Just six blocks to the south, jazz also flourished at 18th & Vine, which became nationally respected as the epicenter of the city’s African American community. At its height, 12th Street was home to more than fifty jazz clubs. Kansas City’s 12th Street became nationally known for its jazz clubs. A saxophone player named Charlie Parker began his ascent to fame here in his hometown in the 1930s. Legends like pianist-bandleader Count Basie, saxophonist-bandleader Andy Kirk, singer Big Joe Turner, trumpeter Oran Thaddeus “Hot Lips” Page, and pianist-bandleader Jay McShann all played in Kansas City. At one time, there were more than 100 nightclubs, dance halls, and vaudeville houses in Kansas City regularly featuring jazz music. Only in Kansas City did jazz continue to flourish during the Depression. This “wide-open” town image attracted displaced musicians from everywhere in mid-America.

During prohibition, he allowed alcohol to flow in Kansas City. Kansas City jazz flourished in the 1930s, mainly as a result of political boss Tom Pendergast. By the mid-1920s, the big band became the most common. In the early days, many jazz groups were smaller dance bands with three to six pieces. In fact, the city’s first jazz recording by Bennie Moten in 1923 was “Evil Mama Blues.” Settings such as dance halls, cabarets, and speakeasies fostered the development of this new musical style. Blues singers of the 1920s and ragtime music greatly influenced the music scene, evolving eventually to Kansas City jazz-a new kind of blues that jumped with a jazz sound. Blues formed the basic vocabulary for KC-style jazz. He spent 14 years teaching at a number of area universities and colleges and is an enthusiastic music educator.Ĭlint has served as Artistic Director for The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra since August 2013.Kansas City is world-renowned for its rich jazz and blues legacy. He completed his Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance at Fort Hays State University, and received two Masters degrees in Jazz/ Studio Music and Music Composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ashlock was recently featured as a soloist at the First Jazz Education Festival in Shanghai, China, and at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Sydney, Australia, as well as winning the Downbeat Student Music award for best big band arrangement. Ashlock has produced a number of recordings, including “New Jazz Order,” featuring Bobby Watson, as well as a recent release with Denver pianist Ben Markley entitled “The Return.”Īs a student of jazz, Ashlock reflects the lineage of his hard bop idols such as Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, and his big band writing is heavily influenced by Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Kerry Strayer and Dan Gailey. He has performed with such luminaries as Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Clark Terry and Natalie Cole, as well as being a mainstay on the local Kansas City performing circuit, most notably with his ‘other’ big band, New Jazz Order, small group Forward, and as a member of various groups such as The Project H and the Marcus Lewis Big Band. An in-demand musician across various genres, Clint is a dedicated and tireless contributor to the scene. Trumpeter/composer/bandleader Clint Ashlock grew up in the Kansas City area.

Kansas city jazz musicians