of KCJazzLark's saga about his experiences as a member of the Kansas City Jazz Commission is now on the record.

*Kevin Collison offers an intriguing proposal for "establishing a world-class jazz festival coupled with a huge barbecue bash."

*Here's raw footage of a performance by BeardKCrazy. The new band sounds like a mash-up of King Sunny Ade's Syncro System and Miles Davis' On the Corner.

*Another Verse uncovers the Kansas City angle on the Library of Congress' new "national jukebox."

*Phonologotron, Plastic Sax's infamously incendiary commenter, explains himself.

*Tweet o' the Week: D.J. Sweeney People talk too much when they should be listening. As for the man that shouted out, "play some rock," F-you! Jazz is cerebral, you moron!

*Big Joe Turner was born 100 years ago today. "Jump for joy."

*The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has a new business manager. And yes, it's me, the man behind Plastic Sax.

*From Alaadeen Enterprises: Alaadeen Enterprises, Inc. is pleased to announce a collaboration with The Duke Ellington Family on a pilot outreach program to aid the veterans of the United States Military. Scheduled to be implemented this Memorial Day in honor of our Veterans of War, the project will demonstrate the healing power of music by providing drum pads and drum sticks to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Victoria Dunfee, President of Alaadeen Enterprises states that, "Our partnership with the Duke Ellington Family on this project is a superb fit as our founder Ahmad Alaadeen was a member of the U.S. 4th Army Band, Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He saw first hand the healing powers of music." Alaadeen is now buried in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.

*From Sue Vicory: (T)he film will air on PBS June 28th at 9PM.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

The Last of the Blue Devils

It seems as if the Mutual Musicians Foundation has been getting attention for all the wrong reasons lately. I thought it would be nice to take a look at the one of the happier- albeit bittersweet- moments in its illustrious history. The Last of the Blue Devils documented a 1979 reunion of Kansas City jazz legends. The wonderful film is available at Amazon and Netflix. This clip features Jay McShann and Jesse Price at the Foundation. Joe Turner is part of the Greek chorus.