Focus on America
Kansas City Celebrates Its Legacy of Jazz
Kansas City Celebrates Its Legacy of Jazz
American Jazz Museum attracts visitors from around the world
Kansas City, Missouri -- In the 1920s and 1930s, Kansas City was a hothouse for jazz -- Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Mary Lou Williams and other greats performed there.
'While New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, America's music grew up in Kansas City,' says a Web site dedicated to the city's attractions.
The American Jazz Museum, located in Kansas City's historic 18th and Vine district, draws visitors from around the world to explore America's rich culture of jazz or listen to live music in a working jazz club. Several times a year, the museum presents artistic exhibits 'inspired by jazz, baseball and African-American life,' says its Web site.
While the museum highlights Kansas City's jazz legacy, visitors can learn much more about this unique American art form -- from its origins in African-American spirituals and slavery-era work songs to innovations by contemporary artists.
Jazz has several styles -- blues, ragtime, Dixieland, swing, bebop, scat, fusion, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian, cool jazz and more. Kansas City jazz is known for its hard-swinging, blues-based style.
Visitors to the museum discover jazz masters who made 'exceptional contributions to the shapes and sounds of jazz -- a music requiring serious discipline, spontaneous creativity and passion.'
'In the 1930s, Kansas City provided most of the people who contributed to modern jazz,' according to a film shown to visitors.
'I play what I sing and I sing what I feel,' vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn says in the film.
'Jazz is of the moment,' adds drummer Max Roach.
The museum features such legendary musicians as Charlie 'Bird' Parker, the Kansas City-born jazz saxophonist and composer considered one of the most influential jazz musicians in history; Count Basie, pianist, bandleader and composer; Miles Davis, trumpeter and bandleader; and Ella Fitzgerald, the 'First Lady of Song,' considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century. Fitzgerald was awarded the National Medal of the Arts and a Kennedy Center Honors award.
The museum also highlights the career of trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Dizzy Gillespie. In the 1980s, Gillespie led the United Nations Orchestra. Like Fitzgerald, he received both the National Medal of the Arts and a Kennedy Center Honors award.
Many early jazz musicians were African American. Yet, 'African-American musicians often were discriminated against in their own country. In the 1940s some began to play at venues in Europe, where they received better treatment,' according to the museum.
Famed trumpet player and vocalist Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong visited a number of countries, often under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department, the museum states.
In the early days of recording, tape was the only medium for capturing performances -- but tape could not be edited, so 'the performance was it,' meaning no cutting out parts of a performance, according to bandleader Mitch Miller, also featured in the museum.
In addition to interactive exhibits where people can experience jazz instruments and methods of playing melody and harmony, the museum offers an interactive jazz storytelling program, where children are introduced to the elements of jazz.
'The history of music mirrors the history of the world. Rhythm, or repeating beats, is related to math. Music helps to develop a keen sense of listening and trains kids aurally to listen to teachers and lessons,' said Dennis Winslett, a museum education specialist.
The museum offers other educational programs, including one in which participants learn about the relationship between jazz and the spoken word, and a program that uses jazz performances as music therapy for senior citizens.
The museum also has the 'Blue Room,' a performance area designed to resemble a nightclub from the 1930s. Across the street is the Gem Theatre, with a restored 1912 façade, which houses a modern 500-seat performing arts center. These spaces provide places to appreciate local and national jazz talents.
See 'America Savors Its Music During Jazz Appreciation Month' and 'Jazz, America's 'Best Ambassador,' Breaks Down Barriers.'
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