JAM: FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007 Issue: Editor's Corner

by Roger Atkinson

It has been an emotional couple of months in Kansas City . It seemed to start with the passing of Buck O'Neil last October. We were all sad, because it seemed that Buck knew everybody, and everybody knew and loved Buck. He was so visible to everyone, and gave Kansas City an identity. We were proud to be associated with this great man.

Jay McShann's passing brought back memories of the countless nights at the Blue Room when Jayne McShann Lewis and I compared notes on our children and especially our respective father's health. Jay was a couple of years older than my dad, but they were of the same generation, both were diabetic and had similar stories with their day to day living with that disease. It was through these chats that I got a sense of Jay, and so when I finally met him at his home last spring it seemed that I already knew him some. Marianne and Jay were wonderful hosts, Jay told wonderful stories, and it was an afternoon that I'll never forget.

It was great to see and hear Russ Long several times during 2006. There was a time earlier in the year where he was at one of Tommy Ruskin's Saturday jam sessions at Jardine's. It seemed that it was shortly after that Gerald Spaits came up to me at Jardine's, excited that there was going to be a tribute to Russ there on August 6. He was arranging some of Russ' music for a larger band, and it promised to be special. As many of you who were there know, or heard, or read in the October/November JAM, it was indeed a special night in Kansas City .

Apparently Butch Berman was there, too, and thought that the music needed to be recorded. Butch and the Berman Music Foundation funded the project, and the band recorded soon thereafter at Soundtrek, with Russ able to play the piano at the recording sessions. Gerald was able to get the CD out in time for a December release. Time To Go – The Music of Russ Long is as fine a recording as we've heard in these parts for some time.

It was easy to get caught up in the emotion, as I would see Gerald and his wife Leslie frequently, and it was clear how much this project, this need to get Russ' music out, meant to them. Russ Long passed away on New Year's Eve. There wasn't a dry eye in the church during Russ' memorial service long before they played “Save That Time”. I've heard that the jazz community has much in common with a church congregation, and the congregation wept that evening.

Art Jackson was the second Scamp to leave us this past year when he passed away in November. I did not know Art, but his music, too, touched Kansas City for many years.

I extend my deepest condolences to the families of Jay McShann, Russ Long, and Art Jackson.