Kansas City jazz fans take note: The executive director of the American Jazz Museum says we will have a world-class jazz festival and it will debut in just one year.
A City Council committee this week approved a renewal for the museum to continue to manage the 18th and Vine project. Jazz Museum Executive Director Cheptoo Kositani-Buckner used the occasion to tout the accomplishments of the district she has managed since January.
Kositani-Buckner told the committee of intensified activity in the district, including four-times-weekly jams at the Blue Room and the Kansas City Jazz Academy for youth – and announced there would be more excitement to come.
“If we are really a jazz city,” she said, “and if we are really the home of jazz, then we should have a Kansas City jazz festival that is equivalent to New Orleans, Chicago and New York, and right now we do not. And so stay tuned! Launching next year, Memorial Day will be one of the best jazz festivals that anybody has ever seen in this world."
The jazz museum gets $500,00 a year from the city to maintain its operations and manage and coordinate other city-owned aspects of the jazz district.
The full council is expected to approve the funding ordinance, which makes the expenditure a recurring part of future city budgets.
Steve Bell is afternoon newscaster and business news reporter for KCUR. He may be reached at 816-235-5173 or by e-mail as steveb@kcur.org.
