October 1–5, 2026

Saxophonist Owen Pirch, a Kansas City Jazz Academy graduate, opens the week Thursday at noon. Friday, trumpeter Chalis O’Neal, who studied jazz at UMKC under Bobby Watson, plays Indigo Hour, and the Norman Liggins Band follows with two sets, A Night of Jazz. Saturday, trumpeter Nick Hmeljak plays two sets; Plastic Sax ranked a July 2025 night he played with four bandmates No. 1 among the year’s performances by Kansas City musicians. Monday, drummer Blue Noyes, who held the drum chair in this year’s Sisters in Jazz combo, hosts the jam with her quartet. And a fun thread in the credits: drummer Jaylen Ward plays on O’Neal’s The Influence and was in that quintet with Hmeljak, and Eddie Moore produced Hmeljak’s new single and plays piano on Noyes’s album.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Thursday, October 1
Jazz @ Noon: Owen Pirch — 12 pm (free)

Friday, October 2
Indigo Hour: Chalis O’Neal — 5:30 pm ($5; AJM members free)
Norman Liggins Band – A Night of Jazz — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Saturday, October 3
Nick Hmeljak — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, October 5
Monday Night Jam Session: Blue Noyes — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Jazz @ Noon: Owen Pirch — Thursday, 12 pm

Owen Pirch came up in this building. He’s a graduate of the Kansas City Jazz Academy, and in its 18th Street Combo, based here at the museum, he played alto and wrote the band a blues head called “Somethin Fishy.” Since then the Columbia Jazz Orchestra, an 18-piece big band, has premiered his arrangement of Dexter Gordon’s “The Panther,” and he leads his own band, the Owen Pirch Group. He plays tenor as well as alto. Thursday at noon he’s back where he started. Free admission.

Reserve your free spot →

Indigo Hour: Chalis O’Neal — Friday, 5:30 pm

Chalis O’Neal nearly gave up the trumpet. An embouchure change right after high school derailed his playing, and his older brother, pianist Harold O’Neal, talked him into sticking with it. He went on to study jazz at UMKC under Bobby Watson and has made two records: Flirting (2021), where Kevin Rabas of Jazz Ambassador Magazine wrote of one track, “It’s hip. It’s sexy. It’s fun,” and The Influence (2025), on which he raps that his music is “hip-hop meets swing with a little bebop.” He’s hosted the Monday jam here five times since 2024. $5; AJM members free.

Start Friday with the trumpet →

Norman Liggins Band – A Night of Jazz — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

The Norman Liggins Band played Indigo Hour here on July 3, the Friday of the Fourth of July weekend. Three months later it’s back on a Friday as the headliner with A Night of Jazz. Spend your Friday night at the Blue Room: come early for Chalis O’Neal at 5:30, then settle in for the band’s two sets. $10 per show.

Pick a Friday set →

Nick Hmeljak — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

On a Sunday in July 2025, Nick Hmeljak and four bandmates spent a night at Westport Coffee House debuting new originals, and Plastic Sax heard “energetic hard bop with vigorous integrity.” In December the blog put that night at No. 1 on its list of 2025 performances by Kansas City musicians. Hmeljak finished his jazz studies degree at Middle Tennessee State in 2023, moved to Kansas City that year, and has studied with Adam Larson and Stan Kessler. In June the Charlotte Street Foundation named him a 2026–2028 studio resident. His collective Open Channel released “Time Crunch” in August, and its debut album, Alive, is due this fall. $10 per show.

Hear the trumpet Saturday →

Monday Night Jam Session: Blue Noyes — Monday, 7 pm

Blue Noyes started playing the drum set at 2. She’s a jazz studies major at the University of Kansas, and in 2026 she held the drum chair in the Jazz Education Network’s Sisters in Jazz combo, which debuted her piece “Reflections II” at the network’s conference in New Orleans. Eddie Moore is the pianist on her 2024 album, First Steps, four standards she arranged with trumpeter Nic Weaver. Monday her quartet hosts the jam: the featured set at 7, then the bandstand opens to whoever signed up at the door. $10; AJM members, musicians, and students free.

Sign up for the jam →

Owen Pirch Thursday, Chalis O’Neal and the Norman Liggins Band Friday, Nick Hmeljak Saturday, and Blue Noyes’s quartet at Monday’s jam. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

September 25–28, 2026

Kansas City is home to all three of this weekend’s bandleaders, by three different routes. Houston Smith grew up on its bandstands: by thirteen he was working around the city, mentored by Bobby Watson, Gerald Dunn, and Chris Burnett, and after Berklee he came home. Last year he shared this stage with Watson, and Friday he plays two sets. Rob Trib III came from Chicago’s South Side, where he started in church as a small child and taught himself by ear; last year the Kansas City People’s Choice Awards named him Best Musician, and in June he hosted this room’s Monday jam. Friday he opens the night at Indigo Hour. Alan Voss went to Berklee at 25, spent a stretch in New York State, and moved back to raise a family; thirty years of Kansas City gigs later he made his first record as a leader, at 51, and Saturday he brings his quartet. Monday, NoMad plays the featured set at 7, and then the bandstand opens to whoever signed up at the door.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, September 25
Indigo Hour: A Jazz Set with Rob Trib III — 5:30 pm ($5; AJM members free)
Houston Smith — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Saturday, September 26
Alan Voss Quartet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, September 28
Monday Night Jam Session: NoMad — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Indigo Hour: A Jazz Set with Rob Trib III — Friday, 5:30 pm

Last year the Kansas City People’s Choice Awards named Rob Trib III Best Musician. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago, started playing in church as a small child, and taught himself by ear. He lives in Kansas City now, and this is his fourth Blue Room date of the year: an Indigo Hour in February, a Saturday night in April, the Monday jam in June, which he hosted, and Friday at 5:30, when he’s at the piano for a jazz set. $5; AJM members free.

Start Friday at the piano →

Houston Smith — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Houston Smith first played this room ten years ago, as a Berklee student on a Blue Room sax showcase where Plastic Sax said his Ellington “transcended cliché.” He started formal lessons at three, spent ten years on drums with Leon Brady, took up the alto at ten, and by thirteen was working around the city with mentors Bobby Watson, Gerald Dunn, and Chris Burnett. At Berklee he studied with Terence Blanchard, Walter Beasley, and Tia Fuller, and last year he shared this bandstand with Bobby Watson. Friday he plays two sets. $10 per show.

Hear the alto →

Alan Voss Quartet — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Alan Voss started on drums and didn’t take up the guitar until Berklee, where he arrived at 25. After a stretch in New York State he came home to Kansas City to raise a family, and thirty years of reggae, rock, blues, and jazz gigs later he made his first record as a leader: Baobab, six originals cut in a single day in 2023, when he was 51. Plastic Sax opened its review with “Alan Voss recognizes that louder isn’t better.” Saturday the quartet plays his own writing plus the modern book he draws on, Wayne Shorter to Chick Corea. $10 per show.

Pick a Saturday set →

Monday Night Jam Session: NoMad — Monday, 7 pm

NoMad’s featured set starts at 7; after it, the bandstand opens to whoever signed up at the door. $10; AJM members, musicians, and students free.

Sign up for the jam →

Rob Trib III at the piano, Houston Smith on the alto he picked up at ten, Alan Voss on the guitar he found at 25, and NoMad opening Monday’s jam: four shows on three nights. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

September 18–21, 2026

Three of this weekend’s bandleaders grew up in families that already played. J Love’s grandfather sang lead for the Soul Stirrers; Friday at Indigo Hour she sings her first Blue Room set billed as jazz. Eboni Fondren’s father and aunts sang in the house in Chicago, though she found jazz later, on Everette DeVan’s bandstand in college. She sings two sets Friday night. Monday’s jam host, Jaylen Ward, took his uncle’s chair in his parents’ band. The fourth bandleader, Dan Sturdevant, has been playing Kansas City since 1969 and brings a quartet Saturday.

One note about Monday: the museum’s galleries are closed on Mondays, but the Blue Room isn’t. The jam hits the stage at 7.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, September 18
Indigo Hour — A Jazz Set with J Love · 5:30 pm · $5; AJM members complimentary
Eboni Fondren · 8:30 pm & 10 pm · $10 per show

Saturday, September 19
Dan Sturdevant · 8:30 pm & 10 pm · $10 per show

Monday, September 21
Monday Night Jam Session — Jaylen Ward · 7 pm · $10; members, musicians, and students complimentary

J Love — Friday’s Indigo Hour

J Love’s grandfather, Lelon Pulliam, sang lead and played guitar for the Soul Stirrers, and her cousin Veda Brown recorded for Stax. She grew up in Kennett, Missouri, moved to Kansas City at nineteen to sing, and put out her debut, Life’s Side Effects, in 2008. Kansas City knows her from soul and R&B, and she’s sung Indigo Hour here more than a dozen times since 2024. Friday is the first one billed as a jazz set, and it isn’t a stretch: when KC Studio profiled the band in 2018, the drummer was already nudging the book toward jazz and the bassist kept “God Bless the Child” on his must-play list. Admission is $5; AJM members get in complimentary.

Get J Love tickets

Eboni Fondren — Friday Night

Eboni Fondren won Favorite Jazz Vocalist at the first JAM Musician Awards the KC Jazz Ambassadors ever gave, in December 2021, and Everette DeVan, the Hammond B-3 organist she’d apprenticed under in college, won Favorite Jazz Organist the same year. She won again in 2022 and 2023, and in 2023 she was invited to represent America as a jazz ambassador at the G20 Summit in India. Both of her records came in 2024: The Journey: To Kansas City with Love, recorded live at the Uptown Lounge, and An American in Paris, cut in a day in France with a jazz quintet and a string quartet. This March her one-woman show, Jazz: The Women Who Shaped Me, ran two weeks at Quality Hill Playhouse. Friday she sings two sets, $10 per show.

Pick your Friday set

Dan Sturdevant — Saturday Night

Sunday mornings at the Phoenix, Dan Sturdevant sings and plays piano with Millie Edwards Nottingham; they’ve passed 450 performances there, and Kansas City Magazine called it “the velvet voice and piano accompaniment of Dan Sturdevant.” He’s been performing in Kansas City since 1969, in rooms from the American Restaurant and the InterContinental to eight years on the Alameda Plaza rooftop, and he’s sung the national anthem at Kauffman Stadium four times. The book runs from standards to “Lovely Day,” “Raspberry Beret,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Saturday he brings a quartet to the Blue Room: Clayton DeLong, Chase McCroy, and Ray DeMarchi. The shows are at 8:30 and 10 pm, $10 per show.

Pick a Saturday Set

Jaylen Ward — Monday Night Jam

The James Ward Band’s first drummer was Jaylen Ward’s uncle, and when he retired from the chair, the nephew took it. He’d been sitting in with his parents, James Ward on bass and Angela Ward on keys, since elementary school, in a band that has played the Blue Room since 1998. He’s 23. His trio was a DownBeat Student Music Award winner in 2025, he’s the drummer on every track of Eddie Moore’s What Makes Us, and he’s played with Bobby Watson, Logan Richardson, Tia Fuller, and Sean Jones. Monday he plays the featured set at 7, and then the bandstand opens; sign up at the door to sit in. Admission is $10; AJM members, musicians, and students get in complimentary.

The museum’s galleries are closed on Mondays, but the Blue Room is open for the jam.

Sign up for the Jam →

See You at 18th & Vine

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

Explore the Blue Room and its upcoming shows

The museum’s galleries are closed on Mondays, but the Blue Room is open for the jam.

Thursday, September 3 – Monday, September 7

This week starts close enough to hear every word and builds from there. Jass opens Thursday with a free noon duo set. Friday begins with Darron J & Go Hard Band turning happy hour into a party, then Pure Sweetness fills the night with soul. Paganova brings Latin warmth and bebop fire on Saturday, and Ernest Melton closes the run by opening the bandstand to Kansas City’s players Monday night.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Thursday, September 3
12 pm — Jazz @ Noon: Jass Duo (free admission)

Friday, September 4
5:30 pm — Indigo Hour: Darron J & Go Hard Band ($5; AJM members free)
8:30 & 10 pm — Pure Sweetness ($10 per show)

Saturday, September 5
8:30 & 10 pm — Paganova ($10 per show)

Monday, September 7
7 pm — Monday Night Jam Session featuring Ernest Melton ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Jazz @ Noon: Jass Duo — Thursday at 12 pm

Jass is a Kansas City-born vocalist, poet, producer, and multi-instrumentalist whose music draws from R&B, soul, gospel, funk, rock, and spoken word. Since releasing her first project in 2019, she has carried that sound to the Essence Festival of Culture and the Belfast International Arts Festival, opened for artists including Thundercat, Mereba, Tink, Brownstone, and Morris Day & The Time, and placed songs on Peacock’s Bel-Air.

The duo setting brings every detail closer — the warmth in her voice, the shape of each lyric, and the easy movement between old-school soul and something entirely her own. Free admission.

Reserve your free spot

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

Darron “DaRockboi” Cobbins does not simply perform — he throws a party. With more than 20 Indigo Hour appearances behind them, Darron J & Go Hard Band have become the Blue Room’s most familiar Friday happy-hour force, moving from smooth R&B and soul to funk, hip-hop, and dance-floor energy without missing a step.

Come early and let the Go Hard Band start the weekend. $5 at the door; AJM members are free.

Get Indigo Hour tickets

Pure Sweetness — Friday at 8:30 & 10 pm

Gayle Price grew up singing in her grandfather’s Kansas City church, learning from her mother, Priscilla Bowman — the voice behind a number-one record and the woman known as “the original Rock and Roll Mama.” After raising a family and building a career, Price founded Pure Sweetness Entertainment Band in 2018 and stepped into the spotlight on her own terms.

Pure Sweetness lives up to its name with a soulfully melodic mix of R&B, gospel, pop, rock, and country — music powered by Price’s conviction that you are never too old to live your dream. Friday night, that dream gets two full sets on the Blue Room stage.

Get Pure Sweetness tickets

Paganova — Saturday at 8:30 & 10 pm

Pianist, composer, and arranger Michael Pagán leads Paganova into the space where bebop drive meets Latin warmth. The music knows the tradition cold without getting boxed in by it — crisp original writing, lyrical turns, hard swing, and improvisation that keeps opening new doors.

Paganova’s self-titled 2024 Capri Records album pairs five Pagán originals with inventive arrangements of Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, and Clare Fischer. Pagán’s Blue Room sets can take different shapes, but the center holds: sophisticated writing, rhythmic lift, and a Latin-bop pulse that is intricate enough to follow every turn and warm enough to simply enjoy the ride.

Get Paganova tickets

Monday Night Jam Session featuring Ernest Melton — Monday at 7 pm

Saxophonist and composer Ernest Melton brings gospel roots, searching harmony, and the influence of John Coltrane and Miles Davis to the featured set. His music balances aggressive energy with a deep respect for the tradition — the right spark for a night built around discovery.

After Melton’s set, the bandstand opens to the room. Bring your horn, your voice, or just your ears. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

Reserve your spot

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

Full lineup and tickets anytime at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

Friday, August 28 – Monday, August 31

What does a band need to say something? This weekend the Blue Room offers three answers. Friday opens with a voice raised in church and seasoned at Carnegie Hall, then hands the night to a band that says everything without a single word. Saturday, the voice comes roaring back. And Monday, August goes out the way every good Kansas City month should — with an open bandstand.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, August 28
5:30 pm — Indigo Hour: Delynia Jannell ($5; AJM members free)
8:30 & 10 pm — The Tribe ($10 per show)

Saturday, August 29
8:30 & 10 pm — Sir James Atwood ($10 per show)

Monday, August 31
7 pm — Monday Night Jam Session ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Indigo Hour: Delynia Jannell — Friday at 5:30 pm

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. The stages that followed tell the story: featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, background vocals for Shania Twain, Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, and E-40, and residencies across Kansas City today. Her range runs gospel to opera, but the foundation — where music and faith are the same thing — has never left her voice.

Come early, grab a drink, and settle in. $5 at the door, free for AJM members.

Get Indigo Hour tickets

The Tribe — Friday at 8:30 & 10 pm

The Tribe doesn’t have a singer, and about two songs in you’ll understand why they don’t need one. Kansas City’s premier instrumental fusion band bends jazz, funk, R&B, and soul into one continuous groove — a sound so big audiences never quite believe there’s no vocalist up there. When they headlined the Blue Room this past February, the room asked them back before the second set was over.

Come feel what a band can say without a single word.

Get The Tribe tickets

Sir James Atwood — Saturday at 8:30 & 10 pm

Some debuts you don’t forget. When Sir James Atwood made his first Blue Room appearance at Indigo Hour this June, the room knew before the second song that a happy-hour set wasn’t going to be enough. Saturday night the Kansas City vocalist returns for the full treatment: two headline sets of jazz standards and soul grooves, delivered with the gala-stage power that opened ArtFusion KC at the Convention Center.

Come watch a rising Kansas City voice claim the city’s most storied jazz stage.

Get Sir James Atwood tickets

Monday Night Jam Session — Monday at 7 pm

Close out your August in the room where Kansas City jazz starts. The featured set kicks off at 7 pm, then the bandstand belongs to whoever brought their horn, their sticks, or their voice. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

Reserve your spot

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

Full lineup and tickets anytime at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

Friday, August 21 – Monday, August 24

Nobody on this weekend’s flyers needed a plane ticket — Kansas City grew every one of them. The songbird eases you into Friday, the city’s favorite piano sideman finally leads his own band, Saturday belongs to a group that earned its way up from happy hour, and Monday the bandstand opens to everyone with a horn.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, August 21
5:30 pm — Indigo Hour: Lauren-Ashley ($5; AJM members free)
8:30 & 10 pm — Roger Wilder ($10 per show)

Saturday, August 22
8:30 & 10 pm — Encore featuring Clifford Mills ($10 per show)

Monday, August 24
7 pm — Monday Night Jam Session ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Indigo Hour: Lauren-Ashley — Friday at 5:30 pm

Her family named her the songbird long before Kansas City did. A preacher’s kid from St. Louis, Lauren-Ashley rediscovered her voice hosting KC karaoke nights, and by 2023 had launched her own band, The Songbird Experience, stocked with some of the city’s finest players. Her sound blends classic soul with contemporary R&B, neo-soul, and gospel — equal parts church, velvet, and fire. Off stage she holds a doctorate, serves as a minister, and is a foster parent. Songbird barely covers it.

Come early, grab a drink, and ease into the weekend. $5 at the door, free for AJM members.

Get Indigo Hour tickets

Roger Wilder — Friday at 8:30 & 10 pm

Every Friday afternoon, Roger Wilder plays Kansas City jazz on the radio — he’s been KKFI’s “Jazz Geek” since 2005. This Friday, when the show wraps, he heads to 18th & Vine to do the thing he’s really known for. For 26 years Wilder has been the pianist KC’s bandleaders call first: the piano chair for Bobby Watson, Stan Kessler’s Sons of Brasil, and the Kansas City Symphony, with nearly two decades teaching jazz piano at the UMKC Conservatory. Before Kansas City claimed him, he backed Stanley Turrentine, Randy Brecker, and Chris Potter.

Tonight the sideman of choice leads the band — two full sets on the bandstand where Kansas City jazz lives.

Get Roger Wilder tickets

Encore featuring Clifford Mills — Saturday at 8:30 & 10 pm

Some bands you meet at happy hour and know you’ll be seeing again. Encore made their Blue Room debut at Indigo Hour this April — an early-evening set that turned Friday happy hour into a party — and Saturday they get the full treatment: two headline sets on the main stage, featuring Clifford Mills. The step from the 5:30 slot to a Saturday night at the Blue Room is the one every Kansas City band works for.

Be there for the encore that earned its name.

Get Encore tickets

Monday Night Jam Session — Monday at 7 pm

Every name on this weekend’s flyers started on a night like this one. The Monday jam is a Kansas City tradition: a featured set at 7 pm, then the bandstand belongs to whoever brought their horn, their sticks, or their voice. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

Reserve your spot

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

Full lineup and tickets anytime at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

August 13–17, 2026

This week the Blue Room runs an argument between the voice and the horn, and everybody wins. Thursday one artist takes both sides at once — Nneoma Lanea sings and plays the saxophone, and you genuinely cannot tell which came first. Friday splits them down the middle: a gospel-raised voice at happy hour, then a saxophone two of America’s toughest critics ran out of adjectives for. Saturday belongs to a trumpet that has been in the same pair of hands since its owner was nine. And Monday, a singer takes the jam session’s host chair, which changes the whole shape of the night.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Thursday, August 13 Jazz @ Noon: Nneoma Lanea — 12 pm (FREE)

Friday, August 14 Indigo Hour: Lady D — 5:30 pm ($5; AJM members free) Adam Larson Quartet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Saturday, August 15 Darryl White Quartet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, August 17 Monday Night Jam Session: Heidi Lanita — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Jazz @ Noon: Nneoma Lanea — Thursday, 12 pm

Some performers make a room go quiet and then bring it back to life. Nneoma Lanea does both in the same set. The Kansas City artist is a genuine triple threat — singer, songwriter, and saxophonist — moving between the microphone and the horn like they’re two halves of one instrument. Her full-length Sax in the Elevator arrived in July 2025, and KCUR singled out her NPR Tiny Desk Contest entry “Sax’n Me” as one of its favorite Kansas City submissions. She debuted at Jazz @ Noon in March and the room has been asking for her ever since. Bring your lunch; this one’s free.

Reserve your free spot →

Indigo Hour: Lady D — Friday, 5:30 pm

Lady D recognized the gift at eight years old, singing in church choirs and local gospel groups. By her teens she had recorded a gospel album and appeared on Bobby Jones Gospel — early stages for a voice that would go on to open for Roger Troutman & Zapp, Kool & the Gang, Brian McKnight, Najee, and Peabo Bryson. What she does now is an eclectic blend of jazz, old-school R&B, and blues, and what she’s known for is the crowd work: audiences don’t watch a Lady D show so much as join it. Come early, get a drink, settle in. $5; AJM members free.

Start the weekend right →

Adam Larson Quartet — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune called him “a player for whom the word ‘prodigious’ was coined.” Nate Chinen of the New York Times described him as the kind of musician “who gets flagged early on as a promising talent and then hustles to meet every requirement for success.” Adam Larson took both degrees at the Manhattan School of Music on full scholarship, spent eleven years in New York, and moved to Kansas City in 2019. Nine albums as a leader — two of the With Love trilogy earned 4+ stars in DownBeat — plus a State Department touring appointment, a Grammy Foundation mentorship, and twelve etude books selling in 45 countries. He teaches at the UMKC Conservatory and KU. Friday, he just plays. $10 per show.

Hear the quartet →

Darryl White Quartet — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

The trumpet rewards exactly one thing: time spent with it. Darryl White has been giving it that time since he was nine years old in Warren, Ohio. A Bachelor of Music from Youngstown State, a Master of Music from Northwestern, a Doctor of Musical Arts from Colorado. Years with the Aries Brass Quintet in residence at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and with the Denver Brass. Today he’s on the faculty at the University of Nebraska. What all of it adds up to is tone and phrasing you can hear from the back of the room — and a quartet that has been a Blue Room favorite since 2023, at home in the straight-ahead tradition and in more modern territory alike. $10 per show.

Take the Saturday →

Monday Night Jam Session: Heidi Lanita — Monday, 7 pm

Put a vocalist in the host chair and the whole jam tilts. The tunes come from the standards book, the keys move around to fit a voice, and everybody on the bandstand has to listen harder. Heidi Lanita has played Jazz @ Noon and featured at this jam before, and she brings warmth to a room the way some players bring volume. The featured set starts at 7; after that the stage belongs to whoever shows up — horn players, singers, rhythm sections, students working up their first tune. Some of this room’s best recent moments happened after 8 o’clock on a Monday. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

Join the jam →

A voice that plays saxophone, a voice that opened for Kool & the Gang, a horn the critics ran out of words for, a trumpet with a doctorate, and a singer running the jam. Five acts, one room, one long conversation. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

August 6–10, 2026

Some weeks the Blue Room books a lineup; this week it booked a dare. Thursday puts a trombone on your lunch break — Brian Scarborough, voted Kansas City’s favorite on the instrument. Friday opens with a first (Big Luke & The Soul Disciples, the two-time Road to Memphis champions, on our stage for the very first time) and closes with a lifetime (David Watson, the 89-year-old scat master they call the Doctor of Bebop). Saturday, Chris Hazelton brings his brand-new Hammond B-3 album home with the exact band that recorded it. And Monday the jam session hands the bandstand to a French horn. Five nights, five sounds you can’t hear anywhere else in Kansas City.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Thursday, August 6
Jazz @ Noon: Brian Scarborough Quartet — 12 pm (FREE)

Friday, August 7
Indigo Hour: Big Luke & The Soul Disciples — 5:30 pm (5; AJM members free)
David Watson — 8:30 pm & 10 pm (10 per show)

Saturday, August 8
Chris Hazelton “In Rotation” Quartet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, August 10
Monday Night Jam Session: Loren Broaddus Quartet — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Jazz @ Noon: Brian Scarborough Quartet — Thursday, 12 pm

Jazz @ Noon is the Blue Room’s free midday set, and this week it belongs to one of Kansas City’s true first-call horns. Brian Scarborough was voted KC’s Favorite Jazz Trombonist at the 2022 Jam Ambassadors Music Awards, won the American Trombone Workshop’s National Solo Jazz Competition, and has two acclaimed albums on Outside in Music — Plastic Sax called his debut “one of the most consequential acoustic jazz albums made entirely by Kansas City musicians in recent years.” You’ve heard him even if you don’t know it: he toured North America with Broadway’s Hadestown. Bring your lunch; the trombone is in good hands.

Reserve your free spot →

Indigo Hour: Big Luke & The Soul Disciples — Friday, 5:30 pm

A debut worth leaving work early for. Kansas City already knows this band — they won the KC Blues Society’s “Road to Memphis” challenge two years running and reached the semifinals of the International Blues Challenge on their first trip — but they’ve never played 18th & Vine until now. The sound is soulful blues first, pivoting on a dime into Motown, smooth jazz, R&B, and funk. Their motto: music from the heart that you can feel in your soul. Come early and say you were there the first time. $5; AJM members free.

Be there for the debut →

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

The Doctor of Bebop is in. David Watson spent four years tending bar at Philadelphia’s Showboat Jazz Theater, soaking up Miles, Coltrane, and Monk from behind the rail — until a bassist of Sonny Rollins fame told him to stop pouring and start singing. He turned pro at 34, cut his debut album at 61 with Dizzy Gillespie’s drummer and Sonny Rollins’ bassist behind him, and has been charming rooms ever since. Now 89 and a Kansas Citian by choice, he headlines Friday night with two sets of warm, nimble scat mastery. Living proof that bebop keeps you young. $10 per show.

Catch a legend →

Chris Hazelton “In Rotation” Quartet — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday night is a homecoming. Chris Hazelton — Kansas City’s Hammond B-3 master, student of both KC organ patriarch Everette DeVan and the legendary Dr. Lonnie Smith — released In Rotation this spring on Cellar Live, and this is the band that made it: Brett Jackson on saxophones, Peter Schlamb on vibraphone, John Kizilarmut on drums. No guitar — organ and vibes share the front line, a combination Plastic Sax calls “an uncommon variant of the organ jazz tradition.” Billy Strayhorn, Lee Morgan, Hazelton originals, and a tip of the hat to DeVan himself, played where organ jazz lives. $10 per show.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Loren Broaddus Quartet — Monday, 7 pm

The front line at Monday’s jam is one you almost never see: Loren Broaddus leads on the French horn, an instrument nearly nobody dares to swing. UMKC Conservatory-trained and two albums deep this decade — including this summer’s chordless horn-trio Blackout!! — he carries a family story built for this block: his father is a published poet whose books celebrate the Negro Leagues, and Monday the son hosts the jam a block from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Featured set at 7 pm, then the bandstand opens to whoever brought their horn. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

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A trombone, a debut, a legend, a homecoming, and a French horn. Only one address does weeks like this. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

July 31 – August 3, 2026

Every jazz city stays alive the same way: somebody hands the music forward. This weekend you can watch it happen in real time. Friday belongs to the James Ward Band — the family that has anchored the Blue Room bandstand since the 18th & Vine district reopened — with Topeka’s own family band, the R&J Playerz, warming things up at happy hour. Saturday belongs to Nick Hmeljak, the young trumpeter who moved to Kansas City to get closer to the roots of this music and promptly delivered what critics called the city’s best jazz performance of 2025. And Monday, one of the teachers who drew him here — Kansas Music Hall of Famer Stan Kessler — hosts the jam. The torch, passed in one room, over four nights.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, July 31
Indigo Hour: The R&J Playerz Band — 5:30 pm (5; AJM members free)
The James Ward Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm (10 per show)

Saturday, August 1
Nick Hmeljak Quartet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, August 3
Monday Night Jam Session: Stan Kessler Quartet — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Indigo Hour: The R&J Playerz Band — Friday, 5:30 pm

The Indigo Hour is how the Blue Room does happy hour, and this week the horn belongs to Joseph Wakefield. The R&J Playerz Band is a true family operation — the “R” is Rhonda Wakefield, who manages the outfit; the “J” is Joseph, who fronts it on soprano, alto, and tenor sax. If you were in the district for the Missouri Wine & Jazz Festival earlier this month, you caught them holding down the Sunday afternoon slot — now they’re inside the Blue Room with a set of sax-led R&B and smooth-jazz favorites built for winding a week down. Admission is $5; AJM members free.

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The James Ward Band — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

The James Ward Band isn’t just a house band at the Blue Room — they are the Blue Room. James got the call to join the house ensemble in January 1998; Angela found the room even earlier, sitting down at the piano during the district’s 1997 opening festivities. Their son Jaylen holds down the drums — he first sat in at age six and has since represented the American Jazz Museum at festivals in Shanghai and Chile. Deep grooves, tunes that swing hard, and a rapport that only comes from playing together for a lifetime. On a Friday night at home, there’s no telling who stops by to sit in. $10 per show.

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Nick Hmeljak Quartet — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

If you want to know where Kansas City jazz is headed, keep an eye on Nick Hmeljak. The trumpeter moved to KC in 2023, drawn by the roots of the music — and by teachers like Adam Larson and Stan Kessler. The city noticed: Plastic Sax ranked his July 2025 club date the #1 Kansas City jazz performance of the year, the Charlotte Street Foundation just named him to its two-year studio residency, and his debut album, ALIVE, arrives this fall. Expect hard-bop firepower in the Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard lineage — two full sets from a player betting his future on this city. $10 per show.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Stan Kessler Quartet — Monday, 7 pm

And then the teacher takes the bandstand. Stan Kessler has spent 50 years as Kansas City jazz’s institutional memory and biggest advocate — trumpet and flugelhorn player, composer, Sons of Brasil bandleader, Kansas Music Hall of Famer, and winner of the Duke Ellington Award for jazz education. Monday he brings his quartet to host the jam: featured set at 7 pm, then the stage opens. After 25 years teaching improvisation — ask Saturday’s headliner — there may be no better jam host in town. Bring your instrument or just your ears. $10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

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The family, the future, and the teacher who connects them. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

July 24–27, 2026

Kansas City jazz has always been a family business. Some of it gets passed down at the dinner table — this Friday, the newest voice of the McFadden dynasty opens happy hour. Some of it gets built a bandstand at a time, like the band Doug Talley has led since 1995, or the hand-picked friends guitarist Frost Loya brings along on Saturday. And some of it just walks in the door and never leaves — like Angela Ward, who sat down at the Blue Room piano during the 18th & Vine reopening festivities in 1997 and has been family ever since. Pick a night, or make it all three.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, July 24
Indigo Hour: Chloe McFadden — 5:30 pm (5; AJM members free)
Doug Talley Quintet — 8:30 pm & 10 pm (10 per show)

Saturday, July 25
Frost Loya & Friends — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Monday, July 27
Monday Night Jam Session: Angela Ward & Friends — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)

Indigo Hour: Chloe McFadden — Friday, 5:30 pm

Chloe McFadden is the third generation of one of Kansas City’s great jazz families — granddaughter of world-renowned tap dancer Jimmy McFadden, daughter of KC legend Lonnie McFadden, and the first woman in the family to step into the spotlight professionally. She’s sung the National Anthem at Kauffman Stadium and shared the Kauffman Center stage with her father and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.

Her sets slide from jazz standards to velvet-voiced reworks of Prince, Amy Winehouse, and Etta James — and every so often, the tap shoes come out. Come early, grab a drink, and catch a legacy in motion. Admission is $5; AJM members are free.

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Doug Talley Quintet — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Doug Talley has been telling Kansas City’s story through a tenor saxophone for three decades. His band — formed in 1995 and remarkably intact ever since — expands to a quintet for this date, adding trumpet to the front line. Talley’s resume runs deep: the 2010 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award, the tenor chair in the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, and bandstands shared with Jay McShann, Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, and Karrin Allyson.

His “Kansas City Suite” set the city’s landmarks — including the jazz district right outside the Blue Room’s doors — to ten original movements. Expect sophisticated, swinging Kansas City jazz from musicians who’ve spent thirty years finishing each other’s musical sentences. $10 per show.

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Frost Loya & Friends — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday night belongs to the groove. Kansas City guitarist Frost Loya has spent years working the metro’s stages with The Frost Band KC, building a sound that doesn’t sit still — Latin jazz one tune, R&B the next, then a classic-rock turn you didn’t know you needed in a jazz club.

For this Blue Room date he strips the operation down to its essentials: a hand-picked crew of friends, guitar out front, and a rhythm section locked in deep. Two full sets built to move, in the city’s most storied jazz room. $10 per show.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Angela Ward & Friends — Monday, 7 pm

If you know the Blue Room, you know Angela Ward. She’s been part of this room since 1997, when she wandered into the 18th & Vine reopening festivities and sat down at the piano — and nearly three decades later she’s one of the most respected keyboardists in Kansas City jazz. She studied classical piano before finding jazz at Florida A&M, and these days she plays all over the city with The James Ward Band. Monday she steps out front with her friends for the featured set, then the bandstand opens to whoever brought their horn.

$10 general public; free for AJM members, musicians, and students.

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Coming Up

Friday, July 31 — The family thread keeps pulling. The R&J Playerz Band — a true family operation out of Topeka, with Rhonda Wakefield managing and Joseph Wakefield out front on saxophone — opens Indigo Hour at 5:30 pm. Then The James Ward Band, the Blue Room’s own first family of jazz, takes over for two headlining sets (8:30 & 10 pm) — with Monday’s jam host Angela Ward right there at the keys. Full previews next week.

Family and friends. Three nights. One room. See you at the Blue Room.

The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Full calendar and tickets: americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room

July 17–18, 2026

This weekend moves from Kansas City soul to globe-spanning jazz to the rhythms of Brazil — all in two nights at the Blue Room. Gayle Price opens Friday with the Pure Sweetness Band, Jazzy Jazz Miyagi follows with two headlining sets, and The Sons of Brasil turn Saturday night into a passport to Rio.

This Weekend’s Lineup

Friday, July 17
Indigo Hour: Pure Sweetness Band featuring Gayle Price — 5:30 pm (5; AJM members free)
Jazzy Jazz Miyagi — 8:30 pm & 10 pm (10 per show)

Saturday, July 18
The Sons of Brasil — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)

Indigo Hour: Pure Sweetness Band featuring Gayle Price — Friday, 5:30 pm

Gayle Price was born into Kansas City music. Her mother, Priscilla Bowman, scored a number-one record in 1955 and became known as “the original Rock and Roll Mama,” while Gayle found her own voice singing in her grandfather’s church. She founded the Pure Sweetness Band in 2018 and built a show that moves freely through soul, R&B, gospel, pop, rock, and country — all powered by a voice that can be sultry one moment and roof-raising the next.

Her motto is simple: you’re never too old to live your dream. Come watch her live it on the Blue Room bandstand. Admission is $5; AJM members are free.

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Jazzy Jazz Miyagi — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Born in Okinawa, Japan, Jazzy Jazz Miyagi came to the United States on a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music before continuing at Berklee. That classical foundation became the launch point for a remarkable musical life spanning flute, classical guitar, alternative flutes, and the Japanese koto.

Miyagi has worked on motion-picture soundtracks, shared stages with Chaka Khan, Herbie Mann, Joe Sample, Miroslav Vitous, and Mannheim Steamroller, and performed as a soloist for the grand opening of Kansas City’s Kauffman Center. Friday she brings that whole world of sound home to 18th & Vine for two sets.

$10 per show.

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

Since 1991, The Sons of Brasil have been Kansas City’s passport to Rio. Led by trumpeter and flugelhornist Stan Kessler, the band plays nothing but Brazilian music — bossa nova, samba, and choro delivered with the warmth, precision, and rhythmic pull of a group that has lived inside this music for more than three decades.

Kessler is joined by Danny Embrey on guitar, Roger Wilder on piano, Greg Whitfield on bass, Doug Auwater on drums, and Gary Helm on percussion. Come ready for sun-warmed bossa, churning samba, and a Saturday night built to move.

$10 per show.

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Come See Us

The Blue Room is the American Jazz Museum’s living jazz club — where Kansas City’s history meets the music being made right now.

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

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

July 9–13, 2026

This week the Blue Room is Kansas City top to bottom — five shows, five sides of one city’s sound. The next generation opens things Thursday at noon, an all-star collective of the current scene headlines Friday, a keeper of the swing-era flame brings the 1930s home on Saturday, and a forward-pushing composer leads Monday’s jam. No touring acts, no gimmicks — just the deep bench that makes this town a jazz city. Here’s what’s on July 9–13.

This Week’s Lineup

Thursday, July 9 Jazz @ Noon
Jaylen Ward Trio — 12 pm (free)

Friday, July 10
Indigo Hour: Jenna Bauer & friends — 5:30 pm (free)
Sound on Sound KC — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Saturday, July 11
Alex Abramovitz and His Swing’n Kansas City Jazz Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Monday, July 13 Monday Night Jam Session
Ernest Melton Quartet — 7 pm ($5 cover)

Jazz @ Noon: Jaylen Ward Trio — Thursday, 12 pm

Jazz @ Noon is the Blue Room’s free midday set — an hour of world-class live music on the corner of 18th & Vine. This week, drummer Jaylen Ward brings his trio. Ward is Kansas City jazz by birthright: he came up in the James Ward Band — the family group, his father on bass and his mother on keys — and earned three DownBeat Student Music Awards along the way. On the kit he’s equal parts timekeeper and instigator, a young player who pushes a trio hard and listens just as hard. Bring your lunch hour and catch the next generation of 18th & Vine.

Free admission. Come early and grab a seat.

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Indigo Hour: Jenna Bauer & friends — 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, vocalist Jenna Bauer brings friends. A St. Louis native who’s been singing jazz since 1998, Bauer has a fiery, warm voice and a love of the Great American Songbook — the standards turned into stories anyone can relate to. She’s also a painter and educator with a studio in the West Bottoms, and that visual artist’s feel for color and mood is exactly what she brings to a lyric. A familiar presence in KC rooms from Johnnie’s Jazz Bar to Chaz at the Raphael, Friday she eases the weekend in.

Free admission. Doors at 5 pm.

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Sound on Sound KC — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

If you want to hear where Kansas City jazz is right now, this is the set. Sound on Sound KC is an ensemble built around the original music of pianist, composer, and director Chris Lewis — and its lineup reads like a cross-section of the whole scene. Alongside Lewis you’ll find vocalist Kelley Gant, a KC treasure whose award-winning whistling has taken her to the international Masters of Musical Whistling stage; flutist Jazzy Jazz Miyagi, whose path runs from Okinawa to Berklee to 18th & Vine (and who’s back here as a headliner in her own right next Friday); guitarist Jeff Shirley, a Green Lady Lounge fixture with five albums to his name; bassist Taygun Ozakinci; and drummer Andrew Wray. Six distinct voices, one band — come hear what they build together across two sets.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

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Alex Abramovitz and His Swing’n Kansas City Jazz Band — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm

Few players carry the sound of old Kansas City quite like Alex Abramovitz. A trumpeter and jazz historian devoted to the city’s swing heritage, he takes the stage on a pre-war Conn horn and leads his band through the music that made this town famous — the Count Basie and Jay McShann school of swing, with nods to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, and Harry James. He’s the kind of bandleader who can tell you the story behind a tune before he counts it off, and when that repertoire comes home to 18th & Vine — where so much of it was born — it lands with a particular charge. Period Kansas City swing, played with scholarship and serious feel.

$10 for one show, $15 for both.

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Monday Night Jam Session: Ernest Melton Quartet — Monday, 7 pm

Some Monday nights you get a jam. This one opens with one of Kansas City’s rising voices on the saxophone. Ernest Melton — a gospel-influenced composer and bandleader who came to KC from North Carolina to dig into the city’s jazz scene — brings his quartet for a featured set. His music is about communication and pushing boundaries; his 2018 album “The Time of the Slave Is Over” showed off complex writing in the lineage of Coltrane and Miles. After the quartet plays, the bandstand opens up: bring your horn, your voice, or just your ears. The Monday Night Jam is where Kansas City’s players come to stretch out.

$10 cover, AJM Members $5, musicians and students free. Featured set starts at 7 pm; sign up at the door to sit in.

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 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.

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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.

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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.

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See You at 18th & Vine

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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See You at 18th & Vine

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