Today, people listen to music whenever they please and through multiple streaming options.

The music scene has evolved just as much - if not more so. Kansas City has gone through a complete landscape change with new big venues, skyscrapers, and shopping malls. Scholars have tried to define it by comparing it to other mediums like opera, classical art, and dance.Ī century has passed since jazz took over the clubs in Missouri. Jazz is difficult to define because it encompasses a range of music spanning a period of more than 100 years. A minor league baseball pitcher described a pitch in a game once as a jazz ball “because it wobbles, and you simply can’t do anything with it.” The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times. Jazz is hailed as one of America’s original art forms, and it’s still alive in Kansas City today. The music genre has several unique features including: swing and bluesy notes, call and response vocals, various rhythms all at once, and improvisation. It developed from roots in both blues and ragtime. Jazz originated in African-American communities, particularly in New Orleans. Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and Bennie Moten are just some of the names of the people who dominated the jazz movement in Kansas City. The hard-swinging, bluesy sounds ushered in a new era of party and celebration music. About 100 years ago, people flocked to Kansas City to listen to a burgeoning new style of music called jazz.ĭuring the 1920s and 1930s, big band music gave way to bebop. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

Kansas city jazz history