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About Jay McShann
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Doc Severinsen, Alyssa Allgood, Dana Legg and Jay McShann
by Joe Dimino
We dive headfirst into the 948th Episode of Neon Jazz with a true rising force on the Kansas City scene--singer and guitarist Mike Bourne--spotlighting the title track from his acclaimed 2025 release Kansas City O'Clock. It's a bold, swinging statement that sets the tone for an hour steeped in soul, swagger and straight-ahead jazz spirit. From there, we tip our hat to one of the towering figures who shaped both Mike and the Kansas City sound--the legendary Jay McShann. His ...
Continue ReadingJay McShann: In Copenhagen
by Chris Mosey
Jay Hootie" McShann was like one of those Russian dolls that you knock down and they bounce right up again. Right up until his death in 2006 at the age of 90, he was one of the jazz world's great survivors. Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1916, his spiritual and musical home was Kansas City, where he achieved his place in the history books for fronting the big band that introduced Charlie Parker to the world. It played the Apollo ...
Continue ReadingJay McShann: Hootie Blues
by Michael P. Gladstone
Okay, it is true that ninety-year-old legend Jay McShann was only 85 when he recorded this live album in early 2001 at the Montreal Bistro in Toronto, intending it for broadcast on CBC Radio. But I think it's safe to conclude that his powers haven't dimished a bit since that event.
McShann (aka Hootie) is a Kansas product who made his name in Wichita and Kansas City in the 1930s and is likely the only survivor of those ...
Continue ReadingJay McShann Trio: Hootie!
by Dave Nathan
Chiaroscuro was taping a live performance of Jay McShann's trio when lo and behold, in walked Phil Woods. Flip Phillips and David Fathead" Newman all of whom happened to be on the S/S Norway for the 14th annual Floating Jazz Festival. The trio then lent their considerable talents to the session, with no rehearsal. Apocrypha or not, it makes for an interesting story and outstanding jazz music. The title of the album Hootie! is what McShann is known by to ...
Continue ReadingJay McShann with Duke Robillard and Maria Muldaur: Still Jumpin' The Blues
by Ed Kopp
If you're a fan of music that straddles that line between jazz and blues, Jay McShann's Still Jumpin' The Blues will hit you where you live. No one epitomizes Kansas City jump better than 83-year-old McShann, the smooth pianist and veteran band leader. McShann plays and sings with incredible energy on this charming set of tunes featuring guitarist Duke Robillard and his band, as well as sassy vocalist Maria Muldaur.McShann and Robillard are a highly compatible pair, and ...
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