Kansas City Jazz
Encyclopedia
Kansas City Jazz is a style of jazz
that developed in Kansas City, Missouri
and the surrounding Kansas City Metropolitan Area
during the 1930s and marked the transition from the structured big band
style to the musical improvisation
style of Bebop
. The hard-swinging, bluesy transition style is bracketed by Count Basie
who in 1929 signed with the Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
and Kansas City native Charlie Parker
who was to usher in the Bebop style in the 1940s. According to a Kansas City website, "While New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, America's music grew up in Kansas City". Kansas City is known as one of the most popular "cradles of jazz". Other cities include New Orleans, Chicago
, St. Louis and New York City
.http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/1999/19991030/jazz.shtmlhttp://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/road_trip/poi_id/225000684/Kansas+City/Missouri/cmty/0/travel_map/explore/exploreCityNightLife.jsp
, a white group which broadcast nationally in the 1920s. However, the Kansas City jazz school is identified with the black bands of the 1920s and 1930s.
Kansas City in the 1930s was very much the crossroads of the United States resulting in a mix of cultures. Transcontinental trips at the time whether by plane or train often required a stop in the city. The era marked the zenith of power of political boss Tom Pendergast
. Kansas City was a wide open town with liquor laws and hours totally ignored and was called the new Storyville
. Most of the jazz musicians associated with the style were born in other places but got caught up in the friendly musical competitions among performers that could keep a single song being performed in variations for an entire night.
Often members of the big bands would perform at regular venues earlier in the evening and go to the jazz clubs later to jam for the rest of the night.
Claude Williams
described the scene:
Clubs were scattered throughout city but the most fertile area was the inner city
neighborhood of 18th Street and Vine.
Among the clubs were the Amos 'n' Andy, Boulevard Lounge, Cherry Blossom, Chesterfield Club, Chocolate Bar, Dante's Inferno, Elk's Rest, Hawaiian Gardens, Hell's Kitchen, the Hi Hat, the Hey Hey, Lone Star, Old Kentucky Bar-B-Que, Paseo Ballroom, Pla-Mor Ballroom, Reno Club, Spinning Wheel, Street's Blue Room, Subway and Sunsetx.
launched his career by discovering Kansas City talent starting with Count Basie.
Pendergast was to be convicted of income tax evasion in 1940 and the city cracked down on the clubs effectively ending the era.
Beginning in the 1970s Kansas City has attempted to celebrate the heritage by taking off the rough edges for family friendly environments. In the 1970s, the city tried to create a jazz enclave in the River Quay area on the Missouri River in the City Market neighborhood. Three of the clubs were bombed during a mob war that ultimately also led to the demise of mob influence of Las Vegas casinos that was depicted in the movie Casino
.
In 1981 114 people died in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
in an attempted recreation of the jazz scene during a tea dance
.
In 1996 Kansas City native Robert Altman
released the film Kansas City
depicting the Kansas City jazz era.
In 1997 the American Jazz Museum
opened in the 18th and Vine neighborhood
with a mission of celebrating Kansas City's jazz heritage.
Each year Kansas City celebrates "Jazzoo" - a charity fundraiser dedicated to Kansas City jazz and raising funds. Jazzoo Charity Fundraiser Official Site
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
that developed in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
and the surrounding Kansas City Metropolitan Area
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
during the 1930s and marked the transition from the structured big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
style to the musical improvisation
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
style of Bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
. The hard-swinging, bluesy transition style is bracketed by Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
who in 1929 signed with the Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
Bennie Moten
Bennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of...
and Kansas City native Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
who was to usher in the Bebop style in the 1940s. According to a Kansas City website, "While New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, America's music grew up in Kansas City". Kansas City is known as one of the most popular "cradles of jazz". Other cities include New Orleans, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, St. Louis and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/1999/19991030/jazz.shtmlhttp://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/road_trip/poi_id/225000684/Kansas+City/Missouri/cmty/0/travel_map/explore/exploreCityNightLife.jsp
Background
The first band from Kansas City to acquire a national reputation was the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk OrchestraCoon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra
Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was the first Kansas City jazz band to achieve national recognition, which it acquired through national radio broadcasts...
, a white group which broadcast nationally in the 1920s. However, the Kansas City jazz school is identified with the black bands of the 1920s and 1930s.
Kansas City in the 1930s was very much the crossroads of the United States resulting in a mix of cultures. Transcontinental trips at the time whether by plane or train often required a stop in the city. The era marked the zenith of power of political boss Tom Pendergast
Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...
. Kansas City was a wide open town with liquor laws and hours totally ignored and was called the new Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
. Most of the jazz musicians associated with the style were born in other places but got caught up in the friendly musical competitions among performers that could keep a single song being performed in variations for an entire night.
Often members of the big bands would perform at regular venues earlier in the evening and go to the jazz clubs later to jam for the rest of the night.
Claude Williams
Claude Williams (musician)
Claude "The Fiddler" Williams was an American jazz violinist and guitarist.Williams was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1908, and by 10 he had learned to play guitar, mandolin, banjo and cello. Upon hearing Joe Venuti play, he was inspired to take up the violin...
described the scene:
- Kansas City was different from all other places because we'd be jamming all night. And [if] you come up here ... playing the wrong thing, we'd straighten you out.
Clubs were scattered throughout city but the most fertile area was the inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
neighborhood of 18th Street and Vine.
Among the clubs were the Amos 'n' Andy, Boulevard Lounge, Cherry Blossom, Chesterfield Club, Chocolate Bar, Dante's Inferno, Elk's Rest, Hawaiian Gardens, Hell's Kitchen, the Hi Hat, the Hey Hey, Lone Star, Old Kentucky Bar-B-Que, Paseo Ballroom, Pla-Mor Ballroom, Reno Club, Spinning Wheel, Street's Blue Room, Subway and Sunsetx.
Style
Kansas City jazz is distinguished by the following musical elements:- A preference for a 4/4 beat over the 2/4 beat found in other jazz styles of the time. As a result, Kansas city jazz had a more relaxed, fluid sound than other jazz styles.
- Extended soloing. Fueled by the non-stop nightlife under Political Boss Tom PendergastTom PendergastThomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...
, Kansas City jam sessions went on well past sunrise, fostering a highly competitive atmosphere and a unique jazz culture in which the goal was to "say something" with one's instrument, rather than simply show off one's technique. It was not uncommon for one "song" to be performed for several hours, with the best musicians often soloing for dozens of choruses at a time.
- So-called "head arrangements". The KC big bands often played by memory, composing and arranging the music collectively, rather than sight-reading as other big bands of the time did. This further contributed to the loose, spontaneous Kansas City sound.
- A heavy blues influence, with KC songs often based around a 12-bar blues structure, rather than the 8-bar jazz standard.
- One of the most recognizable characteristics of Kansas City jazz is frequent, elaborate riffing by the different sections. Riffs were often created - or even improvised - collectively, and took many forms: a) one section riffing alone, serving as the main focus of the music; b) one section riffing behind a soloist, adding excitement to the song; or c) two or more sections riffing in counterpoint, creating an exciting hard-swinging sound. The Count Basie signature tunes "One O'Clock JumpOne O'Clock Jump"One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard, a 12-bar blues instrumental, written in 1937 by Count Basie, with arrangement from Eddie Durham and Buster Smith. The original recording of the tune by Basie and his band is noted for the saxophone work of Herschel Evans and Lester Young; trumpeting by Buck...
" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside", for example, are simply collections of complex riffs, memorized in a head arrangement, and punctuated with solos. Glenn MillerGlenn MillerAlton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
's famous swing anthem "In the MoodIn the Mood"In the Mood" is a big band era #1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged "In the Mood" in 1937-1939 using a previously existing main theme composed by Glenn Miller before the start of the 1930s...
" closely follows the Kansas City pattern of riffing sections, and is a good example of the Kansas City style after it had been exported to the rest of the world.
Aftermath
Kansas City influence overtly transferred to the national scene in 1936 when record producer John H. HammondJohn H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
launched his career by discovering Kansas City talent starting with Count Basie.
Pendergast was to be convicted of income tax evasion in 1940 and the city cracked down on the clubs effectively ending the era.
Beginning in the 1970s Kansas City has attempted to celebrate the heritage by taking off the rough edges for family friendly environments. In the 1970s, the city tried to create a jazz enclave in the River Quay area on the Missouri River in the City Market neighborhood. Three of the clubs were bombed during a mob war that ultimately also led to the demise of mob influence of Las Vegas casinos that was depicted in the movie Casino
Casino (film)
Casino is a 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese...
.
In 1981 114 people died in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
The Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse was a collapse of an interior suspended skywalk system that occurred on July 17, 1981, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, killing 114 people and injuring 216 others during a tea dance. At the time, it was the deadliest structural collapse in U.S...
in an attempted recreation of the jazz scene during a tea dance
Tea dance
A tea dance, or thé dansant is a summer or autumn afternoon or early-evening dance from four to seven, sometimes preceded in the English countryside by a garden party. The function evolved from the concept of the afternoon tea, and J. Pettigrew traces its origin to the French colonization of Morocco...
.
In 1996 Kansas City native Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
released the film Kansas City
Kansas City (1996 film)
Kansas City is a 1996 film, directed by Robert Altman, and featuring numerous jazz tracks. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, and Steve Buscemi starred. The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
depicting the Kansas City jazz era.
In 1997 the American Jazz Museum
American Jazz Museum
The American Jazz Museum is a jazz museum in the United States. Located in the historic 18th and Vine district in Kansas City, Missouri, in a building also housing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, it preserves the history of the American music: jazz. The museum features exhibits on Charlie...
opened in the 18th and Vine neighborhood
18th and Vine-Downtown East, Kansas City
18th and Vine in Kansas City is internationally recognized as one of the cradles of jazz. Along with New Orleans's Basin Street, Beale Street in Memphis, 52nd Street in New York City and Los Angeles's Central Avenue - the 18th and Vine area was a midwife to the birth of a new style of jazz...
with a mission of celebrating Kansas City's jazz heritage.
Each year Kansas City celebrates "Jazzoo" - a charity fundraiser dedicated to Kansas City jazz and raising funds. Jazzoo Charity Fundraiser Official Site
Musicians
- Karrin AllysonKarrin AllysonKarrin Allyson is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including The New York Times, which has called her a "singer with a feline touch and impeccable intonation."-Career:Allyson grew up in...
- Count BasieCount BasieWilliam "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
- Buck ClaytonBuck ClaytonBuck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...
- Everette DeVan
- Herschel EvansHerschel EvansHerschel "Tex" Evans , was a tenor saxophonist who worked in the Count Basie Orchestra. He had also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton...
- Coleman HawkinsColeman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
- Pete JohnsonPete JohnsonPete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most...
- Jo JonesJo JonesJo Jones was an American jazz drummer.Known as Papa Jo Jones in his later years, he was sometimes confused with another influential jazz drummer, Philly Joe Jones...
- Andy KirkAndy KirkAndrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era....
- Julia LeeJulia Lee (musician)Julia Lee was an American blues and dirty blues musician.-Biography:Born in Boonville, Missouri, United States, Lee was raised in Kansas City, and began her musical career around 1920, singing and playing piano in her brother George Lee's band, which for a time also included Charlie Parker...
- George E. Lee
- Harlan LeonardHarlan LeonardHarlan Leonard was an American jazz bandleader and clarinetist from Kansas City, Missouri.A professional musician from the age of 17, he joined Benny Moten's orchestra in 1923, where he led the reed section until 1931. In 1931 he and Thamon Hayes formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which included...
- Jimmie LuncefordJimmie LuncefordJames Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
- Jay McShannJay McShannJay McShann was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer....
- Bennie MotenBennie MotenBennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of...
- Hot Lips Page
- Walter PageWalter PageWalter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...
- Charlie ParkerCharlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
- Sammy PriceSammy PriceSammy Price was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. He was born Samuel Blythe Price, in Honey Grove, Texas, United States. Price was most noteworthy for his work on Decca Records with his own band, known as the Texas Bluesicians, that included fellow musicians...
- Jimmy RushingJimmy RushingJames Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr...
- Joe TurnerBig Joe TurnerBig Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
- Bobby WatsonBobby WatsonBobby Watson is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role...
- Ben WebsterBen WebsterBenjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
- Claude WilliamsClaude Williams (musician)Claude "The Fiddler" Williams was an American jazz violinist and guitarist.Williams was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1908, and by 10 he had learned to play guitar, mandolin, banjo and cello. Upon hearing Joe Venuti play, he was inspired to take up the violin...
- Mary Lou WilliamsMary Lou WilliamsMary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
- Lester YoungLester YoungLester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
Selected discography
Early jazz and swing era music:- Various artists, The Real Kansas City - Columbia (1996)
- Various artists, Jazz Kansas City Style - Pearl (1996)
- Various artists, Cradle of Jazz - The International Music Co. (2000) http://product.half.ebay.com/Cradle-Of-Jazz_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ46441658http://www.amazon.com/s.html?ie=UTF8&keywords=sidney+bechet
- Various artists, Kansas City Jazz 1924-1942 - Fremeaux & Assoc. Fr (2005)
Literature
- Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix, Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History New York, Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 978-0-19-530712-2
- Nathan W. Pearson, Jr., Goin' to Kansas City. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Il. 1988, ISBN 0-252-06438-0
- Nathan W. Pearson, Jr., Political and Musical Forces That Influenced the Development of Kansas City Jazz. In: Black Music Research Journal Vol. 9, (2) (1989), pp. 181-192
- Ross Russell, Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest, University of California Press, Berkeley 1971, ISBN 0-520-01853-2
- Gunther Schuller, The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (The History of Jazz, Vol. 2), New York, Oxford University Press, 1991