My essentials: Jazz singer Shay Estes
This sultry crooner is all about supporting local
You can see Kansas City jazz singer Shay Estes as she fronts Trio ALL at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Blue Room.
AARON LINDBERG { special to ink }
Those who have heard her sing know that Kansas City jazz artist Shay Estes has a phenomenal set of pipes.
What they might not know: “I am a great whistler, and I have MacGyver-like powers of improvisational repair,” said Estes, 29.
Talk about a triple threat.
Estes, who also tends bar at The Brick downtown, fronts the ensemble Shay Estes & Trio ALL, composed of drummer Zack Albetta, bassist Ben Leifer and pianist Mark Lowrey. See them play at The Blue Room in the 18th and Vine District at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Since 2002, Estes has performed in local burlesque, pop and jazz acts, often demonstrating a penchant for offbeat entertainment.
“I once sang beautiful love songs from the top of a stationary jet ski with farm animals and laser lights everywhere,” she said. “But that seems normal to me.”
Regardless of venue or absurdity of the performance, Estes often engages in certain preshow rituals.
“I like to brush my teeth before I sing,” she said. “I will also, on most occasions, take a shot of Crown.”
Her essentials
Home: Moving to the west Plaza
Pets: Two cats, Zucca and Minkey
Club: “I am a dutiful worker for The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City. I also ally myself with Wee Snuff and Trio ALL.”
Ringtone: “Fanfare” from The Bird and the Bee’s LP, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Gadget: “I want an iPhone so bad I can taste it. My G1 isn’t cutting it anymore. I just refuse to give up T-Mobile, though.”
Web site: “Either ugliesttattoos.com or shayestes.com. Guess which one of those two is actually safe for work.”
Drink: “PG: Lost Trail Sarsaparilla. PG-13: Iced mocha from Broadway Cafe. R: The Burning Bush at R Bar and Boulevard Saison Brett.”
Snack: Taco
Charity: Planned Parenthood, public radio, The Humane Society
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis or Bruce Campbell
Video game: “Tetris” for Nintendo
Blog: Grammar Girl
Movies: “The Princess Bride” and “Army of Darkness”
TV shows: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “United States of Tara”
Radio station: KCUR and KKFI
Scent: Lavender
Clothes: “I like to shop at Spool and Frankly Basic. It feels better to buy extra cute stuff when I am putting my money back into the community.”
Shoes: “My bronze cowboy boots.”
Who cuts your hair? Amber at I Love You salon in Hammerpress
Shampoo: Oribe and Leonor Greyl
Accessory: “My bracelet of religious icons and my hot boyfriend. Arm candy!”
Music: “I could only answer that in essay form. Today, I am feeling good about Tierney Sutton and Randy Newman.”
Spot to spend an extra $50: “Birdies! Birdies! Birdies!”
Phoning or texting? “I prefer to talk.”
Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, yo! No tweets for me. Nobody needs to know what I am doing all the time.”
Vacation spot: Brazil
Shay Estes: Press
Shay Estes
The Oil Boiler
Like the crack of a champagne bottle against the bow of a ship, a menagerie of actors, artists and musicians are launching a new performance space within the skeleton of a an old car showroom this weekend. Called The Living Room, it's the newest venue in the Crossroads District to house a mix of performance styles. And when the yet unnamed company invited reporters down to the space for a preview recently, KCUR's Steve Walker took the bait. Kansas City, MO
"The Oil Boiler"
May 7, 8, 9, 2010
The Living Room at The Pearl
1818 McGee
Kansas City, MO
Show times: May 7-8, 7:00pm and 9:00pm
May 9 at 7:00pm, Service Industry Night performance.
Ticket prices are $12.00 advance, $15.00 at the door.
"Welcome to the Juggler," says Cody Wyoming. "To some people, I'm the preacher. As I look around, say, 'Good evening, preacher.'"
Crowd: "Good evening, preacher."
Dressed in a white tuxedo jacket that's both tacky and retro, musician Cody Wyoming is setting the stage for a handful of guests invited to a sneak preview of a new performance piece that premieres this weekend at The Living Room.
"It's a special night at our club we call 'The Oil Boiler,' a dramatic foray into a story with which many of you are unfamiliar," says Wyoming. "But as the old saying goes: Dark rooms are often lit by twisted bulbs and sordid twisted tales illuminate the dark recesses of the soul."
The show is called "The Oil Boiler," a 55-minute multi-sensory experience resulting from a collaboration of Kansas City artists of all stripes. Its earliest outline was written by Tyson Schroeder, a visual artist, and Alacartoona's Christian Hankel.
Among the theater artists represented are actors Walter Coppage and Katie Gilchrist, and from the film "Up in the Air," Erin McGrane.
Ambling up to the microphone for a smoky, jazzy contribution, dressed in a slinky black dress, is Shay Estes who sings, "This dime store novel/Is frightfully boring/..."
In between songs, something looking like a narrative rears its head.
Walter Coppage: "Get to the point already."
Tyson Schroeder: "Does there need to be a point to create art?"
Katie Gilchrist: "Oh, do shut up. This is supposed to be entertainment, not some art school seminar on high brow vs. low brow, how does it fit into the existential equation. Blah, blah, blah. Nobody (bleep)ing cares."
The run through is raw and unfiltered yet focused. But if there's no traditional play within miles of the space this night, there's a healthy respect for how these artists of various disciplines collaborate.
Dressed in a tutu and striped, Tim Burton-ish tights, Erin McGrane explains why "The Oil Boiler," in Kansas City, at this time.
"Part of what's different is the spirit of collaboration," says McGrane. "Number one, you just can't do this in other cities – the space, no budget. It's amazing we can do this in KC effortlessly, and that's what makes it a valuable artistic town."
If Shay Estes is more comfortable around jazz than theater, you wouldn't know it.
"If you look at the people who work in this city, they don't isolate their talent to just one arena," says Estes. "You are capable as an artist of stretching yourself out and taking risks, not financial risks but artistic risks."
Though "The Oil Boiler" comes and goes over one weekend, The Living Room will stage another play later this month. Its structure is more orthodox, but audiences will take it in while sitting not in theater seats but big, cushy sofas. Steve Walker, KCUR News.
For additional photos from "The Oil Boiler" rehearsal, check here.
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Funding for arts coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency
Fired up by many hands, 'Oil Boiler' mixes theater, music and art
The various disciplines in the local arts and entertainment community overlap regularly.
Ensembles like Quixotic and events like the monthly First Friday art exhibitions and live music shows at Midwestern Musical Co. all typically feature a varied mix of theater, dance, music and the visual arts.
This weekend, the worlds of theater, music and art will mix at “The Oil Boiler,” a one-act play to be presented in the Living Room at the Pearl, 1818 McGee St.
The concept for the play was conceived by Tyson Schroeder, a visual artist with his hands in a variety of other projects, including music and the band Medicine Theory. Initially, Schroeder wanted to present “Boiler” as a series of sit-down readings at a Kansas City drinking establishment.
But after he brought the idea to Christian Hankel of the theatrical/cabaret band Alacartoona, the plans evolved into something larger and more elaborate.
Eventually, a small horde of musicians and theater pros was enlisted. Joining Hankel and Schroeder in the play are Erin McGrane (Alacartoona) and actress Katie Gilchrist. Walter Coppage plays the disembodied voice of God, and musician and singer/songwriter Cody Wyoming is the club’s emcee.
Cody Wyoming (above left) plays The Preacher and Shay Estes is Holly Red in “The Oil Boiler.” The singers are among a host of local musicians taking part in the production.The set, designed by architect James Pastine and Schroeder, was still in pieces at the back of the room, so at the rehearsal, the scene was set orally:
The play takes place in a jazz nightclub circa the late-’40s/early ’50s with its own live house band that has several local or formerly local musicians: jazz vocalist Shay Estes, keyboardist Jeffrey Rukaman, drummer Kent Burnham and bassist Johnny Hamil. The show’s musical director is Jeff Freling, who works for Blue Man Group in Chicago but is formerly of the local dance/party band Mongol Beach Party.
The show’s other local music connection is soundman Chris Meck, formerly of the band the Gaslights, now of Tiny Horse (and a new, as-yet-to-be-named band).
The music that was performed that night was a blend of noirish blues and jazz. The “soundtrack” has a few songs with vocals and a few instrumentals, all written by Freling and Hankel.
Veteran Kansas City actor/director Scott Cordes is directing the play and putting all that creative energy and know-how to use. But more than act as overlord, he oversees a project that is the product of everyone’s input.
“This show isn’t a bunch of actors with a playwright and director telling them what to do,” Hankel said. “Everyone is welcome to make suggestions.”
Wyoming said that was one element that persuaded him to be part of the project. “Everyone’s opinion matters,” he said. “Everyone has been involved from the start. That’s what made me want to be a part of this.”
The play is loosely about, as McGrane put it, “the big to be or not to be” question. It involves a murder and the issue of evil and its creation and God’s role in it.
.
Here’s one plot synopsis: “Welcome to the Oil Boiler, the twisted tale of Leon Nesrac, neurotic hit-man who has lost his mind and possibly his nerve. In the moments after killing his lover, Leon converses with God about the nature of free will and his attempt to come to terms with the person he was, is and will remain.”
“The play was written like I paint,” said Schroeder, whose paintings (go to thegreatandsmall.com) are as stunning as they can be abstract, sci-fi and/or phantasmagorical.
“This play,” Estes said, “is like walking into one of Tyson’s paintings.”
The other “actors” in the play included several puppets created by Schroeder, plus a projection of his artwork on a screen at the back of the set. Cordes said “The Oil Boiler” takes him back to his “old performance art days. … Sometimes I had to ask, ‘What does this mean? What’s happening here?’ ”
In character, Wyoming guaranteed only that you’ll leave his club “with a great sense of existential dread.” And that is the wider purpose. McGrane said the experience is more about the bigger picture — the process and the journey, not the destination, however that may reveal itself.
That process also includes insinuating the audience into the performance: The room will be set up as a nightclub, with tables and a bar serving alcohol, so the viewers are part of the set.
“We are trying to manipulate the line between art and the audience,” Hankel said.
For the actors and musicians, however, the larger process is also about working with colleagues and peers in other disciplines.
Cordes hailed Rusty Sneary and Shawnna Journagan, the proprietors of the building, who let the production take residency in the space, which saved everyone a bundle of time and expense.
Estes, who performs regularly at Jardine’s and other local jazz clubs, said that gesture is just one example of how willing people in the Kansas City art/entertainment culture are to help one another. And that can stimulate the creative processes and inspire people to think big.
“You can take artistic risks here because the financial risks are low,” she said. “It’s an easy place to be an artist. There’s such a community for it here.”
The Oiler Boiler
Alan Scherstuh
The Oil Boiler — a one-act dramatic fantasy about a hit man chatting up God about killing his lover, while a jazz band plays in a nightclub for assassins — sounds dark, daring and just maybe a touch ridiculous. But that's how we like our local, scared-up-from-nowhere, collaborative First Friday theatrical happenings. A mob of artists, musicians, actors and what have you labored to mount this unlikely affair. Artist Tyson Schroeder and musician Christian Hankel wrote the script and also act, design and, with Jeff Freling, make fresh music. Directing first-tier performers Walter Coppage, Katie Gilchrist and Alacartoona's Erin McGrane is Scott Cordes. Meanwhile, that jazz band, a four-piece featuring the pipes of Shay Estes, does what it does. Schroeder and architect James Pastin designed the set. Really, everyone who has ever done anything of aesthetic significance in Kansas City seems to be involved in this. The show runs at 7 and 9 tonight and Saturday in the Living Room at the Pearl (1818 McGee). Tickets cost $12 in advance or $15 at the door and can be purchased at theoilboiler.com.
Emily's take on: Existential dread
What do you get when a musician acts, an artist writes and a singer dances? Theater in Kansas City, apparently.
If you’re planning to be in the Crossroads Arts District for First Friday this weekend, be sure to stop by the Living Room in the Pearl (1818 McGee St.). This new theater/music space is hosting a production called “The Oil Boiler,” a one-act show that incorporates traditional drama with visual art and jazz music to tell the story of a nightclub of assassins exploring the idea of free will.
The show was written by local artist Tyson Schroeder and actor/musician Christian Hankel (both also act in the production) and features Erin McGrane, Walter Coppage, Katie Gilchrist and Cody Wyoming.
A highlight of the production is the music. Smokey nightclub-esque jazz numbers — original music by Hankel and Jeff Freling — are infused throughout the play. Jeffrey Rukaman, Kent Burnham and Johnny Hamil round out the live band. KC jazz performer Shay Estes packs in some serious talent as lounge singer Holly Red, slinking her way onstage to entertain and further the plot with devious looks and lyrics. Look for Wyoming, who plays MC for the night, to duet (and dance) with Estes.
Wyoming is, perhaps, more known around town for his music than his acting, but that seems to be the theme of this production. Hankel and McGrane are both known for their work in Alacartoona, and bring the same sense of mysterious theatricality to this production. Schroeder’s visual-arts background comes into play in design elements (and did I mention puppets?).
Estes points to “The Oil Boiler” as being part of a larger trend in KC.
“It’s a city built for cross-genre work,” she said, noting Quixotic, Alacartoona and Mark Southerland as all working to incorporate elements of various arts. Estes and others in the cast describe Kansas City as a place where they can afford (literally) to take artistic risks.
And for the audience, those risks pay off in this show. Think of it as an artistic multivitamin: You’re getting a lot of good stuff at once. If you’re not into theater, go for the jazz. Not into music? Go for the art. If you’re not into any of these things, you’re still in luck.
Said Wyoming of the show: “This is my club and I, personally, want you to leave with a sense of existential dread.”
Sounds like my kind of Friday night.
The show starts at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Go to theoilboiler.com for tickets and more info.
Working From Blank Pages
Creating the Oil Boiler
Published: Thursday, April 29, 2010
This is not a review. I have no idea what’s going to happen next. They cornered me in a club, upstairs at this storefront, this former car showroom on McGee. The cocktail chair may have been hard, but I was too busy looking at puppets and the lounge singer. The music sounded smooth, edgy but effortless. I think someone killed someone and someone else thinks he was the killer as someone else played God with a definite upper-case god-like voice.
I’m not sure where they’re going with this and it felt intimidating to be surrounded. I saw the exit sign but decided to stay. Was this a play rehearsal or a party? What’s all this about an oil boiler? Some kind of appliance? The club’s called “The Juggler”, aptly named, for there seemed a lot going on.
Upstairs at the Pearl. A real place at 1818 McGee. Walk through the “Living Room”, take the stairs at the back left, and enter the Juggler. Not a real place, but a place you can visit May 7–9. Take a painter who develops a premise and a word sketch, pass the idea to an actor who knows a bit about music, slip the pages past the eyes of a few musicians and actors who do more than act, come back to the painter who’s painted some puppets, reel in an architect to design the sets, add a band…write some songs, convert the bare space into a dark club where perhaps we can shed a bit of light upon life and keep this Oil Boiler thing enough under wraps to make it interesting.
This is not a review. I watched as artists brought out their palettes of voice, images, music, prose, light, dark, dance. Sounds complex but it’s brilliantly simple. People work together. Some called it collaboration but that sounds too corporate and makes me think of “death by PowerPoint”. This is a troupe that’s not a troupe yet but will be after this oil boils next week. This assembled buffet of talent looks to be on to something we cannot yet name, but we’ll be naming it in the coming months.
This is not a review. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but next occurs on May 7, followed by two more “nexts” on the 8th and 9th. Book a chair for twelve bucks at 816.529.3901 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/108058.
Review | 'The Oil Boiler' in the Living Room at the Pearl
Every time I turn around, it seems, somebody's trying to re-invent musical theater.
That thought crossed my mind as I caught the second Friday night show of "The Oil Boiler," a new collaborative theater piece on the top floor of the Living Room at the Pearl, a downtown performance venue with tons of space and enormous potential.
If you think of the "The Oil Boiler," written by Tyson Schroeder and Christian Hankel, as a proper play you'll probably find plenty to criticize. It's populated not by characters but attitudinal cyphers, and while it seems feverishly intent on grappling the Big Questions, its purported meaning is never expressed coherently.
If, of the other, you accept it as unique theatrical experience, designed to stimulate the senses less than the intellect, you may be inclined to take a charitable view of the clunky dramaturgy. The show has a a quirky sense of humor, the visceral live-music component informs the action and the creators, including director Scott Cordes, succeed in creating an other-worldly (or perhaps nether-worldly) atmosphere.
The band, led by guitarist Jeff Freling, is first-rate. Freling and his bandmates — pianist Jeffery Rukaman, bassist Johnny Hamil and drummer Kent Burnham — fill the pre-show room with extended blues-infused nourish numbers that cut through the chatter and chair-scraping as spectators hunt for good seats.
Hankel and Freling also contributed a number of songs for sultry jazz singer Shay Estes as Miss Holly Red, who heats the place up repeatedly during the 60-minute show.
The premise is that we, the audience, have entered a nightclub worthy of the Twilight Zone where assassins provide the entertainment. Schroeder plays Leon Nesrac, who stumbles on stage after apparently killing his girlfriend Karen Heritage (Katie Gilchrist). Hankel shows up as Manchester Gravy, a gangsterish presence in a black fedora with curled-up black lipstick reminiscent of the Joker.
Erin McGrane plays Zoey Goodwill, who loves puppets and wears a ballerina skirt and clownish red circles on each cheek, first seen lurking under a table with a Barbie doll in each hand.
Cody Wyoming is the emcee in a white dinner jacket and contributes Tom Waits-like vocals on one number. The Voice of God is played by — who else? — Walter Coppage, who engages the characters in rude, crude banter.
After an hour of emotional clashes that never make much sense, the play concludes on a quiet note — so quiet that the audience Friday night wasn't sure the show was over until someone took it upon himself to begin clapping.
The two bonafide actors — Gilchrist and McGrane — bring charisma and energy to the the stage. Hankel and Wyoming are experienced performers, each of whom comfortably exhibits a relaxed stage presence. Schroeder seems a bit out of his element but the real star of the show is Estes. She doesn't have much dialogue, but when she sings she makes time stop.
"The Oil Boiler" will be performed at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday and at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Living Room at the Pearl, 1818 McGee St. Call 816-529-3501 or go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/108058 or www.theoilboiler.com.
To reach Robert Trussell, theater critic, call 816-234-4765 or send email to rtrussell@kcstar.com.
"Despite Your Destination" Reviews
Local album review: Shay Estes & Trio ALL
Shay Estes & Trio ALL
Despite Your Destination
Shay Estes & Trio ALL’s frothy new delight of a debut record, Despite Your Destination, applies the jazz-combo treatment to a variety of standards we all know by heart. It’s the right way to revisit these popular songs: familiarly soothing on one hand, but packing enough new twists to keep the listener interested and engaged from the first cut to the last.
The Kansas City group’s debut doesn’t sound tentative in any regard. In fact, it’s easy to imagine these four musicians have been together for ages, so relaxed and in a groove their playing can be.
Estes keeps her singing smooth and restrained throughout the album, wisely adhering to Michael Feinstein’s dictate that it’s practically impossible to under-sing this type of repertoire. Her voice often recalls the easy, conversational diction and tone popular among ’40s songstresses — direct, soulful, girly and pretty, but not plain.
The three men making up Trio ALL are hardly slouches, either. Pianist Mark Lowrey and bassist Ben Leifer share a remarkably symbiotic relationship, sometimes sounding like a single, four-handed player. Drummer Zack Albetta follows Estes’ lead of letting the performance serve the song, not call attention to itself — though he’s certainly up to a little solo here or filigreed fill there.
The model for Despite Your Destination becomes clear from the outset, with a brisk “Where You At” leading into “Little Drop of Poison,” which takes on a Latin accent.
“Hello, Young Lovers” turns the “King and I” show tune ballad’s usual tempo and rhythm on its ear, skipping along briskly with a rollicking piano performance matching a subtly racing drum line.
“The Night We Called It a Day” is slow and torchy, while “’Round Midnight” gets a refreshing, spare and upbeat arrangement full of drumstick ticks and tocks.
Estes turns Gershwin’s “But Not for Me” into “But Not for You,” transforming a weepy lament into a gleeful kiss-off to a former lover. The lyric, “Although I can’t dismiss/The memory of his kiss/I guess he’s not for me” becomes “I hope you can’t dismiss/The memory of my kiss/Although you’re not for me.” It’s a very clever recast, giving an appropriately 2009 attitude update to a song written nearly 80 years ago.
The album contains plenty of other bull’s-eyes. “Across the Universe” is a gloriously free-form jumble, a rattling meditation on The Beatles’ oft-covered singsong catalog staple. Arthur Hamilton’s “Cry Me a River” gets the speed treatment, with Lowrey’s nifty, dissonant piano sneaking up from the low end and counterbalancing against Albetta’s sputtering snares.
The biggest impression comes from a song that’s achieved classic status only in recent years: Shay and Trio stretch out the melody of The Church’s hypnotic “Under the Milky Way” into a country-tinged ballad that stands fittingly alongside every other tune on the album.
One of Estes’ nicest touches is her resistance to showy displays of vibrato. Many (most?) performers would jump on the long, drawn-out finale to Jimmy Rowles’ “A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)” as an invitation to ostentation, but Estes lets it end simply and surely, in keeping with her pace on the rest of the track. Good decision, at least on record — though it would likely be fun to hear her tear it up live.
Shay Estes and Trio ALL have created a new take on a clutch of songs audiences might think are played about as far out as they can go. Despite Your Destination’s effortless jazz updates couldn’t possibly be a more enjoyable listen.
— derek donovan { special to ink }Find it
You can find Despite Your Destination at Streetside Records, Prospero’s Books, The Kansas City Store, in some local Barnes & Noble stores and on iTunes.
See them
Catch Shay Estes & Trio ALL at 10:30 p.m. Jan. 9 at Jardine’s Restaurant and Jazz Club.
Shay Estes & Trio ALL
Despite Your Destination
(self-released)The serious pop and casual-jazz listener may wonder where Shay Estes & Trio ALL — an acronym of the last names of drummer Zack Albetta, pianist Mark Lowrey and bassist Ben Leifer — are going on Despite Your Destination. It's the arrangements; they take risks with well-known songs. But the risks are rewarding. Besides the usual standards ("Cry Me a River," "'Round Midnight"), the album includes songs such as Tom Waits' "Little Drop of Poison," which gets the Latin treatment, and the Beatles' "Across the Universe," which has a like-it or don't-like-it-so-much sound, thanks to some chord substitutions that throw the listener off. But between Estes' vocal delivery and Lowrey's piano solo, it works on its own merits. The Church's "Under the Milky Way" gets Estes' torch-song treatment and shows the song's adaptability. Guests sax man Mark Southerland and bassist Jeff Harshbarger need something to do, so Southerland gets a chancy arrangement of "How Deep Is the Ocean" to showcase his solos, and Harshbarger adds vocals to "Milky Way." Not everyone may like where Estes and ALL are going, but one thing's for sure: They arrive in style.
To the 9s | Our critics look back on the best of the year
So many options, so little time.
For those who seek entertainment and cultural enlightenment in our fair city, the calendar has just entered its brief winter hiatus. But soon enough, as the new year unfolds, we’ll be back to the daily dilemma: On any given night, it seems, if you want to hear music or watch theater or go to an art opening or see a new movie, you can be pulled in two or five directions at once.
And that’s if you don’t have other things tugging at you, such as real life as we know it.
In a place sometimes seen as starving for cultural stimulation, this is not a bad thing. We can stress over not getting to everything that demands attention, but we can also revel in the knowledge that we have so many choices. And some nights you can have it all: stroll a gallery, grab a quick bite, catch the Symphony and then wind down (or up?) at a jazz club till the wee hours.
Man, we’re lucky. And today our lucky number is 9, or aught-9 as the year closes. This is the season of list-making, and so within you will find our critics making their lists, in most cases their takes on nine things that stood out in their slices of the cultural universe.
I’d add a joyous nod to a few (call it nine-ish) of my favorite local things this year: impressive productions at Kansas City Rep, including “Into the Woods,” “The Glass Menagerie” and “Palomino”; a soaring evening with Leonard Cohen at the Midland theater; a handful of mind-bending productions at the Urban Culture Project’s La Esquina space; the sumptuous new galleries for American and American Indian art at the Nelson-Atkins; new jazz CDs from the young, UMKC-spawned Diverse and from Shay Estes with Trio ALL (“Despite Your Destination,” a sultry, sonically rich debut); pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s recital at the Folly Theater (catch her this spring with the Symphony); the Symphony’s new disc, “Britten’s Orchestra”; a late-night freak-out at Jardine’s with the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey; the Mingus Big Band at the Gem; and the tip-of-the-iceberg installation (finally!) of the John Baker Film Collection at the American Jazz Museum.
Also worth noting on the fine arts front: Construction proceeded in 2009 on two of the most significant new cultural projects in town — the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (still scheduled to open in the fall of 2011) and the Kansas City Ballet’s new home, the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, which will occupy a renovated power plant on the west flank of Union Station (summer 2011).
Both projects promise that our options will expand even more. Spare time, anyone?
Steve Paul, senior writer and arts editor, 816-234-4762, paul@kcstar.com.
Exerpt from the article:
List-omania: The year in music, in words and photos
CHUCK HADDIX
“The Fish Fry,”
KCUR (89.3 FM)
Derek Trucks, “Already Free”
Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, “What Have You Done My Brother”
Allen Touissant, “Bright Mississippi”
Hot Club of Cowtown, “ Wishful Thinking”
Various artists, “Daptone Gold”
David Maxwell and Louisiana Red, “You Got to Move”
Lee Fields, “My World”
Dave Alvin, “Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women” Johnny Bassett, “The Gentleman Is Back”
Shay Estes and Trio ALL, “Despite Your Destination”
Local music: There was plenty to love in 2009
The local music scene isn’t what it used to be, which is why it’s as dynamic as it has been in more than 10 years.
There are more clubs, more bands, more musicians and more people collaborating and recording and performing every day of the week in Kansas City (and Lawrence). The year 2009 was noteworthy for a lot of developments and occasions. Here are a few of them, plus a few best-of and favorites lists.
KC performers who made national waves in 2009
•Tech N9ne: mtvU loved his new record and gave him a Woodie Award for being so non-conformist.
•David Cook: His “David Cook” album finished in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200 chart and was No. 4 on the rock chart.
•Tony Ladesich and Joe Heyen: Their documentary “Cowtown Ballroom: Sweet Jesus” is getting the love and attention it deserves outside of Kansas City.
•Erin McGrane: She’s played several roles in the local music scene (Alacartoona, Barclay Martin Ensemble), but her biggest role was in the film “Up in the Air” starring George Clooney.
•The Get Up Kids: Their international reunion tour, which sold out theaters in the U.K, looks more like a back-together tour. They’re making new songs and will continue to tour other hemispheres into 2010.
Band to look out for in 2010
The (new) Black Oxygen: The new lead singer comes from a familiar place (the Josephine Collective); the new guitar player has a familiar name (his dad is one of the Elders).
They’ve exceeded 3 million hits on MySpace, but the bigger news is how they are generating some big plans with people who have big pull in big places. In a nutshell: They could become the cover-boy hard-rock band that girls love and their metal boyfriends envy and respect. If the chips keep falling like they have been, you’ll hear about them. Don’t bother turning anything up; they’re loud.
Five bands I fell in serious like with in 2009
•The Hearts of Darkness
•The Grisly Hand
•Thee Water Moccasins
•Audivox
•Adam Lee & the Dead Horse Sound Company
Bands/performers I saw in 2009 that I’m still crazy about after all these years
•American Catastrophe
•The Life and Times
•Dri
•Federation of Horsepower
•In the Pines
•Howard Iceberg & the Titanics
•The Gaslights
•The Expassionates
•The ACBs
•Fourth of July
•Hidden Pictures
•The Architects
•Olympic Size
•Alacartoona
•Heidi Phillips Band
•The Dead Girls
•The Elders
•Roman Numerals
Best new trends
•Singer/songwriter nights
•Tribute bands
Favorite tribute bands
•Summer Breeze (soft rock)
•Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac)
•Stone in Love (Journey)
Favorite local festival
•Crossroads Music Festival
Best places to hear new local music
•“Homegrown Buzz with Jeriney,” 96.5 FM
•“Sonic Spectrum” with Robert Moore, 96.5 FM
•“Midday Medley” with Mark Manning, 90.1 FM
• www.presentmagazine.com, which includes the “Sonic Spectrum” podcast and “The Mailbox” with Michael Byers
Local albums released in 2009 you should check out
There were dozens of good local albums released this year. Here are 16 we spent enough time with to recommend:
•The Life and Times, “Tragic Boogie”
•Krizz Kaliko, “Genius”
•The Architects, “The Hard Way”
•Capybara, “Try Brother”
•Be/Non, “A Mountain of Yeses”
•Betse Ellis, “Don’t You Want to Go?”
•The Appleseed Cast, “Sagamartha”
•Jason Beers, “Tacocat”
•Walkenhorst & Porter, “No Abandon”
•The Elders, “Gael Day”
•The Quixotic Band, “Lux Esalare” (soundtrack)
•Barclay Martin, “Zamboanga: Poverty, War, Music” (soundtrack)
•Audiovox, “Audiovox”
•Stik Figa & D/Will, “Hellogoodbye”
•Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, “Maiden Voyage”
•Shay Estes and Trio ALL, “Despite Your Destination”
Record label you should check out
The Record Machine: Nathan Reusch and partners Mike Russo and Richard Robinett have assembled a stable of diverse artists who are making music that deserves national attention. By month’s end, TRM will have released five albums this year. You can sample them all and then buy them for extraordinarily low prices — get downloads of all five for $15 through Dec. 31 — at http://therecordmachine.net/blog. Perhapsy, “Perhapsy”; Max Justus, “No Mercy”; Capybara, “Try Brother”; Sam Billen, “Headphones & Cellphones”; and the Parade Schedule, “Seeds to Be Planted, Trees to Be Cut.”
Later or never
This was the year for postponements or cancellations, at least two dozen. The AC/DC show has been rescheduled for April 11; the Elton John/Billy Joel show for Feb. 27. Aerosmith … may be history.
The Springsteen show was canceled at the last minute after the death in a Kansas City hotel room of Springsteen’s cousin, who was a member of his road crew.
Adrian Belew also canceled because of a death in the family. Aerosmith canceled after Steven Tyler fell and wrecked his shoulder. Charlie Daniels canceled because no one bought tickets.
The strangest cancellation: the electronic-pop band Passion Pit, which backed out of a show at the Back Yard in Westport at the last minute, citing safety reasons, including “dry rot” on the outdoor stage.
A partial list of shows that didn’t happen or were moved: AC/DC, Aerosmith, Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Ghostland Observatory, Passion Pit, Gretchen Wilson, Paramore, Pennywise and Pepper, Adrian Belew, Ray Price, the Church, Reel Big Fish, C.J. Chenier, Gregory Isaacs, Dashboard Confessional, Billy Joel and Elton John, the Stone Temple Pilots, Teena Marie With the Time, Sexy Soul Tour featuring Eric Benet, the Charlie Daniels Band.
Yes, there was jazz
10 best jazz shows of 2009, according to Bill Brownlee, a Star contributor and “Plastic Sax” blogger:
•Esperanza Spalding at the Folly Theater
•The People’s Liberation Big Band, the Pistol Social Club
•Steve Coleman, the Blue Room
•Karrin Allyson, Jardine’s
•Afinidad, the Folly Theater
•The Blue Note 7, the Gem Theater
•Tony Bennett, the Midland theater
•Logan Richardson, Jardine’s
•The Hearts of Darkness, Crosstown Station
•Black House Improvisers’ Collective, City Center Plaza
Shay Estes and Trio ALL
Shay Estes and Trio ALL release album
Kansas City jazz ensemble Shay Estes & Trio ALL — drummer Zack Albetta, bassist Ben Leifer, and pianist Mark Lowrey — releases its debut album, Despite Your Destination, this weekend.
“We’re really excited about the variety of material we’re presenting,” said Lowrey, 29. “We’re trying to cross over into the realm of modern jazz by writing arrangements of songs that aren’t staples in jazz repertoire.”
Instead of the old standards, you’ll hear jazzy reimaginings of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and Tom Waits’ “Little Drop of Poison.”
The album title comes from the lyrics of “Under the Milky Way,” originally by new wave band The Church. That track was the first arrangement Estes and Lowrey worked on together five years ago.
“A lot of this material has been out there for five years and has evolved and grown into something else,” said Estes, 29. “The songs we chose are ones that felt very lived-in. Comfortable.”
Listen for a musical cameo by saxophonist Mark Southerland and guest vocals from Jeff Harshbarger — both titans of the local jazz scene.
You can find Despite Your Destination at Streetside Records in Westport, The Kansas City Store on the Plaza, Prospero’s Books on 39th Street, a few area Barnes and Noble locations, Amazon.com, CDBaby.com and eventually on iTunes.
Jazz singer Shay Estes' first CD shows she's here to stay
It’s tricky to predict which new musicians on the scene will continue making music for a long time and who will fade away.
But everything about singer Shay Estes’ first CD, “Despite Your Destination,” suggests that she’s in for the long haul. The recording, done with Trio ALL (drummer Zack Albetta, pianist Mark Lowrey and bassist Ben Leifer), mates old songs and new in contemporary fashion, but also demonstrates an old-fashioned commitment to quality.
“I wanted my first record to honor what we’ve done together,” Estes said. “I wanted to honor the people who have been coming to the shows. I wanted to honor the songs, and I didn’t want to give people half-hearted versions of them.”
From the sound of it, Estes and the band succeeded. They’ll have a CD release party Saturday at Jardine’s, where it will all become clear.
“I wanted to create an accurate representation of what we do onstage,” Estes said. “Of course, that isn’t easy, because Mark and Zack and I are such showboats. We feed off each other. Ben’s the only calm one.”
Estes has a flair for the stage. She’s been singing since she was a little girl in the 1980s trying to sound like Patsy Cline, but she also has experience in theater and dance. After graduating from Blue Valley High School, she headed for New York to pursue a career in musical theater.
“Then I came back with my tail between my legs,” she said. “I didn’t realize that wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing.”
Back home, she was somewhere between music and theater. She worked in a surf-and-lounge band, hosted karaoke and worked with a burlesque troupe. But about five years ago, Mark Southerland asked her to try a jazz gig. That’s how she met her musical soulmate, pianist Lowrey (they later discovered they were born the same day).
“The next thing I knew, Lowrey, Southerland and I were playing jazz gigs. Lowrey said, ‘You want to keep this going?’ ” And they did.
“Lowrey and I started working together in March 2004, I think. He’s been pretty much my best friend and musical cohort, my musical and business partner. Zack joined us three years ago, and within six months it was the same kind of partnership. I’m working with pretty much my two best friends.”
Jardine’s gave Estes her first headline spot as a jazz singer, and it’s been a steady relationship that’s given her lots of experience as a straight-ahead singer. She’s also worked outside the box in Southerland’s projects and with Brad Cox’s People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City.
And all that experience is reflected on her CD.
The songs extend from the old (“Hello, Young Lovers,” “The Night We Called It a Day”) to the much newer (Tom Waits’ “Little Drop of Poison” and “Under the Milky Way” by the Church). Old songs get new twists: “But Not for Me” sports a changed set of lyrics that remove any trace of self-pity, and “’Round Midnight” gets pushed to a risky tempo.
Southerland makes a guest appearance, playing some inside-out tenor sax, and Jeff Harshbarger contributes some backing vocals (“Everybody knows he’s an incredible bass player, but very few are aware he’s a really amazing singer,” Estes said).
The whole thing was captured on old-fashioned analog tape.
“No place to hide,” Estes said. “No digital pitch correction, no digital monkeying with anything.… We wanted to make something that sounds like a ’60s Blue Note record.”
Her commitment shows in the details.
Shay Estes and Trio ALL Release New CD
Kansas City, MO Before turning to jazz, vocalist Shay Estes performed with a rock band, a Western-surf band, and a burlesque troupe. In recent years, Estes has collaborated with Brad Cox's People's Liberation Big Band and Mark Southerland's "Urban Noise Camp."
Shay Estes and Trio ALL (an acronym for drummer Zach Albetta, pianist Mark Lowrey and bassist Ben Leifer) have a new CD called "Despite Your Destination." There are standards by Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin, as well as reworked versions of contemporary songs, like Tom Waits' "Little Drop of Poison."
KCUR's Laura Spencer spoke with drummer and arranger Zach Albetta and vocalist Shay Estes about combining the old with the new.Click the link to listen.