Film:  A Tribute to Kansas City Jazz (documentary)

Studio:  Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in association with Jazz Alley TV and Maui Reflection films

Principal actors:  Jay McShann, Bobby Watson, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, T. S. Monk

Director:  Kenneth K. Martinez Burgmaier

Screening Date:  September 15, 2007

Kansas International Film Festival (World Premiere)

Film length:  43 minutes

Rating:  unrated 

3 ˝ Stars 

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner 

A Tribute to Kansas City Jazz features some great music, giving a glimpse of the talent of Kansas City.  Forty-three minutes that include hearing and seeing the late Jay McShann at the piano is certainly time well spent.  The problem with this documentary, though, is its lack of focus, and to tell a story in forty-three minutes, focus is essential.  It could have been a film telling the important role Kansas City played in the development of jazz (“Jazz was born in New Orleans, but it grew up in Kansas City.”--Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver).  It could have served as a biography of Jay McShann (the man who started Charlie Parker on his way).  It could have been a celebration of the work of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts which has given students the opportunity to learn from jazz masters like McShann and Bobby Watson.  It just can't be all three at the same time in such a short work. 

The music is delightful, and this film can be heartily recommended for that alone.  But along with sound bites from greats like Herbie Hancock and George Benson proclaiming Kansas City's importance as a jazz center, it would have been nice to see more time spent in showing that history, providing character sketches of some of the greats involved and sound clips of their work. 

Instead, the audience is given just a little sampling here and there, but never the full scoop that is craved.