This Weekend at the Blue Room
October 16–19, 2026
The Musicology Band plays its first Blue Room show Friday at Indigo Hour, with the ’80s-to-2000s funk, R&B, and Motown that Kansas City Parks billed as a “masterclass” in April. That night pianist Chris Lewis leads Sound on Sound KC in its first Blue Room date since July. The band’s singer, Kelley Gant, also whistles: she placed third in two categories at an international whistling competition in Los Angeles. Saturday, Wichita trumpeter Josué Estrada plays his first shows here with what he calls “psychedelic Chicano jazz.” Monday’s jam host is Levi Birks, a UMKC drummer who received a 2026 Truman Foundation scholarship and was the jam’s featured artist in August.
This Weekend’s Lineup
Friday, October 16
Indigo Hour: The Musicology Band — 5:30 pm ($5; AJM members free)
Sound on Sound KC — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)
Saturday, October 17
Josué Estrada Band — 8:30 pm & 10 pm ($10 per show)
Monday, October 19
Monday Night Jam Session: Levi Birks — 7 pm ($10; AJM members, musicians & students free)
Indigo Hour: The Musicology Band — Friday, 5:30 pm
Niome was born in Hawaii to a Navy veteran and started singing in church. After more than 30 years of singing at arenas, festivals, and theaters, and on a cruise ship, she founded The Musicology Band, a party band built on ’80s-to-2000s funk, R&B, pop, rock, Motown, and blues. Its live covers include “Ain’t Nobody,” “Jungle Love,” and “Play That Funky Music.” Niome also sings lead with Brass Rewind, and the band keeps a monthly late-night Friday series at the Phoenix called Funkdafied. $5; AJM members free.
Catch The Musicology Band at 5:30 →
Sound on Sound KC — Friday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm
Kelley Gant, the band’s singer, picked up whistling from her grandfather in Maize, Kansas, and organist Everette DeVan encouraged her to try it on a gig. At the Masters of Musical Whistling International Festival and Competition in Los Angeles, she whistled Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite.” The band’s CD, Spirits High, includes Keith Jarrett’s “Questar.” Its flutist, Jazzy Jazz Miyagi, was a soloist at the Kauffman Center’s grand opening, and guitarist Jeff Shirley played fretless bass, sitar, and lap steel himself on his 2022 album, Blue Gold. $10 per show.
Get Friday seats for Sound on Sound KC →
Josué Estrada Band — Saturday, 8:30 pm & 10 pm
Josué Estrada is a first-generation Mexican American trumpeter from Wichita who writes some of his lyrics in Spanish. He got to the trumpet in sixth grade, when a saxophone reed gave him no sound and the teacher told him to try a trumpet mouthpiece instead. He played on Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy’s 2018 album, GNOSIS, and started recording his own music in his bedroom during the pandemic. Since forming his band in 2022 he’s played Raleigh, Charlotte, and Somewhere Fest 2026 in downtown Wichita. On a bandstand, he told KMUW, “I try to think as little as possible and feel as much as possible.” $10 per show.
Monday Night Jam Session: Levi Birks — Monday, 7 pm
Levi Birks is a drummer from Olathe who studies jazz at the UMKC Conservatory, where he received the Truman Foundation’s 2026 Sherman & Irene Dreiseszun Scholarship. In 2023 he played drums in the Kansas City Area Youth Jazz fellowship’s Watson Ensemble, named for Bobby Watson. His first trip abroad, in the summer of 2025, was twelve days at a conservatory in Metz, France, and it ended in a concert for Mayor Quinton Lucas, who was there to make Kansas City and Metz sister cities. Monday he plays the featured set at 7; after that, anyone who signed up at the door can sit in. $10; AJM members, musicians, and students free.
The Musicology Band and Sound on Sound KC Friday, the Josué Estrada Band Saturday, and Levi Birks 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