Kansas City

Kansas City
Originally uploaded by elliotpiano

My first blog post from the midwest! From now on I'll be posting from my blackberry, which is kind of tricky to type with, so please excuse any spelling mistakes or what-not. Flew into Kansas City last night, went down to the 19th and Vine historical jazz district. Lots of jazz history here - Count Basie is the most well known jazz musician from this area, and his big band defines the Kansas City sound - bluesy, built upon riffs that the band plays together and then "riffs" off on. This pic is from the oldest joint in the area where they have jam sessions from 1:30am until dawn every weekend. And were very rpoud to tell me that they got a liquor license from the mayor so they could serve until 6 AM - same as they did during Prohibition. So to give you more of a picture- I rolled into the district wearing one of my fedora type hats, expecting to stand out like I usually do walking around Brooklyn - quite the contrary- I'd say 2 out of 3 people were wearing fedoras. Sweet.
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