Kansas City Jazz Alive’s Spotlight: Charlie Parker 2024
Kansas City Jazz Alive’s Spotlight: Charlie Parker 2024, celebrates the jazz icon’s 104th birthday with jam sessions and musical tributes, tours, lectures, exhibits, panel discussions, workshops, and concerts. The annual program was developed to honor Parker (also known as “Bird”), his legacy, and impact on jazz in Kansas City and worldwide. Highlighting this year’s Spotlight: Charlie Parker will be this Capstone Celebration with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.
More on the Evening’s Program:
Charlie Parker’s influence imbues every facet of jazz today, and this year’s spotlight will brightly shine on his musical legacy through a vibrant evening with The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. Emceeing this big band celebration of Parker’s artistry is historian, author, and radio personality Chuck Haddix – who literally wrote the book on “Bird.” Throughout the evening, Chuck will provide the listener with a rich perspective of Parker stories in his inimitable voice. KC’s preeminent big band, The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has curated an evening of purely Parker tunes, arranged specifically for this concert. Songs like Anthropology, Parker’s Mood, Now’s The Time, and more will ring through the historic Folly Theater and into the hearts of everyone filling the seats. While there is no shortage of Bird represented in the big band idiom, each arrangement on this night will be tailored to showcase Kansas City’s phenomenal talent, in our infectiously swinging regional style. If you’re a fan of the saxophone, get ready for some burning solos by five of our city’s finest! This is truly a contemporary celebration of one of the most legendary artists of all time. Bird Lives, indeed!
Kansas City Jazz Alive would like to thank the following Sponsors for making this event possible: Neighborhood Tourism Development Fund (NTDF), Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Martha Lee Cain Tranby Music Enrichment Fund, Buttonwood Financial Group, Gill Studios and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. Support for this project is provided by the Metzler Initiative at the Folly Theater.
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