Jay McShann, Leading Figure in Kansas City Jazz Scene, Dies at 90

http://kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=5784342

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Jay "Hootie" McShann, a jazz pianist and bandleader who helped refine the blues-tinged Kansas City sound and introduced the world to saxophonist Charlie Parker, died Thursday. He was 90.

McShann died at St. Luke's Hospital. The cause of death was not released to the public, hospital spokeswoman Kerry O'Connor said.

McShann, whose musical career spanned eight decades and earned him accolades from both blues and jazz aficionados, was born James Columbus McShann on Jan. 12, 1916 in Muskogee, Okla. Against the wishes of his parents, he taught himself how to play piano, in part by listening to late-night radio broadcasts featuring pianist and bandleader Earl "Fatha" Hines.

McShann developed a distinctive style that drew heavily on his beloved blues, and began his professional career at age 15. After a raid on a club in Kansas in 1936 -- liquor was still illegal in the state then -- the frustrated pianist decided to head north.

(more at link)

:cry:

but so it was!

One book I read theorized that jazzers crossing the country from NYC to LA and back loved to stop "midway" for steaks and refreshments in KC. Hence, the jazz scene.

Maybe airplanes ended all that more than anything?

RIP Jay McShann:cry:

Here's a quick look at the music from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Jazz

Jay McShann
City blues pianist
Published: 09 December 2006
James Columbus McShann, pianist, blues singer and bandleader: born Muskogee, Oklahoma 12 January 1916; married (three daughters); died Kansas City, Missouri 7 December 2006.

The saxophonist Charlie Parker worked as a sideman in the pianist Jay McShann's band from 1940 to 1942. His association with Parker was to dominate the rest of McShann's life; he was never able to escape the glare of Parker's sunspots. This was inevitable but unfair, for McShann was a major player in the development of Kansas City blues style. He was its last survivor.

He had been able to cope better than any other leader with the impossible Parker. "In those days," said McShann, he would take another cat's horn, pawn it, and then take the ticket to him and say, "Man, you want your horn? Here's the ticket."

Living in Muskogee, McShann's deeply religious parents managed to pay for piano lessons for his elder sister, but couldn't afford them for him. But he listened and found out how to pick out the melodies that his sister played at home on the piano and later in church on the organ. The young boy found jazz in the late-night radio broadcasts by Earl Hines's Orchestra. Although, by the time he entered Fisk University, he could make his way on the piano, it was to be some time before he learned to read music. Short of money, McShann left halfway through his course and hiked to Tulsa:

"Soon after I got to Tulsa I was passing a hall where I heard some guys rehearsing. It was Al Denny's band and they had no piano player! I sat and listened to them and memorised the tunes that they played. I went up to see one of them and said, "Look man, I think I can play those tunes." They put the music in front of me and they thought I was reading it. I had a good ear, but they soon found out I couldn't read. Then they helped me and I learned fast."
(snip/...)

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2060033.ece