Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Announces Marilyn Maye In SHE'S THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Lea Petrie today announced the next concert for the Conversations in Jazz 2023-2024 Season, She's the Talk of the Town, featuring Marilyn Maye, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Folly Theater (300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, MO 64105).

At 7 p.m., Artistic Director Clint Ashlock will lead a pre-concert Jazz Chat. Following her March 2023 sold-out Carnegie Hall headline appearance, tickets are expected to sell quickly. 

Talk of the Town 

Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra's debut performance in 2003 was headlined by the marvelous Marilyn Maye-- a nationally celebrated GRAMMY-nominated musical legend with deep ties to Kansas City. From her longtime residency at KC's Colony Steakhouse in the '50s, appearing 76 times on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, and now frequently selling out clubs throughout the country including her March 2023 Carnegie Hall sold-out headline appearance, she continues to lead a storied career in her 95th year. Twenty years later, KCJO is thrilled to share the stage with Maye once again, one of the finest stewards of the Great American Songbook, and a quintessential storyteller often referring to the lyric as conversation.  Jazz fans will take special delight to learn that KC jazz guitarist Rod Fleeman will be joining her onstage. She and Rod have performed numerous times over the years all over the world and they will be reunited once again.

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director Clint Ashlock stated, "In the arts world, it's easy to use superlatives to try to describe the performance and talent of great musicians, painters, writers, and so forth. While they are almost certainly all deserving of adulation, Marilyn Maye stands tall among everyone else. Just portions of her long and illustrious career and offer could stand alone as a life well-lived, but through sheer energy, work ethic, and an unparalleled knock for relating stories to an audience, Marilyn keeps growing and delivering at the highest level. Fresh off of her brilliant stand at Carnegie Hall, KCJO is so excited to share the stage with such a singular artist. With every note she sings, Marilyn Maye brings you in, touches every fancy, and leaves you understanding a little bit more about the human experience."

Singlet tickets are now on sale! For information about purchasing tickets, visit www.kcjo.org or call 816-225-4949. 

Founded in 2003, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra is one of the nation's preeminent big bands, performing classic and original repertoire in a variety of settings. With the beautiful Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts as a home base, KCJO's concert season puts forth engaging themed shows ranging from Duke Ellington's early works to brand-new reimaginations of pop music, “celebrating the past, and embracing the future.” In addition to the season, the orchestra plays a variety of concerts, dances, and festivals, engaging audiences from Kansas City, Missouri to Hannover, Germany, and beyond.

KCJO engages with the community through its educational programs which work to train the next generation of talented Kansas City musicians. Through masterclasses with visiting guest artists, in-school programs, and outreach events for all ages such as Listening Parties and Jazz Cafés KCJO is extremely active in facilitating the cultural preservation of Jazz music.

For more information, please visit kcjo.org. 

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