Nordstrom: Students overlook Kansas City jazz

By Danny Nordstrom

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Ben Kolberg, Montgomery, Ala., senior, was in pain. During a set break at the Dr. Lonnie Smith concert at the Blue Room in Kansas City, Mo., Kolber was complaining that his face hurt because he had been smiling so much.

“I think jazz, more than a lot of other music, can be emotion-filled,” he said. “Watching these masters of jazz from three different generations collaborate and make musical connections is just really cool.”

The Kansas City area has an abundance of jazz history and entertainment opportunities. Students should take advantage of the many exciting musical opportunities that are easily accessible in the Kansas City area and give jazz a try.

Kolber traveled to Kansas City Monday night to witness jazz legend Dr. Lonnie Smith perform at the American Jazz Museum’s Blue Room. Michael Bruchis, Montgomery, Ala., senior, also attended the Dr. Lonnie Smith Show.

“Kansas City is pretty incredible,” Bruchis said. “Jazz pretty much started in Kansas City and New Orleans. It’s awesome seeing jazz bands in Kansas City because they’re always incredibly excited to play where it all started.”

The group of KU students was substantially younger than the mostly over-40 crowd.

“I think a lot of people probably think of it as music of their parents’ generation,” said Kevin Whitehead, American Studies lecturer. “They don’t try to deal with it in the context of contemporary music.”

Whitehead has written several books about jazz and is a jazz music critic for NPR and the site emusic.com. He said that although jazz music was not mainstream, elements of popular music could be found in the genre consistently.

“When you have improvised content, it keeps itself up to date,” he said. “It’s very susceptible to modern influences. There’s always a way of reflecting popular music into jazz even though it might not come across as popular music.”

Whitehead cited the incorporation of hip-hop elements into current jazz music as a perfect example.

Bruchis doesn’t think enough students are taking advantage of the many opportunities the Kansas City area has to offer, partly because many students simply haven’t been introduced to the jazz culture.

Kober agreed with Bruchis that not enough young people were into jazz but said he had noticed a change since he had been at the University.

“I feel like a lot more young people are getting into jazz,” he said. “The more people I meet, the more people that like it. It’s by no means underground, but I feel like jazz can be a very complicated art. It’s encouraging to see more young people getting into jazz.”

— Nordstrom is a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sophomore in journalism and economics.

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