Listen In Club
Thursday, October 22, 2026 · 12–1 PM · KC Jazz Incubator, American Jazz Museum
The American Jazz Museum has started a listening club. The Listen In Club meets once a month for an hour of active listening: the room stays quiet while the records play, and in between the group talks through the music and its historical and social context. Houston Gonzales, the museum’s education programs manager, leads the listening and the discussion. The first session is Thursday, October 22, at noon in the KC Jazz Incubator, and October’s topic is how jazz musicians interact musically.
Each month comes with a list of records, and it works like a book club’s reading list. The hour probably won’t get to all of them. Listen to a few beforehand if you can, but come either way.
October’s six
Houston built October’s list around birthdays. Five of the six records feature a musician born in October.
Groovin’ High, Dizzy Gillespie, recorded 1945–1947. Gillespie, born October 21, 1917, cut the title track with Charlie Parker on February 28, 1945.
Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1, Thelonious Monk, recorded 1947–1948. Monk was born October 10, 1917. The record holds his own first recording of ’Round Midnight, made November 21, 1947.
The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, recorded 1953–1955. Norman Granz invited Tatum, born October 13, into the studio, started the tape, and let him play whatever he wanted. The first session was December 28, 1953.
Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, recorded 1956. Two quintet sessions that year, in May and October, produced four Prestige albums, and this is one of them.
Unity, Larry Young, recorded 1965. Young was born October 7, 1940. The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the record a crown.
This One’s for Blanton!, Duke Ellington and Ray Brown, recorded 1972. The title honors Jimmy Blanton, Ellington’s bassist, who died in 1942 at 23.
Ray Brown was born October 13, 1926, Tatum’s birthday, and October 13, 2026, is his centennial. He plays bass on the 1946 Groovin’ High sessions and, 26 years later, on the duets with Ellington.
The month’s playlist, Festive Jazz for October, is on Spotify.
Listen to Festive Jazz for October →
The details
Thursday, October 22, 2026 · 12–1 PM KC Jazz Incubator, American Jazz Museum · 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Check in at the info desk, then walk through the exhibit entrance to the KC Jazz Incubator. Free for American Jazz Museum members; everyone else with museum admission.
Each month’s topic and list get their own page on the museum’s website.
American Jazz Museum · 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108 americanjazzmuseum.org
a room that stays quiet while the records play sounds so nice. ray brown on groovin' high in 1946 and then with ellington 26 years later, i did not know that