Please
Join Us!
The Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors will host their annual Christmas
Party and first Silent Auction at the Hotel Phillips, 106
W. 12th Street, on Thursday, December 18, at 7:00 p.m. The
Mo City Jumpers will perform at 8:00 after a brief Jazz Ambassadors
meeting. Hors d'oeuvres will be served throughout the night.
The silent auction will include items donated by the Folly Theater,
the Grand Emporium, the Quality Hill Playhouse, the American Jazz
Museum, the Phoenix Piano Bar & Grill, the Phillips Chop House,
the Majestic Steakhouse, the Peach Tree Restaurant, the Boozefish
Wine Bar, the Del-Mar Restaurant & Supper Club, the Bristol Bar
& Grill, Gates BBQ, and the Westport Flea Market. Angela Hagenbach,
Kathleen Holeman, Candace Evans, Stan Kessler, David Basse and Tim
Whitmer have donated CDs. Also, KCJA members can stay at the hotel
that night for a discounted price of $59.
The event is free, but reservations are necessary. Call 913-384-5626
for additional information.
Holiday
Jazz
The holiday season usually brings with it various jazz-flavored musical
events, one of which will be on Thursday, December 4, when
Johnson County Community College hosts its "Fall Jazz Night"
featuring JCCC's Midnight Express Jazz Ensemble and jazz combos.
The concert, directed by Ron Stinson, associate professor of
instrumental music at the college, will present works by Count Basie,
Frank Mantooth and Pat Metheny along with original student compositions.
Showtime at the Carlsen Center, 12345 College Boulevard, is 7:30 p.m.
and admission is free. Call 913-469-3886 for more.
All Together Now...
The annual "Jazz Community Carol Fest" has become
a popular seasonal event in recent years. The Christmas celebration
for 2003, set for Sunday, December 7, will feature such KC
all-stars as Tim Whitmer (piano), Jurgen Welge (drums),
James Albright (bass), Everette DeVan and Max Groove
(keyboards), Jim Mair and Kim Park (saxophones), Stan
Kessler (trumpet), Rod Fleeman (guitar), Angela Hagenbach,
Myra Taylor, Millie Edwards, Diane "Mama"
Ray and "Duck" Warner (vocals), and The Scamps.
The music begins on the 7th at 4:00 p.m. at the Community Christian
Church, 4601 Main, where tickets will be on sale prior to the show
(Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.). Call 816-561-6531 for additional
information.
Happenings on The Vine
Are you a poet and do you know it? Then don't miss the American
Jazz Museum's Jazz Poetry Jams, a monthly spoken word series that
began in October and continues through May. Featured poet on Tuesday,
December 16 (7:00 p.m. in the Blue Room, 18th & Vine) is
Dana Gilmore, who has appeared on HBO's "Def Poetry."
There is also a cash prize of $100 for the best open-mic poet, and
live music will be provided by DeAndre Wiseman (drums), D.J.
Collier (bass), and Jason Betts (piano). Call 816-474-8463,
ext. 208 for more.
The AJM's Jazz Storytelling series is a great way to introduce
toddlers and pre-schoolers to the images and instruments of music
-- especially jazz. Join storyteller Brother John and many
of KC's finest jazz artists for more stories and songs on Fridays,
December 5 and 19 ("Legends Under the American Jazz Museum
Atrium") and January 9 and 23 ("Beat-In-My-Feet").
The fun begins at 10:00 a.m. and admission is free. Call 816-474-8463
(ext. 241) for reservations.
"Something for the Soul," an exhibit of hand-made
dolls and quilts curated by doll artist Marcella Welch, is
currently enjoying popular acclaim in the AJM's Changing Gallery.
"The work in this exhibit speaks with the voice of each artist
representing it," Welch says. "They invite you into their
inner world and emotions." "Something for the Soul"
runs through December 31. Call 816-474-8463 (ext. 203) for
additional information.
And on Saturday, January 17, drummer, bandleader, composer
(and son of a jazz legend) T.S. Monk will bring his band to the Gem
Theater at 18th & Vine as part of the "Jammin' at the
Gem" concert series. Following the Monk show, remaining concerts
include The Newport Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour
(February 29), and the Charlie Parker Memorial Concert featuring
alto saxophonist Charles McPherson and trumpeter Tom Harrell
(March 27). Call 816-474-8463 (ext. 213) to reserve your tickets.
Sacred and
Secular
Keyboard man Brad Cox, now based in Hong Kong, last appeared
in KC in September at the Blue Room to celebrate the release of Beginners
which features numerous Kansas Citians, among them Jake Blanton
(guitar), Josh Sclar (tenor sax), Jeff Harshbarger (bass),
Scotty McBee (drums), members of Tango Lorca, and Gregory
Sandomirsky, associate concert master of the Kansas City Symphony.
Look for a review in a future issue of JAM.
The Brad Cox Ensemble will return to town on Sunday, December 21
at 4:00 p.m., for a musical presentation of "The Christmas
Story" at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 45th and
Warwick. Cox tells us the program will be "loosely based on the
medieval mystery play of the Shearmen and Taylor's Pageant from the
Coventry Cycle." There will be arrangements of sacred and secular
Christmas songs spanning the last 500 years performed by an ensemble
of the area's finest jazz and classical musicians.
Tickets cost $10 for seniors, $7 for students, and may be purchased
at the door or reserved online at www.bradcoxmusic.com.
KC's Best
The "Best of Kansas City Jazz Series" in Topeka continues
(Angela Hagenbach, Interstring, and the Todd Wilkinson/Stan Kessler
Quintet have already appeared this season) when the Julie Turner/Tommy
Ruskin Group appears on Sunday, January 25, at the Topeka
Performing Art Center's Hussey Black Box Theater (on the lower level
of the TPAC), 214 SE 8th Avenue. Showtime is 3:00 p.m. Rounding out
the band with Turner (vocals) and Ruskin (drums) will be Russ Long
(piano) and Gerald Spaits (bass). Also up and coming on
the series is the Joe Cartwright Trio on Sunday, March 21.
Call 785-234-2787 for tickets and more info.
Speaking of Topeka...
It's never too early to plan for the annual Topeka Jazz Festival,
which is all set to swing at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, May
29-31, 2004. Featured artists for edition #7 of the event include
(California's) Paul Smith, Jon Mayer, Joe Cartwright, Tom Rainer,
Shelly Berg, Eldar Djangirov and Bill Mays (piano); Jim DeJulio, Jennifer
Leitham, John Clayton, Jay Leonhart, Bob Bowman and Gerald Spaits
(bass); Jeff Hamilton, Jackie Williams, Joe Ascione, Todd Strait,
Tommy Ruskin and Joe LaBarbara (drums); Ken Peplowski, Brent Jensen
and Gary Foster (saxes and assorted winds); John Allred, Wycliffe
Gordon and Warren Vache (brass); Rod Fleeman (guitar); and Lee Gibson
and Giacomo Gates (vocals). Look for more in coming issues of JAM
or call 785-267-1315 for current info.
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Recognition
Update
 When
the Board of Directors of the American Jazz Museum formed
its Recognition Committee earlier this year (See "Coda"
in the June/July JAM), its first task was to determine criteria
for proper acknowledgment in the Museum of those individuals,
past and present, who have done so much to put (and keep) Kansas
City on the map. At the Sept. 16 board meeting, the following
resolution defining that criteria was presented. It was formally
passed at the next meeting on Oct. 14.
"A widely acclaimed, recognized and recorded jazz musician
with known Kansas City ties, whose biography and/or discography
can be found in established jazz reference and history books
such as the various Leonard Feather/Ira Gitler Encyclopedias
of Jazz, the All-Music Guide to Jazz, and the Grove Dictionary
of Jazz."
As you can imagine, the list of those who meet this standard
is long. But for now, the following are in line for future honors:
Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams, Coleman Hawkins,
Frank Trumbauer, Jay McShann, Claude "Fiddler" Williams,
Bob Brookmeyer, Marilyn Maye, Carmell Jones, Pat Metheny and
Bobby Watson.
...With many more to come.
-- MM
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