July 2–6, 2026

The Blue Room celebrates Independence Day the only way we know how — live on the bandstand, all weekend long, on the corner that put Kansas City jazz on the map. Two free shows to start, KC blues on the eve of the Fourth, a veteran voice singing the holiday itself, and a Monday jam to close it out. Here’s what’s on July 2–6.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Thursday, July 2
Jazz @ Noon: Roger Wilder Trio — 12 pm (free)

Friday, July 3
Indigo Hour: Norman Liggins Band — 5:30 pm (free)
Stacy & The Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, July 4
Duck Warner — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, July 6
Monday Night Jam Session: Owen Pirch — 7 pm ($5 cover)

Jazz @ Noon: Roger Wilder Trio — Thursday, 12 pm

Jazz @ Noon is the Blue Room’s free midday set — an hour of live music to break up the workday at 18th & Vine. This week, pianist Roger Wilder brings his trio. Wilder is a fixture of the Kansas City jazz piano scene — a tasteful, swinging player equally at home backing the city’s finest singers and leading his own groups. In the trio format the focus narrows to the essentials: piano, bass, and drums in close conversation, the way the music was built to be played.

Free admission. Come early and grab a seat.

Get tickets →

Indigo Hour: Norman Liggins Band — Friday, 5:30 pm

The Indigo Hour is how the Blue Room does happy hour: live music on the bandstand starting at five-thirty, the week left at the door. This week the Norman Liggins Band takes the stage — a familiar presence on the Kansas City live-music circuit, bringing the kind of grooving, crowd-connecting set built for a Friday evening. Come early, grab a drink, and let the holiday weekend officially begin.

Free admission. Doors at 5 pm.

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Stacy & The Band — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Stacy has been lighting up Kansas City stages this summer with a blues voice that doesn’t bother to apologize for taking up space. Performing as Stacy & The Band, she brings classic blues grit and contemporary soul to every room she plays — the kind of music that sounds like it belongs in a room with a good drink and a Friday night to spare. On the eve of Independence Day, she headlines two full sets on 18th & Vine, the historic corner that has been the address of American jazz and blues for a century. There are worse ways to get the holiday weekend started.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

Get tickets →

Duck Warner — Saturday, July 4, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

There’s no more fitting place to spend the Fourth of July than the room where the music never stopped. Lester “Duck” Warner is a veteran Kansas City vocalist whose rich, soulful voice and decades on the bandstand have made him one of the most respected presences on the city’s jazz scene. A familiar face at 18th & Vine and a Blue Room regular, Duck brings the warmth, phrasing, and musical wisdom that only come from a lifetime in the music.

This Independence Day he headlines two sets — the kind of unhurried, deeply felt jazz singing that reminds you why a voice and a band in a small room never go out of style. Fireworks later. Jazz first.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Owen Pirch — Monday, 7 pm

Some Monday nights you get a jam. This one opens with saxophonist Owen Pirch and a band of sharp young players digging into the hard-bop tradition — think Freddie Hubbard burners — with exactly the kind of energy that makes the Monday jam the proving ground it is. After the featured set, the Blue Room bandstand opens up: bring your horn, your voice, or just your ears. The Monday Night Jam is where Kansas City’s players — veterans and the next generation both — come to stretch out.

$5 cover. Featured set starts at 7 pm; sign up at the door to sit in.

Get tickets →

Come See Us

The Blue Room is the American Jazz Museum’s living jazz club — the music never stopped at 18th & Vine.

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

June 26–29, 2026

A big Friday and a standout Monday on the Blue Room bandstand. Here’s what’s on June 26–29.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, June 26
Indigo Hour: The Band Oasis — 5:30 pm (free)
Homage — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, June 27
The Taylorized Show Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, June 29
Monday Night Jam Session: Eboni Fondren Trio — 7 pm ($5 cover)

Indigo Hour: The Band Oasis — Friday, 5:30 pm

The Band Oasis opens the weekend at Indigo Hour — free, this Friday, June 26. They’re one of the Blue Room’s most reliable regulars: a sharp, road-tested Kansas City combo with years of appearances on this bandstand, playing the kind of warm, easy-grooving soul-and-jazz set built for a Friday happy hour. Come early, grab a drink, and let the weekend officially begin.

Free admission. Doors at 5 pm.

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Homage — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Homage headlines Friday night with two full sets on the Blue Room stage — the perfect way to kick off the weekend. There's nothing like a Friday night in this room: an intimate space, a band locked in, and music made to get you up and grooving. Grab a drink, find your spot, and let the night take over. Two sets, two chances to catch it — come start your weekend off right at 18th & Vine.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

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The Taylorized Show Band — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Soul runs in the blood. The Taylorized Show Band is led by TJ Hooker-Taylor — the son of soul-blues giant Johnnie Taylor, the voice behind “Who’s Making Love,” “Disco Lady,” and “Cheaper to Keep Her.” A Kansas City singer raised in the church, Hooker-Taylor came up leading the Young Golden Voices and founded the funk outfit the Grand Jury Band, sharing stages with the Bar-Kays, Cameo, and Slave. He spent roughly a decade opening for his father, and he’s carried that catalog forward ever since alongside his own Southern soul originals. Saturday he headlines two sets of soul, blues, and R&B the way it’s meant to be heard.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Eboni Fondren Trio — Monday, 7 pm

This one’s the anchor of the week. Eboni Fondren has been named Favorite Jazz Vocalist by the KC Jazz Ambassadors three years running — 2021, 2022, and 2023 — and Favorite Vocalist in The Pitch Best 2024. In 2023 she was selected to represent the United States as a jazz ambassador at the G20 Summit in Varanasi, India. Last year she released two albums: “The Journey: To Kansas City with Love” in July, and “An American in Paris,” recorded with the Laurent Marode Orchestra in Paris, in October.

Monday night she brings her trio for the featured set, then the Blue Room bandstand opens up. Bring your instrument, your voice, or just your ears. The Monday Night Jam is where Kansas City’s players come to stretch out, and there’s no finer artist to set the tone.

$5 cover. Featured set starts at 7 pm; sign up at the door to sit in.

Get tickets →

Come See Us

The Blue Room is the American Jazz Museum’s living jazz club — the music never stopped at 18th & Vine.

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

June 19–22, 2026

It’s Juneteenth weekend at 18th & Vine, and the Blue Room has a homecoming on the bill. Three nights, four acts: thirty years of Kansas City saxophone, a daughter of this district coming home to headline, blue-eyed soul on Saturday, and an acclaimed quintet leading Monday’s jam.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, June 19 Indigo Hour: Chris “C Note” Nickens — 5:30 pm (free) JaySol & Sol Movement — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, June 20 Joey Gallant — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, June 22 Monday Night Jam Session: Michael Pagán Trio — 7 pm ($10 cover)

Indigo Hour: Chris “C Note” Nickens — Friday, 5:30 pm

Some musicians chase the spotlight; others just become the sound of a city. For three decades, saxophonist Chris “C Note” Nickens has been one of Kansas City’s working horns — smooth, warm, and funk-forward, the kind of sound built for the slow exhale at the end of a long week. He opens the weekend at Indigo Hour, our Friday happy-hour set. Pour something cold and let the saxophone carry you in.

Free admission, drink specials. Doors at 5 pm.

Pre-register →

JaySol & Sol Movement — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

This one’s a homecoming. JaySol — born Janay Wilson — grew up in the shadow of 18th & Vine. She sang her first solo at five in her mother’s church choir, trained at Paseo Academy through its Thelonious Monk Institute program under the great Lisa Henry, and got her first taste of the studio and stage right here in the district. From there: background vocals for R&B great Howard Hewett, a national tour on Charlie Wilson’s “In It to Win It” revue, and Kansas City’s People’s Choice Award for Best Female Vocalist. A rich contralto that won’t sit in one lane — gospel, soul, funk, and R&B in a single set — she brings her band Sol Movement home to the room that raised her. On Juneteenth, no less.

Two sets. $10 for one show, $15 for both.

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Joey Gallant — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Joey Gallant came up in working-class Boston and brought his voice to Kansas City in 2013, where he’s been turning rooms into congregations ever since. Call it blue-eyed soul: a sound steeped in ‘60s and ‘70s R&B with melodies that go straight to the chest. He describes it as “George Michael meets Marvin Gaye” — and when his 2017 original “Obama Tribute” went viral with more than 13 million views, the world heard what KC already knew. Saturday he headlines two sets of warm, vintage soul.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

Get tickets →

Monday Night Jam Session: Michael Pagán Trio — Monday, 7 pm

Some Monday nights you get a jam. This one opens with a bandleader who knows this building well. The Michael Pagán Trio is led by pianist, composer, and arranger Michael Pagán — a Kansas City fixture who once served as the American Jazz Museum’s own director of marketing and communications. A Capri Records artist whose writing swings like the standards, he brings neo-bop heat and Latin warmth to a featured trio set — then the Blue Room bandstand opens to the city’s players. Consider it a homecoming.

$10 cover. The featured set starts at 7 pm; sign up at the door to sit in.

Get tickets →

Come See Us

The Blue Room is the American Jazz Museum’s living jazz club — the music never stopped at 18th & Vine.

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

June 11–15, 2026

Five shows this week — a lunchtime guitar masterclass, a happy-hour debut, a bebop legend two weeks past his 89th birthday, an all-female trio with a story you won’t forget, and the songbird of Kansas City opening Monday’s jam.

This Week’s Lineup

Thursday, June 11 Jazz @ Noon: Tetsuya Nishiyama Trio — 12 pm (free)

Friday, June 12 Indigo Hour: Sir James Atwood & The Collective — 5:30 pm (free) David Watson — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, June 13 She Groove — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, June 15 Monday Night Jam Session: Lauren-Ashley — 7 pm (free)

Jazz @ Noon: Tetsuya Nishiyama Trio — Thursday, 12 pm

Tetsuya Nishiyama’s journey started with a hand-me-down semi-acoustic guitar in Nagoya, Japan, and ran through Northern Illinois University — where he studied under jazz guitar greats Fareed Haque and Bobby Broom — and Chicago’s storied clubs before landing in the Midwest circuit, where he’s now one of the most called-upon jazz guitarists going. He teaches at KU, anchors organist Mitch Towne’s acclaimed album Refuge, and his sideman list runs from Buddy Guy to Roy Ayers. Blue Room regulars know him from our Monday jams — this Thursday, his trio takes the lunchtime stage.

Free show. Bring your lunch.

Reserve a seat →

Indigo Hour: Sir James Atwood & The Collective — Friday, 5:30 pm

Every artist remembers their first time on the Blue Room stage — and Friday belongs to Sir James Atwood. The Kansas City vocalist, whose voice opened the gala night of ArtFusion KC at the Convention Center, makes his Blue Room debut with his band The Collective: jazz and soul delivered with high-impact, impassioned energy. Debut nights have a special electricity. Be in the room for this one.

Free admission, drink specials. Doors at 5 pm.

Pre-register →

David Watson — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

They call him the Doctor of Bebop. David Watson grew up in a Philadelphia neighborhood John Coltrane once called home, learned to scat from Ella Fitzgerald and Eddie Jefferson records, and spent four years tending bar at the legendary Showboat Jazz Theater — soaking up Miles, Trane, and Monk from behind the rail — before a bassist who’d played with Sonny Rollins told him to stop pouring and start singing. He turned pro at 34, cut his debut album at 61, and recorded Big Town with Dizzy Gillespie’s drummer and Sonny Rollins’ bassist. A few years ago he brought it all home to Kansas City. Now, two weeks past his 89th birthday, he headlines Friday night — living proof that bebop keeps you young.

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She Groove — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Leah on vocals, G on guitar, Elisa on bass — She Groove is Kansas City’s all-female trio blending soul, jazz, R&B, and funk, with a repertoire 150 songs deep. And their story is as powerful as their sound: the band came together while two of its members were beating cancer, and their first performance became a celebration of healing and being fully alive. That spirit has fueled every show since. As they put it: “It is never too late to chase your dreams, discover your purpose, or return to something you love.”

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Monday Night Jam Session: Lauren-Ashley — Monday, 7 pm

Her family named her “the songbird” long before Kansas City did. Lauren-Ashley — preacher’s kid from St. Louis, rediscovered her voice hosting karaoke nights in KC — went from her first open mic in September 2022 to fronting her own band, playing KC Pride, and performing on FOX 4’s Great Day KC. Monday she opens the jam with soul-soaked R&B, then the bandstand opens to the room. Bring your horn, your voice, or just your ears.

Free admission. Sign up at the door to sit in.

Pre-register →

Come See Us

The Blue Room is the American Jazz Museum’s living jazz club — the music never stopped at 18th & Vine.

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

Saturday, June 6 · 9 AM–5 PM · American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St

Tomorrow, the American Jazz Museum hands the building over to young musicians. And this summer, that’s just the beginning — two programs, one day apart in spirit and five weeks apart on the calendar, give student musicians a way into the music that lives at 18th & Vine.

Here’s everything you (or the young musician in your life) need to know.

Show & Shed Music Workshop — Tomorrow, June 6

Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Show & Shed is a one-day instrumental music workshop and masterclass produced by the Comprehensive Arts Institute — a full day of jazz education, improvisation, and performance inside the American Jazz Museum.

Students spend the day in breakout sessions with six working Kansas City jazz artists: James Ward, Angela Ward, Jaylen Ward, Eddie Moore, Jason Goudeou, and Matt Baldwin. Then comes the payoff every musician understands — at 3 PM, the students take the Blue Room stage themselves for the closing concert.

The day at a glance:

• 8–9 AM — Registration in the Blue Room

• 9 AM — Warm-up performance with the clinicians

• 10 AM–12 PM — Breakout sessions

• 12–1 PM — Lunch (provided)

• 1–3 PM — Breakout sessions

• 3–5 PM — Closing concert in the Blue Room

Cost: $25 for the full day, lunch included Where: American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Walk-ins are welcome Saturday morning — but registering ahead at showandshed.comhelps the organizers plan the day.

Register at showandshed.com →

The Closing Concert Is Free — and Open to Everyone

You don’t need an instrument to be part of Show & Shed. The closing concert, 3–5 PM in the Blue Room, is free and open to the public — an afternoon of live jazz played by the students who spent all day building it, alongside the artists who taught them.

And if you’re already at 18th & Vine on Saturday, stay for the nightcap: Mikole Kaar & Kaar Club Band headline the Blue Room at 8:30 and 10 PM.

KC Jazz Academy Summer Instrumental Combo Camp — July 13–17

Last summer’s Kansas City Jazz Academy campers and faculty at the Gem Theater.

If tomorrow lights a spark, here’s the deep dive. The Kansas City Jazz Academy’s flagship summer program is a week-long immersion for high school and advanced middle school instrumentalists — style, history, theory, ear training, repertoire, and musicianship, taught by professional artist-educators, with clinics and masterclasses from national and international jazz educators. The week closes with a showcase performance on Friday afternoon.

• Auditions: Sunday, July 12, 1–3 PM

• Camp: Monday, July 13 – Friday, July 17, 9 AM–4 PM daily

• Showcase: Friday, July 17, 2:30–4 PM

• Venue: The Gem Theater, 1615 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

• Cost: $250 · Scholarships available on a first-come, first-served basis via the registration page

And there’s no mystery about the audition. Every instrument prepares the same two songs — Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island and Thelonious Monk’s Blue Monk — and the Academy’s new website has everything a student needs to walk in ready: requirements by instrument, backing tracks to practice with, and printable lead sheets in your key. While you’re there, meet the faculty and explore the Academy’s year-round combos — the new kcjazzacademy.org is the home for all of it.

Get the audition guide →

Register for Summer Camp on Eventbrite →

One More Thing

The musicians teaching tomorrow don’t just teach. The James Ward Band hosts the Monday Night Jam Session at the Blue Room on Monday, June 8 at 7 PM — free, as always, with the bandstand open after the featured set. Show & Shed students: consider that your homework.

Live jazz — and the next generation of it — at 18th & Vine, every week.

June 5–8, 2026 · The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City

June opens with a full slate at 18th & Vine — two headline nights, a free happy hour with the Blue Room’s favorite party-starters, and a Monday jam hosted by the family that practically built this stage.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, June 5 — Indigo Hour 5:30 PM — Darron J & Go Hard Band (free)

Friday, June 5 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — The Piaget Experience

Saturday, June 6 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Mikole Kaar & Kaar Club Band

Monday, June 8 — Jam Session 7 PM — The James Ward Band (free)

Friday Indigo Hour: Darron J & Go Hard Band

Darron “DaRockboi” Cobbins doesn’t just perform — he throws a party. The frontman of Darron J & Go Hard Band is one of Kansas City’s most electrifying entertainers, and his band holds the record as the most frequent Indigo Hour act in Blue Room history — over 20 appearances and counting. R&B, soul, funk, and grooves that blur the line between concert and celebration.

Free admission, drink specials, and the best happy hour energy in town. Doors at 5 PM — arrive early.

Register free →

Friday Headliner: The Piaget Experience

Piaget Long‘s story starts the way the best ones do: a little girl humming in her bedroom in St. Louis, dreaming of connecting with people through her voice. She carried that dream to Kansas City more than a decade ago and has been winning the city over ever since — Divas Night Out, Indigo Hour, and Friday headline nights on this very stage.

The Piaget Experience is exactly what it sounds like: jazz and R&B interwoven with hints of pop and country, delivered by a vocalist whose gift is making every person in the room feel personally sung to.

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Saturday Headliner: Mikole Kaar & Kaar Club Band

Mikole Kaar‘s resume reads like a tour through American music history. Born in New York City, he was on the charts at thirteen and mentored by tenor legend Clifford Scott — the man who played the solo on Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk,” one of the most influential R&B records ever cut. The decades since carried him through Europe and Asia, onto the soundtrack of the 1988 hit Twins, and alongside The Temptations, Joe Cocker, Bo Diddley, and The Drifters.

Six solo albums later — most recently Turning East — he’s brought that lifetime of music home to Kansas City. Saturday he takes the Blue Room stage with the Kaar Club Band: tenor and soprano sax, flute, clarinet, and stories you can hear in every note.

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Monday Night Jam: The James Ward Band

Nobody knows the Monday Night Jam like the family that’s been holding down this stage for almost thirty years. James Ward joined the Blue Room’s house ensemble in January 1998; Angela Ward found the club even earlier, sitting down at the piano during the district’s opening festivities in 1997. Their son Jaylen — first sat in at age six, since performed at jazz festivals in Shanghai and Chile — holds down the drums.

They’ll open the night with a featured set, then the bandstand opens up. Bring your horn, your voice, or just your ears. Free admission; sign up at the door to sit in.

Register free →

Also at the Blue Room This Week

Electric Renaissance — the Coterie Theatre’s immersive musical play staged right here in the club — continues its run with shows Thursday, June 4 at 7 PM and Sunday, June 7 at 2 PM, running through June 14. Tickets via the Coterie →

And today’s Jazz @ Noon brought saxophonist Nneoma Lanea back to the lunchtime stage — keep an eye on this newsletter for the next free noon show.

See You at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

May 29–30, 2026 · The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City

The last weekend of May at 18th & Vine — three shows across two nights, anchored by two vocalists Blue Room regulars already know by name.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, May 29 — Indigo Hour 5:30 PM — Lady D (free)

Friday, May 29 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Blair Bryant & the B2 Experience

Saturday, May 30 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — J Love Band

Friday Indigo Hour: Lady D

Lady D is a Kansas City fixture with a voice rooted in gospel, old-school R&B, and blues. She recognized her gift at age 8 in church choirs and gospel groups, recorded a gospel album in her teens, and has since opened for an honor roll of Black American music: Roger Troutman & Zapp, Brian McKnight, Najee, Peabo Bryson, Kool & the Gang, and Howard Hewitt.

Her crowd interaction is legendary — audiences don’t just watch a Lady D show, they’re part of it. Free admission, drink specials, the right way to start a Friday night at 18th & Vine.

Get tickets →

Friday Headliner: Blair Bryant & the B2 Experience

Blair Bryant takes the Blue Room headliner stage Friday night. A Kansas City bassist and bandleader who performs as the B2 Experience, Bryant is one of the brightest names in the city’s contemporary and smooth jazz scene — a UMKC Conservatory graduate building groove-forward, melody-first bass on the foundation his hero Stanley Clarke laid down. He’s shared stages and recordings with Najee, Eric Roberson, Mike Phillips, and Althea Rene, and his catalog runs from New Colours (2015) to 2023’s Red Tiger, a smoothjazz.com top-100 album of the year.

Two sets, 8:30 & 10 PM, in one of Kansas City’s most storied jazz rooms.

Get tickets →

Saturday Headliner: J Love Band

J Love is one of Kansas City’s most sought-after live performers — a vocalist whose gritty, commanding voice and magnetic stage presence have made her a fixture at the Blue Room and across the city. Rooted in the traditions of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Etta James, she delivers her sets with a style all her own: commanding when it needs to be, tender when it wants to be, always honest.

Originally from Kennett, Missouri, J Love grew up surrounded by music — her grandfather a gospel singer, her cousin an R&B artist, the church her first stage. Her debut album, Life’s Side Effects, showcases the depth and range that have made her one of KC’s most requested live acts. As the frontwoman of the J Love Band, she brings some of the city’s finest musicians with her, moving between soulful ballads, uptempo R&B, and jazz standards with ease.

Two sets to close out May at the Blue Room.

Get tickets →

See You at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

May 27 – June 14, 2026
The Blue Room at the American Jazz Museum
1616 E 18th St, Kansas City

Something a little different is on the Blue Room stage this month. Electric Renaissance is a special co-production between The Coterie and the American Jazz Museum — one actor and one musician bringing the Harlem Renaissance to life, right here in the room where Kansas City’s own jazz story was written.

Writers, poets, painters, singers, dancers — some of the most prolific creative voices in American history came out of the Harlem Renaissance. This is an hour spent in their company: the words of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Nella Larsen, set to live music and carried by a single storyteller. As the show puts it — we’re in our Jazz Era. The truths of that time, with a contemporary twist.

It runs about 60 minutes, it’s made for families with kids ages 10 and up, and it’s playing only seven times before it closes on June 14.

Performance Schedule

Thursdays at 7:00 PM May 28 · June 4 · June 11

Sundays at 2:00 PM May 31 · June 7 · June 14

(The run opens Wednesday, May 27 at 7:00 PM.)

Get tickets →

About the Show

There’s a reason the Harlem Renaissance still hums a century later. In a few short years, a generation of Black writers, musicians, and artists redefined what American culture could sound and look like — and a straight line runs from their work to the music that built 18th & Vine. Electric Renaissance celebrates that era the way it deserves to be celebrated: out loud, in person, with poetry and music in the same breath.

It’s an intimate format — one actor, one musician, the audience close enough to feel it. The perfect scale for the Blue Room.

Written & Directed by Teresa Leggard

Teresa Leggard is a Kansas City writer, editor, poet, and playwright — Brooklyn-born, Jersey-raised, and a Spelman College graduate with an MFA from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She serves on the board of The Writers Place, the city’s literary community center, and her directing credits read like a tour of Kansas City’s most adventurous stages: Pipeline at the Unicorn Theatre, Pass Over at Olathe Civic Theatre, and The Green Book Wine Club Train Trip and Single Black Female at KC Melting Pot Theatre. Electric Renaissance is her words and her vision — a writer’s love letter to the writers who came before.

Featuring Robert E. Coppage III

Robert E. Coppage III is an actor, producer, teacher, and improviser from Wyandotte County with two decades of stage experience. Kansas City audiences know him from Kansas City Actors Theatre’s Trouble in Mind and Skeleton Crew, and from his turn as Ennis in Broke-ology at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Offstage, he founded Tribe U, bringing local improvisers into classrooms to teach the art form to inner-city students. For 60 minutes, he carries the voices of an entire era — and he’s exactly the kind of performer who can do it.

Music by Amber “Flutienastiness” Underwood

Amber Underwood — known on stage and on record as Flutienastiness — is a Kansas City native who set out to do something the genre rarely allows: make the flute a lead voice in jazz, not a background color. A flute performance graduate of Wichita State with a master’s from the UMKC Conservatory, she now teaches as an applied flute professor at Kansas City Kansas Community College and fronts Flutienastiness and the SoulPatrol, her contemporary soul-jazz band built on R&B, funk, Latin, and gospel. Her playing is exactly what the words of the Harlem Renaissance ask for — soulful, vivid, alive.

The Details

Tickets: $25 per person, plus a $3 facility fee that supports the mission, facilities, and programming of the American Jazz Museum. Buy: thecoterie.org or call the Coterie Box Office at 816.474.6552 (Mon–Fri, 10 AM–4 PM) For families with ages 10+ · Running time approx. 60 minutes

Get tickets →

See You at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room at the American Jazz Museum 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

Electric Renaissance is a co-production of The Coterie and the American Jazz Museum, performed in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District.

May 22–25, 2026 · The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City

A Memorial Day weekend at 18th & Vine — four Blue Room shows across three nights, with the rest of the district celebrating around them. The City cuts the ribbon Friday morning on two new pieces of the Jazz District. The Walk of Fame inducts Herbie Hancock at the Gem on Saturday. Inside the Blue Room, four working musicians take the stage.

This Week’s Lineup

Friday, May 22 — Indigo Hour 5:30 PM — Jazzy Jazz Miyagi (free)

Friday, May 22 — Headliner: Divas Night Out 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Delynia Jannell & Erin Jones

Saturday, May 23 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Darryl White

Monday, May 25 — Memorial Day Jam 7 PM — David Watson (free)

Friday Indigo Hour: Jazzy Jazz Miyagi

Born in Okinawa, Jazzy Jazz Miyagi came to the United States on a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music and continued her training at Berklee College of Music, studying flute under Lois Schafer — piccoloist for the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa. That classical foundation runs through everything she does, but what she builds on top of it is what makes her shows unforgettable.

She’s worked as a studio musician for motion picture soundtracks and shared stages with Miroslav Vitous (founding bassist of Weather Report), Herbie Mann, Chaka Khan, Joe Sample, and Mannheim Steamroller. Her instruments range from flute and classical guitar to alternative flutes and the Japanese koto. She was chosen as a soloist for the grand opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and has appeared at the Carmel Jazz Fest and Monterey Jazz Festival.

A truly global musician who calls KC home. Free admission and drink specials.

Get tickets →

Friday Headliner: Divas Night Out — Delynia Jannell & Erin Jones

Divas Night Out is one of the Blue Room’s most popular recurring series — a night where Kansas City’s best vocalists share the stage and trade songs, stories, and the kind of energy that only comes from friends who love what they do. This edition spotlights two powerful voices.

Delynia Jannell has been singing since she was two years old, starting on the church pews of Bethel Church of God in Christ in Kansas City, Kansas. A vocal music scholarship to Washburn University expanded her range from gospel into R&B, jazz, blues, neo-soul, and opera. She sang background for Shania Twain on the Kansas City tour, was featured soloist in “This Little Light of Mine” at Carnegie Hall, and has provided vocals for Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Stevie Stone, and Kelley Hunt. She leads the Delynia Jannell Ensemble and holds residencies across the city.

Joining Delynia is Erin Jones, a Blue Room favorite whose soulful delivery and warm stage presence have made her a sought-after performer in Kansas City’s jazz scene. Together they deliver an evening of songs from the Great American Songbook, R&B classics, and modern standards.

Two sets.

Get tickets →

Saturday Headliner: Darryl White

Darryl White is a trumpeter whose career bridges the classroom and the bandstand. A native of Warren, Ohio, he’s been playing trumpet since the age of nine — a path that took him from a Bachelor of Music at Youngstown State University to a Master’s at Northwestern, and on to a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado.

Today Dr. White is an associate professor of trumpet at the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Before that, he taught at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, where he was Instructor of Trumpet and performed with the Aries Brass Quintet (in residence at Lamont) and the Faculty Jazz Quintet.

The Darryl White Quartet has become a Blue Room favorite, with multiple appearances since 2023. Whether playing the straight-ahead tradition or pushing into more modern territory, Dr. White brings the kind of tone, phrasing, and command that only comes from a lifetime dedicated to the trumpet. Two sets.

Get tickets →

Monday Memorial Day Jam: David Watson

The Blue Room is open on Memorial Day — and the music is on.

David Watson is a veteran Kansas City–based jazz singer and bandleader. Originally from Florida and raised in Philadelphia, he’s been in the music all his life. He started singing in elementary school and first fell in love with jazz as a child when he heard Ella Fitzgeraldscatting. That early influence never left him.

David is a singer, songwriter, and drummer; a composer and record-label founder; and the founder of the Sonoma Valley Jazz Society, a nonprofit supporting jazz education and performance. His 89th birthday lands the following Saturday — a quiet milestone for a working musician who’s been on the bandstand his whole life.

Monday Night Jam features a 45-minute featured set followed by an open jam — bring your instrument, come listen, or both. FREE admission.

Get tickets →

Also at 18th & Vine This Weekend

Friday, May 22 at 11 AM — the City of Kansas City cuts the ribbon on the Jazz District Parking Garage at 1819 Lydia Avenue. Come out and celebrate this new part of the neighborhood!

Saturday, May 23 — the American Jazz Walk of Fame inducts Herbie Hancock as its 2026 honoree at the Gem Theater, 1615 E 18th St. The induction ceremony begins at 6 PM, followed at 7 PM by a concert featuring Ruben Studdard and Kim Waters. Tickets at americanjazzwalkoffame.org. Darryl White takes the Blue Room stage right after at 8:30 PM — a full Saturday night on 18th Street.

See You at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

May 14–18, 2026 · The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City

This Week’s Lineup

Thursday, May 14 — Jazz @ Noon 12 PM — Mikole E. Kaar (free)

Friday, May 15 — Indigo Hour 5:30 PM — Lady D (free)

Friday, May 15 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Chris Hazelton

Saturday, May 16 — Headliner 8:30 PM & 10 PM — Roger Wilder & Rob Scheps

Monday, May 18 — Monday Night Jam 7 PM — KCKCC Blue Devil Funk Band (free)

Thursday: Jazz @ Noon with Mikole E. Kaar

Mikole E. Kaar started on clarinet at nine years old, mentored by the great Clifford “Scotty” Scott. He grew up watching Junior Walker and King Curtis blow horns the way he wanted to. Today he plays tenor and soprano saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, and bassoon — and has spent decades touring the world with the music.

In 1985 he traveled to Europe and released Back to the Heart on Germany’s Heliocon Records. Back stateside, he’s played alongside The Temptations, The Drifters, The Coasters, The Platters, Joe Cocker, Bo Diddley, and Rita Moreno. His work has appeared on motion picture soundtracks.

Step away from the workday, get an hour of live music, head back into Thursday. Free admission.

Get tickets →

Friday Indigo Hour: Lady D

Lady D is a Kansas City fixture with a voice rooted in gospel, old-school R&B, and blues. She recognized her gift at age 8 in church choirs and gospel groups, recorded a gospel album in her teens, and has spent the years since opening for an honor roll of Black American music: Roger Troutman & Zapp, Brian McKnight, Najee, Peabo Bryson, Kool & the Gang, Howard Hewitt.

Her crowd interaction is legendary — audiences don’t just watch a Lady D show, they’re part of it. Free admission, drink specials, the right way to start a Friday night at 18th & Vine.

Get tickets →

Friday Headliner: Chris Hazelton

Chris Hazelton is one of today’s foremost Hammond B-3 organists, known for soulful groove, impeccable touch, and deep command of the soul-jazz tradition. A lifelong Kansas Citian, he studied under two giants of the instrument: local legend Everette DeVan and the iconic Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Beyond his own acclaimed groups — Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7 chief among them — he’s a featured member of the soul collective The Freedom Affair and the British rhythm & blues outfit The James Hunter Six. His sound pulls from Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and a century of gospel-inflected organ tradition, always with a personal sense of melody that keeps people leaning in.

Chris teaches applied organ at Kansas City Kansas Community College, where he plays Everette DeVan’s personal Hammond B-3. He is also the music director at St. James United Methodist Church at 55th & Paseo. Two sets at the Blue Room.

Get tickets →

Saturday Headliner: Roger Wilder & Rob Scheps

Two of the most widely credited players to share a Blue Room stage pair up for a Saturday night at 18th & Vine.

Roger Wilder is a Kansas City-based pianist whose career took him from the University of Miami into South Florida sideman gigs backing Stanley Turrentine, Randy Brecker, Adam Nussbaum, and Chris Potter — and eventually to Kansas City, where he’s become a pillar of the KC jazz scene. He has served as adjunct jazz professor at the UMKC Conservatoryfor over a decade, hosts “The Jazz Geek” on 90.1 FM KKFI, and appears on albums by Angela Hagenbach, Mike Metheny, Sons of Brasil, and Stan Kessler.

Rob Scheps is a tenor saxophonist and composer whose own entry in The Encyclopedia of Jazz captures the scope of his work: from the New England Conservatory to stages with Aretha Franklin, Buddy Rich, Gil Evans, and John Abercrombie. He served as Principal Saxophone with the Oregon Symphony for 13 years, has performed with the Gil Evans Orchestra and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, leads bands in New York, Seattle, Portland, Kansas City, and Honolulu, and in 2023 published Rob Scheps: 30 Original Compositions.

Two veterans, deep credits both ways, one stage. Two sets.

Get tickets →

Monday Night Jam: KCKCC Blue Devil Funk Band

The week closes with the Blue Room’s Monday Night Jam — and this week the featured set comes from the KCKCC Blue Devil Funk Band, one of the showcase ensembles from Kansas City Kansas Community College’s renowned Music Department.

The band has earned a DownBeat Student Music Award and has twice performed on the New Voices Stage at the Jazz Education Network Conference, with additional appearances at the Kansas Music Educators In-Service Workshop and festivals across the region.

The ensemble is directed by Dr. Justin Binek (Music Theory and Commercial Music), with Chris Hazelton — Friday’s headliner and KCKCC’s B-3 Organ and Jazz Improvisation faculty member — assisting. That depth of mentorship shows up in the music; these students aren’t just learning jazz, they’re playing it at a level that’s drawn national attention.

45-minute featured set at 7 PM, followed by the open jam. Bring your instrument, come listen, or both. FREE admission.

Get tickets →

See You at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108
americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

Thursday, May 7 – Monday, May 11

Five shows across the week at 18th & Vine. It starts Thursday at lunch — a free Jazz @ Noon set from one of Kansas City’s most respected bassists. Friday brings the return of an Indigo Hour favorite and an internationally celebrated KC vocalist on the headliner slot. Saturday night belongs to a group that’s been playing Brazilian jazz in Kansas City every week since 1991. And Monday’s free jam is led by a Berklee-trained saxophonist who came up under Bobby Watson.

The Lineup

Thursday, May 7
Jazz @ Noon: Bill McKemy — 12 pm (FREE)

Friday, May 8 Indigo Hour:
The Band Oasis — 5:30 pm (FREE)
Deborah Brown — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, May 9
Sons of Brasil — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, May 11
Monday Night Jam: Houston Smith — 7 pm (FREE)

Thursday Jazz @ Noon — Bill McKemy (12 pm)

Bill McKemy is a Kansas City upright bassist, bandleader, and composer whose playing anchors some of the city’s most respected groups. His resume reads like a who’s-who of the contemporary jazz scene — performances and recordings with Randy Brecker, Karrin Allyson, Maceo Parker, John Abercrombie, Benny Green, Gregory Hutchinson, and many more.

His three solo albums have been featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered, with Duendenamed to the Kansas City Star‘s Top Ten of 2002 and Om Nidrah winning Pitch Weekly’s Best Local Jazz CD of 2003. An hour of live music in one of Kansas City’s most storied rooms — step away from the workday and into 18th & Vine.

Get Jazz @ Noon Tickets (FREE)

Friday Indigo Hour — The Band Oasis (5:30 pm)

A Blue Room Indigo Hour favorite. The Band Oasis has built a devoted following across the 18th & Vine district, with regular appearances at Bayou on the Vine and the Blue Room — nine Blue Room sets and counting. Smooth jazz with soul and R&B influences, played by a tight ensemble that knows how to read a room. Free admission and drink specials.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets (FREE)

Friday Headliner — Deborah Brown (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

When Deborah Brown takes the stage, you’re hearing one of the most celebrated jazz vocalists of her generation — and she’s from right here in Kansas City. Deborah has spent decades performing on the world’s biggest stages. She lived in Europe for 12 years, appearing with orchestras in Russia, Denmark, Poland, and across the continent, and has been featured at international jazz festivals around the world.

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra tapped her for their “The Voice” concert series. She’s conducted masterclasses for students at her own alma mater. All About Jazz, The Pitch, and the Kansas City Star have placed her in the company of the greats.

What sets Deborah Brown apart isn’t just range or resume — it’s presence. Rich, bluesy, deeply personal. Whether she’s swinging through an uptempo standard or pulling you into a slow-burning ballad, she makes the room disappear. The Blue Room is exactly the kind of intimate setting where her artistry shines brightest. Two sets. Don’t miss either one.

Get Friday Night Tickets

Saturday — Sons of Brasil (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

In Kansas City, there is a popular jazz group that has performed every week since their inception in 1991. This would not be so remarkable, as Kansas City is renowned for its tradition of great jazz since the days of Count Basie and Charlie Parker. What is remarkable is that this group of native Kansas Citians plays nothing but Brazilian jazz — with a flavor and passion one might think could only be found at a night club in Ipanema or Leblon.

Sons of Brasil draw from samba, bossa nova, and contemporary Brazilian jazz, delivered with musicianship honed over three decades of weekly performance. Their set list moves easily between classics of the Brazilian jazz canon and original compositions, always with the same warmth and rhythmic depth that has made them a beloved Kansas City institution.

The Sons of Brasil invite you to sample these sounds — which stem from their love and admiration of musica bem brasileira. Two sets at the Blue Room.

Get Saturday Night Tickets

Monday Night Jam — Houston Smith (7 pm)

Houston Smith started making music before he could read. At three he was studying drums under Leon Brady in Kansas City, Kansas. By six he held the drum chair at his local church. At ten he picked up the alto saxophone, joined Kansas City Youth Jazz, and by thirteen was performing professionally under the mentorship of Bobby Watson, Gerald Dunn, and Chris Burnett.

The stages came fast. Houston performed on Good Morning America, played the Kauffman Center’s opening festivities, and was selected as an inaugural member of the Grammy Music Revolution Project — all before heading to Berklee College of Music, where he studied under Terence Blanchard, Walter Beasley, Bill Pierce, and Tia Fuller. Back in Kansas City, Houston performs as both a bandleader and sideman while teaching the next generation through KC Area Youth Jazz and Bird Bootcamp.

A 45-minute featured set followed by the Blue Room’s open jam. Bring your instrument or come just to listen. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets (FREE)

Visit Us at 18th & Vine

The Blue Room — 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 The American Jazz Museum — 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.

Thursday, April 30 – Monday, May 4

It’s a four-night week at 18th & Vine. Thursday closes out Jazz Appreciation Month with live music from the David Basse Band and a panel on the late Barney Lessing — a jazz fan whose love for the music left a lasting mark on Kansas City. Then the Blue Room weekend rolls in: Indigo Hour and a neo-soul Friday, James Ward leading his band on Saturday, and one of KC’s most adventurous drummers taking over the Monday jam.

The Lineup

Thursday, April 30 — at the Museum
Jazz Appreciation Month Evening Event — 5:30 pm – 7 pm (FREE, RSVP)

Friday, May 1 — at the Blue Room
Indigo Hour: Darron J & Go Hard Band — 5:30 pm (FREE)
Just A Taste A Jazz — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, May 2 — at the Blue Room
James Ward Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, May 4 — at the Blue Room
Monday Night Jam: Arnold Young and The Roughtet — 7 pm – 10:30 pm (FREE)

Thursday at the Museum — The Impact and Legacy of Jazz (5:30 pm – 7 pm)

A Jazz Appreciation Month evening to remember. We’re closing out JAM with a reception, a set from the David Basse Band, and a panel discussion on Barney Lessing’s memoir I Know ‘Cause I Was There: Reflections of a Jazz Fan — a book the music world described as “too bright for words to describe.”

Barney’s sons, David and Scott Lessing, will open the evening with personal reflections. Then Andy Haynes (AJM Board) moderates a panel with Millie Edwards Nottingham, and Max Levy — three Kansas City jazz figures sharing what Barney’s lifelong love of the music meant to the people who make it. Copies of the book will be available at the Swing Shopfor $10, with proceeds benefiting the American Jazz Museum.

Free admission. Reservations by phone: 816-842-1414, ext. 200.

The American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Friday Indigo Hour — Darron J & Go Hard Band (5:30 pm)

The Blue Room’s most frequent Indigo Hour performers are back. Darron J doesn’t just perform — he throws a party. As frontman of Darron J & Go Hard Band, he brings powerhouse vocals and a mix of R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop, and pop that gets entire rooms on their feet. The Go Hard Band locks into tight grooves that shift from smooth jazz to dance-floor anthems without missing a step. With over 20 Indigo Hour appearances and counting, every set is a celebration. Drink specials, free admission.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets (FREE)

Friday Headliner — Just A Taste A Jazz (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Just A Taste A Jazz is exactly what the name promises — an appetizing slice of Kansas City’s R&B and neo-soul scene, led by Bobby D Adams. Funky, contemporary, rooted in deep grooves and soulful melodies, the ensemble has built a loyal Blue Room following with infectious energy and tight musicianship. Original compositions, clever takes on classics, and the kind of house-party vibe that turns a Friday night out into something memorable. Two sets.

Get Friday Night Tickets

Saturday — James Ward Band (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

The James Ward Band — led by the incredible James Ward on bass — has become one of Kansas City’s most sought-after jazz ensembles. Smooth grooves, dynamic performances, and a deep bench of featured vocalists and instrumentalists. James is also a beloved educator and a co-founder of the annual Show & Shed jazz workshop at the American Jazz Museum, where he mentors the next generation of KC jazz musicians. His playing reflects that same generosity — a bassist who holds the center of the sound while letting every player around him shine. Two sets.

Get Saturday Night Tickets

Monday Night Jam — Arnold Young and The Roughtet (7 pm – 10:30 pm)

A drummer with a singular Kansas City resume. Arnold Young is a composer, educator, and the first drummer to play free jazz in Kansas City — with credits that include Sonny Simmons, Jaco Pastorius, Eddie Harris, Mike Dillon, and members of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. In 2014 he formed The Roughtet, a KC-based avant-garde quintet playing what they call “rough jazz” — ambitious, searching, distinctly their own.

For this Monday Night Jam, Arnold and The Roughtet are joined by special guest Roger Wilder on piano — a longtime UMKC faculty member and KC jazz institution whose credits include Stanley Turrentine, Randy Brecker, and Chris Potter. (No, Roger doesn’t look like Thelonious Monk, who is in the picture above. But he is a snazzy dresser.) A 45-minute featured set followed by the Blue Room’s open jam. Bring your instrument or come just to listen. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets (FREE)

Visit Us at 18th & Vine

The American Jazz Museum — 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 The Blue Room — 1600 E 18th St, inside the museum

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.

Some people listen to jazz. Others live inside it.

Barney Lessing was the second kind. For decades, he followed the music wherever it went — through New York, through Paris, through Philadelphia. He wasn’t a player. He wasn’t a critic. He was the kind of fan every musician counts on — one who paid attention, showed up, and remembered the names.

Near the end of his life, his two sons — David and Scott — did something for him that most of us will never think to do for our own fathers. They took him on a tour of the American Jazz Museum.

Not in person. Over the phone. On a video call from Kansas City, room by room, through the galleries, the Blue Room, and 18th & Vine. By every account, the smile on his face was too bright for words to describe. It was the last stop on a lifetime of jazz.

In the time since, his sons have carried their father’s story forward. The Lessing family has become part of the American Jazz Museum’s extended community — and on Thursday, April 30, David and Scott return to the museum in person for an evening honoring their dad’s lifelong love of jazz and the musicians who made it. A reception. A live set from the David Basse Band. A panel conversation with four of Kansas City’s jazz voices. And the story of one fan who was there.

The Evening

Thursday, April 30, 2026 · 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM · American Jazz Museum Atrium · FREE

The night unfolds in three movements.

Reception and live jazz. The evening opens with a reception in the Atrium, soundtracked by a set from the David Basse Band — led by longtime Kansas City bandleader, jazz vocalist, and radio host David Basse, whose catalog crosses decades of the city’s jazz tradition.

A family’s story. David and Scott Lessing then open the panel with highlights from their father’s memoir, along with personal anecdotes — the musicians Barney met in New York, Paris, and Philadelphia, and the small, specific moments that made a lifetime of listening into a story worth telling.

A Kansas City conversation. A panel of local musicians and educators takes up the thread. Moderated by AJM Board member and working Kansas City musician Andrew Haynes, the panel explores the impact and legacy of jazz through the lens of Barney’s life and the community he loved.

The Book

I Know ‘Cause I Was There: Reflections of a Jazz Fan gathers Barney Lessing’s life of listening into a single volume — the clubs, the musicians, the trips, the memories of a fan whose enthusiasm never dimmed. The book will be available exclusively in the museum’s Swing Shop for $10, with all proceeds donated to the American Jazz Museum.

“Barney Lessing’s deep passion for the music, along with his lifelong dedication to celebrating and preserving the art form, has left a lasting legacy. The American Jazz Museum is honored to help share his story and contributions with our audience during this special event.”

— Jill Johnson, Interim Executive Director, American Jazz Museum

The Panel

Andrew Haynes — Moderator

Known as the “Singing Benefits Lawyer,” Andy blends a career in benefits law with a deep love of music. A Missouri Bar leader — he’s chaired both the Employee Benefits Committee and the Department of Insurance Liaison Committee — he earned his law degree from Emory University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri–Columbia. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Jazz Museum and plays actively in his church band and at local gigs around Kansas City.

Millie Edwards Nottingham — Panelist

Known affectionately as “the little woman with the big voice,” Millie is a Kansas City institution — a vocalist whose career has taken her across the KC jazz and blues circuit and onto national and international stages. Her musical journey began early: piano at age four, viola at age ten. Alongside her performing career she is an accomplished educator, serving as Reading Coordinator at Metropolitan Community College, where she received the Missouri Governor’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017. She holds a Master of Education.

Dan Thomas — Panelist

Dan serves as Director of Jazz Studies and a lead faculty member in the Department of Music at Ottawa University. He previously co-chaired the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Missouri–Kansas City alongside Bobby Watson, and he’s recognized for developing an innovative model for jazz education that has drawn national attention.

Max Levy — Panelist

Originally from southeastern North Carolina, bassist Max Levy earned his bachelor’s degree in jazz performance at East Carolina University under bassist Carroll Dashiell. He moved to Kansas City in 2016 to study at UMKC and has since become one of the most active young voices in the KC jazz community — serving on the UMKC Conservatory Alumni Board, teaching private lessons, working with the Kansas City Jazz Academy at 18th & Vine, subbing as a jazz DJ at KKFI, and co-hosting The Jazz Jam Podcast.

Attend

Reservations are available by phone only.

Call 816-842-1414 Ext. 200 to reserve your seat while they remain available.

Thursday, April 30, 2026 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM American Jazz Museum Atrium 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

About the American Jazz Museum

The American Jazz Museum preserves, celebrates, and continues the legacy of jazz at 18th & Vine — through the museum’s galleries, the Gem Theater, and the Blue Room. americanjazzmuseum.org

Barney Lessing loved this music his whole life. On April 30, we have the chance to hear one more chapter of his story — told by his sons, alongside the Kansas City musicians who carry the tradition forward at 18th & Vine.

Something worth paying attention to is happening at 18th & Vine this spring: young musicians are taking the stage — one weekend after another.

Last week, middle and high school jazz ensembles from across the region filled the American Jazz Museum campus for the 24th Annual 18th & Vine Student Jazz Festival. This Saturday, students of the Kansas City Jazz Academy perform a free showcase in the Blue Room. Two weeks later, the full Jazz Academy takes the museum’s atrium for the Spring Showcase Concert. And just around the corner are two summer programs — Show & Shed and the KC Jazz Academy Summer Camp — designed to keep young musicians learning, playing, and finding their voice at 18th & Vine.

Here’s what happened last week, what’s happening Saturday, and what’s coming up for young jazz in Kansas City.

Last Week: The 24th Annual Student Jazz Festival

For three days, April 15–17, the historic 18th & Vine district was full of young musicians. The Student Jazz Festival — now in its 24th year — brought middle and high school jazz ensembles from Kansas City, Blue Springs, Harrisonville, Chillicothe, Winnetonka, Oak Grove, and beyond to the American Jazz Museum campus. Dozens of student bands performed across the three days, with each ensemble playing for audiences of peers, educators, and family.

Alongside the student performances, a daily noon concert series brought professional Kansas City artists to the AJM Atrium — a living example of the tradition the students are studying. Wednesday’s noon concert featured JAZZ Spoken Here performing a tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Thursday brought the James Ward Band to the atrium stage. Friday closed the noon series with Horacescope. Dr. Mike Parkinson of the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors–Jamey Aebersold Clinic/Concert Series helped anchor the week, introducing audiences to the pro performers between student sets.

→ See the full 2026 festival photo gallery

Festival photography by Paul Duryee (Paul Duryee Images), Muriel Boyd, Dr. Mike Parkinson (KC Jazz Ambassadors), and Clarence Smith (KC Jazz Academy). Used with attribution.

This Saturday: Kansas City Jazz Academy Special Showcase

Saturday, April 25 · 3:30 PM · The Blue Room · FREE

The week after the festival, the next wave of young musicians takes the Blue Room stage. This Saturday afternoon, the Blue Room hosts a special Kansas City Jazz Academy showcase featuring two ensembles:

• Vocal Jazz, directed by Lisa Henry — a Thelonious Monk Competition first runner-up and Herbie Hancock Institute educator

• 18th Street Combo, directed by Stan Kessler — a Kansas Music Hall of Fame inductee and longtime jazz educator, leading the Academy’s advanced instrumental ensemble

Why the special date? Many of the students in the advanced combo are high school seniors, and their graduation ceremonies conflict with the Academy’s main Spring Showcase on May 10. This earlier showcase makes sure the seniors get the stage time they’ve earned — and audiences get one of the first looks at performers who will shape the future of Kansas City jazz.

Free admission.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Also Upcoming: Spring Showcase Concert

Sunday, May 10 · 1:30 PM · AJM Atrium · FREE

Two weeks after the Blue Room showcase, the Kansas City Jazz Academy’s instrumental ensembles and piano students take the stage in the American Jazz Museum Atrium for the Spring Showcase Concert. This is the program’s capstone performance, and it’s open to the public at no charge.

The Academy’s full roster of instrumental combos and piano students will perform — from beginner groups all the way to the most advanced:

• 12th Street Combo — directed by Aaron Linscheid

• J. Miq Combo — directed by MusicMan Thomas

• Vine Street Combo — directed by Max Levy

• Williams Combo — directed by Charles Williams

• 18th Street Combo — directed by Stan Kessler

• Piano Class — directed by Roger Wilder

American Jazz Museum · 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

For Young Musicians: Two Summer Programs at 18th & Vine

When the Spring Showcase wraps, the next stop on the calendar is summer. Two programs at 18th & Vine keep young musicians playing through June and July. Together, they offer a full spectrum — a single-day workshop for students who want to sample something new, and a week-long immersion for students ready to commit to the craft.

Show & Shed — Saturday, June 6

Produced by the Collaborative Arts Institute, Show & Shed is a one-day instrumental music workshop focused on jazz education, improvisation, and performance. The day runs from 8 AM registration through a culminating concert in the Blue Room at 5 PM — a full jazz day with real stage time as the payoff.

Instructors: James Ward, Jaylen Ward, Matt Baldwin, Jason Goudeou, Eddie Moore.

The workshop has been an annual tradition for nine years. After testing attendance patterns, organizers moved the 2026 edition from October to June 6 — the new date designed to make it easier for more students to attend.

• Date: Saturday, June 6, 2026

• Schedule: Registration at 8 AM, workshop 9 AM–5 PM, concluding concert 3–5 PM in the Blue Room

• Venue: American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

• Focus: Jazz Education, Improvisation, and Performance

• Register: showandshed.com

2026 Summer Instrumental Combo Camp — July 13-17

The Kansas City Jazz Academy’s flagship summer program is a week-long immersion for middle and high school jazz musicians. Students work with professional artist-educators on style, history, theory, ear training, repertoire, and musicianship, with additional clinics and masterclasses from national and international jazz educators. The week closes with a performance showcase on Friday afternoon.

• Auditions: Sunday, July 12, 1–3 PM

• Camp: Monday, July 13 – Friday, July 17, 9 AM–4 PM daily

• Showcase: Friday, July 17, 2:30–4 PM

• Venue: The Gem Theater, 1615 E 18th Street, Kansas City, MO 64108

• Who: High school and advanced middle school instrumentalists

• Cost: $220 early bird (through May 31) · $250 thereafter · Scholarships available on a first-come, first-served basis

• Contact: Clarence Smith, Manager · csmith@kcjazz.org

• Register: Eventbrite

The Teachers Behind the Music

Both Show & Shed and the Kansas City Jazz Academy are staffed by working Kansas City jazz artists — many of whom you’ll recognize from stages around 18th & Vine.

Show & Shed instructors: James Ward, Jaylen Ward, Matt Baldwin, Jason Goudeou, Eddie Moore.

Kansas City Jazz Academy faculty: Aaron Linscheid, MusicMan Thomas, Max Levy, Charles Williams, Stan Kessler, Lisa Henry, Roger Wilder.

These are active performers, bandleaders, and recording artists. Students learning from them aren’t just getting instruction — they’re joining the tradition.

Visit 18th & Vine

• The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 · americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

• American Jazz Museum · 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 · americanjazzmuseum.org

• The Gem Theater · 1615 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108

• Kansas City Jazz Academy · americanjazzmuseum.org/jazz-academy

The music that started here a century ago is being passed forward right now — block by block, student by student. Come be part of it.

Friday, April 24 – Monday, April 27

A bassist who played on a Grammy-winning Thad Jones/Mel Lewis record and toured with Carmen McRae. A veteran Kansas City vocalist whose phrasing carries decades of the city’s jazz tradition. A 17-piece big band that captures the Basie-and-Ellington sound that put 18th & Vine on the map. And don’t forget Indigo Hour on Friday!

The Lineup

Friday, April 24
Encore -- Indigo Hour, 5:30 pm (FREE)
Lester “Duck” Warner -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, April 25
Bob Bowman & Bowdog -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, April 27
Louis Neal Big Band -- Monday Night Jam, 7 pm – 10:30 pm (FREE)

Friday Indigo Hour — Encore (5:30 pm)

Kick off your weekend with live music and good vibes at the Blue Room’s signature happy hour. Encore takes the stage to set the tone for the night. Drink specials, free admission, and the warm energy that makes the Blue Room one of Kansas City’s most beloved live music spots.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets (FREE)

Friday Headliner — Lester “Duck” Warner (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Lester “Duck” Warner is a veteran Kansas City vocalist whose rich, soulful voice and decades of live performance have made him a respected presence on the city’s jazz scene. A regular at the Blue Room’s Jazz @ Noon series and a familiar face at 18th & Vine, Duck brings the warmth, phrasing, and musical wisdom that only come from a lifetime dedicated to the craft. His performances connect audiences to the deep vocal tradition that has always been central to Kansas City jazz. Two sets.

Get Friday Night Tickets

Saturday — Bob Bowman & Bowdog (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Bob Bowman is a bassist whose career reads like a chapter from the American jazz songbook. A Kansas native, he picked up the bass at 12, earned a scholarship to the Stan Kenton Jazz Clinic as a high school freshman, and went on to study at North Texas State. In 1976 he joined the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, touring and recording several albums — including the Grammy Award-winning Live in Munich. He followed that by joining the Toshiko Akiyoshi–Lew Tabakin Big Band in Los Angeles and has toured and recorded with Carmen McRae, Freddie Hubbard, Bud Shank, and Karrin Allyson.

Since moving to Kansas City in 1988, Bob has been a pillar of the city’s jazz community, with faculty appointments at the University of Missouri and Ottawa University. With Bowdog, he brings jazz, funk, and groove together with the kind of musical depth that only comes from a lifetime of playing at the highest level. Two sets.

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Monday Night Jam — Louis Neal Big Band (7 pm – 10:30 pm)

A 17-piece big band in an intimate jazz club. The Louis Neal Big Band is Kansas City big band jazz done right — founded in the mid-1990s by bandleader, composer, and arranger Louis Neal, this hard-swinging ensemble captures the Basie-and-Ellington sound that put 18th & Vine on the map.

Five saxes. Four trumpets. Four trombones. A rhythm section. The band features some of Kansas City’s finest jazz musicians, playing traditional big band repertoire alongside Louis’s own compositions and arrangements. A 45-minute featured set followed by an open jam session. Bring your instrument or come feel the full power of a 17-piece ensemble up close. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets (FREE)

Visit the Blue Room

The Blue Room is located at 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108, inside the American Jazz Museum at the historic 18th & Vine district.

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.

The 18th & Vine Student Jazz Festival · April 15–17, 2026 · Gem Theater

Every April, more than 50 student jazz ensembles from across Missouri, Kansas, and the Midwest, load onto buses and drive to 18th & Vine. They walk into the Gem Theater — a real stage, a real sound system, a real audience — and they play. For many of them, it’s the first time playing on such a historic stage, on hallowed jazz ground.

This has been happening for 24 years. And for all 24 of those years, two people have made it happen: Clarence and Janet Smith.

Free Noon Concerts — Jazz Museum Atrium

Each day of the festival, the American Jazz Museum Atrium hosts a free noon concert open to the public. No ticket required — just walk in.

Wednesday, April 15 — JAZZ Spoken Here
A tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Two titans of the music, one afternoon in the Atrium.

Thursday, April 16 — Horacescope
Stan Kessler’s Kansas City jazz ensemble dedicated to the music of Horace Silver — the hard bop pianist and composer whose tunes are some of the most played in the jazz canon. Kessler, a veteran KC trumpeter and founding member of Sons of Brasil, has been keeping Silver’s funky, blues-drenched sound alive on local stages for years. He’s also one of the festival’s twelve clinicians, working directly with students between sets.

Friday, April 17 — James Ward Band
The James Ward Band has been part of the Blue Room since 1998 — just months after the 18th & Vine district’s revitalization launched. James Ward, Angela Ward, and their family are woven into the fabric of this building. There’s nobody better to close out the festival’s noon concert series.

Noon concerts are sponsored by Jamey Aebersold, with assistance from Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors.

The Smiths

Clarence Smith is a drummer, educator, and one of Kansas City’s most important jazz figures — even if he’d never describe himself that way. He coordinated the jazz program at Metropolitan Community College – Penn Valley, has directed jazz ensembles across multiple MCC campuses, and manages the Kansas City Jazz Academy at the American Jazz Museum. Before all of that, he spent a decade directing the jazz program at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, where his students performed at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian. In 2000, DownBeat Magazine named him Jazz Educator of the Year. As a professional drummer, he’s played alongside Mike Vax, Bill Watrous, Rich Matteson, Ahmad Aladeen, and Queen Bey. The festival is where it all comes together — Clarence built it from the ground up, and he’s been running it for all 24 years.

Janet Smith — Festival’s manager and Clarence’s better half — is the glue that holds the whole thing together. An incredible event coordinator, Janet has been running the logistics since the beginning: coordinating schools, managing the three-day schedule, liaising with the Gem Theater and the museum, and making sure hundreds of students, parents, and band directors know exactly where to be and when. Over 24 years, she’s built a deep bench of returning volunteers who come back every April because she asked them to — and because the festival is worth coming back for.

What Happens at the Festival

The festival runs all day Wednesday through Friday at the Gem Theater. Student ensembles perform in 30-minute slots starting at 8 AM, with afternoon performances running through 5:30 PM. After each performance, students participate in a 25-minute private clinic with one of 12 professional clinicians — working musicians who give direct, personal feedback to every group that plays.

Schools are traveling from as far as Springfield, Kirksville, Chillicothe, West Plains, and Hesston, Kansas — alongside Kansas City metro programs from Blue Springs, Raytown, Liberty, Belton, Grain Valley, and more.

This is not a competition. There are no first or second place rankings, though each band does receive a rating and a 30 minute session with an adjudicator. The point is the experience: performing on a professional stage, getting coached by a working jazz musician, and walking the same streets where Charlie Parker, Count Basie, and Big Joe Turner built a sound that changed American music.

The Clinicians

Twelve professional musicians serve as clinicians and adjudicators, working directly with students after every performance. The roster includes Marcus Lewis (UMKC Conservatory, artistic director of Future Jazz), Stan Kessler (Sons of Brazil), Dr. Louis Neal (Louis Neal Big Band), and Kenny Watson — names Blue Room audiences know well — alongside educators and performers from across the region.

See the full clinician roster at 18thvinejazzfest.com

24 Years

The 18th & Vine Student Jazz Festival is a partnership between the American Jazz Museum and Metropolitan Community College – Penn Valley. Special acknowledgement goes to Tom Alexios and Edward Ellington II of the Duke Ellington Legacy for their continued support.

Twenty-four years is a long time to do anything. Clarence and Janet Smith have spent every one of those years working with educators to give young musicians a world-class jazz festival experience, putting them on a real stage, and connecting them to the living tradition of Kansas City jazz. The festival doesn’t just happen. It happens because they show up, year after year, so young musicians have a chance to play jazz on one of the biggest stages in jazz—the Gem Theater!

You are invited to come, enjoy the music, and support these great young musicians. Be sure to say hi to Janet and Clarence!

Details

Dates: Wednesday–Friday, April 15–17, 2026 Student Performances: Gem Theater, 1601 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO Noon Concerts: Jazz Museum Atrium (FREE, open to the public) Full Schedule & Info: 18thvinejazzfest.com

The American Jazz Museum is located at 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108, in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District.

Thursday, April 9 – Monday, April 13

A voice descended from Billboard royalty. The baddest Hammond B-3 in Kansas City with a seven-piece band behind it. A saxophonist the Chicago Tribune called “prodigious” and the New York Times flagged as one to watch. And a jazz/neo-soul jam session to close out the week. Five nights of live music at 18th & Vine.

The Lineup

Thursday, April 9
Gayle Price -- Jazz @ Noon, 12 pm (FREE)

Friday, April 10
J Love Band -- Indigo Hour, 5:30 pm (FREE)
Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7 -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, April 11
Adam Larson Quartet -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, April 13
Kenny Watson & DaNoyze -- Monday Night Jam, 7 pm – 10:30 pm (FREE)

Thursday Jazz @ Noon — Gayle Price (12 pm)

Gayle Price was born to sing. Her mother, the late Priscilla Bowman, had a number-one record on the Billboard charts in 1955 — “the original Rock and Roll Mama.” Gayle grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, singing in her grandfather’s church from the age of five, with her mother training her to sing from the gut, not from the nose. She’s performed the National Anthem at Royals games, won the Truman’s Got Talent grand prize, and her sound is sultry, passionate, and powerful. Step away from the workday and into 18th & Vine.

Get Jazz @ Noon Tickets (FREE)

Friday Indigo Hour — J Love Band (5:30 pm)

Nobody owns a room like J Love. Gritty vocals, magnetic energy, and a sound rooted in Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Etta James — delivered with a style all her own. One of the Blue Room’s most prolific performers, J Love and her band turn every Indigo Hour into a full experience — tight grooves, bold vocals, and the kind of crowd connection that makes you forget you’re at happy hour. Free admission and drink specials.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets (FREE)

Friday Headliner — Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7 (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Chris Hazelton is one of today’s foremost Hammond B-3 organists. A lifelong Kansas Citian, he studied under local legend Everette DeVan and the iconic Dr. Lonnie Smith. He’s a member of The Freedom Affair and The James Hunter Six, and teaches on DeVan’s personal Hammond B-3 at Kansas City Kansas Community College. The Boogaloo 7 takes that soul-jazz foundation and amplifies it with a full seven-piece lineup — funky, swinging, and impossible to sit still through. This is one of the Blue Room’s most popular acts for a reason. Two sets.

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Saturday — Adam Larson Quartet (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

The Chicago Tribune called Adam Larson “a player for whom the word ‘prodigious’ was coined.” The New York Times described him as “the sort of jazz musician who gets flagged early on as a promising talent and then hustles to meet every requirement for success.” Nine albums as a leader — including two that earned 4+ stars in DownBeat. A U.S. State Department touring artist, Grammy Foundation mentor, and author of 12 jazz etude books sold in 45 countries. Adam spent 11 years in the New York City jazz scene before landing in Kansas City, where he now teaches at the UMKC Conservatory and KU. Two sets of world-class saxophone at 18th & Vine.

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Monday Night Jam — Kenny Watson & DaNoyze (7 pm – 10:30 pm)

Kenny Watson is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist whose group DaNoyze blends jazz and neo-soul into something groove-forward and musically adventurous. A 45-minute featured set followed by an open jam session — bring your instrument or just your ears. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets (FREE)

Visit the Blue Room

The Blue Room is located at 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108, inside the American Jazz Museum at the historic 18th & Vine district.

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.

The Lineup

Thursday, April 2
Blue Devil Funk Band -- Jazz @ Noon, 12 pm (FREE)

Friday, April 3
Darron J & Go Hard Band -- Indigo Hour, 5:30 pm (FREE)
Carolina Calvache Quartet -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, April 4
Rob Tribb, Tribb III -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, April 6
Heidi Lanita -- Monday Night Jam, 7 pm – 10:30 pm (FREE)

Thursday Jazz @ Noon — Blue Devil Funk Band (12 pm)

The KCKCC Blue Devil Funk Band brings DownBeat Student Music Award-winning talent to the Blue Room for a free lunchtime set. The Kansas City Kansas Community College ensemble has earned Outstanding Performance citations and continues to produce some of the most exciting young jazz musicians in the metro. Step away from the workday and into 18th & Vine.

Get Jazz @ Noon Tickets (FREE)

Friday Indigo Hour — Darron J & Go Hard Band (5:30 pm)

Darron J & Go Hard Band are the Blue Room’s most frequent Indigo Hour performers — over 20 appearances and counting. There’s a reason they keep coming back: Darron “DaRockboi” Cobbins doesn’t just perform, he throws a party. Powerhouse vocals, infectious energy, and a mix of R&B, soul, and funk that gets the whole room moving. Free admission and drink specials.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets (FREE)

Friday Headliner — Carolina Calvache Quartet (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Carolina Calvache is a Colombian pianist and composer who seamlessly blends jazz, classical, and Latin American folk into something entirely her own. Her debut Sotareno — featuring Antonio Sanchez, Jaleel Shaw, and Michael Rodriguez — was named one of the Best 10 Albums of 2014 by the Colombia al Dia Awards. She’s performed at the Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and jazz festivals across the Americas and Europe. Two sets of world-class jazz at 18th & Vine.

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Saturday — Rob Tribb, Tribb III (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Rob Tribb (Robert W. Tribitt III) was born on the South Side of Chicago into a family steeped in music — his parents toured the country with the gospel group The Joy Ensemble. What started on the drums evolved into a deep love affair with the piano, and Robert’s versatility quickly set him apart. Since arriving in Kansas City, he’s become one of the city’s most dynamic creative forces — performing with artists like Jeanette Harris, Tom Browne, and Sean Tyler, touring internationally from Norway to the Caribbean, and winning the 2025 Kansas City People’s Choice Award for “Best Musician.” Two sets from a true community builder and gifted performer.

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Monday Night Jam — Heidi Lanita (7 pm – 10:30 pm)

Heidi Lanita leads the Monday Night Jam with a 45-minute featured set before opening the Blue Room stage to all musicians. Known for her captivating vocal presence, Heidi brings warmth and musicality to every performance. Bring your instrument or just your ears — it’s one of the best nights of the week at 18th & Vine. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets (FREE)

Visit the Blue Room

The Blue Room is located at 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108, inside the American Jazz Museum at the historic 18th & Vine district.

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.

The American Jazz Museum, The Blue Room, and the Gem Theater have been nominated in seven categories in the 2026 Kansas City Favorites contest. Voting is open now, it’s free, and you can vote once per day, every day, through April 17.

Last year, more than 270,000 votes were cast. Imagine what happens when the jazz community shows up.

Vote now at votekc.com

What Your Vote Is For

The American Jazz Museum isn’t just a building at 18th & Vine. It’s the living room of Kansas City jazz — a place where Charlie Parker’s saxophone lives next door to a stage where new voices play every single week.

The Blue Room is one of the last dedicated jazz clubs in America operating inside a museum. Every Friday, Saturday, and Monday, musicians walk onto a stage that legends played decades ago. Your Indigo Hour happy hours, your Saturday night sets, your Monday Night Jams — they happen because this community shows up.

The Gem Theater has been the crown jewel of 18th & Vine since 1912 — hosting everyone from Count Basie to today’s emerging artists on one of the most storied stages in American music.

Winning Kansas City Favorites tells the whole city that these places matter — that people show up for jazz, for 18th & Vine, for the culture this neighborhood has carried for over a century. It costs nothing but a minute of your time, and it’s one of the most powerful things you can do for us this year.

Where We’re Nominated

American Jazz Museum

• Best Attraction

• Best Family Attraction

• Best Museum

The Blue Room

• Best Live Music Venue

• Best Date Night Spot

• Best Specialty Cocktails

Gem Theater

• Best Live Music Venue

The Blue Room and the Gem Theater are both nominated for Best Live Music Venue — which means 18th & Vine could take that category!

How to Vote

Voting is free, takes less than a minute, and requires no account or purchase.

Start here: votekc.com

Once you’re on the site, you’ll find us in two sections:

Under “Things to Do”:

• Attraction — American Jazz Museum

• Family Attraction — American Jazz Museum

• Museum — American Jazz Museum

• Live Music Venue — The Blue Room and the Gem Theater

Under “Eat & Drink”:

• Date Night Spot — The Blue Room

• Specialty Cocktails — The Blue Room

You can vote in every category. Vote once today, then come back and do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.

Need help finding us on the voting site?

These step-by-step guides show you exactly where to click. Open any of them and follow along.

Things to Do

• Attraction — American Jazz Museum

• Family Attraction — American Jazz Museum

• Museum — American Jazz Museum

• Live Music Venue — The Blue Room

• Live Music Venue — Gem Theater

Eat & Drink

• Date Night Spot — The Blue Room

• Specialty Cocktails — The Blue Room

Vote Every Day Through April 17

This is the part most people miss: you can vote once per day, every single day, until April 17 at 5:00 PM. One person voting daily for 17 days is worth more than 17 people voting once.

Bookmark the page. Set a phone reminder. Make it a thing.

Vote now at votekc.com

Spread the Word

Know someone who loves the Blue Room? A friend who brings out-of-town guests to the museum? A coworker who still talks about that Saturday night set? Forward this email. Share the voting link. Post it on social. Every vote counts, and every share multiplies.

Results will be announced on KansasCityFavorites.com and in the print magazine on July 12, 2026.

Thank you to everyone who visits the museum, catches a show at the Blue Room, fills a seat at the Gem, or tells a friend about what’s happening at 18th & Vine. These nominations belong to you as much as they do to us.

Now let’s go win them.

Vote now at votekc.com

The American Jazz Museum is located at 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108. Learn more at americanjazzmuseum.org.

The Lineup

Friday, March 27
Delynia Jannell -- Indigo Hour, 5:30 pm
Jazzy Jazz Miyagi -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, March 28
Lisa Henry -- 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, March 30
Millie Edwards: A Tribute to Lori Tucker -- Monday Night Jam, 7 pm – 10:30 pm

Friday Indigo Hour — Delynia Jannell (5:30 pm)

Delynia Jannell has been singing since she was two years old, starting on the church pews at Bethel Church of God in Christ in Kansas City, Kansas. Over 13 years of professional performing, she’s become one of the Blue Room’s most frequent Indigo Hour artists — with residencies at Sullivan’s Steakhouse and both Johnnie’s Jazz Bar locations, and background vocals for Tech N9ne and Kelley Hunt. Gospel warmth, jazz polish, R&B soul. Free admission and drink specials.

Get Indigo Hour Tickets

Friday Headliner — Jazzy Jazz Miyagi (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Jazzy Jazz Miyagi came to the U.S. from Okinawa, Japan on a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music and continued at Berklee College of Music, studying under Lois Schafer of the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra. She’s performed with Chaka Khan, Herbie Mann, Joe Sample, and Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report, and was chosen as a soloist for the grand opening of Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Flute, classical guitar, koto — two sets of genre-bending brilliance from a world-class musician who calls KC home.

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Saturday — Lisa Henry (8:30 pm & 10 pm)

Lisa Henry is Kansas City jazz royalty. Her career began in KC nightclubs at age 17, mentored by the great Hammond B-3 player Everette DeVan. Since then: first runner-up in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, PBS’s In Performance at the White House, international tours with Herbie Hancock, Kenny Garrett, and T.S. Monk, and stages shared with Wayne Shorter, Roy Hargrove, Anita Baker, and Lou Rawls. A jazz educator with the Herbie Hancock Institute, Lisa is a living connection to the tradition that made 18th & Vine legendary.

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Monday Night Jam — Millie Edwards: A Tribute to Lori Tucker (7 pm – 10:30 pm)

Millie Edwards — “the little woman with the big voice” — leads a special tribute to Lori Tucker, her friend and fellow founding member of the award-winning Wild Women of Kansas City (alongside the legendary Myra Taylor). Lori performed with Everette DeVan and Richard “Groove” Holmes, sang the National Anthem for the LA Lakers and the KC Royals, and was celebrated across both jazz and gospel. A 45-minute tribute set followed by an open jam session. Bring your instrument or just your heart. FREE admission.

Get Monday Jam Tickets

Visit the Blue Room

The Blue Room is located at 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108, inside the American Jazz Museum at the historic 18th & Vine district.

See the full schedule and get tickets at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room.