Matt Otto
2027.
Yeah, nope. That’s not a real year. That’s the future. The distant future. That’s what I tell myself, until I realize that every date, every year, every tick of the calendar provides us with an opportunity to embrace change and the promise of a new day – and a new opportunity to look back at what has been and celebrate that. It’s with this sentiment that I look with an open heart and clear eyes toward KCJO’s 2026-27 season: Milestones.
To me, jazz has always had so much to do with legacy by marveling at how the creation of one singular artist gave way to a reinterpretation of that creation through a new artist’s viewpoint. Louis Armstrong took what King Oliver did and reimagined it through his life experiences and his musical gifts and gave us his brilliant music. Duke Ellington embraced Louis’s style and took the music down a new branching path. Mary Lou Williams did the same thing, and so on. Each of these great artists created a new branch on the same tree, and every season of new growth gives us the chance to admire how we’ve gotten where we are.
That’s what the idea of “anniversary” is to me, and we’re going to showcase some of the coolest anniversaries in American music history this season. All of the concerts give us a chance to reflect on various significant Milestones we’re experiencing this year and the next. They also give us the opportunity to reimagine and reinterpret what came before our Kansas City big band sound.
Starting on August 29 at the Folly Theater with Spotlight Charlie Parker, we are once again partnering with KC Jazz ALIVE, and the Folly to put Bird’s music into big band form. The hook this year is that we’re bringing contemporary stars Stephen Martin, Matt Otto, and the legendary Bobby Watson to the stage as guest soloists, while also opening up the mic for three phenomenal young students, shining the spotlight on Parker’s brilliant music, but also on the importance of education and mentorship throughout jazz history: something KCJO is very passionate about.
Moving on into the fall, on November 7 at the Gem Theater, we look at the 100th birthday anniversaries of Miles Davis and John Coltrane with Milestones. Once again – and for every KCJO concert – we write brand new arrangements, bespoke for our band and your listening enjoyment, this time music from the magical works of “Birth of the Cool”, “Kind of Blue”, “Giant Steps”, “A Love Supreme, and more.
A new KCJO tradition is our Charlie Brown Christmas at the wonderful Kauffman Center. This year, falling on December 8 in Helzberg Hall, we are the only big band in the world to have arranged classic Peanuts television special tunes for concerts that have proven to be fun for the whole family! Once again, this season we are inviting the award-winning KCKCC Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble into the fold, with classic tunes everybody knows – no matter how old or young you are!
Our concert in Helzberg Hall on March 26 is extra special for me. A brand new reimagining of my favorite album of all time: Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life. Along with special vocalists Eboni Fondren, Paula Saunders, Seyko, and organist Chris Hazelton, KCJO will give the big band treatment to one of the truly great artists of the 20th century, and his seminal record, which was released 50 years ago this year. It’s such a beautiful expression of the human experience through his eyes, and we are going to try and respect his vision through our jazz-forward expression, with songs like “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Sir Duke.”
Closing out the season at the Folly on April 17 will be KCJO’s tribute to a style of music that’s as near and dear to Kansas Citians’ hearts as jazz: the blues. With award-winning artist Brandon Hudspeth of Levee Town and vocalist Jaisson Taylor, we pay tribute to the music style that informed jazz and popular music for the last century-plus. Seventy years ago, B.B. King released Singing The Blues – his first album – and we are taking the dive into what’s going to be a rocking and soulful evening with the greatest medicine for having the blues: singing the blues.
So, I suppose living in the future isn’t necessarily such a bad thing, right? We’ve got this wonderful opportunity to create new art, and new music on the great themes of the past, through contemporary lenses, in a truly Kansas City style. 2027 might seem like a not-real date, but it’s a chance to celebrate these Milestones – embracing the past, being open to the future, all while making today the best we can. We’ll see you out there, Kansas City!
–Clint Ashlock, KCJO Artistic Director
