He learned ragtime piano and developed into a good piano player. Eventually dropping out of high school, Moten pursued a musical career. During his childhood, Moten’s family lived on either Michigan or Woodland streets near the bulk of Kansas City’s dance halls. But the Bennie Moten Orchestra would soon build upon its earliest recordings to develop a distinct Kansas City style of jazz that later dominated the jazz scene in the late 1930s and 1940s.īennie Moten was born on December 13, 1893. By strict musical standards, the songs themselves were unrefined and not much removed from existing blues music. On September 23, 1923, the Bennie Moten Orchestra made its first recording consisting of eight songs. Charlie Parker and William “Count” Basie are a couple worth noting. Several famous blues artists have come out of KC or been pivotal in the development of Kansas City Blues. Artists such as Tommy Douglas, Jelly Roll Morton’s sideman, and Big Joe Turner recorded a number of notable songs with many of the same techniques that would later become R&B and Rock, not the least of which was the classic “Shake, Rattle & Roll”. Much like it’s cross-state counterpart Saint Louis, Kansas City’s blues and musical style played no small part in influencing what would become R&B and Rock n’ Roll in the 1950s. While Kansas City is often recognized more for it’s Jazz than it’s Blues, the two sounds often fused and overlapped into jazzy blues jams ,making the musical output of the Missouri border city into what is known as Kansas City Blues or Jump Blues. Kansas City, much like New Orleans, has a unique distinction of being a melting pot and a swingin’ capital of Jazz and Blues alike. district, and the 12 th and Vine area, jazz and blues received their KC stamp here. The Kansas City Sound was born in the 1920s and grew up in the – 30s and – 40s as a swinging blend of the blues with attitude, with stride piano, or as Count Basie called it “swing.” The road to swing music began in Kansas City through a series of jazz musicians and legends who honed their craft in KC, articulating the blues into a new note – from blues to bebop to swing – in the 18th & Vine St. The innovative jazz and blues are featured nightly at clubs across KC. The Charlie Parker memorial bust has residence here, the KC Musician’s Foundation holds it jams here and 12 th and Vine is immortalized in song by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner in Piney Brown’s Blues. The Baseball Negro Leagues Museum neighbors the jazz museum. of M., The Foundation has immunity to liquor laws and to this day supports an all-night jam every Fri and Sat night.ġ8 th and Vine is the KC jazz district and where the KC Jazz Museum can be located. Originally home to the Black Musicians’ Protective Union Local 627 A.F. The Kansas City Musician’s Foundation has been known for its after-hours jams.
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