Here are this week’s calendar picks from KC Studio editor, Alice Thorson. The 2016 Charlie Parker Celebration, presented by Kansas City Jazz Alive, starts tonight and continues through August 27th at venues throughout the city. Tomorrow, stop by open studio night at KC Textile Studio to see work by Jacquie Gering, Jaime David and Kim Eichler-Messmer, or head over to the Nerman Museum to listen to Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear. On Saturday, Northeast Arts KC presents their August Summerdusk Concert featuring The Philistines. And finally, dance the tango with Quinteto Cucharada at Kansas City Swing Dance Club Milonga. For more ideas this weekend, visit Kansas City’s most comprehensive arts calendar at kcstudio.org/events.
2016 Charlie Parker Celebration
August 18 – August 27
Various Venues
Charlie Parker Celebration is a 10-day, city-wide event dedicated to bringing attention and awareness to the vibrant Kansas City jazz scene, creating pride in our jazz history and showing how this history is relevant today.
Artist in Residence, Tivon Pennicott, will sit in for one set with local artists at each of the live events listed above.
We’ve got live jazz all over the Kansas City metro, but that’s not all! We have also included educational jazz events in the celebration! Join us for our kick-off event at the American Jazz Museum for “The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker” with Ron McCurdy. Other educational events include:
The Art of Jam Session with Tivon Pennicott on August 20th from 9am-12pm at the American Jazz Museum
Tour de Jazz – A bike ride hosted by BikeWalkKC at 3pm leaving from 18th and Vine on August 20th
“We Remember Bird” Panel and Reception at the American Jazz Museum at 5pm on August 23rd
Charlie Parker Historical Tour at 10am on August 27th, tickets just $25!
Open Studios at KC Textile Studio
August 19 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Kansas City Textile Studio
Come down and see what Jacquie Gering, Jaime David, and I have been up to! Our studios will be all spiffed up so you can see where we work, check out some of our new creations, and have some snacks and drinks. Mark your calendars! We can’t wait to see you!
MADISEN WARD AND THE MAMA BEAR
August 19 @ 8:30 pm – 10:00 pm | Free
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
Part of Johnson County Community College’s Light Up the Lawn summer concert series. The concerts take place at 8:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. Lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets without alcohol are welcome. No tickets are required. Starting at 7 p.m., Kona Ice will have shaved ice, soft drinks and water for sale!
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear are a modern soulful/folk music duo from Independence, Missouri.
The band’s debut album “Skeleton Crew,” produced by Jim Abbiss, known for his award-winning work with Arctic Monkeys and Adele, captures Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear in their most natural setting. The two tracked most of the tracks live, sitting across from one another in the recording studio. They didn’t use a click track. With help from a handful of session musicians, the two Wards captured the sound they’d been making since those coffee shop days.
At home, Madisen and Ruth Ward are family members. Onstage, they’re the leading members of Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, a soulful folk band whose sound is anchored by twin guitars and two big, booming voices.
The music started in Kansas City, where Madisen grew up watching his mom perform cover songs at local coffee shops. Before long, he was writing his own tunes, mixing the old-world influence of his family’s folk records with the unchained, energetic stomp of modern-day rock ‘n’ roll. The two began playing entire shows together, ditching the cover songs in favor of Madisen’s original material. Both sang, both played guitar, and both watched as their band’s audience slowly grew.
For years, though, they kept a low profile. This was honest music, performed by a band of blood relatives with no record label, no manager, no budget. Still, it was hard not to notice Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear. Onstage, they were solemn one minute and electrifying the next, able to command an audience’s attention with little more than two acoustic guitars and Madisen’s super-sized baritone vocals. Madisen Ward & Mama Bear’s songs spin tall tales (and a few biographical truths) about life in the Midwest. They unfold like short stories, with Madisen — who grew up writing fiction — preferring to cut things off before any sort of ending can be reached. The goal isn’t to paint a concrete picture for the audience. It’s to hand the audience the paint brush and allow them to finish the design.
SummerDusk Concert Series 2016
August 20 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Free
Concourse Park
The SummerDusk Concert Series brings a variety of local and regional musicians to the Collonade for a series of free family-friendly concerts every summer.
August 20 – The Philistines (art rock)
Quinteto Cucharada
August 20 @ 8:00 pm | $10
Kansas City Swing Dance Club Milonga
Combining the classic repertoire of tango’s storied past in the setting that hosted many of the city’s greatest dance events comes Cucharada, a five-piece band looking to inspire steppers on this special evening.
From timeless Bardi standards to the vintage arrangements of DiSarli, Cucharada will look to move a full dance floor in motion!
Refreshments (snacks & wine) will be included with the $10 admission fee. Chairs and tables will be provided for those that want to dance or simply take in the music.
Cucharada includes Juha Silfverberg (accordion), Johnny Hamil (bass), Tina Bilberry (violin), Guy Montes (flute), Sean Mawhirter (guitar).
DJing during band intermission will be manned by Ravi K Bhaskar.
