HOMECOMING

Catching Up With…

Ron Vincent
Drummer Ron Vincent was in Kansas City for three and a half years, from 1979 until 1982. He was in town in late 2006 for the Flat Five reunion at the Blue Room, in which his rhythm section partners were Paul Smith and Bob Bowman. He recalls, “KC memories, swinging hard with Paul Smith and Bob Bowman! What a trio! Can't have much more fun than that!” There also fond memories of Milton's, and some other great players he shared the stand with. The memories are like a list: “All the great gigs with Greg Whitfield, Gerald Spaits, Stan K.!! Getting to know, hear and learn from master drummers Doug Auwarter and Tommy Ruskin. Working with one of my all time favorite singers Julie Turner. Having the greatest pleasure and honor of calling Herman Bell my friend. Having the opportunity to play with Carmell Jones for over a year at the Signboard Lounge (1981 -1982). KC musicians Steve Million, Steve Cardenas & Dave Brandom. Twenty nine years of friendship, music, laughs and a handful of really nice CDs to boot! Playing with Danny Embry and in the past few years Karrin Allyson.”

After leaving Kansas City Ron played with Gerry Mulligan, Carol Sloane, and Million (not to mention Kerry Strayer). He now freelances around New York City , teaches and is producing some educational DVD 's.

“Being in this part of the world allows me to work with some great players. For a drummer, working with bassists like Cameron Brown, Harvie S, Jay Leonhart and Brazilian bassist Nilsen Matta is great!”, Ron says.

The playing includes a fair amount of recent recording activity. “David Brandom's (old KC buddy) No Way Out, featuring Steve Cardenas (another old KC buddy), Gary Versace, Scott Wendholt & Mike McGuirk. Then there's a very different kind of CD, Bill Kirchner's Everything I Love (Evening Star Records ), different because it features Eddie Monteiro, one of the world's greatest accordionist/musicians and Bill Kirchner on soprano sax. A very nice record. And there's Blues for Breakfast by vocalist Mary Foster Conklin (Rhobmus Records), remembering Matt Dennis, which features John DiMartino piano and Joel Frahm sax. This CD won the Cabaret Award for best ‘tribute' recording 2007.” Also, he is working on a “CD recording (Garagistmusic.com) with a new up and

coming young man, saxophonist Rob Jacoby. Step Up which features Brian Lynch trumpet, David Hazeltine piano, John Ray bass.” He is excited about the educator part of his life as well. “I've been teaching percussion at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York for the past year and a half. It's given me the opportunity to get back to playing vibes and tympani as well as run a percussion ensemble and teach jazz drum set.”

The DVDs are also exciting. It is a play-along/book project with trumpeter John McNeil. There are two volumes, “Learn to Play Jazz” and “Becoming an Improviser”. “I produced the projects, co-wrote the scripts with John and played on the DVD and play-alongs.”

As for a return visit to Kansas City , he expects future Flat Five get togethers. He would also be interested in a clinic at the Explorer's Drum Shop, and “if anyone needs a drummer my bags are packed!” “

After putting this all down on paper it reminds me of how great KC really was for me. Three and a half years, Jan 1979 to June 1982, man, that was fun!”

Roger Atkinson

David Brandom
This tenor man and composer, onetime a stalwart in KC's Flat Five, left us 18 years ago for prominence soon after on the NY jazz scene and beyond. He's been in the pit bands of top Broadway shows (currently Grease ,Chicago, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, In The Heights, and The Little Mermaid ) , and in backup groups for scores of music celebrities, such as the Sinatras father and son, Paul Anka, Sting, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, and Rosemary Clooney. No question, his ability to double on flutes and clarinet is a plus. Along with this he's taught reed instruments and composition at Purchase (NY) College, at Lehigh University (the faculty at these schools are quite impressive, including Jon Faddis, Hal Galper, Vic Juris, and John Riley), and privately. His newest CD, of which all but one track is of his own composition, is No Way Out , on the Blujazz label (you can hear excerpts on www.allmusic.com). A review by one R. Cohn says Dave “plays with mind-boggling technique and seasoned assurance… [his] kind of music will satisfy the most demanding jazz lover, while pleasing and perhaps even thrilling those who couldn't tell the difference between Monk and Montovani.” This is his second release. His first was called Home. Playing on both recordings are Brandom's fellow KC ex-pats, Steve Cardenas and Ron Vincent .

Currently David is working with his quartet and a big band. “ I'm currently playing with my own quartet in New York quite a bit.  I play with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (www.westjazzorch.org) which has released its first CD, All In .  It's a great band that features pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Harvie S., trumpeters, Marvin Stamm and Jim Rotondi, and others.”

David has happy memories of Kansas City 's music and musicians. “ I still come back to KC fairly often and I have many fond memories of gigging in KC.  In ‘79, shortly after I graduated from North Texas, I moved back to KC and started attending jam sessions at The Signboard Bar in Crown Center where John Lyman's group included Paul Smith, Milt Abel and this drummer Ron Vincent were playing.  Stan Kessler and Steve Cardenas would come sit in as well and that's how we all met.

“Until I got out of college and moved to KC, music had been something that I loved and studied in school but I had had very limited professional experience.  KC was a great place for me to cut my teeth.  The great jazz tradition, supportive audiences, and a nice small pool of serious musicians made it easy to ‘throw myself into the pool'.  I really appreciate the fact that we still make music together.  I just played New Year's at the Corbin Mill Theater for the 4th year in a row with Paul Smith, Bob Bowman and Tim Cambron and it just felt like home.  I enjoy hearing the new cats on the scene in KC.  Whenever I come back to play, it's obvious that KC still supports jazz and is a great environment for developing a voice.  I've heard from people who have heard my playing and writing that there's still a lot of KC still in there.”

David lives in Larchmont , New York with his wife of 27 years, Stacy, and sons Eric, Bryan, and Jon.

Charlton Price

Steve Cardenas

Guitarist Steve Cardenas' latest CD is by Ben Allison & Man Size Safe, called Little Things Run the World . It was just released on January 22 nd . They will do some touring, too, including a gig in Chicago , but unfortunately won't make it to Kansas City . (They were at the Blue Room this past March.)

His longest running gig, for ten years now, has been in drummer Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band. Plus there is drummer Joey Baron's band Killer Joey, which will do some traveling in February.

Another high profile gig is with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra; he was a star on their last CD Not In Our Name. They'll tour (conveniently) just before the fall elections.

That's pretty heavy company!

But that's far from the whole Cardenas story. He's appeared with Eddie Harris, Marilyn Maye, Slide Hampton and KC icon Jay McShann. He's been in the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, and in other jazz performance and academic venues in Switzerland , Spain , and Canada . He was guest faculty at the California Institute of the Arts.

Steve has a couple of his own CDs, too, Panoramic (his latest) and Shebang. Panoramic is a quartet, with tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Shebang is a trio affair with the same personnel less Malaby. Both are on the Fresh Sound New Talent label. There are dozens more that he has appeared on, including several from Motian, plus young tenor titans Chris Potter and Donny McCaslin. Plus, of course, he's been on David Brandom's recordings as well.

Steve is devotedly and creatively Monkish. He teaches the Thelonious Monk Ensemble at New York 's New School University . Now he has collaborated on a book that displays and discusses all of Monk's music, many of the pieces appearing in print for the first time. The book is The Thelonious Monk Fakebook.

Steve has many vivid memories of Kansas City . “ It's hard for me to single out any special KC memories as there are so many that are of equal significance. Notable mentions are of course playing with the Flat Five and the various groups that sprang from that group....Stan's quartet; Dave's quartet; Four Friends band with Steve Million, Greg Whitfield, and Ron Vincent , my quartet with Paul Smith, Gerald Spaits and Tim Davis. Also Ida McBeth's bands and every musician associated with those groups. Playing with Claude Williams in a quartet for better part of a year, wow, that was amazing to say the least. I learned so much from all of those bands; it was basically my music school as there was so much work then.”

We missed having a Flat Five reunion this season. Sounds like a priority for next winter!

You can see Steve's extensive discography, and order one of his CDs, on his Web site: www.stevecardenasmusic.com .

- Charlton Price

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