About this Event
Angela Ward conducted an 18-piece orchestra in public for the first time on June 20, 2022, in the 1,200-seat White Concert Hall at Washburn University. She'd rehearsed the ensemble at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.
She started in music at three in Tallahassee, Florida, and began classical piano lessons at 12. She discovered jazz at Florida A&M University, where she met her husband, bassist James Ward; her bio says she majored in Computer Information Systems there and minored in Music Performance.
In 2023, her bio says, she represented Women in Jazz at the 54th Semanas Musicales in Frutillar, Chile.
Monday, Angela Ward & Friends play the featured set, and then the bandstand opens to anyone who signs up at the door. She and James founded the Comprehensive Arts Institute, a 501(c)(3) that has run music workshops at Paseo Academy.
"The Blue Room is home," she told KC Studio in 2022. She found it in September 1997, as the 18th & Vine revitalization was getting started, when she came in looking for a place to change one of her kids' diapers and was invited to play the piano.
The Blue Room, 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108. Monday, December 21, 2026, at 7 pm. $10 general admission; complimentary for AJM members, musicians, and students.
Event venue & nearby stays
Blue Room, 1600 East 18th Street, Kansas City, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.