 |
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
       |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
Search our site:
          |
|
 JAZZ VACATION: KANSAS CITY 1997 Edition by Dean Hampton A jazz vacation in Kansas City is a jazz vacation you will never forget. The KC jazz scene is alive with great sounds and it will keep you going at any pace you can handle. Here we will cover as much of the scene as we can in seven days, 'round the clock. But first, you must take care of some advance planning. Most of the name hotels -- from downtown KC to the Country Club Plaza -- will prove to be good, safe bases of operation for your jazz journeys. Due to increased convention business in Kansas City, however, I strongly recommend that you make your reservations before leaving home. Dress, for the most part, will be casual. (Plan on it being hot in the summer; cold in the winter. Spring and fall can go either way... all in the same day!) And I'd suggest that you bring a boom box equipped with both CD and tape player for your many new jazz purchases. Allow about $42 per day for food (if you use government-approved scale), drinks will be extra. Few events require a cover charge, and a drink minimum doesn't exist in Kansas City. MONDAY -- To start your '97 Kansas City Jazz Vacation, time your drive to so you will arrive in the area on a Monday afternoon. On the way, tune to either KCMW-FM (90.9) if coming from the east, or KKFI-FM (90.1) if coming from the west. Both play jazz and/or blues in the afternoon. Another option is to tune to KCIY-FM (106.5) for the sounds of Smooth Jazz. As soon as you check in to your room, ask for the current issue of JAM. In "Club Scene," you will find a comprehensive listing of jazz venues with addresses and phone numbers. Call the Jazz Hotline at 753-JASS (5277) for special jazz events and other current listings. You are now ready to hit the town.
First, head for the Phoenix Jazz Club at Station Casino where you will enjoy jazz in a venue built with the KC jazz lover in mind. On Monday evening, you might hear the superb Luqman Hamza Quartet. And be sure to check out all of the great photos (by Beverly Rehkop) of people you will be seeing the rest of the week. If you don't eat at the Phoenix, move on to the Majestic Steak House downtown, a good place for an introduction to world famous Kansas City steaks. The Majestic has plenty of new parking and live jazz seven nights a week. (The Bob Bowman Trio -- featuring Bob on bass, Paul Smith on piano and Todd Strait on drums -- can heard on Mondays.) After dinner, head for Midtown and to The Levee for the rousing jazz and blues of guitarist Sonny Kenner. Be sure to pick up one of Sonny's CDs before heading back to the hotel and drifting off to the classic sounds of Robert Moore's "Take Five" on KCUR-FM (89.3). TUESDAY -- Sleep late. Then in the afternoon, take a tour of UMKC's Marr Sound Archives with Chuck Haddix. Chuck oversees tons (that right, tons) of recordings in this collection and you will also see some of the first "record machines" on display that are now many decades old. At 5:00 p.m., head for Jules on the Plaza for seafood and the music of Everette DeVan (organ) and Kent Means (vibes). DeVan's B-3 work will inspire you to purchase one or both of his CDs: East of the Sun and The Real Thing. Next, move on to the Boulevard Cafe where you will find Stan Kessler & The Sons of Brasil -- another hot, don't-miss KC group. Their current CD is titled: what else? The Sons of Brasil. And don't forget to sample the Boulevard's fine international cuisine while you're there. If you haven't had quite enough on this Tuesday evening, head to Club 427 in the City Market area for a jazz nightcap. Band leader/pianist Steve Miller and the wonderful vocalist Rosetta Robinson are frequent performers. Back to the hotel. And "Jazz in the Night" hosted by Bob McWilliams on KANU-FM (91.5). It's a show worth staying up for. WEDNESDAY -- Pick up the pace. In the afternoon, visit either Music Exchange or Streetside Records to find recommended recordings of local artists. (If there is a long-lost album you've been searching for, ask "Ron" if it can be found in the store's basement.) Next, it's on to Charlie's Lodge, Restaurant and Bar where the Tommy Ruskin/Julie Turner jazz jam starts at 5:00 p.m. Be sure to pick up a copy of Julie's recording, Save That Time, featuring many fine KC jazz musicians. If you are a church goer, plan ahead so you are in Kansas City the first Wednesday of the month. (You will be very tired by Sunday morning!) You will want to visit Unity Temple on the Plaza at 7:00 p.m. for the monthly "Spirituality and All That Jazz." Even if you haven't been to church in 15 years, you will enjoy the way pianist Tim Whitmer and minister Duke Tufty provide a real cleansing of the soul. Special guests are another highlight of this monthly series. Recent favorites have been Kim Park and Karrin Allyson. Kim (a veteran of the Stan Kenton Orchestra) will grab your attention with his solid alto sax and/or flute artistry; Karrin has hit it big in the jazz recording industry in the last few years and will have each of her five Concord CDs available for sale anywhere you can catch her (Kim appears on three of them). Another special event the first Wednesday of each month takes place at B.B.'s Lawnside BBQ where you can enjoy the big band music of the Mo-Kan River City Jazz Orchestra. To end the evening with more hot sounds, stop by Jardine's just north of the Plaza where a Wednesday night regular is singer Dave Stephens and his "Martini Bash."
End your Thursday at the Grand Emporium, the multi-year winner of the "W.C. Handy Top Blues Club in America" award. Awaiting you there will be a belly full of Amazing Grace's BBQ and an ear full of the blues. FRIDAY -- Now we kick into high gear. Start the day with more jazz radio and a call to the Jazz Hotline to confirm the evening's lineup. Jazz on-the-air starts at 6:00 a.m. with KKFI-FM ("Breakfast Jam"), then at 8:00 a.m. tune to KCMW-FM as it begins jazz programming for the day. In the evening, head to the Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery for Sprint's Friday Night Jazz. There you will hear such well known groups as the Milt Abel Trio and Alaadeen and the Deans of Swing. (Alaadeen's '96 CD will sound great in that boom box you brought along; it's called Plays Blues for RC & Josephine Too.) There are other early Friday evening jazz spots you will want to sample, one of which is "north of the river." At the Eclipse Bar in the Argosy Casino you can sometimes find drummer Vince Bilardo or the Carl Bender Quartet. Both are known for first rate jazz sounds. There's also the downtown Phoenix Piano Bar & Grill where you can hear Tim Whitmer & the KC Express. Months after your jazz vacation is over, you will still remember how you couldn't sit still during Whitmer's multi-generational interpretations of the historic Kansas City jazz sound. (Be sure to check out Tim's CDs, Humorous Intentions and The Concert.) If you're lucky, you'll hit the Phoenix on a night when pianist Joe Cartwright and his band take over at 9:00 p.m. Ask Joe for a copy of his tape, Triplicity. Still up for some more jazz? Zip back over to Jardine's for "Jazz Around The Clock." The music there doesn't end until 3:00 a.m.
SATURDAY will be a long day! And it won't end until Sunday night! We start at 10:00 a.m. with Dick Wright's "The Jazz Scene" on KANU-FM (91.5). Harling's Upstairs kicks off the afternoon jams with Mama Ray & the Rich Van Sant Band. Take their bluesy sound home with a copy of their new CD, recorded on location. Then, it's off to Fedora Cafe & Bar for Tommy Ruskin's Saturday jazz jam featuring Gerald Spaits on bass and Mike Ning on piano and vocals. For more jammin', it's back to the Phoenix at Station Casino for the Pete Eye Trio and vocalist Rob Richardson. Another Northland stop on your jazz vacation should be Ivy's Restaurant where you will hear the Latin jazz of Musa Nova or sometimes the Angela Hagenbach Trio. Pick up one of Angela's, and/or Musa Nova's exciting CDs while you're there. They feature a number of KC's current world class musicians including Joe Cartwright, Russ Long, Danny Embrey, Gerald Spaits, Bob Bowman, Todd Strait, Doug Auwarter and Kim Park. Hot headliners at the Club at Plaza III on this Saturday night could include the world renowned violinist Claude "Fiddler" Williams, the Lou Rawls-inspired Richard Ross, or vocalist (and 1995 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition finalist) Lisa Henry. Sometimes there's the Trumpet Summit band featuring Gary Sivils. Or maybe Warner Brother's recording star, Kevin Mahogany is in town for a rest and can't resist sitting in with the house band. This will surely be another day in which you've filled your bag with fresh, hot KC jazz CDs. And to end it, you will want to move on to the historic 18th & Vine District for all-night music at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. This is the night you will watch the sun come up!
As you wind down, head to Milano at Crown Center where you will hear one of Kansas City's classiest jazz groups, Interstring. End your Sunday with KCIY-FM's "City Scape," a show that starts at 11:00 p.m. and features all Kansas City jazz artists. Headin' Home -- It is now Monday morning. And if you've done it all, you have heard over 30 groups at about 20 different venues, listened to over 200 hours of jazz radio programming, and have acquired over 20 new souvenir recordings to help you relive your trip. And even with this, you have only made a dent in the weekly jazz scene in KC. You may now check out of your hotel, head home while listening to the many CDs and tapes you now own, and start resting up for the second week of Jazz Vacation: Kansas City! © 1991-1997, Dean E. Hampton RETURN TO JUNE/JULY 1997 MAIN INDEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved. |
|
           |
|
||||
 |
||||||||||
