Now's the Time: Denise Thimes

Denise Thimes was a headlining act at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York earlier this month.  The St. Louis vocalist performs at the Blue Room on Saturday, March 31.  A multitude of additional gigs are listed on the Kansas City Jazz Calendar.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*The Project H was featured on KTGB’s Eight One Sixty program.

*KCUR reported on Kansas City’s promotional efforts related to UNESCO’s "Creative City of Music" designation.

*A party for the “official launch” of the low-power radio station KOJH will be held at the Mutual Musicians Foundation on Sunday, April 1.

*Bobby Watson will perform the National Anthem at Kauffman Stadium prior to the Kansas City Royals’ first home game.

*Tweet o’ the Week: wisonsinsane- Can't decide what is worse: A soft jazz band playing live in the Concourse of the Kansas City airport. Being inside the Kansas City airport.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Album Review: Jeff Shirley- Point of the Story

Point of the Story, the new album by Jeff Shirley, is impeccably tasteful.  It’s a shock, consequently, when a bit of grit is introduced on the eleventh track.  “Gerkin’s Sister Temple” adds six-minutes of left-of-center edginess to a 75-minute document that otherwise glides right down the center of jazz’s mainstream lane.

Shirley is a young Kansas City guitarist in the tradition of past masters like Joe Pass and Kenny Burrell.  He’s joined by the correspondingly elegant band of pianist Roger Wilder, bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Matt Leifer.  Ryan Thielman contributes flugelhorn flourishes to three tracks.

Conservative but never cautious, Shirley plays with a graceful confidence that makes Point of the Story a straight-ahead jazz fan’s delight.  The sole frustrating aspect of the project is that a couple tracks fade out just as they’re heating up, a dilemma that will likely be rectified during the release party for the album at Black Dolphin on Saturday, April 14.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Natalie Bates

Since powering the youth band that’s captured in the embedded video performing a rendition of the big band standard “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing),” drummer and bandleader Natalie Bates has become an established component of Kansas City’s jazz scene.  She leads a group at Green Lady Lounge on Sunday, March 25.  The Kansas City Jazz Calendar lists a multitude of additional gigs.

Confirmation: Weekly News & Notes

*Jessie Riggins asks “where are the younger audiences” as she laments the “small audience size” in her review of a Matt Otto concert at Polsky Theatre.

*The Lenexa Art Fair will double as a jazz festival.  The lineup for the May 12 event: Brian Scarborough Quartet, 10 a.m. - noon; Brad Allen Trio, noon - 1:30 p.m.; Brian Ruskin Quartet, 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.; Herschel McWilliams Quintet, 4 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.; Heat Index, 5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

*Max Groove was interviewed by Joe Dimino.

*Tweet o’ the Week: HOKNetwork- Excited to work with #KansasCity leaders and community on the revitalization of the 18th & Vine Historic District, renowned as a cradle of jazz and center of African-American culture (link).

*From a press release: The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra (KCJO), the region’s most prominent big band that strives to preserve the rich heritage of Kansas City jazz, is performing in its first international trip in two European cities. First, the KCJO will perform, May 9-10, 2018, at the Hannover Enercity Swinging Jazz Festival in Hannover, Germany. After the jazz festival concludes, the KCJO will travel on to Szczecin, Poland to perform in a smaller concert May 11-12, 2018… Other performers representing Kansas City will be Karla Bauer… and Greg Carroll.... To ensure the spiritual background of this event is not forgotten, an Ascension Day service will be held with a choir under the director of Karla Bauer... The festival was visited by more than 40,000 people in 2017, making it one of the largest open-air music festivals in Europe.

(Original image of the site that once housed Jardine’s jazz club by Plastic Sax.)

Album Review: The Project H- Everyday, Forever

Everyday, Forever, the fourth album by The Project H, comes with strings attached.  The signature components of the Kansas City instrumental band’s sound- bold horns, sturdy melodies and unwavering grooves- are supplemented by a string quartet on half of the album’s ten tracks.

The strings add subtle shadings to “Black Swan,” provide a rhapsodic introduction to “The Company You Keep” and help make “Ripple Effect” one of the most animated tracks in the Project H’s catalog.

Jazz enthusiasts will be thrilled by Everyday Forever’s soaring solos.  A few highlights: bandleader and trombonist Ryan Heinlein’s engaging statement on “Black Swan,” saxophonist Brett Jackson’s aggressive attack on “Don’t Call It That,” vibraphonist Peter Schlamb’s fiery guest appearance on “Planet Smasher” and bassist Andrew Stinson’s thorough domination of “Table Scraps.”

Yet the Project H’s emblematic good-time vibes are the most appealing aspect of Everyday, Forever.  Accessible but smart, the ensemble remains an elite party band for bacchanalian revelers as well as for members of Kansas City’s intellectual elite.

The Project H’s second and third albums were reviewed at Plastic Sax in 2012 and 2014.  Everyday, Forever will be released on March 23.  The band will celebrate the project at the Westport Coffee House on Wednesday, April 4.  A trio led by Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy will also perform.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Now's the Time: Amber Underwood

At the conclusion of the embedded footage of Amber Underwood performing at Black Dolphin, a woman in the audience yells something like “yeah, you do it, girl!”  Anyone with an affinity for soul-infused jazz in the vein of Hubert Laws will likely share her enthusiasm for Underwood’s sound.  The Kansas City flautist returns to Black Dolphin on Friday, March 16.  Dozens of the weekend’s additional gigs are compiled at the Kansas City Jazz Calendar.