ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS
may 2020
David basse
More than a vocalist, David Basse’s voice has come to represent the jazz and blues of Kansas City. Jazz with David Basse on KPR gives you the rest of the story.
David has hosted The Jazz Scene on Kansas Public Radio since 2001. In 2010, he joined the cast of 12th Street Jump. His latest venture is the syndicated radio show: Jazz with David Basse. For the past 20 years, David Basse has been at the forefront of the music scene in Kansas City, taking the torch from such legends as KC Jazz pioneers Charlie Parker, Count Basie and Jay McShann.
David’s singing has been compared to Mel Torme, Jon Hendricks and Al Jarreau. Other reviewers hear elements of Ray Charles and Dr. John. Whatever listeners hear, they respond enthusiastically.
David and his band, The City Light Orchestra, have been featured on “Wolf Trap and All That Jazz” and also played at the 1997 Inaugural Gala for President Clinton. If you have tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs, you can often hear David’s rendition of “Strike When the Iron Is Hot” used to fire up the crowds.
David came to radio in 1999, stepping behind the microphone for KKFI-FM in Kansas City. When Kansas Public Radio was looking for a host to take over The Jazz Scene, David’s insight and background made him a natural choice.
David has won a Kansas Association of Broadcasters award and KPR’s jazz department won an award from JAZZWEEK, “Best Jazz Station - Small Market.”
Doug talley
Doug Talley has performed with such jazz luminaries as Jay McShann, Clark Terry, Bob Mintzer, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Bobby Watson, Karrin Allyson, Byron Stripling, Ignacio Berroa, Randy Brecker, Scott Robinson and Gary Foster. He is a familiar face throughout the Midwest as a jazz performer and educator. Talley has also appeared at the 18th & Vine Festival, the Kansas Jazz and Blues Festival, the Kansas City Spirit Festival, the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival, Mayport Jazz Festival, and in Las Vegas with The Four Freshman, The Platters and The Diamonds.
Doug Talley is the recipient of the 2010 Kansas Governor's Arts Award and the 2009 Johnson County Library Pinnacle Award for arts in education. Talley is a Selmer saxophone artist and clinician and has served as a clinician with numerous college and high school musicians, including the University of Minnesota, Coe College, Kalamazoo College, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska, University of South Dakota, Central Missouri State, Emporia State and Kansas University, among many others. Talley was a faculty member of the Great Plains Jazz Camp for twelve years, and was featured at the 1996 MENC convention in Kansas City directing the Shawnee Mission (Kansas) Honors Jazz Band. He was a clinician at the 1997 International Association of Jazz Educators conference and a faculty member of the 2003 IAJE Teacher Training Institute. Doug is also a Selmer Paris endorsed performing artist.
Honored by Kansas City magazine as one of the "40 Under 40 Who Move and Shake Kansas City in Business, Politics and the Arts," Talley was also recognized in Downbeat magazine "Auditions" in 1986. His discography includes four recordings on the Sea Breeze label for the Trilogy and Boulevard Big Bands as well as the Doug Talley Quartet's four CDs, Town Topic -- "...reminiscent of the Modern Jazz Quartet." (Jam magazine), Night and Day – which received national airplay, Kansas City Suite – a musical depiction of the quartet’s hometown, and By Request, an offering of the quartet's most requested music.
"Talley has absorbed the post bop traditions of Coltrane and Rollins, added the warmth of Dexter Gordon and the flourishes of Stan Getz, and developed his own harmonic and wonderfully melodic approach."
-MARK E. GALLO, JAZZREVIEW.COM