Talk:Kansas City Revisited

Album notes by Bob Brookmeyer

Kansas City, eh? Well, I guess everyone got some kind of bell that gets a tap from that town. It ain't no good this year and hasn't been for some time. As a twenty year resident, I think the boppers killed it but then I'm preju-diced so we'll leave that lie. I do know that some lovely and lasting alk came out of there—some gentleness (genteelness, if you will) that could only be found around men who so fully knew what they did and where-in they spoke that relaxation was the only way to express it. When you're not sure, it gets very nervous, but that utter confidence in swing is hard to beat. If these words ever come under the scrutiny of McShann, Oliver Todd, Orville Minor, Jimmy Keith, Gus Johnson, Gene Ramey, Ben Webster, Roy Johnson, Joe Turner and so many more, I hope they will allow for a young man to talk about what he actually was playing jacks and lead soldiers to—what he thinks he heard and felt enough of that he hopes to the Lord it's really true. I do, you know. When I was one of the Tingest jazz fans in the country, my dad and I would cheat on the parson a Sunday or two "and stay by the radio to wait for the 15 minutes of Basic, 10:45 over KCKN (now a country and western station, bless their souls). Then too, Basie would be through town at the Tower-theatre 5, 6 times a year and I got to be a real pro at forging passes from school to catch three shows and two bad westerns before there would be some salt from the home kitchen. First time I ever heard any' really up close was around my thirteenth year. A kiddy band I toiled with was waiting their turn at old Garrett Hall and we came upon Oliver Todd's six piece band—they would make anybody's jaw slacken up a bit with . "Little Phil" (Edward Phillips, now hopelessly a mental patient, due to our lovely and humane local "apartheid") and some of the easiest, longest time I had ever seen. My, that was 'a sight that I shan't forget. When I was old enough to sneak into the night clubs and dives where the good bands played, it was always the same feeling, to my heart anyway. Smooth, deep, rich, mellow, like a fine cigarette, if you will. But with a "clean-up" local govern-ment, the end of the war. and the advent of the ofay bopper, that pretty well washed up swing music in K.C. There are still a lot of, my friends about who went to school with Bird, danced to Basie at the old Reno Club, loved all that the easy jive stood for, but you can't hold a wake all your life, so— nothin' shakin back home, — Wolfe was right — Home in a pine box: Long before the ghost went elsewhere the gospel had been heard, luckily enough. Almost every musician who could play spent at least a week or two there, playing, soaking, loafing, waiting. If you like well spoken reminiscence, take a look at the KC chapters in "Hear Me Talkin' To Yal " (Hentoff & Shapiro, you find the publisher). I got surprised every year, admiring a man's playing so much, then find out he was from the home town. Even today, fellow musicians will raise an eyebrow and say — "Oh, you're • from KC, eh? What's going on there these –clays? '1, with some respect though they never heard me • playa note. A city that can create that immediate warmth must have had some all-pervading atmosphere to it and ii's my hope that it doesn't ger lost or perverted the way so many other "localized" attitudes have. If this record we are getting to is an instance', everything should be all right for one side of the crystal anyway. Jazz in Kansas City, like' jazz in most of the other early focal spots, grew up on and amid corrupt govern. ment, prohibition (such a boon to the rackets that one would think Capone himself authored the bill), a love • amongst the common people for excitement and music to match, dance halls, neighborhood taverns (that now woo their sordid trade with canned music, canned beer and canned pleasure), and of course that omnipresent and ugly minority nonsense. Same things as made music grow since time began I guess, in one form or another. Haydn, Mozart and such wrote for their current royalty, one of the noble forms of racketeering, and even Bach was a slave to the Church, certainly, at that time, a very potent political organization, as it has sometimes been accused, which in turn, at the local level, can turn into corruption: easy money. No offense, naturally. The aundsPhei; this date was one that reeked of dance hall good nothing to be sneered at, you know.' Our berievOlit noble and protective organization saw to it that all h were paid in American money, of course— but no I know will sit down and record for 121/2 hours aril they really want that "IT" to happen, and now .da you've got to put a bit of effort even into your one to make it come out easy and natural.

„, As I listened to the first dub from the editing session. I wrote down two short phrases that don't seem to need, amplification —"Slice of Life" and "Dance Hall". This is positively NOT an album to play while you do, a Doctorate thesis on "Bergson, Webern and Charles die Viscous; Paradox or Ambiguity?" —This might beYsi good one for that New Yen's Eve bash (which conies';' every day to the knowing and the wary) or something loud and festive, for I don't think that KC jaiz is to be: taken apart and peered at as you would a bug in high..; school biology. You just grab a nice glass of Dewar's I. Finest, one big, old and very easy chair, turn the volume ;1 up and listen. Why, by neddies, you can even dance, if it's allowed in your town on Sunday. But above all, yore supposed to have a good time with it, otherwise you missed the whole point, and you can't do that. ADDENDA: Paul, Cohn and the bunch are already known enough to any knowledgeable auditor to preclude further details. However a word about "Big" Miller might help you. Jack Lewis and Monte Kay heard him with the Fletcher Henderson band this past summer at the Great South Bay Jazz Festival, Long Island, N. Y., and on their advice we were more than pleased to give "Big" his recording debut. Not often you hear a real singer with jazz bands these days but he's a living illustration of that "bring back the good old days" talk, apparently not all idle chatter from the way things went at the date. If you care about such things, he's really big, lovable and a man to reckon with. I might, while I have the floor, put in my personal gratitude to Paul, who -played just right, as always. My, my, that gentleman can speak such nice language through the horn — only fellow I know who can order a meal on tenor. So my hearty thanks to them what played, them what listen and most especially — to them what buys. A very good day to you all from 2001:4C4E:1B85:3300:8419:DFD4:2A80:7865 (talk) 10:17, 12 March 2023 (UTC)