Show & Shed Is Tomorrow — and Jazz Academy Summer Camp Is Filling Now
Saturday at the American Jazz Museum — a one-day jazz workshop, $25 with lunch included, ending in a free Blue Room concert at 3 PM. Plus the KC Jazz Academy Summer Camp, July 13–17 at the Gem.
Show & Shed Is Tomorrow
Saturday, June 6 · 9 AM–5 PM · American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St
Tomorrow, the American Jazz Museum hands the building over to young musicians. And this summer, that’s just the beginning — two programs, one day apart in spirit and five weeks apart on the calendar, give student musicians a way into the music that lives at 18th & Vine.
Here’s everything you (or the young musician in your life) need to know.
Show & Shed Music Workshop — Tomorrow, June 6
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Show & Shed is a one-day instrumental music workshop and masterclass produced by the Comprehensive Arts Institute — a full day of jazz education, improvisation, and performance inside the American Jazz Museum.
Students spend the day in breakout sessions with six working Kansas City jazz artists: James Ward, Angela Ward, Jaylen Ward, Eddie Moore, Jason Goudeou, and Matt Baldwin. Then comes the payoff every musician understands — at 3 PM, the students take the Blue Room stage themselves for the closing concert.
The day at a glance:
8–9 AM — Registration in the Blue Room
9 AM — Warm-up performance with the clinicians
10 AM–12 PM — Breakout sessions
12–1 PM — Lunch (provided)
1–3 PM — Breakout sessions
3–5 PM — Closing concert in the Blue Room
Cost: $25 for the full day, lunch included Where: American Jazz Museum, 1616 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108
Walk-ins are welcome Saturday morning — but registering ahead at showandshed.comhelps the organizers plan the day.
The Closing Concert Is Free — and Open to Everyone
You don’t need an instrument to be part of Show & Shed. The closing concert, 3–5 PM in the Blue Room, is free and open to the public — an afternoon of live jazz played by the students who spent all day building it, alongside the artists who taught them.
And if you’re already at 18th & Vine on Saturday, stay for the nightcap: Mikole Kaar & Kaar Club Band headline the Blue Room at 8:30 and 10 PM.
KC Jazz Academy Summer Instrumental Combo Camp — July 13–17
Last summer’s Kansas City Jazz Academy campers and faculty at the Gem Theater.
If tomorrow lights a spark, here’s the deep dive. The Kansas City Jazz Academy’s flagship summer program is a week-long immersion for high school and advanced middle school instrumentalists — style, history, theory, ear training, repertoire, and musicianship, taught by professional artist-educators, with clinics and masterclasses from national and international jazz educators. The week closes with a showcase performance on Friday afternoon.
Auditions: Sunday, July 12, 1–3 PM
Camp: Monday, July 13 – Friday, July 17, 9 AM–4 PM daily
Showcase: Friday, July 17, 2:30–4 PM
Venue: The Gem Theater, 1615 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108
Cost: $250 · Scholarships available on a first-come, first-served basis via the registration page
And there’s no mystery about the audition. Every instrument prepares the same two songs — Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island and Thelonious Monk’s Blue Monk — and the Academy’s new website has everything a student needs to walk in ready: requirements by instrument, backing tracks to practice with, and printable lead sheets in your key. While you’re there, meet the faculty and explore the Academy’s year-round combos — the new kcjazzacademy.org is the home for all of it.
Register for Summer Camp on Eventbrite →
One More Thing
The musicians teaching tomorrow don’t just teach. The James Ward Band hosts the Monday Night Jam Session at the Blue Room on Monday, June 8 at 7 PM — free, as always, with the bandstand open after the featured set. Show & Shed students: consider that your homework.
Live jazz — and the next generation of it — at 18th & Vine, every week.