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Recordings:
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By Request ]
[
Kansas City Suite ]
[
Night and Day ]
[
Town Topic ]
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Kansas City Jazz
Count Basie |
Kansas City jazz of the late 1920's through 1940's was primarily dance music,
derived from the blues, featuring outstanding Kansas City jazz musicians
such as Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Buck Clayton, Mary
Lou Williams and Jay McShann. Some of the more famous bands
included the Blue Devils, the Benny Moten Orchestra, and Andy Kirk and
His Clouds Of Joy. Kansas City jazz was characterized by a
driving, yet relaxed beat that was seemingly unaffected by jazz
development in Chicago and New York. Because Tom Pendergast, who
controlled Kansas City government from 1911-1939, kept the local club
scene alive during Prohibition, Kansas City became a center for jazz
throughout the Southwest. A great source of information on
early Kansas City jazz is
Club
Kaycee, which serves up sights and sounds of the
Golden Age of Kansas City jazz from the
Miller Nichols Library,
University of Missouri - Kansas City, in cooperation with
kansascity.com and the Kansas City Star.
Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop -- A History, by
Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix (2005), is a wonderful book on the
subject. |
| Today's Kansas City jazz has evolved over the past 50-plus years
into a listener's music, though still influenced by the driving swing
feel which characterized first-generation Kansas
City jazz. The
American Jazz Museum is a great place to learn more about the
history of Kansas City jazz. If you live in, or are visiting the
Kansas City area, it is well worth the trip. Plan to spend at
least two hours at the museum. And don't forget to stop in the
Blue Room, a great jazz club adjacent to the museum.
While you are there, pick up a copy of
JAM Magazine, the
bi-monthly publication of the
Kansas City Jazz
Ambassadors.
The Doug Talley
Quartet performs and
records a brand of present-day Kansas City jazz
that we hope you find refreshing, stimulating and addictive! |
Lester Young |
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