Editor's Corner

Some Meanderings...

I continue to be amazed at the number of jazz fans and musicians who have no idea how much of a music scene there is in Kansas City. There certainly is acknowledgement of the rich heritage and how much impact this had on the music. But the assumption is that once Count and Bird left town the era ended.

It does not take long to change their perception. I remind them that there were many after Bird and Count. Brookmeyer is from Kansas City, and so are Pat Metheny and Bobby Watson, and that Karrin Allyson and Eldar grew up musically here. I tell them about the Conservatory, and how that’s just the most visible of the great music education institutions that we have in the area. I tell them about some of the young musicians< they have heard about who have started in these programs. We talk about having choices of things to go hear every night of the week, about the Foundation and the Blue Room and the several great concert series and regularly performing big bands. And I tell them about the American Jazz Museum and the depth of players we have on all instruments, and the great singers, and how many talented musicians either started in Kansas City or spent significant time here. We talk about JAM and I’ll ask how many cities outside of New York and Chicago have regular publications covering the local scene? And I tell them we have been here for over twenty years at JAM.

I think much of what I tell them they really already know. They just need to be reminded that Kansas City is still an important part of the worldwide jazz scene.