Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Klopus highlights forthcoming concerts by bands led by Karrin Allyson and Bobby Watson in his latest column.

*Chepttoo Kositany-Buckner and Bobby Watson pitch the forthcoming concert at the Gem Theater featuring Watson, Ernie Andrews and American Jazz Orchestra.  The Pitch also touted the show.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Sinbad- Kansas City where is the jazz and live music in Kansas City on a Friday night

*From the American Jazz Museum: We've added more dates to our (Riffing on the Repertoire author talks) series: Dec. 1 Rashod Ollison - Soul Serenade; Dec. 15 Brian Seibert - What the Eye Hears; Jan. 12 Michael Jarrett - Pressed for All Time; Jan. 26 Sherrie Tucker - Dance Floor Democracy; March 9 Stephen Rush - Free Jazz, Harmolodics and Ornette Coleman; March 23 Dr. Richard Turner - Jazz Religon, the Second Line and Black New Orleans; April 6 - Lanston Hughes Project with Dr. Ron McCurdy; April 20 - Charles Hersch Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity.  Ted Gioia speaks at the Museum on Thursday, Nov. 17.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Teaching Moments

I joined about 20 students at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance for Helen Sung’s inspiring master class on Friday afternoon.

The session consisted of three components: a sublime demonstration by Sung and her touring band of saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Darrell Green, a discussion of how each musician came to jazz followed by a question-and-answer session, and a student performance that was critiqued by the professionals.

Ellis’ emphatic playing on a lively interpretation of Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone to Love” made me regret not bringing earplugs.  He later recalled his initial college experience: “I started to get really excited about jazz and really unexcited about oboe (his primary instrument at the time).”

Kozlov described the limited access he had to Western music growing up under the oppressive Soviet regime, and noted that “Bobby (Watson) gave me one of my first breaks” after he arrived in New York City.  Green remembered that “I was the little kid who got five, six whuppings a Sunday” before his energy was harnessed by the church band.

Sung humbly insisted that “I try to get better every day.”  Each musician spoke of his or her introduction to jazz in the awed tone of a child describing a memory of unwrapping a favorite present.

Their kind but frank analysis of the students’ playing greatly enhanced my appreciation of the music.  As a bonus, Watson commandeered the piano to ably demonstrate Ellis’ points about the flexibility of time and responding to the prompts of peers. 

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Helen Sung

Pianist Helen Sung performs at the Blue Room on Saturday, November 12.  According to Joe Klopus of The Kansas City Star, Sung will be joined by saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Darrell Green.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Eddie Moore will lead a new weekly jam session at Californos.  The first session is slated for Wednesday, November 9.

*Joe Klopus highlights Helen Sung’s return to Kansas City in his weekly column.

*Tim Finn reports that Molly Hammer was a beneficiary of a medical-related grant from the Midwest Music Foundation.

*The Shawnee Mission Post reports that this year’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival “generated $10,000 in revenue."

*A blogger praises a Marilyn Maye performance at Quality Hill Playhouse.

*KCUR documented the creation of a socially-conscious mural at the American Jazz Museum.

*Tweet o’ the Week: Dominique Sanders- And people wonder why black people still talk about racism

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

In a Silent Way: Bob Gluck at the American Jazz Museum

I’m ashamed to admit that last Thursday’s presentation by Bob Gluck was the first of the Riffing on the Repertoire author talks I’ve attended at the American Jazz Museum in 2016.  I’m not the only person who’s been missing out.  Only 12 people heard Gluck speak. 

Gluck’s illuminating lecture was based on his new book The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles.  A detailed analysis of a two-minute snippet of a 1967 bootleg documenting a jam between Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams deepened my appreciation of Davis’ aptitude for assembling talent.

Revelations included anecdotes about the initial resistance of Hancock and (later) Chick Corea to comply with Davis’ insistence that they plug in and Davis’ duplicitous dismissal of Ornette Coleman.  Gluck illustrated a few of his points at a keyboard and spoke of giants like Anthony Braxton in an appropriately reverent tone.  I would have gladly listened to Gluck rap all night.

The year’s Riffing on the Repertoire series concludes November 17 with Ted Gioia’s presentation about his latest effort How to Listen to Jazz.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Tony Tixier

Pianist Tony Tixier returns to the Blue Room on Friday, November 4.  He’ll be joined by his touring band of bassist Karl McComas-Reichl and drummer Tommy Crane.  The embedded profile should delight Francophiles (and features a cameo by Ryan Lee).

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Joe Klopus scrutinized the week in jazz for The Kansas City Star.

*The Pitch previewed Tony Tixier’s return to the Blue Room.

*Marilyn Maye opens a four-day residency tonight at Quality Hill Playhouse.

*Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner of the American Jazz Museum is featured in a 435 Magazine article titled #LadyBoss.

*An early review of Echoes of Europe, the forthcoming album by Dino Massa's Kansas City Quintet, suggests that it’s “smoking contemporary jazz.”

*Tweet o’ the Week: Union Station- THIS FRIDAY! Join us for a spectacular evening of music and dance with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra (link)

*Comment o’ the Week: Jeremy- Topeka is lucky to have someone as generous as Liz Stratton supporting jazz performances. Thanks to her generosity I've been able to see two of the most amazing musicians (Sean Jones and Eldar Djangirov) that I've ever seen.

*The Kansas City Jazz Calendar has been updated for November.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)