kc local album releases
Rob Scheps & The tba banD
by ROB SCHEPS
Recorded (mostly) live at the Churchill School in Baker City during the pandemic summer of 2020.
credits
released February 1, 2021
All compositions by Rob Scheps.
Performed by Rob Scheps, Matt Cooper, Laurent Nickel, Michael Rodenkirch, and Luke McKern.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Loran Joseph at High Dessert Studios.
Produced by Rob Scheps, Loran Joseph, and Matt Cooper
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 2020
New Jazz Order (feat. Bobby Watson)
by Clint Ashlock Big Band
© Copyright - Clint Ashlock Big Band (featuring Bobby Watson) / Labor Day Music (884501472111)
Debut album from a fresh Kansas City big band. Energetic, soulful and swinging arrangements showcasing great talent. Hear the tight ensemble playing and inventive soloists that represent the vanguard of jazz in Kansas City. Featuring legend Bobby Watson.
Genre: Jazz: Modern Big Band
Release Date: 2011
The myers swingset - the state of this city (release date November 2019)
Late night jazz, cool jazz influenced by post bop. Instrumental, piano and saxophone lead jazz. Original jazz music. Jazz quartet. Melodic, not too avant-garde, not too old-school
Review from Plastic Sax, by Bill Brownlee
The provocative title of The State of This City, the new album by the Myers Swingset, demands a forthright reckoning. Pianist and bandleader Jackie Myers, saxophonist Mike Herrera, bassist Sam Copeland and drummer Jim Lower provide a high-definition aural snapshot of the music most commonly performed in Kansas City jazz clubs.
Myers’ 2018 album The Instrumental One is an uncommonly hazy document, but the Texas transplant and the three stalwarts of Kansas City’s scene offer a buttoned-down form of jazz on The State of This City. The album may be unapologetically mainstream, but strong melodies and unfailingly swinging arrangements deter tedium.
Myers is the least assertive member of quartet. Her largess allows Herrera to sound like one of Cannonball Adderley’s worthiest disciples. His contribution to the funky “Song for Lydia” is particularly rewarding. Copeland’s heartfelt bowed solo on “Ice Elation” is a thing of beauty. Lower is unleashed on “Modal Logic.” And Myers earns bonus points for the ingenious title of “Ernestly Melting”.
The audience at the live recording is the most troubling aspect of The State of This City. The lackluster response of what seems to be a couple dozen people at the Green Lady Lounge Black Dolphin sounds as if hostages are being forced to applaud at gunpoint. Their timidity belies the setting. Local audiences demand expertly performed straight-ahead jazz.
The State of This City doesn’t contain a single surprise or unexpected turn. Uniform consistency is also precisely what’s prized at Kansas City’s ballyhooed barbecue restaurants. It’s indicative of the conservative nature of the region. The jazz scene looks and sounds much different elsewhere, but adherence to convention and dedication to decorum continue to define the state of this city.
molly hammer - out of this world
Readers of The Pitch recently named Molly Hammer the “Best Jazz Artist” in Kansas City of 2018. Hammer’s debut album Out of This World confirms that she’s at her best working as a torch singer rather than in a jazz setting. Her thoughtful approach on the cabaret songs “Never Will I Marry,” “Detour Head” and “Listen Here” rivals the work of elite vocalists like Brown and Maye. Most of the other selections don’t emphasize Hammer’s incisive voice and lyrical sensitivity that are her core strengths.
The fine playing of saxophonist Brad Gregory, pianist Joe Cartwright, bassist Steve Rigazzi and drummer Todd Strait can't redeem the shopworn “Doodlin’” or “At Last.” Novelties like “TV is the Thing This Year” and “Pig Foot Pete” are cutesy rather than quaint. Hammer possesses the talent to fashion an exemplary album. Out of This World isn’t it.
-Review by Bill Brownlee of PlasticSax (Oct 2017)
Matt Villinger - All Day
All Day is heavily influenced by different types of Hip Hop and Jazz music.
a La mode - C’est Si Bon
Few genres blow away mental storm clouds as well as gypsy jazz, which is undoubtedly part of what makes the music so popular right now. With C’est Si Bon, A La Mode shows how good that can feel. (review by: Mike Warren, KCUR)
HERMON MEHARI - BLEU
Kansas City based trumpeter Hermon Mehari headlines a strong post bop album teamed together with Aaron Parks/key-p, Logan Richardson/as, Rick Rosato/b, Ryan J. Lee/dr and Peter Schlamb/vib. The Monk Competition semi-finalist has a rich and expressive tone, and the band mixes sounds ranging from a Weather Report-ish “Tatra” to a soulful R&B tinged ballad with vocals on “Awakening.”
In between, you hear Mehari’s warm open horn on a rich intro to “Our Journey Rivisited” while he is expressive with Parks on a drop dead gorgeous duet on “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face.” Schlamb provides an easy swing as Rosato’s bass directs traffic on “Moment’s Notice” and “Cold” and the team is sublime on “We Love.” Modern with effects, and classic with sound. -George W. Harris JazzWeekly.com
MATT HOPPER - FIRST LOVE
Matt Hopper is a jazz guitarist based in Kansas City. Hopper started playing guitar at 12 years old. At 17 he began studying jazz guitar under Danny Embrey. He studied jazz guitar with Rod Fleeman and classical guitar with Doug Neidt at The University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music 2001 – 2005. Hopper is now a mainstay of the Kansas City jazz scene. As the featured musician at Green Lady Lounge (rated amongst the top 10 jazz clubs in the United States) he plays there weekly with The Matt Hopper Trio, The Brett Jackson Quartet, and Boogaloo 7. His debut album, First Love, is currently being played nationally over 70 radio stations.
logan richardson - blues people
Blues People was created in the oral tradition of the blues, and improvised music as a whole. The viscous entirety of the 14 song repertoire was relayed all by ear during the process of the documentation of the album.
Blues People, is a modern day version of the Kansas City Blues, Black American Music, and Rock & Roll tradition. In being such, consequently this documentation is an accumulation of experiences, and influences that have given way to a fresh sonic fusion of sound that calls on the genetic DNA of the forefathers of modern popular music. Released April 13, 2018
”Logan Richardson's latest project, Blues People, is a condition, a state of being. The album was derived from the early slave calls that inspired the earliest American jazz and blues musical traditions. Here at the Tiny Desk, the saxophonist revisits that history with four remarkable songs from the album, all performed with a hope that our country's future will be less painful than its past.” -NPR MUSIC
dino massa kansas city quintet - echoes of europe
Highly refined but never fastidious, the album’s careful arrangements seem designed to augment thoughtful reflection, and the core band, which also includes guitarist Charles Gatschet, bassist Andrew Stinson and drummer Clarence Smith, maintains a consistently contemplative mood.
Massa is a post-bop pianist who’s clearly familiar with the work of seminal jazz pianists like Bud Powell and Art Tatum. Although his fluid improvisation on the title track is masterful, Massa emphasizes a different aspect of his talent throughout. His opening statement on “Paris” indicates that he’s just as conversant in the language of European classical composers like Frédéric Chopin as he is with that of contemporary American jazz masters.
eddie moore and the outer circle - kings and queens
Just in time for you to get in your car with your love, roll the windows down and just jet, the Chris Hazelton Boogaloo 7 is back with another scorching organ fueled forty five. “The Basement Beat” is their first single from their latest Lp of the same name.
chris hazelton’s boogaloo 7 - The basement beat
Just in time for you to get in your car with your love, roll the windows down and just jet, the Chris Hazelton Boogaloo 7 is back with another scorching organ fueled forty five. “The Basement Beat” is their first single from their latest Lp of the same name.
Matt villinger - all night
All Night, the solo debut of keyboardist Matt Villinger, features Schlamb on vibraphone. Recorded in the same Edwardsville, Illinois, studio as Tinks, All Night sounds like Tinks’ funkier sequel.
Villinger evokes a young Bob James on the soulful opening track “Chillinger.” “You’re the One for Me” is like an update of James’ “Angela,” the theme song for television’s “Taxi.” Villinger also uses a vocoder on the title track, a midtempo song capable of resonating with Daft Punk fans.
Trumpeter Hermon Mehari is excellent throughout. Hiis heavily processed solo on “Dart Bomb” is particularly thrilling. Bassist Nick Jost and drummer Sean Mullins round out the band.
Following in Schlamb’s footsteps, Villinger recently moved from St. Louis to Kansas City. All Night indicates that he promises to be a similarly constructive presence on the scene.
Review from Bill Brownlee at Plastic Sax
CHRIS HAZELTON’S BOOGALOO 7 - SOUL JAZZ FRIDAYS
Soul Jazz Fridays conjures the sort of atmosphere the eminent philosopher James Brown once described as “a funky good time.” - Bill Brownlee
STEPHEN MARTIN - VISION
"Vision" is above all dynamic tribute to a bygone era that determined the evolution of jazz. Stephen Martin may have been devoted to a specific jazz segment from the past, he knows how to frame this in the right way and immediately gives it a contemporary twist. He does that entirely in the line of Mark Turner and Chris Potter. A powerful and especially promising debut full of auditory fireworks. " - Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz'halo. Torhout, Belgium
Matt villinger - all night
Villinger evokes a young Bob James on the soulful opening track “Chillinger.” “You’re the One for Me” is like an update of James’ “Angela,” the theme song for television’s “Taxi.” Villinger also uses a vocoder on the title track, a midtempo song capable of resonating with Daft Punk fans. - Bill Brownlee, Plastic Sax
christopher burnett - time flies (remastered)
LINER NOTES | DIGITAL BOOKLET AND CD BOOKLET INSERT
The music on this album was first released independently during the last year of the Twentieth Century and at the very beginnings of the online and digital music distribution era. It has been downloaded and sold digitally via the Internet over 500,000 times and counting. This music has been released and sold in CD form to listeners in at least 38 countries.
There were certain aspects of the original mix and mastering that experience and time have allowed us to review. The result is a recording that sounds as it did when the artists were playing at the same time in the studio. The listener is now able to listen to the wonderful artistry of each of these musicians and enjoy the subtle sophistication of the compositions.
As mixing and mastering engineer, Don Miller stated, “The listener should not be aware of the work I did on this project, while listening to the recording. We were able to take the original ADAT tracks and capture the essence of what the artists created. This is great music and I can understand why it was remastered for a collectors edition release.”
~ Artists Recording Collective, 2013