This Weekend at the 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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