And if you’re a fellow aficionado, it’s more like a pilgrimage. It’s worth a visit if you have even the slightest interest in jazz. There’s a museum there today which is dedicated to the legacy of jazz in this city by day, and becomes a swinging jazz club by night. A single song could go on for hours, as the performers onstage dueled solo after solo to the crowd’s delight.Įven today, when you wander the streets of downtown KC, around 18th and Vine, you can practically hear the solos whispering on the wind on a still day. You could sit in a room with the smoke so thick it nearly hid the stage, tossing back drink after drink, listening to battles of the bands that would go on all night. And, as one of the leading forms of entertainment in Kansas City at that time, the jam sessions would go on all night. Kansas City jazz wasn’t simply about showing off how well you could blow your horn – you were expected to say something with your solos. Thanks to them, jazz gained its voice in KC. Some of the true greats of the era got their start here, men like the inimitable Count Basie and the legendary Charlie Parker. Jazz made its transition from big band to bebop here, bringing in the virtuoso playing and improvisation that marked the beginning of jazz as we know it today. It’s said that while New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, Kansas City is where it grew up. This kept the money flowing into Kansas City and guaranteed a steady stream of young musicians to fill the town’s many hopping dance clubs. Thanks to the famous (and totally corrupt) local political boss Tom Pendergast, the cops overlooked liquor and gambling violations. The difference was, back then, KC was one of the few towns where the liquor flowed freely. Just as you’re looking for entertainment in Kansas City today, people were doing the same decades ago during prohibition.
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