The experimental Nebraska improvisors Kyle Jessen and Phill Smith perform at Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, August 21. Representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society will also be on hand. Jessen is featured in the embedded video.
Album Review: Kyle Quass, Kevin Cheli and Seth Andrew Davis- Bloom
I’m sympathetic to the Plastic Sax readers struggling with my frequent endorsements of the output of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. To be sure, the music made by members of the collective is often unsettling. While it’s another uncompromising installment in the free jazz tradition associated with past masters such as Bill Dixon, Milford Graves and Derek Bailey, the new release Bloom is a relatively accessible entry point. Kyle Quass’ trumpet and Kevin Cheli’s percussion provide acoustic contrast to the churning guitar and electronic tremors created by Kansas City’s Seth Andrew Davis. Detractors will insist Bloom is merely ninety minutes of anarchic noise. I’d counter that the rapturous beauty and devastating ugliness documented on the album accurately reflects our times.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Queen Bey, once a prominent Kansas City based vocalist, has died.
*Green Lady Lounge recently initiated a series of lunchtime performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The venue’s May calendar lists offerings from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays prior to Rod Fleeman’s long-standing Saturday residency that begins at 2:30 p.m.
*Here’s a second way to listen to the KCUR audio feature about the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society.
*The American Jazz Museum is featured in a National Endowment of the Arts "grant spotlight".
*From a press release: Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Alyssa Bell-Jackson today announced the final concert for the Conversations in Jazz 2023-2024 Season, This is Kansas City featuring two beloved Kansas City jazz greats Deborah Brown and Bobby Watson. This concert will be recorded live for an album to be released next season. This is Kansas City concert originally was to be held May 17 and 18 at the Folly Theatre. The concert will now be held on May 17 only.
KCUR Meets EMAS
Original image of Seth Andrew Davis, Kelley Gant and Aaron Osborne at 7th Heaven by Plastic Sax.
Plastic Sax diligently attempts to track the activities of representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. The multitude of recordings and performances is both thrilling and exhausting. That’s one reason the author of this site was pleased to examine the collective from a different perspective. The audio feature he created for KCUR streams here.
Now's the Time: Ra Kalam Bob Moses
The legendary drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses will perform with members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, April 17. Details are available here.
Now’s the Time: Alber
The Kansas City based trumpeter Alber performs at Farewell on Saturday, February 10. Plastic Sax suggested in 2021 that Alber creates “consummate chill-out music for the cool kids of today”. Experimental ensembles including representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society are also on the bill.
The Top Stories and Trends of 2023 on Kansas City’s Jazz Scene
Original image of Green Lady Lounge by Plastic Sax.
1. Last Train Home
The Lee’s Summit native Pat Metheny snapped an eleven-year embargo of the Kansas City area with a concert at Muriel Kauffman Theatre in June.
2. Larson vs. Otto: Everybody Wins
The astounding productivity of Adam Larson and Matt Otto, Kansas City based saxophonists in their artistic primes, resembled a friendly cutting contest.
3. Too Marvelous for Words
The Kansas City mainstay Marilyn Maye celebrated her 95th birthday with a concert at Carnegie Hall.
4. Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City
The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society presented performances by cutting-edge touring musicians including Vinny Golia, Maria Elena Silva, Eli Wallace and Jack Wright.
5. Absinthe Ascendent
Green Lady Lounge tightened its stranglehold as Kansas City’s dominant jazz venue. A program on Kansas Public Radio and an ongoing series of live albums furthered its hegemony.
6. Outside the Lines
Just two of Plastic Sax’s 20 Favorite Performances of 2023 transpired in jazz clubs. Venues including concert halls and art galleries hosted much of the most interesting improvised music performed in Kansas City.
7. Ticketed
Attendance at concerts by Samara Joy, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Pat Metheny and Domi and JD Beck indicates the Kansas City area is home to about 1,500 people who are willing to pay $25 or more to hear instrumental jazz.
8. Turnover
Rashida Phillips resigned her position as Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum.
9. It Takes a Village
The Prairie Village Jazz Festival, a one-day, single-stage event featuring locally based musicians, remains the region’s most notable jazz festival.
10. Con Man
Con Chapman’s Kansas City Jazz A Little Evil Will Do You Good provided new insights into the area’s jazz history.
Last year’s recap is here.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Charlie Parker, Count Basie and the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society were name-checked in a recent episode of the Eight One Sixty program on 90.9 The Bridge.
*Dave Scott checked in with Joe Dimino.
Now’s the Time: Maria Elena Silva
Maria Elena Silva’s appearance at the Firehouse Gallery in June was part of one of Plastic Sax’s favorite concerts of 2023. Her current tour in support of the impressive jazz-adjacent album Dulce stops at Farewell on Friday, November 24. The Jorge Arana Trio and representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society round out the bill.
Album Review: Brandon Cooper, Seth Andrew Davis, Krista Kopper, Evan Verploegh and Drew Williams- Compressed Space
An adventurous outing in the courtyard of Charlotte Street Foundation on May 18, 2022, was one of the most memorable performances presented by the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. Ten days later, many of the same Kansas City musicians recorded Compressed Space. The document is even better than the concert. The improvisations of Drew Williams (woodwinds), Seth Andrew Davis (guitar and electronics), Krista Kopper (double bass), Brandon Cooper (drums and percussion) and Evan Verploegh (drums and percussion) range from pristine quietude to atomizing skronk.
Concert Review: Dan Clucas at World Culture KC
Original image of Dan Clucas, Seth Davis and Shante Clair at World Culture KC by Plastic Sax.
Established jazz clubs occupy hallowed grounds for devotees of improvised music. The venues are more essential than ever. Due to ongoing attrition, however, many of the most rewarding performances are increasingly transpiring in unconventional settings.
A sextet played compelling new music on the porch of a home known as World Culture KC in Kansas City on Monday, September 4. The droning of cicadas, the buzz of aircraft and the lonesome whistles of trains accentuated the outing.
The event was a forum for the Los Angeles based Dan Clucas. The multi-instrumentalist has recording credits on albums by artists ranging from guitar hero Nels Cline to the rock band the BellRays. His most recent release is a harsh “hypothetical meeting between trumpeter Fats Navarro and drummer Peeter Uuskyla.”
Representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society (EMAS)- guitarists Shanté Clair and Seth Davis, harpist Brooke Knoll, bassist and electronics manipulator Aaron Osborne and drummer Evan Verploegh- deferred to their guest. Poor sightlines for the handful of attendees made it unclear which of the musicians adeptly echoed Clucas’ trumpet and violin riffs.
Ideally suited to the informal setting, the gently anarchic and carefully considered chaos might not have fared as well in a conventional jazz club. Thanks in large part to the scrappy persistence of EMAS, Kansas City’s position on the cutting edge of the international jazz map is being reasserted.
Album Review: Shawn E. Hansen, Mike Pride and Clayton Thomas- Dreamband
Plastic Sax has likely given faithful readers the impression that members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society have a stranglehold on Kansas City’s new music and free improvisation scene. The superlative Dreamband, a new multi-continental album featuring the Kansas City keyboardist and composer Shawn E. Hansen, proves that the collective isn’t the only noisy game in town. The recording process of Dreamband subverts standard improvised music practices. Pandemic necessity and geographic practicality compelled Hansen, the Australian bassist Clayton Thomas and the New York based drummer Mike Pride to record separately in three layers. Thomas describes Dreamband’s six tracks as “a process of both listening as if the playing was live, and recording, knowing full well you're creating an artifact.” Equal parts premeditated and spontaneous, the trio’s gloriously expansive new music upends- and often upgrades- conventional improvisation.
Concert Review: Rob Magill and Marshall Trammell at Farewell
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Farewell, a scrappy rock club near the Truman Sports Complex, hosted three differing sets of improvised music on Tuesday, July 11. More than fifty people passed in and out of the venue, but it’s unclear how many of them paid the $10 cover charge to hear the varied sounds.
The touring duo of saxophonist Rob Magill and drummer Marshall Trammell were the featured attraction. While the comparison is unfair to the tandem, I experienced their ferocious thirty minute set as an elegy to Peter Brötzmann. The German saxophonist who died last month specialized in the bracing form of free jazz rendered by the duo.
Joined by Alex Mallett on bass, keyboard and electronics, the trumpeter and electronic artist Alber opened the evening with a groovy update on acid jazz. The best moments evoked the ambience of a trendy cafe in Alber’s native Italy.
Three representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society performed last. Flanked by bassist Krista Kopper and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Osborne, drummer Evan Verploegh annihilated eardrums one moment and whispered through his fingertips the next.
Concert Review: Devin Gray, Maria Elena Silva and EMAS at Firehouse Gallery #8
Original image by Plastic Sax.
A downtown art gallery was transformed into an emporium for vital new music on Wednesday, June 21. Nine musicians represented compelling slices of the vanguard of sound in 2023.
The peripatetic drummer Devin Gray’s new release Most Definitely includes a 20-minute homage to free jazz legend Milford Graves. In keeping with that pursuit, his solo outing demonstrated even further possibilities in percussion.
Segments of his often unhuman attack seemed as if a Jolly Chimp had been infected by an evil strain of artificial intelligence. At other moments his electronically-enhanced performance sounded like an Antifa rally outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The noirish music of vocalist and electric guitarist Maria Elena Silva and drummer Scott Dean Taylor evoked the disquieting moments preceding and following bouts of bloodcurdling violence. The unresolved tension was exquisitely excruciating.
Six affiliates of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society- Drew Williams (saxophone), Seth Davis (guitar), Brook Knoll (harp), Aaron Osborne (electronics and percussion), Krista Kopper (bass) and Evan Verploegh (drums)- built imposing walls of noise.
Davis summoned the pinging of sonar, an effect that prompted thoughts of the ill-fated submarine in the Atlantic Ocean currently dominating the news cycle. The size of the audience may have been negligible, but the import of the music was monumental.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*Angela Hagenbach spoke to Nick Spacek in advance of last weekend’s A Tribute to Black Composers concert.
*A blogger assessed a performance of improvised music at the Bunker Center for the Performing Arts.
*Northeast News published a press release about an extended jam session at the Blue Room on April 27.
*Joe Dimino filmed portions of Artemis’ concert at the Gem Theater.
*An editorial in The Kansas City Star proposes “18th & Vine International Airport” as the new name for the city’s airport.
*Tweet of the Week: Farewell- Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society presents a show with New Mexico’s La Practica, the EMAS Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, and Iris Appelquist on April 5.
Album Review: Kyle Hutchins and Seth Andrew Davis- Coaxial
Hundreds of hours of difficult listening have led me to conclude that duo sessions are my favorite category of recordings by the ridiculously prolific members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. Coaxial, a new album by saxophonist Kyle Hutchins and guitarist/electronics manipulator Seth Andrew Davis, is no exception. The reduced number of sonic salvos and relative brevity of its eight tracks makes Coaxial the new music equivalent of a crossover pop album. Davis, a founder of EMAS, toys with severe noise and echoes Jimi Hendrix when he isn’t playing guitar in the percussive style of Joe Morris. Hutchins builds on the lineage of saxophone innovators including Pharoah Sanders, Evan Parker and Roscoe Mitchell. In Coaxial, Kansas City has produced another free jazz hit.
Now’s the Time: Jack Wright
Jack Wright is a free jazz warhorse. The saxophonist has specialized in improvised noise for more than 40 years. Wright will perform with his frequent collaborator Ron Stabinsky and members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Charlotte Street Foundation on Tuesday, January 31.
Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes
Original image by Plastic Sax.
*When he wasn’t raving about the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society, the author of Plastic Sax played jazz and jazz-adjacent music including tracks by Matt Villinger’s All Night Trio, Anna Butterss and “Ode to Mary,” Moor Mother’s tribute to Mary Lou Williams on a best-of 2022 radio program.
*Soirée Steak & Oyster House, a restaurant in the Jazz District that occasionally features jazz performances, is the beneficiary of a crowd-funding campaign.
*Mike Dillon chatted with Joe Dimino.
*Tweet of the Week: Mo- My friends and i trying to take pictures at @GreenLadyLounge last night (meme)
*From a press release: CD Release Event at Green Lady Lounge on Saturday, January 14, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm.: After decades of working as a sought-after sideman and invaluable collaborator for the likes of Karrin Allyson, Diane Shuur, Marilyn Maye, and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, guitarist Rod Fleeman has released his first album as a leader. Saturday Afternoon Live at Green Lady Lounge captures Fleeman, bassist Gerald Spaits, and drummer Todd Strait performing a set of original material at Kansas City’s most popular jazz venue.
*From a press release: Jazz/Punk Raconteur Mike Dillon & Punkadelick are on tour, performing locally for a CD Release Party at The Brick, Wednesday, January 4… Punkadelic is a trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos; Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica; and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals.
The Plastic Sax People of the Year: Seth Davis and Evan Verploegh
Original image of Evan Verploegh and Seth Davis by Plastic Sax.
A Kansas City jazz musician complained about what he perceived as a lack of performance opportunities during an otherwise satisfactory set in a prominent club earlier this year. In creating an entirely new scene for clangorous improvised music, Seth Andrew Davis and Evan Verploegh have proven that there’s no excuse for such woebegone resignation.
While their sound isn’t yet welcome at most conventional Kansas City venues, Davis, Verploegh and their colleagues in the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society (EMAS) possess an admirable enthusiasm for playing in punk clubs, record stores, coffee shops, arts centers and private residences in North America and Europe.
The do-it-yourself attitude may be born out of necessity, but it’s precisely the sort of nonpartisan engagement that’s more conducive to a flourishing future for improvised music than institutional hermeticism. Many of the collective’s performances- Live in London and Badger State Games among them- are promptly made available at Bandcamp.
The albums are among the more than two dozen live and studio recordings released by members of EMAS in 2022. With an impressive list of gigs already on next year’s calendar, the collective’s catalog should continue to rapidly expand.
A few of the recordings feature the notable touring artists they bring to Kansas City. Visiting collaborators in 2022 included Phillip Greenlief and Josh Sinton. These events vastly improved the lives of Kansas City’s free jazz enthusiasts. Davis and Verploegh, consequently, are Plastic Sax’s People of the Year.
The previous recipients of the designation are Rod Fleeman (2021), Charlie Parker (2020), Logan Richardson (2019), Peter Schlamb (2018), John Scott (2017), Eddie Moore (2016), Larry Kopitnik (2015), Deborah Brown (2014), Stan Kessler (2013), Doug and Lori Chandler (2012), Jeff Harshbarger (2011), Mark Lowrey (2010) and Hermon Mehari (2009). Bobby Watson was named the Plastic Sax Person of the Decade in 2009 and again in 2019.
The Kansas City Jazz Scene's Top Stories and Trends of 2022
Original image of Seth Davis, Josh Sinton and Drew Williams at the Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven on December 17 by Plastic Sax.
1. Full Swing
It’s almost as if nothing happened. On the surface, Kansas City’s post-pandemic jazz scene now looks just as it did in 2019.
2. Got It Covered
In spite of- or maybe even because of- the $5 cover charge instituted last year, Green Lady Lounge is packed on any given night. It makes sense: Green Lady Lounge is the only place in Kansas City at which jazz is performed every evening.
3. Frequent Freakouts
Fans of free jazz and experimental music no longer need to leave Kansas City to hear those sounds. Thanks to the strenuous initiatives of members of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society, innovative music made by notable touring musicians and local artists is regularly performed in Kansas City.
4. A Man Called Adam
The dynamic presence of Adam Larson continues to elevate Kansas City. The saxophonist’s two new albums- with a third on the way- requires skeptical outsiders to reassess the vitality of Kansas City’s scene.
5. For the Record
It’s an extraordinarily productive year when a lovely album featuring Bob Bowman can’t squeeze into a list of the top ten Kansas City jazz albums of 2022,
6. Don’t Call It a Comeback
While they never went away, the innovative veterans Dwight Frizzell and Arnold Young reemerged as prominent bandleaders with active performance schedules.
7. Fest or Famine
The one-stage, single-day, storm-plagued Prairie Village Jazz Festival notwithstanding, the Kansas City area hasn’t hosted a true jazz festival since a “stellar but ill-fated” event in 2017.
8. Outside Validation
Jazz at Lincoln Center created a fetching tradition-oriented video portrait of Kansas City.
9. Meanwhile, Back at the Museum
Had it done nothing but present Nduduzo Makhathini at the Blue Room in June, the American Jazz Museum would have provided an invaluable cultural contribution to the city in 2022. Yet its noontime concerts and the resumption of the Jammin’ at the Gem series were similarly encouraging developments.
10. An Awkward Anniversary
Another year passed without an appearance by Pat Metheny. The hometown hero last played in Kansas City in 2012. Although he continues to tour extensively, ten years have passed since a Metheny concert transpired in his old stomping grounds.
Last’s year’s installment of this annual series is here.