Mavis Staples
Monterey Jazz Festival inspires yearning to reestablish a summer jazz festival in KC
Summer has always been my favorite season. There is something about Kansas City in the summertime that just feels right. I travel throughout the year, but rarely do I travel in the summer. That’s the one time I feel everything I need is in this city. I love jazz and most forms of live music. I’m a filmmaker and photographer whose work always has a music theme. Most weekends you’ll find me at the Blue Room listening to bands and snapping photos.
When I first moved back to Kansas City from Atlanta in 1997, this city was thriving with pub crawls and music festivals — festivals including The Spirit Festival, Corporate Woods Jazz Festival and the Kansas City Blues & Jazz Festival to name a few. None of those festivals exist anymore. These events made summers in the city so exciting. Those were the good old days.
To celebrate my birthday this year I finally accomplished a longtime dream. I was able to attend the Monterey Jazz Festival. For three days every September some of the best musicians in the world perform in Monterey, California, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. The same fairgrounds where the Monterey Pop Festival took place in 1967. That event featured Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and many legendary rock bands of the era. It was a huge inspiration for Woodstock, which would take place two years later. At this year’s festival I was pleasantly surprised to see so many African Americans in attendance. Typically, the jazz audience is mostly white males. It could also be that the Monterey Jazz Festival has expanded to incorporate some soul, folk and gospel artists. Jazz lovers from all over the country attend the festival. I met a woman from New York who said she’s been coming for 30 years.
The Monterey Jazz Festival’s founders are Ralph J. Gleason, Jimmy Lyons and jazz legend Dave Brubeck. The festival debuted in 1958. This year there were performers on four different stages, food, art and an onsite record store selling classic jazz vinyl. Some of this year’s performers were Robert Glasper, Mavis Staples, Stanley Clarke, Samara Joy, Joshua Redman, Lila Downs, Blind Boys of Alabama, Donald Lawrence & Company, Kyle Eastwood (son of Clint Eastwood), Mumu Fresh, Avery Sunshine, Jason Moran and Gerald Clayton.
As I walked through this incredible environment full of great music and good vibes, I couldn’t help but wonder why we don’t have anything like this in Kansas City. The Kansas City Blues & Jazz Festival used to be one of the premier festivals in the country. It would take place every July at the Liberty Memorial, now known as the National WWI Museum and Memorial. It used to be the event of the summer. The 1997 lineup stays in my memory. Featured artists included Bloodstone, Bobby Rush, Chris Botti, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dr. John, Etta James, George Benson, Jay McShann, Jimmy Smith, Roy Ayers, The Yellow Jackets and Tower of Power.
The Monterey Jazz Festival is a nonprofit organization. They donate their proceeds to music education and scholarships. Kansas City could do the same thing. We have a jazz history that is unmatched except for New Orleans. We are home to the American Jazz Museum. We are the birthplace of legends like Charlie Parker, Big Joe Turner, Bennie Moten, Ben Webster and so many others. Jazz evolved in our city. We should have a massive jazz festival every year to celebrate that. To quote from my favorite Hip Hop group, A Tribe Called Quest, “We’ve Got the Jazz.”
Jazz legend Bobby Watson told me once, “Sometimes you have to disappear so you can reappear.” So, I’m calling out all corporate sponsors, generous patrons of the arts and politicians in City Hall. Let’s plant the seeds that will grow a new and improved Kansas City Jazz Festival. Why should Monterey, California, have all the fun?
