Spring is officially here in Kansas City: The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra will get you moving with tasty Caribbean and Brazilian tunes (sponsored)

The rebirth of Spring in Kansas City will be christened by the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra on March 7, 2020 with their Havana to Ipanema show at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. This program, headed up by Artistic Director Clint Ashlock, will guarantee to get the crowd moving and erase the dust of a long Midwestern Winter.

Joining Ashlock and the band will be veteran Kansas City trumpeter Stanton Kessler and the acclaimed soloist, bandleader, composer, and educator Adam Larson fresh from New York City. Together, they are soloists that represent the old school and new blood in this rich Kansas City jazz scene.

“Clint has done an awesome job of keeping the momentum going, along with programming some incredible musicians,” Larson noted. “I had the chance to fill in with the band in September at the World War I Museum and this band is full of very talented and wonderful people. I am very happy to be included on this roster.”

Adam was lured to the busy Kansas City jazz scene from New York City and this will be yet another step for him to get involved with a big band outfit doing music he has always been curious about.

“It’s interesting for me because I did not play in a lot of big band things in New York. If I did, it was subbing with the Vanguard Big Band Orchestra or doing a rehearsal with the Maria Schneider Band,” Larson noted. I think the chance to be involved with something that is a regular thing and be a guest in their own house is really cool.”

The KCJO will be taking listeners on a sonic journey from the caliente mambos of the Caribbean to the sublime bossas of Brazil. The tunes of Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim will provide the texture for this seasoned outfit of cats that know how to swing hard and carry a big sound in the Kauffman halls.

“Clint Ashlock is an ex-student of mine and a long-time friend. I used to play in the orchestra. I was a charter member when Jim Mair was the original director of it,” Kessler mused. “Along with the Sons of Brasil, I was in several salsa bands prior to that. So, the show will be half Afro-Cuban music and half Brazilian music.”

Stanton is the cornerstone of the KC scene and has been vigorously at it for 30+ years. He has many projects and a huge body of work in the Latin jazz realm. His group The Sons of Brasil is always giving happy crowds his fusion of jazz and Brazilian music. Like Adam, he is a tireless educator and giving the next generation of cats the goods to keep jazz fresh.

“First of all, they are not going to be able to sit still in their seat. All Latin music is ostensibly dance music,” Stanton said with assurance. “It makes you want to move. It’s got grooves so compelling that you cannot resist them.”

This melding of a charter member of the Kansas City scene and the KCJO, along with a masterful musician that has made Kansas City his new home, is the perfect union to celebrate Kansas City and this rebirth of warmth in our Super Bowl winning town.

“This is a sort of music that I have always been on the periphery of. My wife is a singer in the Latin jazz realm. So, I wasn’t really involved with it that much when she was learning Portuguese and doing Brazilian music, “ Adam said. “Now I’m really excited to be able to do this because I get to learn a lot. Based on my past experience in jazz, this is definitely a different thing for me.”

Overall, this program will again highlight the range and diversity that this band can deliver during their yearly run of four shows that gets the crowds ready for the upcoming season. Spring will be popping in the halls of Kauffman.

“There’s going to be wonderful melodies and harmonies and it is just going to be very lively, fun and uplifting music,” Stanton explained. “Latin music is everywhere. It’s in pop music, jazz and in dance halls. Over the last 70 years it has permeated every genre of music in America. It’s going to be a very exciting program.”

As if the title of the show and the promise of another stellar KCJO show wasn’t enough, we have one final thought from the great Adam Larson to galvanize the upcoming evening of music.

“Even if you see the KCJO without a guest artist, you are going to get your money and music worth. In addition to myself, it will just put a new wrinkle in the fold,” Larson said. “The programming is something that you just don’t get to hear every day. I really encourage every one to come out and check me out and the other guests artist on what will be a very special night of music.”

For tickets to Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s performance on Saturday, March 7 go HERE. Use code STAR203 at checkout and save 10%.