7th Annual Excelsior Springs Wine & Jazz Festival Features Local Jazz, Artists, and International Wines

The 7 th Annual Excelsior Springs Wine & Jazz Festival is slated for Saturday, October 6 from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The event will take place at The Elms Resort and Spa. Musicians will take their seat under the wooden gazebo, while crowds bring their blankets and lawn chairs and sit in the courtyard where they can visit and stroll among the vendors and sample great wines from all over the world. This year's line-up includes Grand Marquis, Bram Wijnands and Laura Glaeser , and the bands Killer Strayhorn and Heat Index.  There will be between 15-20 wines from around the world to savor. The festival will also celebrate area artists, with booths of unusual and traditional art including potters, painters and jewelers.

For more information, or to purchase advanced tickets for $15 each, please call Daphne Bowman, Willow Spring Mercantile at 816-630-7467 or The Elms Resort and Spa at 816-630-5500. The Elms Resort and Spa is located at 420 Regent St. , Excelsior Springs.

JCCC Concert Series Continues

The Johnson County Community College 's Concert Series continues with the following upcoming presentations at JCCC Recital Hall on the following dates:

October 9 pianist Andrea Pharr
October 9     Everette DeVan Trio with Christy Meinhardt

October 16    The Scamps
October 23    Rod Fleeman Trio
October 30    Greg Richter Trio

The 50 minute  concerts are co-sponsored by the JCCC humanities and music departments, Community Services and the Music Performance Trust Fund of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 34-627. The concerts are free, and seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 3605.

Cartwright to Play At Southminster Presbyterian

The Joe Cartwright Latin Jazz Quartet will perform on Sunday, October 21, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Southminster Presbyterian Church, 6306 Roe Avenue , Prairie Village , Kansas . In addition to Joe on piano, the quartet includes Steve Rigazzi on bass, Doug Auwarter on drums, and Gary Helm on Latin percussion.

This program is sponsored by the Southminster 2007-08 Concert Series. Admission and plentiful parking are free. For more information call: 913 432-3505 or check www.southminsterpres.org .

Kay Dennis Returns to Jardine's on November 11

When Paul Smith got to town in the fall 1965, Kay Dennis was already singing at clubs, doing dance jobs, etc. Paul writes:

“We worked together one night and a few days later she called to ask me if I would be interested in going into the Colony Steak House 6 nights a week. The BIG deal was we would be following Marilyn Maye. I was so green I didn't realize what that meant. So from March thru May 1966 I taught school 5 days a week and played at the Colony six nights a week with Kay, Bob Branstetter and John Doubleday.

Kay Dennis at the Colony

“We went back to the Colony in the fall of '66 for a shorter run. By that time Gary Sivils had asked me to start playing with him so I did. Didn't work with Kay again until 1970, when we played the Hilton downtown and the Landmark at Union Station.

“In the meantime Kay had married Dave Robinson who was a DJ on KMBC radio. She and Dave moved to CA in the early 70's and she's been there ever since. Kay started coming back to KC from time to time and we reconnected.

“Bob, John and I have been working on her for some time to come back for a reunion gig and she finally consented.”

This will be an afternoon show, on November 11. You can contact Paul or Jardine's for more information.

Brandon Draper CD Release and Live Recording Event!

Jazz & Beyond presents The Brandon Draper New Quintet, on Sat., November 17 at 7:30 p.m. at All Souls 'UU' Church.  The arrival of extraordinary drummer and composer Brandon Draper to KC this past year has been a major cause for celebration.  Draper's "New" group will feature Rich Wheeler : tenor sax; Kevin Cerovich : trombone; John Brewer : keyboards; Ben Leifer : bass, and special guest Jake Blanton : guitar.  November 17 will debut the group's first self-titled studio recording, and the night will also be recorded 'live' for their second release!  Tickets are only $10 at the door.  For more info, contact Tom Buck at 816-931-6415.  All Souls is located at 4501 Walnut, one block east of 45th and Main .

Also at JCCC

On October 9 Johnson County Community College will host JCCC Jazz Night featuring two groups – the Midnight Blues Jazz Choir and Midnight Express Jazz Ensemble. The Midnight Blues Jazz Choir will perform "the blues" and one of the most popular jazz tunes ever – “Satin Doll”. The Midnight Express Jazz Ensemble will be performing works by Benny Carter, who wrote many charts for Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lennie Niehaus, and Kris Berg. Special guests for the evening will be Leon Brady and the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band. The JCCC jazz ensembles are directed by Ron Stinson.

The concert is free and open to the public. It begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Polsky Theatre of the Carlsen Center . For more information contact Ron Stinson at 913-469-8500, ext. 3275.

Owen/Cox Dance Group with The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City

On October 5 and 6, 2007, the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City and the Owen/Cox Dance Group will present two evenings of contemporary dance with live music. The performances will take place at La Esquina, a former garage transformed into an art space by Kansas City 's Urban Culture Project. The Owen/Cox Dance Group will premiere two large-scale works, "Five Dances" and "12 Miniature Blues," with music composed by Brad Cox and choreography by Jennifer Owen. "Five Dances" imagines a world in which the succinct song structures and grandiose arrangements of 1960's pop music are viewed through the lens of free jazz abstraction. "12 Miniature Blues" is a Webernesque study of essential melodic and rhythmic blues motifs.

The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City will also perform pieces by Kansas City composers P. Alonzo Conway, Bill McKemy, Jeffrey Ruckman, and Mark Southerland. These selections will include elements of Afro-Cuban ceremonial drumming, music performed on Mark Southerland's playable (and sometimes wearable) horn sculptures, and the guided group improvisation technique, conduction.

The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City was established in 2006 as an open forum for contributing composers and arrangers to present new music. In December, 2006, the group received widespread praise for its inventive reconstruction of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker."

The Owen/Cox Dance Group was formed by dancer/choreographer Jennifer Owen and composer Brad Cox to create and perform new dance and music collaborations. The dancers performing October 5 & 6 include Jennifer Owen, Rebka Sakati, Jennifer Tierney, Lisa Thorn, Kristopher Estes-Brown, Matthew Carney, Andrew Lamar, and Lateef Williams.

Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available at www.owencoxdance.org or 816-225-6209. La Esquina is located at 1000 W. 25 th St. KCMO at the corner of Southwest Boulevard and 25 th St . More information is available at www.owencoxdance.org

Maye Returning to KC

The Quality Hill Playhouse will feature Marilyn Maye and her new show “Marilyn Maye: The Swinging Side of Life” from October 23 to November 2. Shows are at 8:00 p.m. , except for the October 28 show which is at 3:00 p.m. In addition to the evening performances, there are afternoon shows on October 25 at 1:00 p.m. and October 27 at 3:00 p.m. There are no shows on October 29. Call the Quality Hill Playhouse at 816-421-1700 for more details.

Got News? Got 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.