Vacation Listening
I am guessing one ritual that jazz fans go through is the musical selections for our vacations or long weekends away.
I pack my clothing in ten minutes, golf clubs take another ten; I don't think I've ever picked out the CD collection in less than an hour. I'll usually take around 25 CDs, and the decisions can be grueling. Do you have a “theme,” or as wide a variety as possible? Anything you want to show off to friends?
Desert island picks are theoretical, but vacation CD selections are real life!
This year, on the strength of recent purchases of Bob Brookmeyer's New Art Orchestra, I decided to take music from a couple of Brookmeyer's former composition students, Jim McNeely (with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra) and Maria Schneider. Add to these some wonderful guitarists such as Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Rod Fleeman and Danny Embrey with Interstring, and Joshua Breakstone. Need some piano? Maybe Bill Evans and Jim Hall's Intermodulation, and Evans' Buenos Aires concert with his last trio of Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbara. Add a Hank Jones trio, one of the old Savoy's, and a Tommy Flanagan. Oh, don't forget Soul Eyes by Joe Cartwright. Vocals courtesy of Chris Connor, the Bethlehem with “All About Ronnie.” And I recall Tony Bennett was a hit last year, so we throw in The Beat of My Heart, If I Ruled the World, and The Art of Excellence. Brazil, anyone? Some Jobim, including the one with Elis Regina that we always take. We need a couple more Kansas City treats: Mike Metheny's Close Enough For Love and that Everett DeVan groover, East of the Sun.
That should do it!
Let The Fall Concert Season Begin
The summer season is waning, and a fine one it has been. The regional scene has increased its summer offerings, with increasing offerings of municipally sponsored free events, Rhythm & Ribs and Labor Day Jazz and Blues festival at the Woodlands filling the gap left when the Kansas City International Jazz Festival and the Kansas City Jazz and Blues Festival ceased their offerings. Add to this the Topeka Jazz Festival, the Jazz Ambassadors Pub Crawl, the Jazz in the Woods Festival, the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival in St. Joseph, and the Parkville River Jam. It has been a busy season!
We have much to look forward to this fall and continuing through winter and into spring 2006. We continue to support three major concert series, plus our great jazz clubs and restaurants. Have you noticed that there seems to be an increase to the number of venues offering jazz on the weekends, complementing the more established rooms?
Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Announces Next Concert
The not-for-profit Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has been a fine addition to the area since its inception a few seasons ago. Conductor Jim Mair has informed us that the next KCJO concert will be Friday, November 18, 2005 at 7:30pm at Unity on the Plaza. The theme is “A Toast to Sinatra” with vocalists Dave Stephens and Ron Gutierrez along with the big band doing all original Nelson Riddle, Quincy Jones, and Billy Byers transcriptions.
Kansas City Jazz Featured at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center is hosting a Kansas City Jazz Festival from September 22–24. On each evening, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra present “Kansas City: K.C. and the Count.” The concert also features former Basie great Frank Wess. In addition, Bobby Watson will be performing at the Allen Room with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in a concert called “Kansas City: K.C. Boogie Woogie”. On September 22 only, Karrin Allyson will be performing at the new Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (also at Lincoln Center) as part of the Diet Coke Women in Jazz Festival; the show is called “Basie, Blues, and Beyond,” and also features Nancy King. More information is available at www.jalc.org.
It's Battle of the Saxes Time, Once Again
The annual Battle of the Saxes is always a blast, and it's a blast for a good cause, the Musicians Emergency Assistance Fund. This year's Battle will be held at the 12th Street Rag Room in the Downtown Marriott on August 18, from 7:30 to 11:30. This year's saxophonists are Ahmad Alaadeen, Dan Thomas, and Rick Rieger. They'll be backed by Bram Wijnands, Lucky Wesley, and Tommy Ruskin.
Diane “Mama” Ray Celebration/CD Release Party
Diane “Mama” Ray has now been leading the Saturday afternoon jazz and blues jam at Harling's Upstairs (3941 Main) for 19 years, pouring her sounds onto the streets of Midtown. They plan to have their 19th Anniversary celebration for what must be the longest running regular gig in town on August 20, including the release of their new CD Mama's Mood. Rich Van Sant was Mama's partner for many years, but now Everett DeVan and Allen Monroe alternate Saturday keyboard duties, complemented by guitarist Jay EuDaly and drummer Don Glaza, and regular guests George Robinson on trumpet and Adrian Bowman on tenor sax, and whoever else wanders in. “Once we had a bagpipe player from Scotland sit in; the only thing we could get together on was ‘Amazing Grace' in C,” says Mama. Mama will also be decorating the club with photos taken over the years from this gig.
Jazz Friends Jazz ‘n' Barbecue at UMKC
The annual Jazz ‘n' Barbecue benefiting the UMKC Conservatory of Music will be held Monday, September 19, at White Recital Hall and the lobby of the Performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus. Music will be provided by Bobby Watson, the UMKC Conservatory Concert Jazz Ensemble, and other jazz faculty members. Dinner starts at 6:00, with the concert following at 7:30. Dinner and the show are $40, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the UMKC Conservatory jazz studies program. Barbara Lutman has information, and can be reached at 816-235-6173 or lutman@umkc.edu.
Haddix Research Enhances Knowledge of Bird's Youth
Kansas City Star writer Lee Hill Kavanaugh, in a thorough June 26 front-page article, reports on jazz scholars Chuck Haddix and Llew Walker's discoveries from sifting through old school and census records, where they learned of two of Charlie Parker's childhood homes in Westport and Hyde Park, at 109 W. 34th Street and 3527 Wyandotte Street. The Wyandotte Street building is still inhabited. The discovery fills the gap between Parker residences, which can now be traced from 852 Freeman in KCK (1924–1927), Wyandotte Street (1927–1930), 34th Street (1930–1933), and finally Olive Street (1933–1939). The article includes a picture of Haddix with the current resident of the Wyandotte address, a picture of that building, and a map of Parker residences. Haddix is liberally quoted.
Pianist Brian Haas at Blue Room
Pianist Brian Haas will be joining Snuff Jazz (Mark Southerland, Bill McKemy, and Arny Young) at the Blue Room on August 4. Haas is the pianist in the Jacob Fred Jazz Oddyssey. On his new solo CD The Truth About Hollywood he displays a strong left hand and some fine modern stride on some Monk, originals, and other standards. He'll perform solo and as part of Snuff Jazz. Haas, by the way, was born in Kansas City and raised in Tulsa.
Pender Returns
Jazz At the Corners has become an annual event in Grandview. This year, Grandview native Mark Pender will be the headliner, with his funk/jazz band. Mark is currently a member of The Conan O'Brien Show band. He has been bringing his trumpet to Kansas City for an annual visit, and has delighted crowds at the Blue Room. The event is Saturday, September 10, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Truman Corners. The Mark Pender Band is scheduled for 8:45 p.m.
Unity Village Jazz Series
Unity Village is sponsoring a series of concerts this summer/fall 2005. They are calling it “Jazz at Unity” and they are on the following Sunday nights from 7-8:30 PM. Relax in a comfortable, smoke and alcohol-free setting and sway to the rhythm of the night.
All feature Tim Whitmer and the Unity Consort Jazz band with special guests:
- August 7—Lori Tucker
- August 21 Michael De Leon
- September 4—Myra Taylor
- September 18—Duck Warner
- October 16—Millie Edwards
Donations gratefully accepted for the concert. Dinner is available at the Unity Inn for those wishing to dine before the show.
The concerts are held at the Activities Center, 1901 NW Blue Parkway, in Unity Village. For more info visit www.unityretreats.org/jazz or Call Tim Whitmer 816-668-4444
Keith Kavanaugh Art Exhibit
Jazz musicians often have multiple artistic talents. Drummer and talented graphic designer Kavanaugh– he does JAM covers as well as many CD covers for musicians in the area – is also a painter. An exhibit of his work, “Local Color: Impressions of the Missouri Landscape,” opens Friday, August 5th, at The Late Show Gallery, 1600 Cherry, Kansas City, in the Crossroads District. Each image is painted in encaustic, or melted wax, a medium rarely used since the days of ancient Egypt and Greece until the artist Jasper Johns revived it some 50 years ago. Kavanaugh found an immediate affinity with the encaustic process. Like improvisation it demands quickness and spontaneity which is preserved in the brush strokes of the cooling wax.
The opening reception is 6-10 pm, August 5th, at The Late Show Gallery, coinciding with the popular Crossroads District “First Fridays” art walk, and is free to the public.
For more information contact Keith Kavanaugh at 816-650-3347.
KC Ragtime Revelry Concert
Kansas City Ragtime Revelry is presenting Morten Gunnar Larsen, from Oslo, Norway, in a solo piano concert. The concert will be at the Community Christian Church, 4601 Main Street, in Kansas City, on October 8 at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Larsen is the leader of the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra, which was voted as “the best ragtime and early jazz orchestra in the world” by The Mississippi Rag in 1999. Also, he was lauded in the New York Times as “one of the top three piano artists in the world”. This is KCRR's first benefit concert and will benefit Hope Faith Ministries, a non-denominational soup kitchen in Kansas City for the homeless. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased by sending a check to KCRR, 3535 Genessee St, KC MO 64111. For more information, contact Diane Capps at (816) 691-8781, or email her at dianecapps@juno.com. When contacting, you can ask for a copy of their complimentary newsletter, too.
Patke Tribute Planned
Jardine's is planning an all-day tribute to the late Steve Patke. No date has been set (the special events link on the Jardine's website www.jardines4jazz.com can be consulted for updates), but it will most likely be held on a Sunday, with Dave Stephens leading the afternoon activities and the New Red Onion Jazz Babies following with an evening show.
The Blues and Jazz Festival Reincarnated
When Mark Valentine decided to fill the void left by the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival, he put all his chips on systematically reinventing it.
The 24 act festival will take place Labor Day weekend, September 3rd and 4th, at the Woodlands racetrack. Headliners with John Lee Hooker, Jr. and Billy Paul, will be featured along with Joanna Conner, Max Groove, The Sons of Brasil, The Scamps, The Boulevard Big Band and others.
In planning the festival, Mr. Valentine says he tried to isolate the reasons the old festival in Penn Valley Park died, as well as the elements that have been problematic for festivals around the country.
Some of the issues he tried to address were the accessibility, facilities, weather, and the use of multiple stages.
“The Woodlands makes an ideal setting,” he said. “Take the sun factor out, because there's shaded seating. Add plenty of convenient parking, indoor bathrooms, make it friendly for all ages.”
Not only does the Woodlands have better accessibility for wheelchairs, Mr. Valentine points out, “it's even high heels accessible.” In contrast to lawn seating in a campground environment, he likens the Woodlands to being on the lower deck at a baseball game. The hope is a more comfortable setting and better accessibility will attract fans who couldn't or wouldn't brave the heat, distances and improvised facilities of a typical outdoor festival.
The single stage is another area Mr. Valentine is emphatic about. “No compromises,” he said. “One stage means one center of attention.” He likened the approach to Lollapalooza's approach, “where there's one quality act at a time, instead of the dilution you can get with a competing stages.”
Balancing the lineup to include acts that will attract fans of blues, traditional, straight ahead jazz, and ‘contemporary' jazz is the other challenge facing any festival. Mr. Valentine believes that to strike that balance, it is essential that one person have sole control and responsibility for the event.
“No government money, no committee,” he said. “It's just me. I'll either be living out of my car or pay off my condo.”
Kansas City Music Blues and Jazz Festival tickets are $17.50, children 12 and under free with an adult, and are available at www.ticketmaster.com/venue/50138, or by calling call TicketMaster 816-931-3330. For more information, including a complete line-up go to www.kansascitymusic.com/festival.
Steven Joseph Patke 1951–2005
Steve Patke passed away on June 25, 2005, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Candace Evans shares her sadness in this obituary:
“Steve Patke, an enormously talented musician and wonderful friend to myself and many others in this business, passed away on Saturday. I had just performed with him exactly three months ago for a concert at Colonial Church and he looked great and played beautifully. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for the last 17 months and finally lost his battle at the too-young age of 54. Steve was an excellent sax, flute, and virtuoso clarinet player. He headed up the New Red Onion Jazz Babies and also played with myself, Bram Wijnands, Scott McDonald, Dave Stephens, and others. He will be missed enormously.”
