Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle, another Kansas City-based band.

The Back Alley Brass Band, Kansas City, Mo.-based band.

Shawnee Mission East Blue Knights, the award-winning high school jazz band.Here is a look at the musical talent the committee has secured for the 2021 event: Jazz Fest is a ticketed event, and therefore crowd size can be controlled if necessary, Buum said. Still, Buum said community safety is the top priority, and city staff will monitor the state of public health to adapt the plan as needed. “The committee is excited to share world class jazz music with friends and neighbors, and gather as a community after a year where togetherness was so severely lacking,” Buum said in an email to the Post. Now, Buum said the committee is eager to bring the annual festival back to Harmon Park at 77th Street and Mission Road. Photo courtesy Ashley Freburg.Īlthough it’s been “challenging to predict the evolving state of public health, vaccination rates and other items” in advance, Buum said the committee had a decade’s worth of successful festivals as guidance. Above, a band performs at Jazz Fest 2019. Meghan Buum, Prairie Village assistant city administrator, said the Jazz Fest committee is eager to share jazz music with the community at the 2021 event on Sept. 11 event since January 2020 said Meghan Buum, Prairie Village assistant city administrator. The city’s Jazz Fest committee has been planning the Sept. “It’s about the history of jazz,” said Kositany-Buckner, “it’s about our heritage, and it’s the first Kansas City Jazz and Heritage Festival.”įOX 4 is a proud sponsor of the Kansas City Jazz and Heritage Festival.After the pandemic forced cancelation of the event last year, Prairie Village is gearing up for the return of Jazz Fest - the music festival that draws hundreds of jazz lovers from across the metro to Harmon Park each year. This Memorial Day weekend, it’s about memorializing all those jazz greats who put Kansas City on the map. “(I want) everyone to have a place at the festival,” he said, “so they can say ‘This is a place for me.'” “Build community and create those cultural bridges.”īlaq echoed those sentiments. “One of the things I wanted to do with this festival was build social connections,” said Kositany-Buckner. “So everyone has a place at the festival, so they can say ‘this is a place for me’ and not just for jazz, just R&B, or just blues, just everything of music fused together.”įestival organizers want this festival to showcase more than just stanzas and saxophones. “I wanted people who love jazz to come out and enjoy it, and who love blues, who love R&B, to just to come out and enjoy a good time.” “I wanted the family to come out,” he continued. “I was looking for a lot of diversity,” said Joe Blaq, the Festival Director “I wanted something for everyone.”īlaq is a Kansas City native who is now a a music producer. Ticket sales continued past 10 pm Friday night. “What was most surprising,” she continued, “is when we opened the doors, the crowd kept on coming and coming and coming.” Kositany-Buckner said the lines were long and deep Friday afternoon and evening. The newly-minted Kansas City Jazz and Heritage Festival is hitting all the high notes over it’s first three days. That cadence is especially pronounced this Memorial Weekend. People are traveling from all over the world to come to 18th and Vine to really just be in that experience where jazz was created.” “Kansas City,” she said Saturday morning, “this is something that you should be proud of. “Jazz is our heritage,” added Kositany-Buckner, the Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum. “This is historical.”įrom the opening notes to the rambling rifts, Kansas City at 18th and Vine has a cadence. “You don’t want to miss this,” said Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner.

It’s a first on many levels: the first Kansas City Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the first time the Paseo has been shut down for an event. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

Kansas city jazz fest