Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*A correspondent for The Boston Globe admired Green Lady Lounge.

*Nina Cherry interviewed Ryan J. Lee for The Pitch.

*Eddie Moore is among the musicians cited by Michelle Bacon in an NPR feature titled 8 Kansas City artists making a mark on their communities.

*Startland reported on the initiatives of musician and entrepreneur Tate Berry.

*Joe Dimino interviewed Brian Baggett and Brad Buckner.

*A Kansas City blogger includes plenty of jazz in a roundup of October’s best concerts and albums.

*Tweet of the Week: Cedric Feschotte- Work hard, play hard at #stuckonrepeat. Funk jazz chillin at @GreenLadyLoungewith @LandweberLab & @lohmueller (photo)

The Top Ten Jazz Performances of 2021

I caught several dozen jazz performances in an unsettling year characterized by starts and stops.  With a literal sense of danger in the air, each outing felt vital.  The listing my favorite jazz-based performances in the Kansas City area includes a jaunt to Columbia for an essential bout of free jazz and a trek to Detroit to catch a Lee’s Summit native who no longer performs in his old stomping grounds.

1. J.D. Allen, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits- Blue Room

Plastic Sax review.

2. Pat Metheny, James Francies and Joe Dyson- Orchestra Hall (Detroit)

Plastic Sax review.

3. Irreversible Entanglements- Stephens Lake Park Amphitheatre (Columbia)

Plastic Sax review.

4. Bird Fleming and Bill Summers’ “Voyage of the Drum”- Dunbar Park

Plastic Sax review.

5. Rod Fleeman- Green Lady Lounge

6. Eddie Moore, Ryan J. Lee and Zach Morrow- Charlotte Street Foundation

Plastic Sax review.

7. Thollem McDonas- 9th and State

Plastic Sax review.

8. Jeff Kaiser, Kevin Cheli and Seth Davis- Charlotte Street Foundation

Plastic Sax review.

9. Mike Dillon and Nikki Glaspie- 1900 Building

Plastic Sax review.

10. Second Nature Ensemble- Westport Coffee House

Plastic Sax review.

Lists of the top albums of 2021 are here. Links to similar annual top-show surveys for the past 11 years begin here.

Concert Review: Eddie Moore, Ryan J. Lee and Zach Morrow at Charlotte Street Foundation

A thrilling performance by a band led by Eddie Moore at the Tank Room five years ago was a factor in his selection as the 2016 Plastic Sax Person of the Year. The keyboardist’s appearance with Ryan J. Lee (keyboards/electronics) and Zach Morrow (drums) at Charlotte Street Foundation on Thursday, July 22, was no less triumphant. Bolstered by excellent sound, captivating video projections and a capacity audience of about 100 spirited admirers, Moore’s trio offered a vital fusion of jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop. Renderings of “Misunderstood” and “Single Double”, the new songs that opened and closed the hour-long set, were bigger and bolder than the recorded versions. Time will tell if the memorable concert was merely a satisfying summation of Moore’s career to date or the cornerstone of a new era for Kansas City’s music scene.