Sherry Jones Mike Ning Quintet Blame it on the Music Ning Dynasty 1988

Sherry Jones Mike Ning Quintet Blame it on the Music Ning Dynasty 1988 CAT # 003

This LP is more of the 80's KC jazz scene players trying to bring back a legitimate KC jazz scene instead of trying to hang onto a memory. There's a number of these LPs floating around all featuring a combination of many of the same players featured here.

Pulling this one out just recently, what struck me is that the longtime KU professor, Chuck Berg, played tenor on it. Berg just passed recently at the end of July, but he was a well known/loved film and music professor at KU. A good friend of mine took a Jazz in Cinema course from Berg. During one of the classes, Berg mentioned how he was once in a rock n' roll band to which my friend asked the name and was told Spider and the Traps. Constantly digging, my friend then asked if there were any Spider and the Traps records released, to which Berg advised him there were not. Undeterred, my buddy tracked down a 7" by Spider and the Traps (there were at least two released) and confronted him with it. Berg still held that he wasn't on it as he was unaware the band released anything. Maybe he wasn't on it, but, maybe he just didn't want to admit to recording with a juvenile frat rock band.

He never mentioned this record to my friend. He was a jazz snob, maybe he would've proudly proclaimed this LP as something he was part of. It's decent, although the Quintet's name, Sherry Jones Mike Ning Quintet, is a bit fractured. For 80's jazz, these players never sounded too 80's. It's still pretty slick, but it's not smothered by smooth jazz and quiet storm sounds, they try to keep a bit more traditional.

Kansas City Jazz Spectrum Kaycee Jazz 1978

Kansas City Jazz Spectrum Kaycee Jazz 1978 CAT #KC-7801

The players here kind of flooded the scene with a number of Kansas City Jazz releases. The big draw featured here is Pat Metheny's brother, Mike Metheny on flugelhorn. Other than that, it's just another from a batch of LPs that are scattered throughout KC featuring these artists.

Overall, this isn't as cheesy or soaked in lounge as it looks. The players attempt to recreate a KC Jazz scene that had died decades prior and was only a matter of pride and history by 1978. The first track is "Perdido" which was made famous by Duke Ellington, but the Kansas City Jazz Spectrum is doing it as a nod to Charlie Parker. The track does showcase each player as competent and isn't drenched in late 70's lounge sound, it could be mistaken for period by a casual listener.

The remainder of the LP features a more covers, some of which are restaurant friendly, others are a bit cooler such as "Stella By Starlight" which was a popular track performed by Miles Davis. There are originals, a vocal track written and performed by Carol Cox Comer which is clever. Mike Ning (who I believe was a transplant to KC) attempts a bit of Cool Jazz on "Grable's Able (Milt Abel)". And the saxophonist, Bill Perkins, contributed a tune called "Lost Moments," which attempts to get almost Kenton-like in sophistication, but mind you, can't reach that level.

Other points are awarded to the cover collage, which does seem a bit hokey, but has great references to KC. And the label name, Kaycee Jazz, is kind of fun.