The Kansas City Musician's Foundation has actually been known for its after-hours jams.

Kansas City Music History
The Kansas City Musician's Foundation has actually been understood for its after-hours jams. Initially home to the Black Musicians' Protective Union Local 627 A.F. of M., The Foundation has immunity to liquor laws and to this day supports an all-night jam every Fri and Sat night.

18th and Vine is the KC jazz district and where the KC Jazz Museum can be located. The innovative jazz and blues are featured nighttime at clubs throughout KC. The road to swing music began in Kansas City through a series of jazz musicians and legends who refined their craft in KC, articulating the blues into a new note-- from blues to bebop to swing-- in the 18th & Vine St. district, and the 12th and Vine location, jazz and blues received their KC stamp here.

Kansas City, just like New Orleans, has a special distinction of being a melting pot and a swingin' capital of Jazz and Blues alike. While Kansas City is often acknowledged more for it's Jazz than it's Blues, the 2 sounds frequently fused and overlapped into jazzy blues jams, making the musical output of the Missouri border city into what is referred to as Kansas City Blues or Jump Blues.

Similar to it's cross-state counterpart Saint Louis, Kansas City's blues and musical style played no little part in influencing what would become R&B and Rock n' Roll in the 1950s. Artists such as Tommy Douglas, Jelly Roll Morton's sideman, and Big Joe Turner tape-recorded a variety of noteworthy tunes with many of the very same methods that would later become R&B and Rock, not the least of which was the traditional "Shake, Rattle & Roll". Several well-known blues artists have actually come out of KC or been pivotal in the advancement of Kansas City Blues. Charlie Parker and William "Count" Basie are a couple worth keeping in mind.

On September 23, 1923, the Bennie Moten Orchestra made its very first recording consisting of 8 songs. By rigorous musical requirements, the tunes themselves were unrefined and very little gotten rid of from existing blues music. The Bennie Moten Orchestra would quickly construct upon its earliest recordings to develop an unique Kansas City design of jazz that later on dominated the jazz scene in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Bennie Moten was born on December 13, 1893. During his youth, Moten's family resided on either Michigan or Woodland streets near the bulk of Kansas City's dance halls. Ultimately leaving of high school, Moten pursued a musical profession. He learned ragtime piano and became a great piano gamer. In 1918, Moten accompanied drummer Dude Langford and vocalist Bailey Handcock to form Moten's first band, the B. B. and D. trio, or just "B. B. and D."

B. B. and D. started with a gig at the Labor Temple, an essential event location for Kansas City's African American community along with for local labor leaders, both white and black. In between 1918 and 1922, B. B. and D.'s efficiencies ended up being a staple of a successful jazz scene that was an excellent source of pride within the black neighborhood. By 1922, the group appears to have altered its name to "B. B. and B.," and Moten was working as its supervisor.

Moten shrewdly hired a few of the most appealing musicians in Kansas City to bring them within one band. The majority of significant among them were cornet player Lamar Wright, trombonist Thamon Hayes, clarinet player Woodie Walder, and drummer Willie Hall. In 1923 the group formally became the "Bennie Moten Orchestra," Kansas City's very first terrific jazz band. The widely known jazz artists who later on joined Moten's band consisted of Eddie Barefield, William "Count" Basie, Eddie Durham, Thamon Hayes, Joe Keyes, Harlan Leonard, Ed Lewis, Willie Washington, Dan Minor, Hot Lips Page, Walter Page, Jimmy Rushing, Buster Smith, Woodie Walder, Booker Washington, Jack Washington, Ben Webster, and Lester Young.

On September 23, 1923, the Bennie Moten Orchestra became the very first Kansas City band to make a phonograph recording of its tunes. With the assistance of Kansas City's Winston Holmes Music Store, which formerly focused on blues records, the orchestra arranged a recording session in Chicago with the Okeh Recording Company. The tunes were an early type of jazz that really just included extra beats to blues songs. They consisted of 'Selma 'Bama Blues,' 'Chattanooga Blues,' 'Break o' Day Blues,' 'Evil Mama Blues,' 'Elephant's Wobble,' 'Crawdad Blues,' 'Waco Texas Blues,' and 'Ill-Natured Blues.'

This first recording session would have been average were it not for the continued evolution of the orchestra's design after 1923. Moten continued aggressively hiring the very best entertainers he could find, and their kind of jazz matured into some of the best examples of huge band swing. Their music became known as the "Kansas City style," identified by complex rhythms, thoroughly limited drum beats, and particularly riffs. Riffs referred to the practice of using rhythms to accompany the soloists who ended up being the main focus.

From the mid-1920s through the Depression years of the 1930s, Kansas City's nightlife grew under the defense of political boss Tom Pendergast and gangster Johnny Lazia. They ensured that the cops would ignore the illegal alcohol, betting, and prostitution that penetrated the night scene. Kansas City's golden era of jazz prospered in this environment. By the 1940s, the Kansas City design of jazz had actually spread throughout America, playing in important function in forming modern music.

Unfortunately, Bennie Moten did not live to see his broader effect on jazz. Instead, he passed away at Wheatley-Provident Hospital throughout what ought to have been a routine surgery to eliminate his tonsils in 1935. The majority of the artists in the Bennie Moten Orchestra followed a talented pianist called William "Count" Basie, who himself had belonged of Moten's band. Count Basie and atrioventricular bundles went on to eclipse Bennie Moten's popularity. In 1937, Basie moved to Chicago and after that New York, bringing Kansas City jazz to national prominence while doing so.

Basie brought on the Kansas City jazz design till his death in the 1980s. In the procedure, the Kansas City style mixed with national jazz trends and inspired artists such as swing artist Benny Goodman and jazz musician Charlie Parker. Kansas City's nightlife decreased precipitously after the fall of the Pendergast maker, and the golden age of jazz in Kansas City ended in the 1940s. Jazz historian Nathan W. Pearson, Jr. maybe finest sums up the midpoint of Bennie Moten to this golden age of jazz: "Among Kansas City musicians ... the city, the style, and the period of its blooming are essentially synonymous with the Bennie Moten Orchestra."

The roadway to swing music started in Kansas City through a series of jazz musicians and legends who sharpened their craft in KC, articulating the blues into a new note-- from blues to bebop to swing-- in the 18th & Vine St. district, and the 12th and Vine location, jazz and blues received their KC stamp here.

The Bennie Moten Orchestra would quickly develop upon its earliest recordings to develop a distinct Kansas City design of jazz that later on controlled the jazz scene in the late 1930s and 1940s.

In the procedure, the Kansas City style mixed with national jazz patterns and inspired artists such as swing musician Benny Goodman and jazz musician Charlie Parker. Kansas City's nightlife declined precipitously after the fall of the Pendergast maker, and the golden age of jazz in Kansas City ended in the 1940s. Jazz historian Nathan W. Pearson, Jr. possibly finest summarizes the midpoint of Bennie Moten to this golden age of jazz: "Among Kansas City artists ... the city, the style, and the era of its flowering are virtually associated with the Bennie Moten Orchestra."