The New Red Onion Jazz Babies

The New Red Onion Jazz Babies have been gigging around Kansas City since before a teenage Plastic Sax had even heard of Bix Beiderbecke. This live footage was captured at Jardine's earlier this week. It reminds me that I don't listen to nearly enough Dixieland. What a joyous sound! Download six free MP3s from the band's site, or better still, catch one of their regular performances.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Will Friedwald covered the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Harlem. Robert Glasper, Vanessa Rubin, Rashied Ali and other performed. Here's a snippet from Randy Weston's set. And a blogger shares some instructive shots.

*An exhibition titled Charlie Parker, From Birth To Death (no web site) opens Friday, August 29, at Penn Valley Community College. A press release promises "rare photographs depicting his musical life mixed with commentary by jazz greats who offer their views about his greatness." Try contacting the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center for more information.

*A jazz musician asked me to look into the jazz bookings at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Leawood. The new restaurant's manager offered the following reply to an email request for a performance calendar: "We should have a schedule to post by mid-September."

*Bar Natasha is closing. Although it was more a cabaret than a jazz venue, a number of jazz musicians frequently found work there.

*"Clubs are closing, musicians are changing their work and the surviving clubs are suspending their vision in lieu of the commercial, easy, and boring.. I feel like something new is on the horizon for this city I'm in..." Megan Birdsall confided in a blog post on August 22.

*Joe Klopus wrote an excellent appreciation of Charles Perkins (no web site). Perkins' sultry saxophone is heard on this video of a Fringe Festival performance. Jazz poet Dan Jaffe is also featured.

*Here's great news for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: A benefit CD featuring many of hip hop's top stars will be released October 21. Any money raised will be great, but the international awareness it will bring to the 18th & Vine institution will be invaluable.

*I intend to dedicate a full post to it later, but the new Jammin At the Gem season has been formally announced. Check it out here.

*Hey! There's now a web page for the Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House! There's nothing there, but it's a start anyway...

*Jazz photography by Bevery Rethkop (no web site) will be displayed at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Prairie Village. Details are on this church bulletin.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Charlie Parker Memorial

I missed you yesterday at the Lincoln Cemetery memorial service for Charlie Parker. I'm not sure why attendance was dramatically lower this year. Don't worry, though- I shot this rough, unedited video for your inspection.

The Jazz Disciples

So many outstanding jazz musicians call Kansas City home that a first-rate ensemble like The Jazz Disciples can fail to garner an appropriate level of acclaim. Part of the charm of this rough fan video is the way it starts in the middle of a tune. As always, the group sounds superb.

---
Reminder: The annual Charlie Parker gravesite celebration takes place Sunday, August 24. Details and directions are here.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Klopus provides a great piece about New Jazz Order's weekly gig at Harling's. An accompanying video is very worthwhile.

*Miles Bonny is big in France. This interview is proof.

*Karrin Allyson is profiled here.

*I had a good time Sunday at the Pitch's annual music awards. Ida McBeth won in the "Soul/Blues" category. Mark Sutherland's Snuff Jazz took the best "Jazz" award, beating out presumptive favorite Megan Birdsall.

*Here's a video clip of Mark Pender performing last week at Kansas City's Bice Lounge. The footage was shot by Sue Vicory, subject of the previous Plastic Sax post. TV critic Aaron Barnhard chronicles the night.

*Lee Young, brother of Lester and sometime drummer for Count Basie and Charlie Parker, died July 31.

*Lee lives!

(Original image captured at KCI by Plastic Sax.)

Jazz On Film

Per my request, Google bombards me with web postings about Kansas City jazz. For the past couple months, a disproportionate number emanate from Kansas City Jazz and Blues. The site promotes Kansas City Jazz and Blues: Past, Present, and Future, "an important documentary as a keepsake for the heritage of the Kansas City jazz and blues music scene." Filmmaker Sue Vicory seems to be interviewing dozens of area jazz musicians for the project. Here's more footage.

Dimensions of Jay McShann

It's been almost two years since Jay McShann passed. I still mourn the loss.

McShann's music is eternal, of course, but the jazz giant's engaging presence can't be replicated. That's one reason the 1992 footage uploaded to YouTube by KMBC earlier this week is so wonderful.

Here's KMBZ's description of the video: "Jazz legend Jay McShann performs with keyboardist Everett Freeman on the April 14, 1992 edition of "Dimensions". "Dimensions" was a community affairs program that aired on KMBC-TV in the 1980s and 1990s and was hosted by Community Affairs Director Olivia Dorsey."

Freeman is currently a member of The Jazz Disciples.

YouTube offers the video in high definition.