Venues

From the award-winning Blue Room to the living room intimacy of Take Five to the funky eclecticism of the Green Lady Lounge, Kansas City today hosts a variety of jazz clubs, each wearing a unique identity.

Any KC jazz fan knows this. But it became even more obvious while scrolling through a few years of photos, looking for ones that showcase each location's feel, for possible use on a new website.

Typically, photos in this blog feature the musicians. Today, we admire the venues. Not every locale is represented. I’ve yet to carry the camera into The Ship, for instance, which recently opened to everyone in the West Bottoms and is a one-of-a-kind experience. But below is a sampling of the environments where you’ll find jazz in Kansas City in 2014.

Upstairs at the Green Lady Lounge. I’ve yet to photograph the recently renovated downstairs Orion Room.

Red walls, apparently, are in with Kansas City jazz clubs today. So are paintings of KC jazz icons at the Broadway Jazz club.

Ernie Andrews in The Blue Room

You’d never have convinced me that jazz would work in Johnson County until Take Five proved it. Actually, they have more than proved it. Soon Take Five will be moving into double the space.

Don’t overlook the late night weekend jam sessions at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

We have festivals. Such as when Bettye Lavette took over the stage at last year's Kansas City 18th and Vine Jazz and Blues Festival.

Or when crowds started to fill the park for the Prairie Village Jazz Festival.

January’s Jazz Winterlude at Johnson County Community College will take next year off. But here’s proof it has filled Yardley Hall.

A closer look at the stage at the Broadway Jazz Club.