by John Leisenring



Here It Comes! Here It Comes!

No, not the "19th Nervous Breakdown." The Rolling Stones have announced that they will skip Kansas City this tour.

I mean the 2002 Kansas City Jazz Lover's Pub Crawl®. You'll be joining us for all the fun and jazz on Thursday, June 27, beginning at 8:00 p.m. and lasting until midnight. Over 20 clubs will be featured, with all the best Kansas City music, from down and dirty blues to the best of contemporary jazz. You can get your tickets early, for only $10, at any participating club, or through Ticketmaster. Details can be found elsewhere in this magazine.

The Pub Crawl, of course, is the Jazz Ambassadors' major fund raiser of each year. For the past twenty-one years, the Crawl has netted a good 60 to 80% of the money needed to support our various projects: the Jazz Ambassador Magazine, the Musicians Emergency Assistance Fund, of which we are most proud, and various scholarship, educational and student assistance endeavors. We need your help and support. It's not been a good year, what with 9/11 and all, so this year's Crawl is more important than ever. Support your organization, and have a ball at the same time!

June 27th. Be there. I mean it!

And just a word about the eclectic nature of the music featured on the Crawl -- indeed, the eclectic nature of this wonderful American music that we celebrate with the Jazz Lover's Pub Crawl®. It'll all be there. If you don't like the band in one club, hop on over to another. But do give yourself the opportunity to learn and grow. Enjoy the entire gumbo. Don't pick out the okra until you're satisfied that you can never like okra.

A local 80-year old classic jazz musician, one Eugene Kane by name, was recently published in the "As I See It" column of The Kansas City Star. Mr. Kane suggested, as a way to uplift Kansas City Jazz, the exclusion of "any musician or group affiliated with so-called contemporary or progressive jazz." Kane extolled the virtues of blues bands and jazz classics such as "One O'clock Jump" and "Satin Doll." He abhors the "dissonance, even cacophony" of post-1940s American Music.

Kane has valid opinions, and is welcome to voice them. However, as with European classical music, the treasures of the past are the foundation upon which the present is built. Stockhausen and Stravinsky can't exist without Bach and Brahms, just as Louis and Duke show the way for Miles and Coltrane and Ornette. It is the task of the listener to strive for growth and appreciation of the current art while continuing to enjoy that which is familiar and comprehensible.

What better place to practice ear skills but at the 2002 Jazz Lover's Pub Crawl®. Over 20 venues, all accessible with one $10 ticket, featuring a wide-ranging mix of jazz styles and personalities. It is hoped that Mr. Eugene Kane will join us for an ear-bending evening of music and club-hopping.

It is hoped that you will, too.

KCJA president Dr. John Leisenring is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.



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