<strong>JAM:</strong> October/November 2006 Issue: Feature Story

Walking into the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band studios on a Saturday morning, the activity is surprising, the energy level awfully high for a Saturday morning. Leon Brady is in the main room, rehearsing a group of middle schoolers. Brady has this quiet presence, and is able to get a desired result with a glance or a glare. He’ll sing lines to the saxophones, beat out a rhythm to the drummer, then take it back to the letter A.

There are folding chairs filled with parents. Another group of students sits by, waiting for the next band’s rehearsal to begin. During a quiet moment you can hear the sectional rehearsals in the many practice rooms – Jason Goudeau working with the trombones, Jack Ligthfoot with the trumpeters, Jill Atherton with the reeds, and Greg Richter with some rhythm players.

JAM spoke with Brady about his work with the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band.

It’s My Legacy

JAM: How and when did you start working with the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band?

Leon: It really started as a legacy. I’ve played with groups since the Air Force in 1949, toured with professional groups while I was in college at Tennessee State studying music, and ended up in Kansas City in 1957 to play in the clubs and teach in the public schools.

JAM: This was at Sumner Academy?

Leon: I was at Northeast Junior High in KCK from 1957 to 1966. Then the principal recruited me to Sumner High School. I was there until 1976. That’s when it all happened (at Sumner). We played all over Kansas and Missouri; we traveled to Texas
and to New Orleans. The Jazz Band at Sumner performed in London, England, and won the International Jazz Festival in Paris. That was the heyday. I left teaching in 1976 and opened a music store, Brady Music, at 947 Minnesota, and ran that successfully for twenty-five years. We sold instruments and gave lessons. We closed the store in 2001 to start the jazz band program. Our first year of rehearsals were in the store. After about a year we ran out of room so we moved to 1317 Central (in KCK). We spend all of our time now with the bands. It was designed at first strictly as a jazz legacy; I was going to retire and this is what I wanted to do. This is my legacy.

JAM: And it’s grown to the point where you have five bands now?

Leon: Yes. We started with one: twelve kids from two schools. Last year we served over two hundred kids from sixty-five different schools. What we thought was strictly a jazz program turned out to be so much more—a community youth program
that serves kids from all over metropolitan KC!

JAM: It’s apparent you’ve developed quite a following! How do the kids learn about you? Do you actually recruit at the schools?

Leon: We go into some of the schools. It’s amazing, now we are getting the calls. I used to have to beat the bushes. Now, just tonight I received three calls about the jazz program.

JAM: The students come from all around the Kansas City area?

Leon: Yes! We have kids from Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, Olathe, and some from KCK and KCMO. We have a trumpet player from Lansing, and a trombone player from Lawrence; we get kids from Grandview and Belton and several from the Raytown area. Last year we had five kids from Raymore-Peculiar. I think that’s the furthest now. We used to have one from Topeka, but that just lasted a semester. That was a little far.

JAM: What age groups do you work with?

Leon: We work with middle school and high school, generally,
but we have a couple of elementary school students, too. Sixth grade. Like I said, it started as a legacy, but it has grown to be a community program. The kids are from all over. It’s amazing, we’ll have a kid from Mission Hills sitting next to a kid whose family income is like seven thousand a year. Music changes everything. If you can’t play, you can have a million dollars
and they won’t want to play with you, and won’t want to bother with you. But you can be poor and be able to play, and you’ll be welcome.

JAM: It doesn’t matter where you’re from as long as you can play. It’s really more than a musical experience then, isn’t it?

Leon: That’s what our intention was, music. But it has become a family program. As a matter of fact, we have a Parent Club that is unbelievable. They have picnics for the kids; we went bowling,
ice cream socials. The students aren’t in an environment of just learning. Or, I should say they are learning, but not just music. They are learning what the social aspect is, how to respect each other, how to respect themselves. That has always been my goal.

JAM: Raising good citizens, not just good musicians.

Leon: That’s right. Because music does that! We feel we are one of the best, and unique in this country. Wynton Marsalis came in; he was going to talk to the kids for about fifteen minutes, and stayed for two and a half hours. He said that he didn’t know of any other organizations like this. Others have
come in from outside, New York and California, and said the same thing.JAM: The bands do public appearances?

Leon: We did the Blues and Jazz Festival in KCK the past two years. Last summer we performed at the Rhythm & Ribs at 18th
and Vine, and several other outdoor events. We did a recent thing at the Holiday Inn for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It’s hard to keep up. When we get a call, if it sounds like it will be good for the kids, and in an environment that I am comfortable going to with kids, then we’ll okay it.

JAM: So this will often be the first time a kid plays a solo in public?

Leon: Sure.

JAM: How do you prepare a kid to do that? It has to be intimidating.

Leon: I don’t give them the opportunity to say no! That’s the way it is. In rehearsal, on a tune like “Kansas City”, almost all of the kids will do a solo. One after another. They’ll just do a chorus or two. They find out that it’s fun, not scary. I tell them, you can’t make a mistake. You can do a two-note solo. It’s YOUR solo! You created that! It comes from your heart. As they get more experience, they learn more about chord structures, but when they start here, I just want them to play something that sounds good to them. I had a girl who started out here on clarinet; she just moved to tenor saxophone. She did a solo that blew everybody away. She had no idea what she was playing, theoretically, but it sounded good to her, and it worked. Everybody reacted; she had this look, wondered what she had
done. She took a solo based on how she felt. That’s what music is all about. That and emotion.

JAM: Do other musicians work with the students, too?

Leon: I have a great staff. Jack Lightfoot, Greg Richter, and Jason Goudeau have been with me from the beginning. Bob Ousley worked with the saxes for the first couple of years. Jill Atherton took over for him three years ago. They do the sectional rehearsals and I direct the groups. Jack and Greg also teach combo/improv classes and Jill will be teaching music theory classes soon. Steve Miller and Reginald Watkins teach piano. We have open rehearsals so I invite my buddies to come over when they have a chance. Dwight Foster was in this past Saturday. Bobby Watson comes over and recruits! Some of the
kids who graduated a couple of years ago are in his band. Kevin Cerovich just went into competition, and made the finals. He could be named the world’s best trombonist for his age group. Adam Kabak graduated a couple of years ago and now is back teaching bass for us and working with our rhythm sections.

JAM: So your graduates come back and work with the band, too, which gives them experience teaching.

Leon: That’s right. Once you go through something, if you like it you’ll want somebody else to go through it, too. Many come back, and I like them to talk to the kids.

JAM: This is reminiscent of how it was back in the day. The way musical traditions were passed down to the next generation.

Leon: It IS like it was back in the day…I’m back in the day! I’m seventy-four years old. It happens within the bands, too. The more experienced kids sometimes come in and work with the kids in the less experienced bands. I don’t have to ask them,
they just come in. That’s how we get some of our kids, they come with some other kids. And the kids will let us know who NOT to let in, too. They might be hard to get along with or something, wouldn’t fit in, might be a distraction, they might curse, they can’t do that here. They can’t wear a hat in the building, can’t have their pants hanging down. You have to look the part. When we play, we look like we play. All the kids have to be dressed—the guys wear black shoes, shined, black socks, black pants, a white shirt, and a tie.

JAM: So there’s a discipline part of this, too.

Leon: That’s right. My old-fashioned philosophy says that you play like you look. If you look sloppy, you’ll play sloppy. Some of my old attitudes are coming out!

JAM: That’s part of the mental preparation.

Leon: That’s right. I tell the kids that this isn’t just a music thing. This will prepare you to go out into the world. In other words, let’s say that you don’t want to major in music. That’s not why we’re
here. We’re not just trying to build musicians and perpetuate the music. We’re building, to use a big word, life. We’re teaching life skills. If you walked into Brady Music wearing a baseball hat, sloppy jeans and a t-shirt, and wanted a job, you had no chance. You need to respect my beliefs. When a person walks into the store, they are going to see you before they see me! You are representing me and my store. My reputation is all I have.

JAM: The organization is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit?

Leon: Yes, we’re a 501(c)3. We have a great Board of Directors who now run the organization and a thirty-member Advisory Council made up of musicians and community leaders.

JAM: So funding is essential.

Leon: We’re constantly fund-raising. The tuition that the kids pay only pays for a portion of the annual budget so that our program stays affordable. We are also raising funds for scholarships so that we can offer the program to ANY music student that’s interested. My wife, Linda, organizes the program, does the administrative work and the fund development. I do the recruiting and the teaching. I want to make sure that every child in our radius that wants to be a part of this, can. That’s what this is about.

JAM: How do people go about making a donation?

Leon: We have a Web site now (www.kcyouthjazz.
org). You can sponsor a child or make a general contribution. It’s not very expensive. It’s just a question of reaching out to people. We’ve been told that we’re the best kept secret in Kansas City. We had a recent article in the Star, and got a
lot of calls just because of that.

JAM: It seems that jazz education in general is increasing all the time. What do you think will be the result of this?

Leon: Unfortunately, I don’t agree. Funding for music education as a whole is continually decreasing. The majority of public and private schools are cutting their music budgets. We’ve found that kids are still willing to work hard given the opportunity. That’s why our program has become so important. KC Youth Jazz programs give students the opportunity to learn music education if there’s no band program at their school, to learn jazz if there’s no jazz band, or to practice their skills even if they’re coming from a strong jazz background. We’re not taking students away from public school band programs, we’re making them stronger. Kids who participate in our programs become leaders in their
school programs; they’re more confident players. We need to continue to find the money to pay for music programs in the schools. There are a lot of very influential people—judges, doctors, business leaders—who have had musical education.
Even if they didn’t major in music or choose it as a career, they credit music for many things. It affects so many people. I tell my kids that I’m not here necessarily to teach music for a career. Music teaches other important things: self-respect, pride,
discipline. I don’t know what other subject teaches as much about discipline as music. I just want any kid who wants to be a part of a music organization to have the opportunity to do it. And I don’t want KC Youth Jazz to die when I die. I want it to perpetuate. I tell them, if you mess it up, I’m coming back!
—Interview taken and transcribed by Roger Atkinson.






	Search our site:		Walking into the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band studios on a Saturday morning, the activity is surprising, the energy level awfully high for a Saturday morning. Leon Brady is in the main room, rehearsing a group of middle schoolers. Brady has this quiet presence, and is able to get a desired result with a glance or a glare. He’ll sing lines to the saxophones, beat out a rhythm to the drummer, then take it back to the letter A. There are folding chairs filled with parents. Another group of students sits by, waiting for the next band’s rehearsal to begin. During a quiet moment you can hear the sectional rehearsals in the many practice rooms – Jason Goudeau working with the trombones, Jack Ligthfoot with the trumpeters, Jill Atherton with the reeds, and Greg Richter with some rhythm players. JAM spoke with Brady about his work with the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band. It’s My Legacy JAM: How and when did you start working with the Kansas City Youth Jazz Band? Leon: It really started as a legacy. I’ve played with groups since the Air Force in 1949, toured with professional groups while I was in college at Tennessee State studying music, and ended up in Kansas City in 1957 to play in the clubs and teach in the public schools. JAM: This was at Sumner Academy? Leon: I was at Northeast Junior High in KCK from 1957 to 1966. Then the principal recruited me to Sumner High School. I was there until 1976. That’s when it all happened (at Sumner). We played all over Kansas and Missouri; we traveled to Texas and to New Orleans. The Jazz Band at Sumner performed in London, England, and won the International Jazz Festival in Paris. That was the heyday. I left teaching in 1976 and opened a music store, Brady Music, at 947 Minnesota, and ran that successfully for twenty-five years. We sold instruments and gave lessons. We closed the store in 2001 to start the jazz band program. Our first year of rehearsals were in the store. After about a year we ran out of room so we moved to 1317 Central (in KCK). We spend all of our time now with the bands. It was designed at first strictly as a jazz legacy; I was going to retire and this is what I wanted to do. This is my legacy. JAM: And it’s grown to the point where you have five bands now? Leon: Yes. We started with one: twelve kids from two schools. Last year we served over two hundred kids from sixty-five different schools. What we thought was strictly a jazz program turned out to be so much more—a community youth program that serves kids from all over metropolitan KC! JAM: It’s apparent you’ve developed quite a following! How do the kids learn about you? Do you actually recruit at the schools? Leon: We go into some of the schools. It’s amazing, now we are getting the calls. I used to have to beat the bushes. Now, just tonight I received three calls about the jazz program. JAM: The students come from all around the Kansas City area? Leon: Yes! We have kids from Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, Olathe, and some from KCK and KCMO. We have a trumpet player from Lansing, and a trombone player from Lawrence; we get kids from Grandview and Belton and several from the Raytown area. Last year we had five kids from Raymore-Peculiar. I think that’s the furthest now. We used to have one from Topeka, but that just lasted a semester. That was a little far. JAM: What age groups do you work with? Leon: We work with middle school and high school, generally, but we have a couple of elementary school students, too. Sixth grade. Like I said, it started as a legacy, but it has grown to be a community program. The kids are from all over. It’s amazing, we’ll have a kid from Mission Hills sitting next to a kid whose family income is like seven thousand a year. Music changes everything. If you can’t play, you can have a million dollars and they won’t want to play with you, and won’t want to bother with you. But you can be poor and be able to play, and you’ll be welcome. JAM: It doesn’t matter where you’re from as long as you can play. It’s really more than a musical experience then, isn’t it? Leon: That’s what our intention was, music. But it has become a family program. As a matter of fact, we have a Parent Club that is unbelievable. They have picnics for the kids; we went bowling, ice cream socials. The students aren’t in an environment of just learning. Or, I should say they are learning, but not just music. They are learning what the social aspect is, how to respect each other, how to respect themselves. That has always been my goal. JAM: Raising good citizens, not just good musicians. Leon: That’s right. Because music does that! We feel we are one of the best, and unique in this country. Wynton Marsalis came in; he was going to talk to the kids for about fifteen minutes, and stayed for two and a half hours. He said that he didn’t know of any other organizations like this. Others have come in from outside, New York and California, and said the same thing.JAM: The bands do public appearances? Leon: We did the Blues and Jazz Festival in KCK the past two years. Last summer we performed at the Rhythm & Ribs at 18th and Vine, and several other outdoor events. We did a recent thing at the Holiday Inn for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It’s hard to keep up. When we get a call, if it sounds like it will be good for the kids, and in an environment that I am comfortable going to with kids, then we’ll okay it. JAM: So this will often be the first time a kid plays a solo in public? Leon: Sure. JAM: How do you prepare a kid to do that? It has to be intimidating. Leon: I don’t give them the opportunity to say no! That’s the way it is. In rehearsal, on a tune like “Kansas City”, almost all of the kids will do a solo. One after another. They’ll just do a chorus or two. They find out that it’s fun, not scary. I tell them, you can’t make a mistake. You can do a two-note solo. It’s YOUR solo! You created that! It comes from your heart. As they get more experience, they learn more about chord structures, but when they start here, I just want them to play something that sounds good to them. I had a girl who started out here on clarinet; she just moved to tenor saxophone. She did a solo that blew everybody away. She had no idea what she was playing, theoretically, but it sounded good to her, and it worked. Everybody reacted; she had this look, wondered what she had done. She took a solo based on how she felt. That’s what music is all about. That and emotion. JAM: Do other musicians work with the students, too? Leon: I have a great staff. Jack Lightfoot, Greg Richter, and Jason Goudeau have been with me from the beginning. Bob Ousley worked with the saxes for the first couple of years. Jill Atherton took over for him three years ago. They do the sectional rehearsals and I direct the groups. Jack and Greg also teach combo/improv classes and Jill will be teaching music theory classes soon. Steve Miller and Reginald Watkins teach piano. We have open rehearsals so I invite my buddies to come over when they have a chance. Dwight Foster was in this past Saturday. Bobby Watson comes over and recruits! Some of the kids who graduated a couple of years ago are in his band. Kevin Cerovich just went into competition, and made the finals. He could be named the world’s best trombonist for his age group. Adam Kabak graduated a couple of years ago and now is back teaching bass for us and working with our rhythm sections. JAM: So your graduates come back and work with the band, too, which gives them experience teaching. Leon: That’s right. Once you go through something, if you like it you’ll want somebody else to go through it, too. Many come back, and I like them to talk to the kids. JAM: This is reminiscent of how it was back in the day. The way musical traditions were passed down to the next generation. Leon: It IS like it was back in the day…I’m back in the day! I’m seventy-four years old. It happens within the bands, too. The more experienced kids sometimes come in and work with the kids in the less experienced bands. I don’t have to ask them, they just come in. That’s how we get some of our kids, they come with some other kids. And the kids will let us know who NOT to let in, too. They might be hard to get along with or something, wouldn’t fit in, might be a distraction, they might curse, they can’t do that here. They can’t wear a hat in the building, can’t have their pants hanging down. You have to look the part. When we play, we look like we play. All the kids have to be dressed—the guys wear black shoes, shined, black socks, black pants, a white shirt, and a tie. JAM: So there’s a discipline part of this, too. Leon: That’s right. My old-fashioned philosophy says that you play like you look. If you look sloppy, you’ll play sloppy. Some of my old attitudes are coming out! JAM: That’s part of the mental preparation. Leon: That’s right. I tell the kids that this isn’t just a music thing. This will prepare you to go out into the world. In other words, let’s say that you don’t want to major in music. That’s not why we’re here. We’re not just trying to build musicians and perpetuate the music. We’re building, to use a big word, life. We’re teaching life skills. If you walked into Brady Music wearing a baseball hat, sloppy jeans and a t-shirt, and wanted a job, you had no chance. You need to respect my beliefs. When a person walks into the store, they are going to see you before they see me! You are representing me and my store. My reputation is all I have. JAM: The organization is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit? Leon: Yes, we’re a 501(c)3. We have a great Board of Directors who now run the organization and a thirty-member Advisory Council made up of musicians and community leaders. JAM: So funding is essential. Leon: We’re constantly fund-raising. The tuition that the kids pay only pays for a portion of the annual budget so that our program stays affordable. We are also raising funds for scholarships so that we can offer the program to ANY music student that’s interested. My wife, Linda, organizes the program, does the administrative work and the fund development. I do the recruiting and the teaching. I want to make sure that every child in our radius that wants to be a part of this, can. That’s what this is about. JAM: How do people go about making a donation? Leon: We have a Web site now (www.kcyouthjazz. org). You can sponsor a child or make a general contribution. It’s not very expensive. It’s just a question of reaching out to people. We’ve been told that we’re the best kept secret in Kansas City. We had a recent article in the Star, and got a lot of calls just because of that. JAM: It seems that jazz education in general is increasing all the time. What do you think will be the result of this? Leon: Unfortunately, I don’t agree. Funding for music education as a whole is continually decreasing. The majority of public and private schools are cutting their music budgets. We’ve found that kids are still willing to work hard given the opportunity. That’s why our program has become so important. KC Youth Jazz programs give students the opportunity to learn music education if there’s no band program at their school, to learn jazz if there’s no jazz band, or to practice their skills even if they’re coming from a strong jazz background. We’re not taking students away from public school band programs, we’re making them stronger. Kids who participate in our programs become leaders in their school programs; they’re more confident players. We need to continue to find the money to pay for music programs in the schools. There are a lot of very influential people—judges, doctors, business leaders—who have had musical education. Even if they didn’t major in music or choose it as a career, they credit music for many things. It affects so many people. I tell my kids that I’m not here necessarily to teach music for a career. Music teaches other important things: self-respect, pride, discipline. I don’t know what other subject teaches as much about discipline as music. I just want any kid who wants to be a part of a music organization to have the opportunity to do it. And I don’t want KC Youth Jazz to die when I die. I want it to perpetuate. I tell them, if you mess it up, I’m coming back! —Interview taken and transcribed by Roger Atkinson. RETURN TO DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2006. All rights reserved.