Thundercat returns to Kansas City for the third consecutive year on Saturday, June 15. He’s a headliner at the Boulevardia festival. The jazz-inspired funk powerhouse performed at Union Station last year and entertained at Grinders KC in 2022.
EP Review: Back Alley Brass Band- Last Chance to Dance
Back Alley Brass Band isn’t Kansas City’s only New Orleans-style brass band. Yet the ensemble’s shrewd marketing strategies and its willingness to give audiences precisely what they didn’t previously know they wanted has made Back Alley Brass Band the most visible group of its type in the region. It’s no accident Back Alley Brass Band is making appearances at Kelce Jam and Boulevardia, two of the Kansas City area’s biggest music-related events this summer. Accordingly, the ensemble’s new EP Last Chance to Dance doubles as a sonic business card. The infectiously exuberant set of party music containing arrangements of Rick Astley and Miley Cyrus hits will almost certainly result in further high-profile bookings.
Now’s the Time: The Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra
Jazz is underrepresented at the Crossroads Music Fest on Saturday, August 26. The presence of the Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra at the annual one-day event helps compensate for the slight. The ensemble’s set was a highlight of the Boulevardia festival in June.
Album Review: Back Alley Brass Band- Back Alley Brass Band
The members of Back Alley Brass Band, a Kansas City based New Orleans-style brass band, may be feeling the pressure of being the sole jazz-oriented act among the approximately 70 music bookings at the forthcoming Boulevardia festival. The event rivals the Kansas City Irish Festival as the city’s largest music-centric festival in a town associated with jazz.
Because it’s the precisely sort of ensemble that thrives amid liberal consumption of alcohol, the nine men of Back Alley Brass Band needn’t worry. The rowdiness of the group’s debut album indicates it will go over like gangbusters at the festival presented by Boulevard Brewing Company.
Kansas City’s answer to institutions like Rebirth Brass Band (the illustrious group’s “Do Whatcha Wanna” is covered here), Back Alley Brass Band plays with the giddy enthusiasm of a collegiate pep band representing a championship basketball team. For lubricated revelers looking for a rambunctious party, Back Alley Brass Band is a slam dunk.