The Best Blues Music in Kansas City, MO

The best place to find the best blues music in Kansas City, MO is right here at the Blue Room! Check out our calendar of events to see who’s playing when, and come on down to enjoy some of the best blues music around!

The history of the blues in Kansas City

The blues is a genre of music that originated in the African-American communities in the Mississippi Delta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The sound is characterized by blue notes, call-and-response vocals, and an acoustic guitar or piano. Kansas City blues is a subgenre that developed in the 1930s and 1940s in Kansas City, Missouri. It has a more swinging sound than other forms of the blues and is often associated with jump blues and big band jazz.

Kansas City’s contribution to the blues began in the 1920s with performers such as Walter Davis, Jay McShann, and Pete Johnson. The city became a major center for jazz in the 1930s and 1940s due to its lively nightlife scene, which attracted national acts such as Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. The Kansas City sound was characterized by a stomping rhythm section, fast tempo, and horn-based arrangements.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Kansas City’s status as a major center for music diminished due to economic decline and the rise of rock & roll. However, the city’s blues scene continued to grow with local artists such as Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Helen Humes, Little Hattie Leonard, Fathead Newman, Lucky Peterson, Bobby Blue Bland, Bob Robinson (of Paul Butterfield Blues Band fame), Calvin Owens (musical director for B.B. King), Ike Turner (whose band featured saxophonists Jackie Brenston and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown), Irene Reid (vocalist for Mongo Santamaria’s band), Eleanor Hazlewood (leader of all-female big band The Hazelwoods), Sylvia Embry (leader of Sylvia Embry R&B Band featuring Mark Naftalin on keyboards), Linda Lawley (founder of Lawtown Blues), Rudolph Johnson (guitarist for Martha & Vandellas), Mama Rosetta Tharpe (gospel/blues singer often called “godmother of rock & roll”), Smokey Wilson (harmonica player who performed with Muddy Waters), Papa John Creach (fiddler who played with Jefferson Airplane), Dave Myers (bassist who played with Stevie Ray Vaughan), Jo Ann Kelly (British blues singer who settled in Kansas City), Annie Raines (harmonica player who performed with Sting on his 2006 album “Broken Music”), Blue Lou Marini (trumpeter best known for his work with Blood Sweat & Tears and Saturday Night Live Band) , Tommy Shepard (bassist who played on Frank Sinatra’s “Duets” album), Dennis Gruenling(harmonica player/vocalist often called “The Jumping Frog of Kalamazoo”), Watermelon Slim(blues singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist).

The best places to hear blues music in Kansas City

The best places to hear blues music in Kansas City are the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the American Jazz Museum, and the Blue Room. The Kauffman Center is home to the Kansas City Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. The American Jazz Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of jazz and its influence on American culture. The Blue Room is a club that features live blues music seven nights a week.

The best blues artists from Kansas City

The city of Kansas City has a rich history in the blues. Some of the most famous and influential blues artists have come from this city. Here is a list of some of the best blues artists from Kansas City:

-Big Joe Turner
-B.B. King
-John Lee Hooker
-Muddy Waters
-Howlin’ Wolf
-Albert King
-Otis Rush
-Jimmy Reed
-Taj Mahal