Kansas City Soundtrack CD

The soundtrack to Robert Altman's "Kansas City" will take you back to the heyday of swing, Kansas City style. It features a big band of today's lions glorifying jazz's golden age, dressed in the trappings of their predecessors. Yet there's no mistaking their true faces underneath their half-century-old hats.

It kicks off with the creeping and gritty "Blues In The Dark," a Count Basie standard featuring the unmistakable cry and response of tenormen James Carter and Joshua Redman, whose performances are soulful, rousing and plaintive. The big band glides through Bennie Moten's "Moten Swing," one of the swing era's definitive tunes, and struts on Count Basie's "Lafayette." Smooth as a K.C. gangster. Kevin Mahogany takes the mic for "I Left My Baby," an old-fashioned juke-joint romp, complete with an enthusiastic crowd (sounding like it's surrounding you) egging on each musician. On Coleman Hawkins' "Queer Notions" you can hear David Murray walking in Bean's shoes. In fact, the very spirits of Bennie Moten's and Count Basie's orchestras are quite present throughout this foray into the swinging golden age of Kansas City jazz.

Recorded at the Hey Hey Club on May 11-22, 1995. Includes liner notes by Robert Altman, Bob Blumenthal and Eric Liljestrand.

Personnel: Butch Morris (conductor); Craig Handy (arranger, tenor saxophone); Don Byron (arranger, baritone saxophone, clarinet); Geri Allen (arranger, piano); Steven Bernstein (arranger); Kevin Mahogany (vocals); David "Fathead" Newman, Jesse Davis (alto saxophone); James Carter (tenor & baritone saxophones); Joshua Redman, David Murray (tenor saxophone); Nicholas Payton, James Zollar (trumpet); Olu Dara (cornet); Clark Gayton, Curtis Fowlkes (trombone); Cyrus Chestnut (piano); Mark Whitfield, Russell Malone (guitar); Ron Carter, Christian McBride, Tyrone Clark (bass); Victor Lewis (drums).

Down Beat (9/96, p.53) - 4.5 Stars - Very Good/Excellent - "...a fine sense of period, and not a pinch of camp. In the final analysis, that's what gives this soundtrack its integrity as a freestanding jazz work--some of the best contemporary players giving the best they've got to another generation, and no condescension in sight..."
JazzTimes (10/96, p.116) - "...Kansas City's all-stars play with passion, bluesy brio and historical awareness..."