Thousands of jazz fans are rightfully impressed by Miguel Zenón’s Vanguardia Subterrania. The live recording is among the year’s best mainstream jazz albums. Fewer observers have taken notice of the equally phenomenal El Eco de Un Tambor. Zenón composed the seven-part suite for Prism Quartet. The chamber music group with longstanding ties to Kansas City recalls the halcyon days of the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet and the World Saxophone Quartet on the 22-minute recording. Elegant but never dainty, El Eco de un Tambor may be a cross-genre classic.
Now’s the Time: The People’s Liberation Big Band
When it held a monthly residency at recordBar approximately 15 years ago, The People’s Liberation Big Band was among the most interesting ensembles in Kansas City. A reassembled version of the big band performs at the venue’s Play Loud festival on Saturday, September 27.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Nina Cherry interviewed the organizer of the KC Blues & Jazz Festival.
*In Kansas City magazine highlights Jazz in the Valley at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley.
Album Review: Jeff Shirley- Trio Live at Green Lady Lounge
Someone shouts “yeah” throughout Jeff Shirley’s new album Trio Live at Green Lady Lounge. The exclamation expresses what the audience was surely feeling as the guitarist’s album was recorded on March 11, 2025. The feel-good exuberance of Shirley, bassist Seth Lee and drummer Antonio Reyes merits gleeful hollering. The trio evokes the bubbly optimism of George Benson’s commercial heyday and the melodic cheerfulness of prime Larry Carlton on fusion-leaning tracks, straight-ahead compositions and crossover-oriented pieces. Trio Live at Green Lady Lounge will be released on compact disc and to streaming services Friday, October 3. The release party takes place from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7, at Green Lady Lounge.
Now’s the Time: Devin Gray
The innovative percussionist Devin Gray’s 2023 appearance in Kansas City was stunning. Gray returns to town on Wednesday, September 24, for a gig at the Ship. Representatives of Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society will also be on hand.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The most recent installment of Kansas Public Radio’s weekly Live at Green Lady Lounge program features Stanley Sheldon’s Rhythm Republic.
Album Review: Seth Andrew Davis, Michael Unruh and Kevin Cheli- Lowland
Wichita has entered the chat. The metropolis 200 miles southwest of Kansas City is rarely recognized as a center of musical innovation. Lowland should move the needle in new music circles.
Recorded in Wichita on December 15, 2023, the album is representative of the elite improvisation currently emanating from Stan Kenton’s hometown. Lowland features bass clarinetist Michael Unruh and was engineered by guitarist David Lord. The pair of Wichita based artists are joined by percussionist Kevin Cheli and Kansas City’s Seth Andrew Davis.
“Combustible” explodes in spectacular new directions after eight shape-shifting minutes. The trepidatious “Basin” resembles the score of a slasher flick while portions of “Mounds” sound like the prog-rock cult heroes Van der Graaf Generator at a Ken Kesey acid test.
The unruly closing track “Flint” is a radio-friendly five minutes long. Even though radio stations in Wichita are unlikely to add it to their rotations, “Flint” is a representative entry point for curious listeners willing to sample the uncommon textures the trio produces.
Now’s the Time: Bob Brookmeyer
Hours after publishing a book review of a new study about Bob Brookmeyer in which I suggest the late Kansas City native is "virtually unknown” in his hometown, I learned of an impending tribute to Brookmeyer. The event will be held at the Blue Room at 2 p.m. Sunday, September 14. The event isn’t listed on the Blue Room’s calendar, but a flyer with additional details can be found on Facebook.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*The Kansas City jazz musicians Harry Miller and Ed Pharr have died.
*A representative of the Topeka Jazz Workshop promoted the organization’s new season on a television news segment.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of the Prairie Village Jazz Festival and interviewed Mike Parkinson.
Book Review: On the Way to the Sky: Remembering Bob Brookmeyer, by Michael Stephans
Has a rabid enthusiast ever attempted to persuade you to share his obsession? In the case of Michael Stephans’ literary proselytization of Bob Brookmeyer, the zealot manages to wear down readers with equal parts mania and supporting facts.
Stephans’ On the Way to the Sky: Remembering Bob Brookmeyer is pure hagiography. The author may not possess an iota of impartiality but he makes a convincing case that the Kansas City native merits a higher profile.
Brookmeyer and his valve trombone were pictured on the cover of DownBeat magazine multiple times in the 1960s. Yet the standing of Brookmeyer, born in Kansas City in 1929, began to fade even prior to his death in 2011.
Brookmeyer’s exemplary artistic evolution combined with the precipitous decline in the popularity of jazz makes him virtually unknown in his hometown outside of jazz cognoscenti. Stephans is on a crusade to raise Brookmeyer’s profile.
His new study published by the University of North Texas Press consists of unalloyed idolatry. For instance, Stephans equates Brookmeyer to Johann Sebastian Bach and insists he’s “in the pantheon of the most original jazz soloists of all time” on the eleventh page of his study.
Decades before becoming Brookmeyer’s intimate friend and frequent collaborator, Stephans admits he played air trombone while listening to Brookmeyer recordings as a teenager. He comes by his hero worship naturally.
An informal compendium of recollections, recording analyses, interviews and press clippings, On the Way to the Sky resembles the outburst of an excitable chatterbox. Yet Stephans’ over-the-top enthusiasm is contagious.
He compelled me to immerse myself in Brookmeyer’s discography. I’d pigeonholed Brookmeyer as a hard-swinging associate of Al Cohn, Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan and as a respected arranger for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.
Thanks to Stephans, I discovered stunning works ranging from the 1960 “folk jazz” experiment Western Suite to the synthesizer-laden 1994 album Electricity. And how did I not know about The Ivory Hunters, a 1959 album on which Brookmeyer holds his own on piano paired with Bill Evans?
On the Way to the Sky may be a mix-and-match grab-bag of a book, but as a stimulus to a fuller appreciation of Brookmeyer, it’s literary masterpiece.
Now’s the Time: Krystle Warren
Krystle Warren headlines the KKFI Crossroads Music Fest on Saturday, September 6. The New Orleans-style brass band Sass-a-Brass aside, Warren is the most jazz-oriented artist among the more than thirty acts on the bill. Nina Cherry reports Warren will be accompanied by Mike Stover.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*A television news outlet covered activities marking the 105th birthdate of Charlie Parker.
Grading the 2025-26 Season of the Folly Jazz Series
Original image by Plastic Sax.
The Folly Jazz Series is among Kansas City’s most significant cultural treasures. While it’s more artistically conservative and much smaller than Plastic Sax might like, the series is the only institution to bring preeminent mainstream jazz musicians to town year after year. The surefire bookings in the new season led to uniform grades.
Pete Escovedo
October 4, 2025
Grade: B+
A Tito Puente concert in 1989 is among the most memorable concerts this correspondent has witnessed at the Folly Theater. Although Pete Escovedo will be 90 when he appears on the same stage, here’s hoping the Latin jazz specialist Escovedo will be similarly vital.
Lakecia Benjamin
November 1, 2025
Grade: B+
Based on unexpected enthusiasm from people normally indifferent to jazz, the booking of Lakecia Benjamin is the highlight of the 2025-26 season. The saxophonist is among Wayne Shorter’s countless acolytes.
Joshua Redman
February 7, 2026
Grade: B+
Joshua Redman’s straightforward concert at the Folly in 2019 compelled Plastic Sax to write that “(e)ven at his dullest, Redman is one of the most exciting men in jazz.” The saxophonist is touring in support of the 2025 album Words Fall Short.
Cyrille Aimée
March 14, 2026
Grace: B
The French chanteuse Cyrille Aimée’s 2018 concert at the Folly Theater was superbly charming.
Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100
March 29, 2026
Grade: B
Yet another Miles Davis tribute? Good grief! At least the band is impeccable. Here’s hoping trumpeter Sean Jones, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, pianist John Beasley, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Terreon Gully play loose and fast with the format.
Terri Lyne Carrington: We Insist! (Reimagined)
April 18, 2026
Grade: B+
Terri Lyne Carrington’s 2014 appearance at Yardley Hall was a mixed bag. Much of the material from her then-current tribute to the classic 1963 album Money Jungle didn’t coalesce. The drummer is touring behind another high-concept remake. Her update of the 1960 protest album We Insist!:Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite is likely to divide the audience.
An assessment of the previous season is here.
Now’s the Time: Vanessa Thomas
Vocalist Vanessa Thomas is among the five acts performing at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 6.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Albums Review: Anat Fort’s The Dreamworld of Paul Motian and Hillai Govreen’s Every Other Now
Modest people and tasteful art are often overlooked in an era of attention-seeking loudmouths and raucous ideologies. Attention is paid to shameless self-promoters rather than to serious individuals who favor the sublime.
Steve Cardenas, a reticent guitarist from Kansas City, operates in opposition to the zeitgeist. Anat Fort and Hillai Govreen, musicians born in Israel possessing similarly reserved sensibilities, feature Cardenas on notable new albums.
Both Fort and Cardenas recorded albums for ECM Records with Paul Motian. Their mutual association with the late drummer compelled Fort to call on Cardenas for The Dreamworld of Paul Motian. The ravishing tribute also features bassist Gary Wong and drummer Matt Wilson.
The jaunty pastoral “Prairie Avenue Cowboy” and the metropolitan “Riff Raff” aside, Dreamworld is imbued with hallucinatory placidness. Cardenas’ characteristically understated solos add serenity to a low-key album that’s akin to the hushed murmuring of scholars in a palatial library.
Govreen’s Every Other Now is more conventional. Cardenas is one of eight musicians assisting the saxophonist and clarinetist on the mainstream jazz outing. Thanks in no small part to Cardenas, Govreen occasionally reveals fresh new possibilities for the form.
Now’s the Time: Bobby Watson
Bobby Watson oversees a big band at Jay McShann Pavilion on Thursday, August 21. A bit of additional information about the “Celebrating Charlie Parker” event is available here.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Lonnie McFadden promoted his Charlie Parker tribute with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra to KCUR and Kansas City magazine. The concert is August 23 at the Folly Theater.
*The Steely Dan tribute band Glamour Profession headlines the Prairie Village Jazz Festival on September 6.
*The fall lineup of the Maronde Professional Recital Series opens with an homage to Charlie Parker on September 30.
*Joe Dimino shared footage of a recent Jazz Ensemble Directors Reading Band event.
*A representative of KC Jazz Alive asked Plastic Sax to advise its readers that the Live Jazz KC calendar is “fully back in operation.”
Album Review: Pete Fucinaro- Little Window
Pete Fucinaro’s astoundingly accomplished Little Window is fully formed and thoroughly convincing. The debut album is so impressive that Kansas City jazz enthusiasts unfamiliar with the locally based saxophonist could initially mistake portions of Little Window for the work of area masters Adam Larson or Bobby Watson.
Yet production techniques rarely employed by local artists and the playing of unfamiliar voices betray the distant origin of Little Window. The album was recorded in New York last November with friends of Fucinaro largely unknown in Kansas City.
As with some of his adventurous cohorts, Fucinaro is a graduate of University of North Texas. The musicians are not immune to the artistic gravitational pull of Snarky Puppy, the occasionally gaudy band founded at the institution.
For the most part, Fucinaro tempers the youthful propensity for flash with cultured maturity. “Bonfire” is state-of-the-art mainstream jazz. "Prelude", featuring vocals from Ebba Dankel, evokes the groundbreaking collaborations between David Binney and Gretchen Parlato.
Rock elements add edginess to “Conreco” and the title track. The application of synths on “Slim” echo the 1980s work of the supergroup Steps Ahead. The successful use of an array of sensibilities help make Fucinaro’s debut one of the most exciting Kansas City albums of 2025.
(Little Window will be released Friday, August 22.)
Now’s the Time: Jon Batiste
A brief audit of Jon Batiste’s irregular relationship with Kansas City is in order. Batiste played the Folly Theater in 2014. In 2017, taxpayers funded an $18,000 charter flight to Kansas City to enable the 31-year-old Batiste to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Jazz Museum. Batiste canceled a 2018 concert at Madrid Theatre the week of the show due to “scheduling issues.” The star’s Big Money tour stops at the Midland Theatre on Wednesday, August 27.