Juneteenth Arts & Jazz Festival Returns Honoring Kansas City Legends

KANSAS CITY, MO – The 3rd Annual Kansas City Memorial Juneteenth Jazz & Arts Festival returns honoring Jay McShann and Horace Peterson of the Black Archives of Mid-America with National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) Chairman, Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D., as a featured guest and performer. The event will take place on Saturday, June 12^th, 2010 at the Marriott Country Club Plaza Hotel, with a Concert Performance in Mill Creek Park at 6:00PM. Music and special activities, including the Art Exhibit by Aye Aton, will be open to the public with free admission from 1:00PM to 9:00PM.

Dr. Myer’s concert performance will feature other musicians Derrick Brown (Bass), Wilton Knott (Percussion), Aye Aton (Drums), Earlton Batles (Congas & Percussion), Eddy Dunn (Congas & Percussion), Horace Washington (Flute & Sax), and Noah Jelks (Drums). Performances are recognized as a part of the Juneteenth Jazz objectives, embracing the legacy of jazz as a part of Black Music Month and the ongoing efforts to educate the public about the significance of the Juneteenth. Featured Exhibit Artist, Aye Aton, in addition to being a world-traveled musician, is also an accomplished painter, designer and muralist with artwork that has toured museums, galleries, and civic institutions across the country, such as The DuSable Museum of African-American History in Chicago, Illinois, and The Masur Museum of Art, in Monroe, Louisiana.

More activities and participants to be announced. Sponsors of this special event include National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, National Association of Juneteenth Jazz Presenters, Kansas City Neighborhood Tourists Development Fund, and KC Jazz Ambassadors. For more information regarding the event including sponsorship and advertisement, contact (816) 309-2419, e-mail kansascity@juneteenthamerica.us or visit the organization’s website at kc.juneteenthamerica.us.

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Juneteenth America of Kansas City, Inc. (JAKC) is a non-profit organization with the objective to educate the public about the significance of “Juneteenth” June 19^th, 1865 in American history and to celebrate the Jazz legacy.  For more information about the organization, visit kansascity.juneteenthamerica.us.

Kansas City Star Article “Today’s Juneteenth festival stirs up jazz and art” – 6/2009

By Rachel Skybetter
June 13, 2009
Kansas City Star

(Kansas, Missouri) — Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, and June is Black Music Month. So why not find a way to honor both? That’s exactly what the Rev. Ronald Myers Sr., founder and chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, will do today.

The Black Health Care Coalition of Kansas is hosting the second annual Kansas City Memorial Juneteenth Jazz & Arts Festival from 1 to 11 p.m. at the Marriott Country Club Plaza hotel.

The day begins with a reception for artist Alvin Carter, whose painting “The President Barack Obama Trail” will be exhibited for the day. On Friday Carter will present the painting to the president during a Juneteenth celebration in Washington, D.C.

The music kicks off around 6 p.m., and Myers, on piano and trumpet, will be joined by bassist Derrick Brown and percussionists Aye Aton and Wilton Knott. The ensemble will perform original arrangements.

“The music will reflect upon Kansas City’s great African-American jazz legacy,” Myers said.

John Thompson, executive producer of the National Association of Juneteenth Jazz Presenters and executive director of Juneteenth America, said the festival is dedicated to the preservation of jazz.

He said he recently attended a jazz festival in Los Angeles and was surprised to find that contemporary musicians Erykah Badu and De La Soul were the headlining acts.

“I just came to the conclusion that jazz had been redefined in America, and I just didn’t know it,” Thompson said. “I came to hear the jazz, and it wasn’t like any jazz.” And so, in the lobby of the Marriott, Thompson and Myers hope to bring back the jazz for which Kansas City is known.

Today’s festival also will honor Horace M. Peterson, the founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America, who helped create the first Kansas City Juneteenth Festival in the 1980s.

Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, is a bit of a misnomer. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect Jan. 1, 1863, but it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that the last of the slaves were freed, in Galveston, Texas. “Juneteenth” is a blending of the words “June” and “nineteenth.” —— TODAY The Second Annual Kansas City Memorial Juneteenth Jazz & Arts Festival is from 1 to 11 p.m. at the Marriott Country Club Plaza hotel, 45th and Main streets. The event is free.

To reach Rachel Skybetter, send e-mail to rskybetter@kcstar.com.

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Copyright (c) 2009, The Kansas City Star, Mo.