JAM: August/September 2003 Issue: Folly Jazz News

by Doug Tatum

The Folly Jazz Series for 2003-2004

The opening concert of the 2003-2004 Folly Jazz Series will feature The Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Saturday, October 4. This band has been a New Orleans institution for over five decades and is the living tradition of authentic New Orleans Jazz. As described in the Los Angeles Times, "The traditional brand of New Orleans jazz championed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has to be the purest musical expression of the 'melting pot' idea." (Visit their website at www.preservationhall.com)

Jane Bunnett

Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana will appear on Saturday, November 1. Twenty years after her first trip to Cuba, saxophonist/flutist Jane Bunnett's creative energies are inextricably linked to Afro-Cuban music. For years, she has made regular trips to Cuba to research the music and to hear the nation's best jazz and folkloric musicians. Her 2002 CD, Cuban Odyssey (Blue Note) received rave reviews in Down Beat and JazzTimes, was nominated for a Grammy, and just a few weeks ago, it received the Jazz Journalists Association Award for "Best Latin-Jazz Album of the Year." Bunnett's band is a fiery sextet that features some of Cuba's finest jazz musicians. This concert should prove to be one of the highlights of the season. (Website: www.janebunnett.com)

Kansas City's own jazz legend, Jay McShann will again appear at the Folly on Saturday, December 13. Jay was born on January 12, 1916. (Several references list the year 1909, but this is incorrect!) Originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, he arrived in KC in 1937 after touring the Southwest with a variety of bands. In 1938, he led his own small band and soon was able to expand his group to a big band. Not too long after, an 18-year-old alto saxophonist named Charlie Parker joined the band and they were soon making news as a national musical sensation. Today, Jay remains busy, continuing to perform worldwide as one of the finest jazz/blues stylists of all time. The Folly is indeed honored to once again have the opportunity to present Jay McShann.

On Friday, January 23, this season's "Folly Jazz Spotlight" pick for the Kansas City premiere of a rising new artist will feature the first male in that designated slot, singer-pianist-composer Peter Cincotti (pronounced "Sin-kottey"). He's only nineteen, and yet he has played at the White House and performed a world premiere of a Steven Sondheim piece at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the youngest jazz artist to perform in the prestigious Oak Room at New York City's Algonquin Hotel, the same venue that introduced Harry Connick Jr., John Pizzarelli, Jane Monheit and Diana Krall to the city. His debut CD, Peter Cincotti, (Concord Records) was released last March to critical acclaim, and he has already made several appearances on the "Today Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

The one and only Count Basie Orchestra will return to the Folly on Friday, February 27. Without a doubt, this band is truly an American institution. Though Count Basie passed away in 1984, his orchestra continues its great and swinging tradition.

Back by popular demand following her electrifying performance last November, singer Rene' Marie will once again appear on the Folly stage on Saturday, April 17. As she so artfully demonstrated, she is a true, improvising jazz singer. As I wrote in this column last December, I am confident that it is only a matter of time and exposure before Rene' Marie is recognized as one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. (Yes, I really think she is that good!) Her third CD on the MaxJazz label, Live at Jazz Standard (a New York club date), was released to critical acclaim. (Website: www.renemarie.com)

Closing out the season will be the Ramsey Lewis Trio, on Saturday, May 8. Born in 1935, Ramsey Lewis is a native Chicagoan who represents the great diversity of music for which that city is noted. For most of his career, Lewis has blurred the boundary between bop-oriented jazz and popular music. Most of his recordings (particularly by the mid-'60s) were very accessible and attracted a large crossover audience. By 1965, he was one of the nation's most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts with "The In Crowd," "Hang On Sloopy" and "Wade In The Water." He has three Grammy Awards and seven gold records to his credit. In recent years, Ramsey has returned to his jazz-centered roots while still knowing how to put on a great show. (Website: www.ramseylewis.com)

All concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. and most are preceded by "Jazz Talk" at 7:00. For more information about the Folly Jazz Series or to request a brochure, please call the Folly Theater at 816-474-4444. And don't forget, members of the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors receive discounts.

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Harold Ashby 1925 - 2003

In closing, I would like to offer a few remarks regarding the passing of a great Kansas City musician, saxophonist Harold Ashby. Harold passed away in New York City on June 13 following complications from a heart attack. The last performance of his career was at the Folly Theater on September 14, 2002. On that occasion he appeared as a special guest soloist with Art Baron and the Duke's Men.

Born in Kansas City in 1925, Harold was a direct link to a succession of great Kansas City tenor players that included Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Following a period in the 1950s when he worked in Chicago blues bands, Ashby was a member of Duke Ellington's legendary saxophone section during the '60s and '70s.

About ten years ago, out of the blue, Harold walked in off the street into the Folly Theater to introduce himself to me. I knew immediately who he was, because I had the very good fortune to hear him perform with the Duke Ellington Orchestra on five separate occasions while Duke was alive. So vivid are my memories of those performances, I tell people that I carry those concerts around with me. Harold and I slowly developed what may best be described as a quirky friendship. Anytime he would be in town on family business, he would drop in on me and we would usually go to lunch. He was a man of few words, and often displayed a crusty exterior as a "lone wolf" musician, but Harold was really a generous, gentle soul. I would ask questions to draw stories out of him about his time with Duke, and he would inevitably end every story with the phrase, "Man, it was somethin' else."

Regarding his musical abilities, it is true that Harold was slowing down in his later years, and no, he certainly didn't sound his best at his very last gig on the Folly stage. Fortunately, his musical legacy remains in the recordings he left behind. Harold's featured solo on "Thanks for the Beautiful Land of the Delta" from Ellington's "New Orleans Suite" has been described as "among the greatest ever created on the tenor saxophone in the history of Ellingtonia." Check it out. It's all in the music.

Rest in peace, Ash. You were somethin' else.

Doug Tatum is the Executive Director of the Folly Theater.