Concert Review: John Scofield at Revolution Hall

The opportunity to hear John Scofield perform at a venue named Revolution Hall on election night acted as an irresistible siren song. The compulsory purchase of a $60 general admission ticket allowed me to join more than 1,000 people at the Portland venue on Tuesday, November 3, for the guitarist’s appearance on his Electrospective tour.

Early election results made the crowd giddy, the sound was excellent and the absence of chatter was refreshing. So why was I disgruntled? Even though I knew what I was getting into, the unrelenting barrage of jamband-friendly jazz fusion quickly wore me out.

Joined by organist Larry Goldings, bassist Oteil Burbridge and drummer Adam Deitch, the 74-year-old Scofield played solo after blistering solo on selections pulled from his vast discography. While I expected the focus on lively groove-oriented material, I’d hoped Scofield would appease fans like me with a few songs featuring other aspects of his talent.

Nope. Almost all of the quartet’s 135-minute outing was intended to keep the capacity audience shimmying. It was way too much of an undeniably good thing. Only a touch of swing on “Trim” from the 1986 album Blue Matter and a sensitive reading of “Cryin’ Time” from Scofield’s 2005 tribute to Ray Charles deviated from the unrelenting flow of frenetic jams.

I’m fond of classic Scofield compositions like “Chank” and “Jungle Fiction” but the lack of variety from a brilliant artist whose most recent album is gorgeously contemplative was disappointing. Still, it seems churlish to complain about more than two hours of hyper-aggressive Scofield. He still has my vote.

Now’s the Time: Adam Larson

Adam Larson leads a band at Ted’s Taproom on Friday, November 6. The saxophonist performs “Angolan Babysitter,” the opening track of his 2022 album With Love, From Chicago, in the embedded video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Joyce Smith checks out the Bad Cat for The Martin City Telegraph.

*A television news report examines the closing of the 515 Music Hub.

*Cory Weeds spoke to a Canadian television station about his new album featuring organist Chris Hazelton.

*From a social media post: After 5 years, EMAS will be folding at the end of 2026. Our last show will be December 2nd at Charlotte Street Foundation.

Gig Review: NO(w) Beauty at the Jack London Revue

Hermon Mehari was Plastic Sax's Person of the Year in 2009. The young trumpeter’s work ethic, optimistic demeanor and expansive taste made him one of the brightest artistic lights in Kansas City 17 years ago. When I wrote a cover story profiling Mehari for Ink magazine two years later, it had become even clearer that he was going places.

Performing for 15 people in the basement of a pool hall in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, October 27, might not seem like an impressive achievement, but the mere fact that Mehari’s Paris-based quartet NO(w) Beauty is touring North America is a remarkable feat. I paid $25 to hear the ensemble’s eighty-minute outing.

Consisting of co-leaders Mehari, pianist Enzo Carniel, bassist Damien Varaillon and drummer Stéphane Adsuar, NO(w) Beauty focused on selections from its self-titled 2023 album and this year’s (Un)Seen. Always pretty but never cloying, the quartet’s approach is equal parts contemporary Euro-jazz and conventional American post-bop.

A performance by the Joshua Redman Quartet aside, NO(w) Beauty is the most cohesive jazz group I’ve encountered in 2026. Carniel’s magnificent playing often evokes the compositions of Frédéric Chopin. The muscularity of Varaillon and Adsuar check the florid inclinations of their bandmates.

Mehari’s fragile tone has evolved into a refined, emotionally evocative trademark. The strength of NO(w) Beauty’s Portland appearance and the excellence of (Un)Seen make the resolute Mehari a leading candidate for a second nod as the Plastic Sax Person of the Year.

Now’s the Time: Karrin Allyson

Karrin Allyson will be backed by the University of Nebraska-Omaha Jazz Ensemble at the Gem Theater on Friday, November 6. She appeared with Houston Person at the Jazz District venue in 2015.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

The author of Plastic Sax has been traveling abroad. The garish typos in a recent review have been corrected. A compilation of recent newsworthy items follows.

*Bobby Watson made an appearance on KCUR.

*Nick Hmeljak is featured in Kansas City magazine.

*A travel feature in The New York Times highlighted attractions including the American Jazz Museum and Black Dolphin.

*Joe Dimino interviewed Ernest Melton.

*The Kansas City Star noted the passing of Claude Alvin Ford.

*An editorial in The Voice considers promotional efforts for the Jazz District.

Album Review: Cory Weeds- Hip to be Square: Plays Huey Lewis & the News

Official verification of the "soul-jazz miracle" that transpired at Westport Coffee House last November has arrived. The release of Hip to be Square: Plays Huey Lewis & The News, proves that the doubtful act of musical divination was real.

Thanks in large part to the wondrous arrangements of Kansas City organist Chris Hazelton, Cory Weeds’ new album featuring Hazelton, guitarist David Rourke and drummer Rudy Petschauer redeems an absurdly unpromising premise. 

The transformation of the gooey 1982 pop hit “Do You Believe in Love” into a riveting ballad is the most stunning revelation, but most of the covers supplant the tackiness of MTV staples like "I Want a New Drug" with the robust swing associated with the Canadian saxophonist Weeds.

Jazz purists who refuse to succumb to pop pleasures can stick to the original material on the back half of the 74-minute album. They’ll be missing out on a lot of fun. It turns out that it is, in fact, hip to be square.

Album Review: Mike Dillon- Mike & Beignet Go to the Zoo

The rock and roll outsiders Danny Elfman and Mark Mothersbaugh have found unlikely late-career success as composers for television and film. After rising to fame with the rock band Oingo Boingo, Elfman became an elite film composer. Mothersbaugh, the primary artistic force of Devo, is a similarly accomplished composer for popular television and film productions.

Kansas City’s Mike Dillon demonstrates that he’s capable of creating equally auspicious incidental music on his new album Mike & Beignet Go to the Zoo. Having successfully fused punk and jazz for decades, Dillon has created a string of subtler recordings in recent years.

The latest effort consists of eleven lively vignettes with titles like “Lola the Orangutan” and “Skippy the Giraffe.” The cinematic scope of Dillon’s percussive exotica is extremely evocative. The powers that be in entertainment hubs like Hollywood would be well served by employing the Kansas City version of Elfman and Mothersbaugh.

Gig Review: Loren Broaddus’ Aquarius at the Bad Cat

Moments before purchasing a $25 online reservation for Loren Broaddus’ Aquarius at The Bad Cat on Friday, October 2, I received an unsolicited offer for a free pass from the new jazz venue in a south Kansas City strip mall. Shortly after taking a seat near the door of the small room, I overheard an exchange between the owner and a patron.

“I object to such a high cover,” a woman said. “It’s the highest in the city.”

Twenty dollars at the door and $25 for online bookings is indeed pricey by Kansas City standards. Ten dollar cover charges- and, as is more often the case- no cover charges for jazz performances by locally based musicians are the rule. Does the Bad Cat’s premium price reflect a premium experience? My initial thoughts follow.

The good: The location in what’s long been a jazz desert could be an asset. A diverse community of more than 100,000 people live within five miles of the club. The bookings are arguably the most interesting of any jazz-oriented room in the city. It shouldn’t be necessary to applaud the absence of televisions and screens, but the Bad Cat is thankfully free of the all-too-common vibe-killers.

The in-between: The lone server on October 2 was green, but an enthusiastic and talented bartender compensated for the shaky service.

The bad: The formidable door charge isn’t accompanied by a corresponding no-talking policy. Half of the eighteen people who heard Aquarius shamelessly babbled over the music. And Broaddus’ French horn occasionally overwhelmed the sound system, resulting in unintended distortion.

What about the performance? Broaddus is among Kansas City’s most exciting young musicians. His band Aquarius consists of the similarly brash keyboardist Elliot Chael, bassist Truman Methena and drummer Blu Noyes. The mix of strong original compositions and covers is rendered with wild abandon.

Ardent jazz enthusiasts will marvel at the esoteric outside material Aquarius’ chose to interpret: Joe Zawinul’s “Directions,” Charles Tolliver’s “Lynnsome,” Clifford Jordan’s “The Highest Mountain,” Gerald Wilson’s “In the Limelight,” Harold Land’s “Deliberation” and Stanley Cowell’s “Abscretions.”

Aquarius’ performance was so good that I’d consider paying significantly more than $20 to hear the quartet at the Bad Cat again. There is, of course, one condition attached to this hypothetical scenario: the deleterious chatter that often spoils jazz performances in Kansas City jazz clubs would need to be muted.

Now’s the Time: Linda May Han Oh

Linda May Han Oh’s inclusion in the 2026-27 season of the Folly Jazz series received Plastic Sax’s highest grade. The esteemed bassist will be joined by vocalist Sara Serpa, saxophonist Mark Turner, keyboardist Fabian Almazan and drummer Obed Calvaire on Saturday, October 10. The lineup is featured in the embedded video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Joe Dimino interviewed Nick Hmeljak.

EP Review: Blue Devil Revival- Birth of a Revival

The tautological title of Birth of a Revival- a new four-track EP issued under the auspices of the Mutual Musicians Foundation- is dubious. The summit of five prominent musicians produces the established sound of Kansas City jazz in 2026.

Trumpeter Chalis O'Neal, saxophonist Ernest Melton, keyboardist Desmond Mason, bassist DeAndre Manning and drummer Tyree Johnson play with their usual hip-hop-informed panache as Blue Devil Revival.

Listeners are encouraged to disregard the nonsensical marketing tagline in the project’s social media advertisements: “This is not a reenactment. It is a revival.” The energetic Birth of a Revival is a worthwhile reiteration.

Now’s the Time: Norman Liggins

A band led by Norman Liggins is featured at the American Jazz Museum’s Blue Room on Friday, October 2. The embedded music video for “I Cannot Think” features scenes filmed at Jazz District landmarks.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*KCUR is among the outlets amplifying a Green Lady Lounge social media post.

*Kemet Coleman extols Kansas City’s jazz history in an editorial for Startland.

*Eboni Fondren ran down a few jazz events on a local television talk show.

Album Review: Aaron Osborne and Kelley Gant- New Midnight

Aaron Osborne helmed an event at Charlotte Street Foundation in July in which Kelley Gant was at the literal center of the proceedings. The pairing has followed up one of the year’s most notable performances with the similarly cosmic album New Midnight.

Osborne is a core member of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. Gant has been one of the regional improving music community’s most valuable components for more than a decade. Her 2019 initiative as a promoter, for instance, was sorely needed at the time.

Gant’s balmy vocals and ballyhooed whistling provide a flesh-and-blood counterpoint to the electronic maneuvers of New Midnight. From serene ambient noise akin to the low rumble of traffic on a distant highway to gothic industrial clatter that might accompany the application of dark arts, New Midnight contains an impressive range of textures.

New Midnight is likely to strike jazz purists as alien and sterile. Yet while the “(l)ong form improvised sounds captured live in studio” aren’t necessarily jazz, the sounds are precisely the type of bold experiment that’s a necessary catalyst for advancing the form.

Now’s the Time: Paganova

Paganova, the Kansas City band overseen by pianist Michael Pagán, closes the primary stage of the Plaza Art Fair on Sunday, September 27.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*From a press release: On Saturday morning, October 10, saxophonist Adam Larson spends two hours in the Blue Room teaching improvisation, composition, and the music business… He’ll demonstrate improvisation, have participants play for him and with him, and leave room for questions, so bring your instrument. Participants also receive a PDF covering the material he goes over… The workshop is open to musicians on any instrument and in any style, from middle school students to working players. Band directors and teachers are encouraged to bring their students… $20 students and educators, $35 general admission.

Gig Review: Alden Hellmuth at The 1905

Smitten with the innovative attack of Tether, the latest album by Alden Hellmuth, I purchased a $39 seat at the bar of the fifty-person capacity Portland jazz venue The 1905 to hear the New York based saxophonist’s band on Thursday, September 10. I was disappointed to subsequently learn that Hellmuth wouldn’t be accompanied by the musicians featured on Tether.

Only one selection from Tether was performed in a 65-minute set, and even it was rendered in a comparatively conventional form by Hellmuth and a Portland based ensemble of trumpeter Noah Simpson, pianist Kerry Politzer, bassist Garrett Baxter and drummer Ken Mastrogiovanni.

Aside from the single Tether track, the setlist included several unrecorded new compositions, a Coltrane cover and an appearance by vocalist Lo Steele on “Save Your Love for Me.” I may not have heard what I paid for, but I received an insightful clinic on the formidable talents of five Portland artists.

Now’s the Time: Marilyn Maye

The indefatigable Marilyn Maye returns to the Folly Theater on Friday, September 25. Plastic Sax reviewed her 2025 appearance at the same venue.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Kansas City Star reports that the Bad Cat, a new jazz venue in Watts Mill with a $20 cover charge, opens this week.

*Kevin Morris surveys Kansas City’s jazz calendar for KC Studio.

*Joe Dimino captured footage of the rain-shortened Prairie Village Jazz Festival and interviewed Michael Pronko.

*From a press release: More than 20 of the area’s top women jazz musicians will gather Wednesday evening, Sept. 30, at Ted’s Taproom… to kick off the 50th anniversary edition of the Women's Jazz Festival… which will take place… March 17-19, 2028. There will be three concerts at the Music Hall featuring 12 groups in all, clinics led by featured performers, jam sessions and a free showing of the acclaimed 2011 documentary film “The Girls in the Band,” in which the Women’s Jazz Festival is featured.