Description
Book SynopsisThe brand of jazz that developed in the Kansas City area in the period from the late 1920s to the late 1930s is recognised as both a distinct stylistic variation within the larger genre and a transitional stage between earlier forms of African-American music, such as ragtime and blues, and later, more modern forms, up to and including bebop. Kansas City’s brand of jazz has been described as “the most straightforward and direct style which has been developed outside New Orleans,” by Hughues Panassié and Madeleine Gautier in their Dictionary of Jazz. Kansas City jazz has inspired the creation of a museum and has been the subject of a feature-length film, Robert Altman’s 1996 “Kansas City,” and even a sentimental rock song, “Eternal Kansas City” by Van Morrison. The first comprehensive work on the subject in over 15 years, this book draws on new research to delve deeper into music of the American Midwest that evolved into Kansas City jazz, and includes profiles of individual musicians who developed very different styles within or beyond the framework of the sub-genre. Kansas City Jazz focuses on the broader themes and the stories of the major personalities whose individual talents came together to create the larger whole of Kansas City’s distinctive brand of jazz.
Table of Contents1. Prologue 2. Roots: Ragtime, Minstrelsy and Tent Shows 3. From Stomp to Swing: From Tuba to Bull Fiddle 4. Bennie Moten and His Competitors 5. Rhythm: From Banjo to Guitar, 2 Drums to Trap Set 6. From Bennie to Basie 7. Riffs and Jams 8. From Boogie-Woogie to Bop 9. Tenor Legacy 10. Shouters and Singers 11. Trumpets 12. Trombones 13. The Clouds of Joy and the Lady Who Swung the Band 14. Alto 15. The Rockets That Didn’t Quite Take Off 16. Bird Takes Flight 17. Jay McShann and the Last of the Great Kansas City Bands 18. Evil is Banished
