All That Jazz

Although New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz, Kansas City was where the music grew up, developing from ragtime and blues into a distinct Midwestern sound. The leading bands of Kansas City’s jazz heyday in the 1930s were Walter Page’s Blue Devils and Benny Moten’s BB&D band, centered at 18th and Vine, then the heart of the black community, with the Panama Club as a key stage. Benny Moten’s band drew the attention of record producers, won a recording contract, and helped introduce Kansas City-style jazz to the world, along with a newcomer named Count Basie. Other jazz greats from the city included Big Joe Turner, Charlie Bird Parker, and L.C. “Speedy” Huggins. At its peak in the 1930s, Kansas City had more than 200 jazz clubs, with music said to fill the air day and night in a giant non-stop jazz party much like New Orleans. Today, 18th and Vine has been restored to its former glory, and the area includes the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, The American Jazz Museum, and continuing jam sessions at the Mutual Musicians Building.

Kansas City, Missouri · United States