Kansas City’s jazz legacy lives on in historic 18th and Vine district

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The 18th and Vine Jazz District in Kansas City continues to draw musicians and visitors from around the world, preserving a musical legacy that made the city the center of the jazz world during the 1920s and 1930s.

“Kansas City was the center of the music world,” said Rodney Thompson, an independent filmmaker and American Jazz Museum consultant. “Jazz was the music of the day.”

The historic district became a self-contained community during an era of segregation, when Black Americans were restricted from shopping and experiencing other areas of the city.

The neighborhood developed everything from drug stores to grocery stores to hairdressers, according to Jordan Malhiot, senior manager of collections and exhibitions at the American Jazz Museum.

“This is where the African American community needed and had to get their services,” Malhiot said. “And that also included music.”

Musical hub draws international visitors

The area served as a gathering place for musicians from across the region during jazz’s golden age. Musicians from Kansas City and anywhere east of the Mississippi would come to the district to connect with peers and test their skills, said Le’Ronta Austin, who serves on the board of the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

It wasn’t just the music flowing, either. The district’s many clubs were a welcome reprieve from Prohibition.

Today, the district continues that tradition of welcoming musicians and music enthusiasts from around the globe.

“I tell people all the time, sometimes we check more passports than state IDs, because people are coming from all over the world to descend on this place,” said James McGee, a board member of the Mutual Musicians Foundation.

The Mutual Musicians Foundation has maintained late-night jam sessions since the 1940s, according to Mark Thomas, the organization’s president.

“The people have changed. The names have changed. But the music is the same,” Thomas said. “When you step in, this is like your home now. You’re one of us.”

Preserving tradition through growth

Foundation leaders emphasize the importance of continuing the district’s musical heritage while allowing for artistic growth.

“No musician or person who’s associated with music has spent a quality amount of time here and not grown as an artist or as a person,” Austin said. “You have to have growth in order to keep the tradition alive.”

Ernest Melton, treasurer of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, said the goal is for visitors to experience both the history and the music.

“I want everybody to come and just feel the history,” Melton said. “As far as the music, I want the music to sound good.”

Denyse Walcott, vice president of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, described the sensory experience of the district.

“You come in and it’s like, man, I can feel it. And then you go upstairs, you can hear it,” Walcott said.

The district remains what Walcott calls “the heart and soul of jazz” in Kansas City, serving as “a vital force for a lifeline, especially the Black community.”