This Weekend at the Blue Room — Lauren-Ashley, Roger Wilder & Encore
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Blue Room · 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108
Full lineup and tickets anytime at americanjazzmuseum.org/blue-room