I was not sure I would have any chance at all to hear the Mike Moreno Quartet last Thursday at the Blue Room. Let me illustrate that with the music I caught at the two clubs this past week. What does all this mean? It means that area music fans are really lucky to have these two clubs, which complement each other in their musical offerings, as well as in their geographic locales. And while the Take Five is primarily a coffee house, they also have beer and wine. (I am often wishing I could order some sort of food at the Blue Room).
The Take Five also has a limited, though tasty, food menu of light dinner items and baked goods. This is not to fault the Blue Room - they have a lot more seats to fill, and that is an inducement to be somewhat more careful in booking. And when it comes to booking local musicians, the Take Five is, I think, booking somewhat more adventuresome bands than the Blue Room. And I cannot recall a time when there has been a more impressive pool of talent on the KC scene.
#KANSAS CITY JAZZ CLUB HOW TO#
The Blue Room is more apt to present touring jazz musicians (and often rather "big names"), and though the Take Five has presented a few out-of-towners (in the recent past, saxophonist Bob Sheppard and a group featuring trumpeter Shunzo Ohno and saxophonist Rob Scheps), the artists are usually local.ĭespite these handicaps, however, the Take Five has achieved success in critical areas: a knowledgeable and dedicated jazz audience (the room has been full or close to it for every show I've been to there) who know how to LISTEN, and a willingness to present some of the most creative and innovative (and often quite young) musicians on the KC scene. Where the Blue Room has a grand piano and an excellent light and sound system, the Take Five has musicians playing at one end of the room with no piano (other than electric keyboards provided by the bands) and no special lighting and often no sound system (though with the much smaller room, that is less of an issue). The Take Five, however, is in a strip mall deep in the Johnson County suburbs, and other than a restaurant next door (which also has music, on the easy listening side of jazz), there is not much happening in the surroundings.
The neon signs, the people on the streets, the sound of music coming out of several venues, makes it clear this is a happening scene. The Blue Room is a large, elegant club in the heart of the historic 18th and Vine Jazz District of Kansas City, a district that is always bustling when I have been there in recent years, even on a Thursday night. The Blue Room and Take Five could not, on the surface, be more different. I still haven't been able to check it out, though).
(Note, a new venue, the Kill Devil Club in the Power and Light District has been presenting a number of fine shows lately and may be ready to become a third premier jazz venue. The Blue Room and Take Five are the most prominent two jazz clubs on the KC scene today, presenting jazz more nights a week than anywhere else and with strong, intelligent booking. The strength and diversity of the Kansas City jazz scene was on display this past Thursday and Friday, as the Blue Room presented a touring group, the Mike Moreno Quartet, led by one of the finest younger guitarists on the New York scene, on Thursday, and the Take Five Coffee Bar presented Clint Ashlock's band playing music from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
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