This Weekend at the Blue Room — Chloe McFadden, Doug Talley Quintet, Frost Loya & Angela Ward
Lonnie's daughter Chloe McFadden opens Friday's Indigo Hour, Doug Talley's thirty-year band headlines, Frost Loya & Friends groove Saturday, and Angela Ward hosts Monday's jam.
This Weekend at the 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.
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.
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.
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.
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