KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The Jeff Harshbarger Presents an Alternative Jazz Series is hosted by the RecordBar twice a month. On first Sundays, the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City brings their perfectly crafted chaos to the big band archetype. Third Sundays find both local and touring groups expanding the purview of modern jazz. The PLBB will also be performing at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival on September 10th. 

The RecordBar will also host “Diverse plays Michael Jackson” on October 28th. Band members Hermon Mehari, Ben Leifer, and Ryan Lee will be joined by an extensive line-up of Kansas City musicians for another performance of this well-received tribute. 

The 2^nd season of the Ad Hoc Music Series at Fishtank Performance Studio, curated by resident artist Peter Lawless, is already underway. The first performance for the series was Russell Thorpe’s Phonologotronic. Subsequent performances will be September 25th with HOMINID, a project by Hunter Long that combines electronic dance beats with modern jazz, October 30th with Jeff Davis’ “The Nights Bright Lights,” providing the soundtrack for his large-scale work Unwind, and November 27th with Peter Lawless’ Game Night, an interactive work for improvising musicians, along the same vein as John Zorn’s Game Pieces.

Also at the Fishtank will be an encore performance of Rubble, a new theater piece devised by Heidi Van and performed at this year’s Fringe Festival. The show will take place on First Friday, September 2nd outside the gallery. Peter Lawless, Katy Guillen and Katelyn Boone will perform the live original accompaniment.

Third Fridays offer open studio, performance and gallery shows downtown through the Urban Culture Project by the Charlotte Street Foundation. This initiative has been a boon to the artistic community and creative presence downtown by providing studio and music and dance rehearsal space in the office building at City Center Square, as well as visual and performance space at la Esquina, Town Pavilion, Paragraph Gallery and Project Space.

One of the current studio resident of the fifth floor of City Center Square is the Blackhouse Improvisors’ Collective. The project serves as a “music laboratory,” run by Hunter Long and Russell Thorpe. The group features new compositions each cycle and the composers often play in the group, with the needs and instrumentation changing for each session. The performance for their ninth cycle will be December 9th. 

Mark Southerland is a widely varied instigator in the free jazz scene. His wearable horn sculptures create visual and aural interest. He is involved with the free improvisational projects Snuff Jazz, Wee Snuff and Urban Noise Camp. Malachy Papers – yet another band, with vibraphonist Mike Dillon and guitarist Eugene Chadbourne - will release an album this fall.

Southerland also performs with Flamenco Mio, a new brand of flamenco. The group is the brain-child of guitarist Beau Bledsoe, who plays saz and oud as well. It incorporates Southerland’s sculptures both in the music and choreography; the music has both jazz and Middle Eastern influences. Along with dancer Melinda Hedgecorth, the group has performed in Kansas City extensively over the summer. They are on tour in September, performing at numerous venues in Seville, Spain. 

Bledsoe also formed Alaturka, a jazz and Turkish fusion quartet. This group is playing for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts’ grand opening weekend as part of the open house in Helzberg Hall on September 18th. 

The Friends of Chamber Music will host the world premiere of “The Darwin Project” as their opening event this season at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. This is a multimedia project, featuring musicians, actors, and historical and original images, directed by Kyle Hatley, associate artistic director of the Kansas City Repertory Theater. The performance is October 14th. 

But as we welcome a new venue into our town we say goodbye to a longstanding favorite. Crosstown Station will be closing this fall. Before it does, however, there is plenty to see. On Sept. 16, Hearts of Darkness is performing their last show at the venue.   Also playing that evening is the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, on tour in support of their latest album The Race Riot Suite, with guest Mark Southerland.  Garage A Trois will play Sept. 29, on tour with their album Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil.

Multi-instrumentalist Mike Stover and electronics wizard Shawn Hansen will join percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani at the Firehouse, a local art collective and performance space at 4518 Troost Ave, on October 9th.

Sound Theater is a project by composers Nihan Yesil and Jonathon Robertson that combines electroacoustic music with other disciplines such as acting, dance, spoken word and shadow puppetry. A performance is scheduled for mid-October. Yesil is also a contributor to KCMetropolis.org.

ArtSounds, a series produced in collaboration between the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Kansas City Art Institute, features performances that combine new music and visual elements. The first concert of the series is “Mythic Pathways,” a performance by World Woodwind Duo Dwight Frizzell and Thomas Aber. Along with Patrick Alonzo Conway, Chuck Haddix, Daniel Warneke, Russell Ferguson, and Rhondda Francis, the new works will include music mapped by our hemisphere’s stars and a ritual dramatization of Egyptian sun-god Ra’s trek through the underworld. The performance is October 11th at KCAI 4415 Warwick Blvd.

River Cow Orchestra, a free improvisational group labeled “Zen jazz,” has a very busy schedule for fall. They are playing at the City Market at noon and the Writer’s Place at 6 on September 6, Mike Kelly’s Westsider on October 1st, Take Five Coffee + Bar on October 15th and various dates in October at LA Audio in Olathe, Kansas.

Anthony Magliano and Mica Thomas' Quixotic Dance Fusion is quite the visual and aural spectacle. They are coming off their performance at TEDxKC and will be announcing their 2011–12 season shortly.

Top Photo: People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City (Photo by kcjazzlark)

By Libby Hanssen

Traditional and New Classical, Theatre Contributor

Libby Hanssen holds degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) and Ball State University (B.M.) in trombone performance and also studied music education at Indiana University. She has studied trombone with Carl Lenthe, JoDee Davis, John Seidel, John Huntoon and Denis Wick, and music education with Brent Gault, Estelle Jorgensen and Katherine Strand.

While at IU, she taught classes in general music, focusing on listening skills and music fundamentals through practical music usage and exploring new sound constructions. During the course of her studies at UMKC, she performed with many ensembles, including the Conservatory Orchestra and Musica Nova. She has also performed with the Kansas City Puccini Festival, the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, the New Jazz Order, the Indiana Wind Symphony and the Muncie Symphony Orchestra.

In 2010, she was a fellow (one of 23 journalists selected from across the US) for the seventh annual National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University’s Journalism School in New York City.

Most of her free time is spent with her three boys (son, dog and husband) and camera, exploring the many fine aspects of Kansas City living. She enjoys listening to KKFI - Kansas City Community Radio and KCUR - Kansas City's NPR station, visiting Kansas City's fine collection of museums and galleries, and scavenging in thrift and antique stores to add to her collection of toy instruments.

She writes for the joy of words and the process of constructing a story, maintaining the blog Proust Eats a Sandwich (www.prousteatsasandwich.wordpress.com). She is working on her first book: Murray Goes to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.