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All Blogs → Black History Month 2019 → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Kansas City Jazz- Thomas J. Pendergast

Kansas City Jazz- Thomas J. Pendergast

Blog Name:Black History Month 2019

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 8, 2019

February 8, 2019- Today's Kansas City Jazz Topic: Thomas J. Pendergast
 
At first glance, Kansas City seems an unlikely location for the development of a unique style of jazz. It happened because of a wide open atmosphere that featured all types of entertainment and fostered every kind of vice and corruption imaginable. All of it due to the leader of an all-powerful democratic political machine-Thomas J. Pendergast.

Pendergast rose to power by 1911 when he took over for his brother who had been in charge before him. He immediately formed alliances with powerful figures within the county and set up several legitimate businesses including the T.J. Pendergast Wholesale Liquor Company, The Ready-Mix Concrete Company and the purchase of the Jefferson Hotel in downtown Kansas City.

He also gained control over the entire city government including politicians, law enforcement and judges. Under his control numerous nightspots opened throughout the city all run by gangsters on the Pendergast payroll.

When prohibition came into law it was ignored by Pendergast and his associates. The Pendergast Wholesale Liquor Company was unaffected as the bootleg alcohol flowed freely. This helped establish over one hundred entertainment venues of all types.   This created lots of jobs for musicians and they flocked to Kansas City to take advantage of the opportunity.

To hide much of this illegal activity Pendergast presented a different face to the average Kansas Citian by creating programs that fed the poor and helped the community.  He created a public works program that built many buildings and highways and put many people to work.  At a result his Ready Mix Concrete Company prospered.

When the stock market crashed in 1929 it didn’t have much of an effect on the nightlife scene in K.C. either. Pendergast saw to it that things carried on as normal. This drew even more musicians to town which enhanced the local jazz scene immeasurably. 

To maintain this type of power, Pendergast’s Kansas City became one of the major crime centers of the United States including the Union Station Massacre in 1933 and the Bloody Election of 1934.
  
The machine was finally broken up in 1939 when Pendergast was indicted for income tax evasion. It was the end of the last great political machine in the U.S. and the beginning of the end of one of the most important jazz centers of all time.
All Blogs → Black History Month 2019 → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Kansas City Jazz- Territory Bands

Kansas City Jazz- Territory Bands

Blog Name:Black History Month 2019

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 6, 2019

February 6, 2019- Today's Kansas City Jazz Topic: Territory Bands
 
During the 1920s, while Bennie Moten and George E. Lee reigned supreme in Kansas City there were more than 100 bands working throughout the mid-western territories.

Each band was associated with a larger city and had staked out their territory within that particular region and protected their turf very seriously.  If you wanted to play in another band’s territory you had to get permission from the home band to do so.  

For example, if Bennie Moten wanted to play in Oklahoma City he had to get permission from the Oklahoma City Blue Devils.

This led to many battles of bands that featured the visiting band taking on the home team. It was a gunslinger mentality with both bands shooting it out to establish superiority and build reputation. Usually the band with the best arrangements and the best soloists were the winners.

The territory ranged from Minnesota and the Dakota’s to the North, south to Texas, East to Denver and West to St. Louis.
They traveled by bus and car and played a variety of roadhouses, hotels, outdoor amusement parks and local halls and lodges.
It was rough conditions and low pay.   The bands usually had a commonwealth set up where everyone shared the profits equally.  
They played night after night in very high pressure situations leading to the development of many great jazz soloists.  

Most of these bands never recorded and the few that did only recorded one or two records for small independent companies.
Some of the important bands included:  Gene Coy’s Happy Black Aces, Boots and His Buddies, The Jeter-Pillars Plantation Orchestra, Alphonso Trent, Art Bronson’s Bostonians, Jesse Stone and His Blues Serenaders, T Holder’s Clouds of Joy, Zach Whytes Chocolate Beau Brummels, The St. Louis Crackerjacks and the most legendary and feared of all;  The Oklahoma City Blue Devils.

It all came to a halt in 1929 when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.  The financial hardship made it impossible for the bands to continue to travel.
Since Kansas City was right in the middle of the territories and since Kansas City had plenty of work for musicians, many of the leaders and sidemen descended on the local scene adding to an already vibrant atmosphere.

The membership roles of Local 627, the black musician’s union, swelled from 87 members in 1927 to 347 by 1930.
With so many seasoned musicians in town, the stage was set for a musical explosion unlike anything before or since.

All Blogs → Home Page News → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → The Mission Bay Preservationists go to Japan in 2019!

The Mission Bay Preservationists go to Japan in 2019!

Blog Name:Home Page News

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 5, 2019

The Mission Bay Preservationists, from Mission Bay High School, are known as one of the finest traditional youth jazz bands in the country and have played prestigious gigs like Preservation Hall, WWOZ Radio, The Old U.S. Mint Performance Hall in New Orleans, The House of Blues and here at the KSDS, Jazz 88.3 studios. In April of 2019 they will be headed back to Yokohoma, Japan to perform and are raising money for their trip. The Japanese Friendship Concert Series takes place at Balboa Park's Japanese Friendship Garden and is held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month (through April). All monies raised will go towards travel and accommodations for the trip. Click here to support them!
All Blogs → Black History Month 2019 → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Kansas City Jazz- George E. Lee

Kansas City Jazz- George E. Lee

Blog Name:Black History Month 2019

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 5, 2019

February 5, 2019- Today's Kansas City Jazz Topic: George E. Lee
 
George E. Lee was the chief rival to Bennie Moten for the top spot of the Kansas City Jazz scene of the 1920s. Lee was born in Boonville, Missouri but moved to Kansas City with his family as a small child. He learned music at an early age and came from a long line of musicians including his father who led a string band in which young George played while in grade school.

During World War 1, he served in the Army and entertained the troops in France. He played several instruments and sang.
After his discharge in 1919 he came back to Kansas City and formed a Quartet with his sister Julia Lee. It was billed as the George E. Lee Singing Novelty Orchestra.

Lee had a great stage presence and much charisma but didn’t have the organizational skills as Moten and had a difficult time keeping his talented sidemen.
  
In the early twenties Moten and Lee were both competing to be the top band in town but in 1922 Moten was able to raid the Lee band and take his best players.
Lee was a very tough taskmaster that didn’t treat his musicians well. He was overbearing and often levied fines to make his point.
Moten was much more generous to his musicians and the Lee sidemen were glad to leave when they got the chance.
Just like Moten, Lee helped establish a Kansas City style that featured a stomp down blues approach that was popular with local audiences.

Lee only got the opportunity to record 8 songs during his career, two in 1927 for the small local Meritt label and 4 more for Brunswick in 1929.  One tune in particular, Ruff Scufflin, gives us an  idea of what the band sounded like at it’s best.

By the time Lee recorded, Moten already had a national reputation.

Lee’s difficult personality cost him what was probably his finest band in 1932 when several of the men defected, joining the new band of Thamon Hayes.   Hayes took Herman Walder, Baby Lovett and Jesse Stone and combined them with Harlan Leonard, Booker Washington and Woodie Walder who were all recently fired by Moten.
Hayes was determined to put together a band that would destroy Moten so they rehearsed secretly in Hayes basement waiting for the chance to enact their revenge.  
At the Musician’s Ball in 1932 they ambushed an un-expecting Moten and humiliated him.

This drove Moten to make more changes in his band and in 1933 after being rivals for years, Moten and Lee teamed up and formed the Bennie Moten-George E. Lee Orchestra which stayed together for a few months. From 1935 to the end of the decade Lee kept a band going with minor success.  In 1937 he played an extended engagement at Musser’s Tavern in the Missouri Ozarks.   A young Charlie Parker played with Lee at Musser’s where he practiced intensively and returned to Kansas City a force to be reckoned with.

In 1941 Lee retired from the music business and managed a tavern in Detroit.  By the late forties he retired to San Diego where he lived out the rest of his life passing away in 1959. His sister Julia became a big star in Kansas City during the forties and fifties and will be profiled later this month.
All Blogs → Home Page News → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Gregory Porter @ Balboa Theatre

Gregory Porter @ Balboa Theatre

Blog Name:Home Page News

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 4, 2019

Jazz 88.3 is proud to support San Diego Theatres as they present multi-Grammy award winning jazz vocalist, Gregory Porter, THIS Sunday, (7PM) at Balboa Theatre. He will perform songs with his outstanding band, from his highly acclaimed five albums. Raised in California, Porter’s mother was a minister, and he cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound, as well as his mother’s Nat King Cole record collection, as fundamental influences on his own sound. Porter began singing in small jazz clubs in San Diego while attending San Diego State University on a football scholarship, where he played outside linebacker. Eventually it was music that Porter chose to pursue full-time at the encouragement of local musicians including his mentor Kamau Kenyatta. For more information, or to purchase tickets, click here! 

All Blogs → Black History Month 2019 → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Kansas City Jazz- Bennie Moten

Kansas City Jazz- Bennie Moten

Blog Name:Black History Month 2019

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 4, 2019

February 4, 2019- Today's Kansas City Jazz Topic: Bennie Moten
 
Bennie Moten was the first important jazz figure in Kansas City. He first appeared on the scene
in 1918 and by 1922 was one of two bands that dominated the local scene. The other was the
band of George E. Lee. In 1922 Moten raided the Lee band and took his best players. He also
formed a relationship with local music publisher Winston Holmes. Holmes also distributed race
records and arranged for OKEH talent scout and A and R man Ralph Peer to hear the group.

This led to a recording contract with OKEH records beginning in 1923. Moten decided to call
the band Bennie Moten and His Kansas City Orchesrta. At the time the band had a distinct
New Orleans flavor but in 1924 he adds saxophonist Harlan Leonard, expands to 8 pieces and
begins moving away from the New Orleans sound and creating a Kansas City style.

In 1925 Peer leaves OKEH for Victor and takes Moten with him. Victor was a major label with
major distribution giving Moten a national reputation.

In 1927 he does a double bill with Fletcher Henderson at Paseo Hall in Kansas City and aspires
to sound like the Henderson band. He enlarges to 11 adding Jack Washington and Ed Lewis.
In December he takes the band on a 9 month east coast tour further establishing their national
reputation.

In 1929 Moten’s old nemesis George E. Lee beats Moten in a battle of the bands and
challenges his local supremacy.

Moten doesn’t take the loss lightly and decides he needs to modernize the band. He adds his
nephew Bus Moten but more importantly adds trombonist, guitarist and arranger Eddie
Durham.

During the summer of 1929 a young piano player named Bill Basie desperately wants to join
Moten but Moten already has two piano players and doesn’t need a third. Basie and Eddie
Durham were close friends and began hanging out together at jam sessions. Basie has lots of
ideas for musical arrangements but can’t write music so Durham helps him. Moten is
impressed with Basie’s music and adds him to the band.

By October of 1929, when the band records again for Victor, the Basie-Durham influence is
beginning to show. By fall Basie and Durham take charge of the musical direction of the band
and recruit blues shouter Jimmy Rushing and Hot Lips Page to join them.

After another eastern tour they return to Kansas City, take part in another battle of the bands
and is humiliated in another embarrassing loss. Moten, once again was enamored with the
east coast bands and tried to emulate them but the people wanted the sound they heard on
the records.

Moten makes yet another change and fires the old guard including Harlan Leonard and Booker
Washington. Thamon Hayes resigns and forms a new band made up of the ex-Moten
musicians.

Moten and Hayes meet up in 1932 in a battle of bands and the Hayes band destroys them and
gets their revenge.

This inspires Moten to recruit more top musicians so he gets Ben Webster, Eddie Barefield and
Oklahoma City Blue Devil leader Walter Page.

With those editions the band is at it’s peak.

The depression is on but Moten heads to New Jersey anyway and and they end up getting
stranded. They were able to make a recording session for Victor that showcased the new
soloists and is among one of the most outstanding big band sessions of all time. Two of the
songs recorded on December 13, 1932 are classics: Prince of Wails and Moten Swing.

After they made it back home to the safety of the Kansas City scene they stayed in town
working locally and dominating the scene.

In 1933 there was a bit of an upheaval with Moten being voted out as leader and Basie voted
in. This lasted a few months until Basie and Moten reconciled and came together once again.

In March of 1935 the band headed west for an engagement in Denver but Moten stayed behind
to have a routine tonsillectomy. In a still unexplained tradgedy, the Dr. slipped and Moten died
on the operating table.

Buster Moten tried to keep the band going but by summer the musicians had gone their
separate ways.
All Blogs → Black History Month 2019 → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Kansas City Jazz Introduction

Kansas City Jazz Introduction

Blog Name:Black History Month 2019

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:February 1, 2019

February 1, 2019- Today's Kansas City Jazz Topic: An Introduction
 
During the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, Kansas City was known as a major center for wheat and cattle.  The city’s stockyards drew cattlemen and other big spenders from all over the Midwest.

When they got there they found more than just grain and cows.  They found a wide-open town featuring a nightlife scene ignoring the prohibition laws and prospering in spite of the great Depression.

A columnist referred to it as “The Paris of the Plains.” Over a hundred venues featuring every kind of entertainment imaginable as well as gambling, prostitution and every kind of vice.

It was an endless party from dusk till dawn that was all made possible because of an organized crime syndicate operating under the infamous political boss Tom Pendergast.

This unique set of circumstances created ideal working conditions for the young musicians who flocked to Kansas City to take advantage of the seemingly unlimited jobs in the cabarets, speakeasies, taverns, dance halls, saloons, BBQ joints and nightclubs.

After hours the young jazz musicians honed their craft at one of the dozens of jam sessions that happened all over the nightlife district.
Many a name band sideman coming through town, eager to show up the locals at these after hours sessions were routinely sent away with their tails between their legs by the then unknown Kansas City jazzmen (and women).
 
This went on for a decade and a half, night after night, completely under the radar and unknown outside the local jazz community.  But it was this unique atmosphere, unequaled before or since,  that spawned many of the greatest jazz musicians of all time including Count Basie, Pete Johnson, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Herschal Evans, Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing, Andy Kirk, Walter Page, Jo Jones, Julia Lee, Buster Smith, Charlie Parker and dozens more.

All Blogs → Home Page News → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → KSDS Celebrates Black History Month in 2019

KSDS Celebrates Black History Month in 2019

Blog Name:Home Page News

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:January 31, 2019

Jazz 88.3 will honor Black History month by highlighting how African-Americans have created and advanced the art form of Jazz. Each year KSDS chooses a significant aspect of African-American culture and this year’s focus is the Golden Age of Kansas City Jazz. From Bennie Moten to Charlie "Bird" Parker Kansas City helped spawn many of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Listen every weekday, all month long, for a different historical aspect of Kansas City Jazz. The segments can also be visualized at Jazz88.org.  A look at Kansas City's history every weekday during Black History Month, only on KSDS, Jazz 88.3. Click here to read all the segments.
All Blogs → Home Page News → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → JCC Presents: It Must Be Schwing: The Blue Note Story

JCC Presents: It Must Be Schwing: The Blue Note Story

Blog Name:Home Page News

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:January 30, 2019

Jazz 88.3 is proud to support the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival as they present: "It Must Schwing: The Blue Note Story", Thursday, February 7th (7PM) at the Clairemont Reading Cinemas. Now in its 29th year, the festival has become one of the largest and most highly acclaimed Jewish Film Festivals in the country. Today, with more than 17,000 ticket holders, SDJFF is the most widely attended annual Jewish cultural event in San Diego. The 11-day Festival features over 80 screenings of international films at five theatre venues: Reading Cinemas Town Square, Edwards San Marcos 18, Museum of Photographic Arts, Project Bar & Grill and the Garfield Theatre at the JCC. For more information, or to purchase tickets, click here! 
All Blogs → Home Page News → San Diego's Jazz 88.3 → Jazz Live- The Prez Conference- an All-Star Tribute to Lester Young

Jazz Live- The Prez Conference- an All-Star Tribute to Lester Young

Blog Name:Home Page News

Blog Author:San Diego's Jazz 88.3

Posted on:January 29, 2019

Jazz Live is happening TONIGHT, February 12 and will honor the "PREZ", Lester Young as done by a terrific tenor sax section of Doug Webb, Ralph Moore and Greg Fishman. The rest of the band is stellar as well- Carl Saunders on Trumpet, Henry Soloman on Baritone, Mitch Forman on Piano, Bruce Forman on Guitar, Jeff Littleton on Bass and Dan Schnell on Drums. This Jazz Live will celebrate and honor the Prez for a night of music you don't want to miss. Only current Jazz 88 members can attend this concert. Any questions about membership can be answered by the membership team or you can call Ken Borgers at 619-388-3301. As always, thanks to Big Front Door Sandwich Shop, located in University Heights (Park Blvd.) and now Solana Beach for providing food for the Jazz Live artists. If you are going remember that good ole' parking pass!