Kansas City’s 12th Street became nationally known for its jazz clubs. A saxophone player named Charlie Parker began his ascent to fame here in his hometown in the 1930s. Legends like pianist-bandleader Count Basie, saxophonist-bandleader Andy Kirk, singer Big Joe Turner, trumpeter Oran Thaddeus “Hot Lips” Page, and pianist-bandleader Jay McShann all played in Kansas City. At one time, there were more than 100 nightclubs, dance halls, and vaudeville houses in Kansas City regularly featuring jazz music. Only in Kansas City did jazz continue to flourish during the Depression.

This “wide-open” town image attracted displaced musicians from everywhere in mid-America. During prohibition, he allowed alcohol to flow in Kansas City. Kansas City jazz flourished in the 1930s, mainly as a result of political boss Tom Pendergast. By the mid-1920s, the big band became the most common. In the early days, many jazz groups were smaller dance bands with three to six pieces. In fact, the city’s first jazz recording by Bennie Moten in 1923 was “Evil Mama Blues.” Settings such as dance halls, cabarets, and speakeasies fostered the development of this new musical style. Blues singers of the 1920s and ragtime music greatly influenced the music scene, evolving eventually to Kansas City jazz-a new kind of blues that jumped with a jazz sound. Blues formed the basic vocabulary for KC-style jazz. Kansas City is world-renowned for its rich jazz and blues legacy.

Kansas city jazz bars