Thursday, February 26, 2004
KKJZ
A treat for bebop fans - American best jazz radio station plays the best of all jazz on Saturday mornings 9-12 PST. Of course I'm talking bebop. Better yet it's available on the web at www.kkjz.org
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
The Home of Bebop Jazz
Here is a web site that gives a good feel for the importance of Kansas City in the development of jazz.
Monday, February 09, 2004
If you want to know what Kansas City Jazz is all about, here is an excerpt from the web site of the Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine.
Kansas City, Missouri, the mother of swing and the nurturer
of Bebop, proudly hosts the reflection of its dynamic
musical heritage - the American Jazz Museum. Inside the
American Jazz Museum, the essence and living spirit of jazz
legends fill the atmosphere, as the story of jazz and her
greatest performers is told through the sights and sounds
of one the most interactive museums in the country.
Welcome to the American Jazz Museum, a mirror and
contrast of characters, color, and sound, just like the
music itself. Upon entering this ultra modern structure you
encounter the Horace M. Peterson III Visitor Center. This
exhibit provides the foundation for the entire museum
complex; it demonstrates the journey of Africans in
America, from the motherland to 18th and Vine. A plaque in
the atrium of the museum, where the Visitor Center is also
located reads: In memory of the nameless and unremembered
men and women whose daring, endurance, and commitment to
African American self-sufficiency made 18th and Vine
vibrant, and in honor of those whose high hopes and hard
work brought it back, with special thanks to the vision of
the late Horace M. Peterson III. Mr. Peterson, 1945-1992,
was the founder of the Black Archives of Mid America and a
restless advocate for the preservation of the Historic 18th
and Vine District. The film "A Peoples Journey"
featured in the Visitors Center illustrates the rich
cultural heritage that Peterson struggled to protect.
The first stop on this voyage into a jazz enthusiast's
heaven is the original film Jazz Is - featuring Max
Roach, Jay McShann, David Baker and Shirley Horn. Viewers
of this engaging film gain new insight into the jazz
experience as a way of life, an art form and a tradition.
Four of the most innovative and legendary performers of
America's classical music continue to amaze, teach, and
entertain in permanent exhibits of the American Jazz
Museum. The Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Edward Kennedy
"Duke" Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie "Bird" Parker
exhibits each contain their own audio listening station,
personal artifacts, rare photographs and an informative
timeline that celebrates their lives and musical genius.
Studio 18th & Vine provides an interactive glimpse
of the various components of a working music studio. You
will have an opportunity to experiment with the musical
concepts of rhythm, harmony and melody, in a studio-like
environment. Five listening stations are available to
acquaint you with the different instrumental sections of a
jazz band.
The Jazz Discovery Room, also known as the WeeBop
Room, was designed for children under eight years of age,
to provide an introduction to jazz through creative
activities. The WeeBop Room provides programs that help to
cultivate an interest in jazz music via storytelling, the
making of musical instruments and other hands-on
activities.
Jazz Central is a resource center that offers a
growing collection of resource materials and internet
access to informative jazz related websites. You may also
enjoy more than 100 recordings of the greatest jazz ever
recorded by a vast range of artists dating from the birth
of jazz to the present.
The Blue Room is perhaps the museum's most versatile
"exhibit." During the day, the Blue Room is part of the
American Jazz Museum and focuses exclusively on the Kansas
City jazz heritage. Four nights a week, however, it turns
into a working jazz club featuring local and national jazz
artists in a smoke-free environment.
Kansas City, Missouri, the mother of swing and the nurturer
of Bebop, proudly hosts the reflection of its dynamic
musical heritage - the American Jazz Museum. Inside the
American Jazz Museum, the essence and living spirit of jazz
legends fill the atmosphere, as the story of jazz and her
greatest performers is told through the sights and sounds
of one the most interactive museums in the country.
Welcome to the American Jazz Museum, a mirror and
contrast of characters, color, and sound, just like the
music itself. Upon entering this ultra modern structure you
encounter the Horace M. Peterson III Visitor Center. This
exhibit provides the foundation for the entire museum
complex; it demonstrates the journey of Africans in
America, from the motherland to 18th and Vine. A plaque in
the atrium of the museum, where the Visitor Center is also
located reads: In memory of the nameless and unremembered
men and women whose daring, endurance, and commitment to
African American self-sufficiency made 18th and Vine
vibrant, and in honor of those whose high hopes and hard
work brought it back, with special thanks to the vision of
the late Horace M. Peterson III. Mr. Peterson, 1945-1992,
was the founder of the Black Archives of Mid America and a
restless advocate for the preservation of the Historic 18th
and Vine District. The film "A Peoples Journey"
featured in the Visitors Center illustrates the rich
cultural heritage that Peterson struggled to protect.
The first stop on this voyage into a jazz enthusiast's
heaven is the original film Jazz Is - featuring Max
Roach, Jay McShann, David Baker and Shirley Horn. Viewers
of this engaging film gain new insight into the jazz
experience as a way of life, an art form and a tradition.
Four of the most innovative and legendary performers of
America's classical music continue to amaze, teach, and
entertain in permanent exhibits of the American Jazz
Museum. The Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Edward Kennedy
"Duke" Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie "Bird" Parker
exhibits each contain their own audio listening station,
personal artifacts, rare photographs and an informative
timeline that celebrates their lives and musical genius.
Studio 18th & Vine provides an interactive glimpse
of the various components of a working music studio. You
will have an opportunity to experiment with the musical
concepts of rhythm, harmony and melody, in a studio-like
environment. Five listening stations are available to
acquaint you with the different instrumental sections of a
jazz band.
The Jazz Discovery Room, also known as the WeeBop
Room, was designed for children under eight years of age,
to provide an introduction to jazz through creative
activities. The WeeBop Room provides programs that help to
cultivate an interest in jazz music via storytelling, the
making of musical instruments and other hands-on
activities.
Jazz Central is a resource center that offers a
growing collection of resource materials and internet
access to informative jazz related websites. You may also
enjoy more than 100 recordings of the greatest jazz ever
recorded by a vast range of artists dating from the birth
of jazz to the present.
The Blue Room is perhaps the museum's most versatile
"exhibit." During the day, the Blue Room is part of the
American Jazz Museum and focuses exclusively on the Kansas
City jazz heritage. Four nights a week, however, it turns
into a working jazz club featuring local and national jazz
artists in a smoke-free environment.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Where to go for Jazz
No one knows exactly where or how it all began...
Most say it began in New Orleans, in the whorehouses of Storyville. Where the clientele seemed to like a raucous mixture of European melodies and African rhythms. But suddenly, America was in the Great War, and the raw recruits coming through New Orleans on their way to Europe made the fleshpots of Storyville into a pilgrimage.
Federal officials were astonished to find a legal red-light district in the midst of the morally pure United States. They ordered Storyville closed.
All the whores, the madams and pimps and even the musicians had to find new work.
Maybe they heard about opportunities in the north from their relatives, maybe it was just watching the Mississippi River, and wondering where it had come from. Maybe it was the rumor of a Midwestern City where you could do anything. Where, if the money was right, you could buy anything, be anybody. Some went up the Mississippi to Chicago, some went to Europe.
But some went to that rumored Missouri town, where the music they had played in New Orleans simmered and fermented and changed. It became bigger and grander and, soon, people in other parts of the country were sitting up and taking notice. Jazz wasn't New Orleans any more; it was Kansas City Jazz.
Most say it began in New Orleans, in the whorehouses of Storyville. Where the clientele seemed to like a raucous mixture of European melodies and African rhythms. But suddenly, America was in the Great War, and the raw recruits coming through New Orleans on their way to Europe made the fleshpots of Storyville into a pilgrimage.
Federal officials were astonished to find a legal red-light district in the midst of the morally pure United States. They ordered Storyville closed.
All the whores, the madams and pimps and even the musicians had to find new work.
Maybe they heard about opportunities in the north from their relatives, maybe it was just watching the Mississippi River, and wondering where it had come from. Maybe it was the rumor of a Midwestern City where you could do anything. Where, if the money was right, you could buy anything, be anybody. Some went up the Mississippi to Chicago, some went to Europe.
But some went to that rumored Missouri town, where the music they had played in New Orleans simmered and fermented and changed. It became bigger and grander and, soon, people in other parts of the country were sitting up and taking notice. Jazz wasn't New Orleans any more; it was Kansas City Jazz.
