McShann Portrait Still Available 
The 2007 UMKC Jazz Festival will be held on Friday and Saturday, February 2 and 3, in Pierson Auditorium on the UMKC campus. During the days there will be high school and middle school jazz bands playing and being coached by the professors at UMKC. Friday at 5:00 Michael Pagan brings in the UMKC 11 O'Clock Jazz Band followed by the UMKC Conservatory Alumni Big Band. Then on Saturday the George Salisbury Memorial Scholarship Concert will be up at 7:30 as Bobby Watson directs the UMKC Concert Jazz Band with guest artist trombonist Robin Eubanks. For more details about the high school and middle school portion of the festival, contact the Community of Music and Dance Academy at 816-235-2742. For tickets to the evening concerts, call the ticket office, 816-235-6222.
The Lost Battle of the Saxes Tapes…
A note from Bill Williams:
A long long time ago on a planet far far away, I used to be the communications and PR board member for JA and previous to that was VP of the Blues Society. I brought back Battle of the Saxes and served as emcee for a couple, hiring local greats to backup our great sax players in the Grand Emporium; one performance was videotaped by Tiny, the sound engineer at GE. It required two VHS tapes and of course the picture was so-so because in those days the video system at GE stunk. But the audio was nice. I loaned the two tapes to some musicians who loaned them to someone else who loaned them to someone else and soon they were ‘around town somewhere.' Perhaps you could have fun doing a little blurb in JAM on ‘the lost tapes' because I'd really like to look at them again since I was show producer, and then of course I could donate them back to the JA archives.
And so we have. Anyone knowing about the tapes can contact me at jameditor@jazzkc.org , or catch me when I am out and about.
Jazz Series Continues at All Souls
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church will present The Jazz Disciples in concert on Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. , as a part of their new Jazz & Beyond series. The Jazz Disciples are led by tenor and alto sax player extraordinaire Gerald Dunn , with one of the tightest rhythm sections in the entire city: Everett Freeman on piano, Tyrone Clark on bass, and Mike Warren on drums. All Souls and series director Tom Buck are pleased to present the best in Kansas City jazz in their performance space, including one of the finest pianos in the city (a nine-foot Steinway concert grand). Tickets are only $10 at the door, with a majority of the proceeds going towards the musicians, and the balance benefiting the All Souls hand bell choir. Please call 816-931-6415 for more information. All Souls is located at 4501 Walnut in Kansas City , MO , just one block east of Main .
McShann Portrait Still Available
The Bob Carson drawing that was commissioned by Tom Alexios to support the MCC-Penn Valley Music Department is still available. There are a limited number of these signed, limited-edition prints, and they are being sold for $100 each. To purchase, email mcc.foundation@mcckc.edu , or call 816-759-1195.
Music at Crown Center
There will be some special performances in the Crown Center Shops Atrium, Level 1, as being presented is “African-American History Month–Sunday Musical Entertainment” from 1:00 to 4:00 each Sunday in February. The lineup is:
Admission is free. Call 816-274-8444 for more information.
Blue Room Accolades
DOWNBEAT magazine has named the Blue Room as one of the world's top 100 clubs. Congratulations to the American Jazz Museum and the Blue Room staff for this well-deserved notice
And check out the schedule for February and March, as they continue to bring in the best from the region with a few special performances thrown in, like Wallace Roney, Ben Allison, Erin Bode, Winard Harper, and Mike Melvoin.
And the KCJA Concert Series Continues, Too
Upcoming in the Jazz Ambassador Concert Series, held at the Downtown Marriott in the 12 th Street Rag Room:
The concerts start at 7:00 . Tickets are $25 at the door, $20 for Jazz Ambassador members. These are always a great two sets of jazz, in a super room, so get there early for good seats.
“We Always Swing” Series Continues in Columbia
It's not too far to head to Columbia for some more great music, and the We Always Swing series has some great reasons to face I-70 in the next couple of months:
For more information, see their Web site www.wealwaysswing.org, or call 573-449-3001.
Tom Pender to Kick Off JCCC Spring Jazz Series
Guitarist Tom Pender will play from his jazz repertoire at noon Tuesday, Feb. 20, in the Recital Hall of the Carlsen Center , Johnson County Community College . Pender opens the spring 2007 Jazz Series of 50 minute free concerts featuring Kansas City artists.
A Kansas City native, Pender has played classical, Latin, R&B, jazz and rock guitar for more than 30 years. He has played for the Kansas City Chiefs T.D. Pack Band, led the Tom Penderblast Red-E-Mix trio, and performed with local and touring artists.
The remainder of the spring 2007 Jazz Series, which start at 12:00 noon :
Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. The concerts are cosponsored by the JCCC humanities and music departments, Community Services and the Music Performance Trust Fund of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 34-627. For more information, call 913-469-8500, extension 3605.
Arthur A. Jackson Sr.
Arthur A. Jackson, Sr., passed away at North Kansas City Hospital on Sunday, November 19, 2007 , at eighty-six years of age. He was the oldest continuing member of the Scamps, having joined the group in 1949 when it was known as the Five Scamps—that's another story.
In addition to the Scamps, Art blew his tenor saxophone with such notables as Jay McShann, Gene Krupa, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Della Reese, and many others. Art exhibited his acting talents when he appeared in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood in 1967. He was also featured in Clint Eastwood's presentation of Bruce Ricker's 1970s film, The Last of the Blue Devils , which documents the reunion of a number of Kansas City 1930s jazz giants. They came together at the Mutual Musicians Building in Kansas City —past home of the Black Musicians Union #617—to reminisce and blow.
People describe Art's style as “purist.” He once said of his playing, “I'm from the old school of jazz. Like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins before me, I believe in beautiful, fluent movement without a lot of notes. I try to concentrate on doing things with my music that are relaxing and pleasing to the ear.”
Born of two musicians, Art started on the cornet and then switched to the saxes, clarinet, and the flute. He attended Lincoln High School in Kansas City where he had as a classmate, and bandmate, a guy by the name of Charlie “Bird” Parker. Art played his sax until almost the end. Because of a prior stroke, he needed to sit while he blew his horn—but blow he did. Speaking of Art, Lucky Wesley, bassman and current Scamps leader, said, “Where most musicians hung up their horns, he was still playing.”
Play on Art, play on.
—Ed Fenner
Russ Long, 1939 - 2006
Russ Long passed away on December 31, 2006 . He was 67. Russ started to play professionally at age seventeen with Gary Sivils. He later worked with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, and Milt Abel, and led the Russ Long Trio with Gerald Spaits and Ray DiMarchi for many years. Russ also lived and worked in Omaha , San Francisco , and Lake Geneva , Wisconsin , in the 1960s and 1970s. Russ was a pianist, vocalist, and prolific composer, and made several recordings, including Never Let Me Go with the Russ Long Trio and the recent Time to Go–The Music of Russ Long. A memorial service was held on January 5 at St. John Evangelist Church in Kansas City , Kansas . As long-time friend and colleague Gerald Spaits said at the conclusion of the service, “Pretend that you're not leaving, Russ.”
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Notes? Please send to: Editor/JAM, P.O. Box 36181, Kansas City, MO 64171-6181.
Deadline for all submissions is the 15th of each odd numbered month.