JAM: December 2003/January 2004 Issue: Hampton's Hot Licks

Dean Hampton

The Year in Review

The December "Hot Licks" is my time to reflect on the past 12 months and to anticipate the coming of another great year for Kansas City jazz.

Jazz in KC has had kind of a struggle in 2003, but that's been true with just about all genres of music this year, locally and nationally.

In Kansas City we lost a jazz venue or two, read some important obits, and we've dealt with a lagging economy at a time when the multitude of entertainment options available tends to vastly dilute our focus.

When I look at the down side of things, I must always remember to ask, "But, what's the good news?" Well, there's plenty! A valley is the path to the next mountain peak.

Let's get specific with a few year-end Roasts and Toasts. (And I am happy to say that there are far more Toasts than Roasts!)

A Toast -- First, I must toast myself for making a clean break. My first year in over a decade as a jazz spectator/writer/photographer and not a KCJA board member has been fun, energizing and enlightening. Seeing things from "the outside" tempted me many times to get involved again. But the KCJA has done well without me; so one of my New Year's resolutions is to continue my current gig as an outsider.

A Toast -- To the Westport Jazz Lover's Pub Crawl in June. What a wonderful success and fun evening with great music it was!

A Toast -- To Jardine's Jazz Club and its new owner Beena Brandsgard (see the June/July JAM). Beena has really kicked things up several notches. From her April grand opening on, there has been steady growth for KC jazz at Jardine's. We now have another venue that features jazz seven nights a week... and even on Saturday afternoons!

A Roast -- To 210 at Fedora in the Plaza. Just what KC needs:
another sports bar. Thanks again to Beena at Jardine's for rescuing Tommy Ruskin's Saturday afternoon jam session when Fedora closed.

A Toast -- To the Phoenix Piano Bar & Grill for being here nearly 15 years. And another toast to Phoenix management for the new menu of reasonably priced items that hit the spot. Watch for anniversary party announcements in the near future.

A Roast -- To the recording industry for sticking its head in the sand while technology continues to run right past it. It is a recipe for failure, and the results include canceled recording contracts, blank CDs out-selling recorded albums, lagging sales, and increased motivation for consumers to get the music they want on the web... for free. Reduced CD prices may have come too late and will just further dilute the industry's eagerness to produce quality jazz.

A Roast -- To Communitech (CT), our former web site host. Hey CT, thanks for selling out, laying off your Kansas City staff and moving our Kansas City jazz web site (over 1,100 web pages) to Atlanta. And then offering poor service!

A Toast -- To Blue Virtual, our new web site host. Thanks for the rescue! Jazzkc.org is back in Kansas City due to the great cooperation of the Communitech refugees who started their own hosting company and landed us back in town with the best hosting deal we've ever had. It's nice to be "Powered by Blue Virtual." Catch them online at bluevirtual.com.

A Roast -- To the Entercom radio group and 106.5 FM. I never did consider their "smooth jazz" to be jazz, but KCIY did at least offer a lot of support to the KC jazz community. Now we have more sports-talk radio and country...

A Toast -- To KCUR, KKFI, and KANU-FM for keeping jazz radio alive in the metro area. We do appreciate you and your music! Please add more in 2004.

A Toast -- To KCCG-TV's Jon Trozzolo. If you live in Kansas City and have Time-Warner Cable, you receive Channel 2, the Kansas City/City
Government channel. When they aren't showing regular programming (City Council meetings, etc.), you will hear a lot of real jazz. And it's good stuff! Trozzolo (who used to write for JAM) takes care of this programming and includes a mix of local CDs and national jazz acts ranging in style from Dixieland to the best of bebop. Keep up the good work Jon! (A note to musicians: If you would like for Jon to add your CD, email him at Jon_Trozzolo@kcmo.org).

A Roast -- To the American Jazz Museum. I still don't see signs pointing to the Jazz Museum! Why are we keeping this wonderful KC treasure a secret? Where are the billboards, especially from KCI on I-29? Let's get this done in 2004!

A Toast -- To Tammy Buckner, our JAM advertising sales representative. Tammy, you have done a great job this year and have literally kept JAM afloat. Also, thanks for the excellent work you are doing on the KCJA web site!

And Toast #1 goes to the entire JAM staff: Thanks for another great six issues of Jazz Ambassador Magazine in 2003.

Happy holidays to all.
And may 2004 be your best year ever!

Dean Hampton has been a member of the KC Jazz Ambassadors since 1990.