This Weekend at the Blue Room
November 5–9, 2026
Plastic Sax has twice compared trombonist Brian Scarborough to Bob Brookmeyer, the late Kansas City native, and he plays the week’s free show Thursday at noon. Joey Gallant sings Friday’s Indigo Hour; his 2017 tribute to Barack Obama, sung over Enchantment’s “Gloria,” drew more than 13 million views, Vibe reported. Encore follows at 8:30, with Clifford Mills singing lead from the congas. JaySol toured with American Idol runner-up La’Porsha Renae, and Saturday she headlines with Sol Movement. Brad Gregory hosts Monday’s jam; he plays tenor in the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.
This Weekend’s Lineup
Thursday, November 5
Jazz @ Noon: Brian Scarborough — 12 pm (free)
Friday, November 6
Indigo Hour: Joey Gallant — 5:30 pm ($5; AJM members free)
Encore — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)
Saturday, November 7
JaySol & Sol Movement — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)
Monday, November 9
Monday Night Jam Session: Brad Gregory — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)
Jazz @ Noon: Brian Scarborough — Thursday, 12 pm
Brian Scarborough grew up in Kansas and came to jazz at his older brother’s school jazz band concerts; his brother played trombone, too. He studied trombone performance at the University of Kansas and jazz at DePaul, and in 2015 he won the National Solo Jazz Competition at the American Trombone Workshop. He plays with the People’s Liberation Big Band and Zen Brass, and he’s appeared with the Kansas City Symphony. We Need The Wind (2024), his second album, was recorded in Kansas City’s jazz district with Roger Wilder on Fender Rhodes. This year he started Bonetruth Music to publish his educational books. Free admission.
Brian Scarborough at noon, free tickets →
Indigo Hour: Joey Gallant — Friday, 5:30 pm
Joey Gallant moved to Kansas City from Boston in 2013, and he wrote in 2021 that he first decided here, while working with kids, to make music his career. He was a Youth Specialist with the Missouri Division of Youth Services and spent seven years at Rose Brooks Center as a Prevention Specialist and Shelter Advocate. When the Obama tribute came out in January 2017, R&B singer Joe touted it on Instagram. Gallant wrote “Ex Factor Pt. II,” released on Infinite Soul in October 2023. His YouTube channel has posted soul covers filmed in Kansas City this year, “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” and “Pusherman” among them. $5; AJM members free.
Encore — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm
Clifford Mills started singing and playing at five, in gospel, and he’s been a working musician since he was 15. For the past seven years he’s led Encore from the congas, singing lead, with Tommie Lewis on keyboard, Laith Daniels on drums, Marcus Wright on bass, and Antoine Lawrence on lead guitar; Lewis, Daniels, and Wright sing too. Mills and Lewis have opened for the Bar-Kays, the S.O.S. Band, Alexander O’Neal, and Big Joe Turner, and they spent time at Barry White’s workshop. The band covers gospel, R&B, jazz, blues, soft rock, and country. $10 per show.
JaySol & Sol Movement — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm
Everyone called her Jay, and after she sang, she says, people would tell her how soulful her voice sounded. So she added Sol. At Paseo Academy she joined the Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute led by Lisa Henry, and when she was 16, Henry introduced her to the 18th & Vine Jazz District; that’s when she first recorded in a studio and performed on stages. In 2017 she toured with La’Porsha Renae and sang background vocals for Howard Hewett, Shalamar’s lead singer. She calls herself a vocal producer and engineer as well as a singer/songwriter. Her newest single, “In The Middle,” came out June 5. $10 per show.
JaySol & Sol Movement tickets, 8:30 or 10 →
Monday Night Jam Session: Brad Gregory — Monday, 7 pm
Monday afternoons, Brad Gregory hosts Jazz Afternoon on KKFI, where he goes by “the Jazz Canadian”; he’s from Edmonton, Alberta. He played in the University of North Texas’s One O’Clock Lab Band, worked in New York as a jazz musician for several years, and moved to Kansas City in 2002. Since then he’s played with the Boulevard Big Band and the Molly Hammer Quintet (that’s him on saxophone on Hammer’s 2017 debut, Out of This World), and he plays tenor in the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. The featured set at 7 is his; sign up at the door and you can sit in after it. $10; AJM members, musicians, and students free.
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