After more than 20 years, the Kansas City Monarchs are reviving the historic KC Blues and Jazz Festival

The Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival was once one of the city’s largest events. At its peak, around 50,000 attendees descended on the Liberty Memorial’s grounds each year to listen to music.

Mike Hannah, director of special events for the Kansas City Monarchs baseball team, recalls attending the festival multiple times throughout its 11-year run. “I always remember it being the seminal event that captured the spirit of the Kansas City community in many different ways,” Hannah says.

Now, the Kansas City Monarchs are reviving the KC Blues and Jazz Festival this fall at Legends Field. “It’s such an important, missing part of the culture that we’re trying to revitalize and bring back,” Hannah says.

Launched in 1991, the festival was originally hosted by the Kansas City Blues Society and booked by Roger Naber, the owner of Midtown’s now-defunct Grand Emporium. Showcasing KC’s finest popular headliners, including old-guard musicians like Jay McShann and Claude “Fiddler” Williams—local legends who dominated the scene during its Swing-era heyday—and contemporary guitarist Pat Metheny.

But due to financial hardship, the festival disbanded in 2001. 

The event’s renaissance is part of a larger effort by the minor league team’s owner, Mark Brandmeyer, to bring community events (beyond baseball) to KCK’s Legends Field. Recently, the stadium underwent a major renovation and installed an artificial turf field. Now, large-scale events can be hosted without damaging a natural grass field.

“We love having 50 home games here, but the rest of the year, there’s not a lot that happens,” Hannah says. “Bringing back this festival easily went to the top of the list.”

Across two days and three stages, the KC Blues and Jazz Festival will feature a diverse range of nationally regarded heavy hitters and local acts. This year’s headliners include jazz fusion legend and Grammy Award winner Stanley Clarke—the longtime bassist of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever—and Harlem-born blues singer Shemekia Copeland. Plus, KC artists like pianist and singer-songwriter Jackie Myers and Ken Lovern’s Organ Jazz Trio (a staple of Green Lady Lounge) will also take the stage.

“We want to represent that melting pot between blues and jazz that created the Kansas City sound,” Hannah says.

Beyond live music, the American Jazz Museum and the festival’s originators, Kansas City Blues Society, will bring educational exhibits to spotlight KC’s storied music history. Attendees can also expect plenty of food trucks and vendors—because BBQ is a must-have accompaniment. 

“We hope to turn this into a long-standing event again,” Hannah says. “And we really want this to be a community-wide endeavor.”  

GO: KC Blues and Jazz Festival, October 3-4. Legends Field, KCK. Visit monarchsbaseball.com for a full festival lineup and performance times.

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