About this Event
In 2024 Stan Kessler made an album of nothing but duets: his trumpet with six Kansas City pianists, Joe Cartwright, Brant Jester, Andrew Ouellette, Brian Ward, Roger Wilder, and Charles Williams. Plastic Sax said Two's Company "may be the most valuable release of the year to emerge from Kansas City's jazz community," and credited "his eagerness to share the spotlight with six of Kansas City's under-documented pianists."
He was in the Kansas City Youth Symphony in the late 1960s, and he's since played with Clark Terry, Paquito D'Rivera, Karrin Allyson, Kevin Mahogany, and Bobby Watson. In 1991 he founded the Sons of Brasil, a Brazilian jazz band, and he also leads HoraceScope, his tribute to Horace Silver, and Passport, a duo with guitarist Beau Bledsoe. This year he headlined Northwest Missouri State's jazz festival in February and played the Wichita Jazz Fest with his quartet in April.
"I try to imagine that the person in the audience is hearing jazz for the first time," he told KCUR in 2018. He spent 22 years as adjunct jazz faculty at UMKC, and his former students include Hermon Mehari, Clint Ashlock, and Nic Weaver. Now he directs the Kansas City Jazz Academy's advanced 18th Street Combo.
The Blue Room, 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108. Friday, October 30, 2026. Shows at 8:30 pm & 10 pm. $10 per show.
Event venue & nearby stays
Blue Room, 1600 East 18th Street, Kansas City, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.