There’s so much going on in the world of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra: concerts, recordings, parties, airports, and thankfully much...

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra's 20th Anniversary Season started with a bang with what has been my favorite concert during my time with...

For 20 years, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has been in existence, and that’s pretty incredible. If you think about things that have...

In the 1920s, Kansas City brought about a few developments that would eventually change the landscape of popular music in the world,...

Last month, KCJO successfully launched a new educational offering entitled Jazz Café as a part of our education program, JazzWorks. Jazz...

“Onward and upward.” This is something the great Bobby Watson used to say when leaving a conversation or a rehearsal. The mindset of...

Photographs by Clint Ashlock An increasingly important component of The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra is our dedication to educational...

Photographs by Suzanne Frisse One of the things about jazz that has always deeply moved me is the heritage; the cultural inheritance...

By nature, I’m a pretty effusive person. I enjoy seeing positivity in the world, and I like expressing my reaction to it verbally....

Mamba Mentality: To be on a constant quest to try to be the best version of yourself.

Bobby Watson would tell his students at UMKC about “the jazz way” of things. He’d relate proverbs from the legendary Art Blakey, like...

It goes without saying that 2020 has been challenging, in all regards. The music and arts world has felt the struggle something fierce,...

Hey, jazz fans! As you are aware, the current health crisis has brought live music performances to a halt in around the nation in recent...

Hi folks! It's been a heck of a spring, for sure. On behalf of the band, I just want to say that we can't wait to get back onstage and...

Hi, I’m Clint Ashlock, and I’m the artistic director of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. As you maybe know, we usually put on concerts at...

If you don't already know them, allow me to introduce you to our two phenomenal guest artists for our Havana to Ipanema: KCJO Plays Latin...

by guest writer Stanton Kessler Latin music has always been around us. Every Latin American country has its own special brand to...

Greetings from the Big Easy! I’ve been at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans this week, and it has been a fantastic...

It’s already November! As we near the holiday season, we here at the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra would like to extend joy and love and, of...

Cab Calloway. Bessie Smith. Lena Horne. Duke Ellington. For a couple decades starting in the 1920s, these legendary performers put on some