Kansas City Music History - Kansas City Jazz

Kansas City Music History - Kansas City Jazz

Kansas City jazz is a design of jazz that established in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1920s and 1930s, which marked the shift from the structured huge band style to the musical improvisation design of Bebop. The hard-swinging, bluesy shift design is bracketed by Count Basie who in 1929 signed with the Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra and Kansas City native Charlie Parker who ushered in the Bebop design in America. Kansas City was known for the organized artists of the Local 627 A.F.M., which controlled a number of locations in the city.

 

The first band from Kansas City to obtain a national track record was the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra, a white group which broadcast nationally in the 1920s. The Kansas City jazz school is recognized with the black bands of the 1920s and 1930s, including bands led by Bennie Moten, Andy Kirk, Harlan Leonard, George E. Lee, William "Count" Basie, and Jay McShann.

Kansas City in the 1930s was extremely much the crossroads of the United States resulting in a mix of cultures. Transcontinental trips at the time whether by airplane or train often needed a stop in the city. Kansas City was a wide open town with liquor laws and hours totally overlooked and was called the new Storyville.

Jay McShann told the Associated Press in 2003:

It was Kansas City Style. They understood it up North and they understood it down South."

Claude "Fiddler" Williams described the scene:

Kansas City was various from all other locations because we 'd be jamming all night.
Clubs were scattered throughout city however the most fertile location was the central city area 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 Hello There Hat, the Hey Hay Club, 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 differentiated by the following musical aspects:

A choice for a 4 feel (walking) over the 2 beat feel found in other jazz designs of the time. As a result, Kansas city jazz had a more relaxed, fluid sound than other jazz designs.
Prolonged soloing. Sustained by the non-stop night life under political employer Tom Pendergast, Kansas City jam sessions went on well past dawn, fostering an extremely competitive environment and a special jazz culture in which the objective was to "say something" with one's instrument, rather than merely flaunt one's technique. It was not uncommon for one "song" to be carried out for numerous hours, with the finest musicians typically soloing for lots of choruses at a time.

So-called "head arrangements". The KC huge bands frequently played by memory, making up and organizing the music jointly, instead of sight-reading as other big bands of the time did. This more added to the loose, spontaneous Kansas City sound.

A heavy blues affect, with KC tunes often based around a 12-bar blues structure, instead of the 32 bar AABA requirement, although Moten Swing remains in this AABA format.
One of the most identifiable attributes of Kansas City jazz is regular, intricate riffing by the different sections. Riffs were often developed - or perhaps improvised - jointly, and took lots of forms: a) one area riffing alone, acting as the primary focus of the music; b) one area riffing behind a musician, including enjoyment to the tune; or c) two or more sections riffing in counterpoint, developing an amazing hard-swinging sound. The Count Basie signature tunes "One O'Clock Jump" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside", for instance, are simply collections of complex riffs, remembered in a head arrangement, and punctuated with solos. Glenn Miller's well-known swing anthem "In the Mood" closely follows the Kansas City pattern of riffing areas, and is a fine example of the Kansas City design after it had actually been exported to the rest of the world.

Kansas City jazz is a design of jazz that established in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1920s and 1930s, which marked the shift 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 ushered in the Bebop style in America. Other cities consist of New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City. Kansas City was known for the arranged artists of the Local 627 A.F.M., which managed a number of venues in the city.

Glenn Miller's well-known swing anthem "In the Mood" closely follows the Kansas City pattern of riffing sections, and is an excellent example of the Kansas City style after it had been exported to the rest of the world.