JAM: April/May 2007 Issue: Off The Vine

Hum with me, please! April in……..….Kansas City! Yes, insert Kansas City instead of Paris. While Paris has its attractions, ambience, people, and a joie de vivre, we have much to appreciate and celebrate in our fair city. Kansas City is a beautiful city, bustling with new growth and opportunities. We appreciate Kansas City, the genuineness of the people, its lovely parks and fountains, a freeway system that gets you from downtown to Lee’s Summit in about twenty minutes, the best bar-b-que and sauce in the world, and Kansas City JAZZ!!!!!!

As we head further into what will be a great year for Kansas City jazz, we’re very excited to announce several tremendous upcoming jazz performances scheduled in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. Please join us as we honor the past, enjoy the present, and celebrate the future of this uniquely American art form.

The astonishing jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves will round out the 2006-2007 Jammin’ at the Gem series and charm audience members with her sultry and stylish vocals at the Gem Theater on Saturday, April 14. One of the most exhilarating and captivating live performers in jazz, Reeves has won four Best Jazz Vocal Grammy® awards, including an award for her intimate 2003 collection of standards, A Little Moonlight, and the soundtrack recording of Good Night, and Good Luck, released in 2006. A singer of frequently astonishing skill, Reeves, her
virtuosity, and unique R&B and jazz vocal styles, have placed her in high demand among fans and professionals alike, including Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Tickets for Dianne Reeves’ performance are $30 in advance and $35 at the door, and can be purchased by calling the American Jazz Museum Box Office at 816-474-6262 or visiting www.ticketmaster. com.

The Blue Room will host several notable performances in the coming months, including phenomenal drummer Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts touring group (April 20, $20 admission); the McFadden Brothers (April 21, $15 admission); a Cinco de Mayo
celebration with Dave Valentin ($20 admission); and the Count Basie Orchestra guitarist Will Matthews Quartet (May 19, $10 admission). We’re also going to have a special jazz talk with Columbia College professor and noted jazz historian Bob
O’Meally, prior to Alaadeen & Group 21’s Jazz 101 performance with special guest Dr. Leonard Brown. For our full April/May Blue Room schedule, check out our inside front cover advertisement and www.americanjazzmuseum.org.

In addition to our live performances, we continue to strive for excellence in our educational programs, collections, and community events.

On April 6, 2007, the American Jazz Museum will open a new exhibit in the Changing Gallery entitled Invoking the Spirit, an exhibition of ninetyfive framed prints by New York Times photojournalist Chester Higgins, Jr. The exhibit, which will remain open through June 3, 2007, is the product of over twenty-five years of travel and research. This photographic essay documents the vitality and diversity of the broader global African religious experience. A lecture series is in development. Planned speakers are Chester Higgins and Dr. Rosalind Jeffries, noted African and African-American Art historian. The American Jazz Museum’s director of collections/exhibitions, Demetria Jones, will also lecture on the exhibition.

The Jazz Storytelling series keeps on swingin’ with three Friday sessions scheduled in April and two in May. On April 6, take a deep breath and learn about all the different saxophone and woodwind instruments in Hear that Saxophone Wail. In a special Jazz Appreciation Month session on April 20 entitled Get Jazzed, kids will learn what it’s like to “make it up as you go along” and discover that “freestyling” has been around a lot longer than hiphop music, and jazz musicians call it "improvising.” The April 27 session, When Melody Met Harmony,
will explore how these two elements of music create something beautiful. Meet the Rhythm Section will introduce the young to the instruments that are the backbone and heartbeat of jazz on May
4. And on May 18, Lady Sings the Blues will dive into the history of all the great Kansas City female vocalists. Jazz Storytelling is open to the public at no charge.

The Jazz Poetry Jams series also continues to inspire creativity and bring crowds into the Blue Room. Our featured poet on April 17 is Randi McCreary, a poet, writer, and English language
educator from Kansas City, MO. The winner of the 2005 Def Poetry Jam Haiku contest and the 2002 Underground Poet Society contest, her work covers a broad spectrum of topics, including adult love, womanhood, humanity, and soul identity. On May 15, Stacey Tolbert, a.k.a. “The Brown Suga Poet,” will bring her blend of skills as a freelance writer, painter, playwright, poet, and DJ to the stage for another exciting night of jazz and poetry.

And last, but certainly not least, I’m excited to announce that plans are under development for the 3rd Annual 18th & Vine Rhythm & Ribs Jazz Fest, to be held Friday, June 15, and Saturday, June 16. Between thrilling live performances, an amateur barbecue cook-off contest, the family pavilion, and
a variety of other activities, this year’s event is sure to put Kansas City and Rhythm & Ribs on the map as one of the premier jazz festival destinations in the nation.

Jazz is one of our nation’s greatest treasures and Kansas City made it swing. The tradition of musical excellence that was established decades ago right here in Kansas City lives on today. And as always, we appreciate everyone’s continued
support of Kansas City jazz. It’s a great time to be at 18th & Vine!

Best wishes,

Carol Rhodes-Dyson is the Interim Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum .