Musicians Local 627 and the Mutual Musicians Foundation: The Cradle of Kansas City Jazz

University of Missouri – Kansas City

University Libraries

• Introduction: Roots of Kansas City Jazz Style
  • Kansas City Blues
  • Early Concert Bands in Kansas City
  • Major N. Clark Smith
  • Professor Charles T. Watts
• 1917–1923: Local 627 and the Early Jazz Bands
• 1924–1928: President Shaw
• 1929–1935: Territorial Bands and a New Headquarters
• 1936–1941: 627 Stomp
• 1942–1950: War Years and the Aftermath
• 1950–1960: A New Generation and President
• 1960–1970: Merger – Local 34 and 627
• The Mutual Musicians Foundation: The Tradition Jams On
• About This Project

The Concert Band Tradition in Kansas City

Before the dawn of the Jazz Age, concert bands accompanied the social swirl at dances and events in the 18^th and Vine community. Like the popular Sousa and Pryor bands, these early African-American concert bands had descended from Civil War military bands and the European concert band tradition. Usually sponsored by fraternal organizations, the bands were decked out in full military regalia and performed a varied program of classical, popular standards, plantation songs and spirituals.

Dan Blackburn, a pioneering band leader in Kansas City, led the Municipal Band that played a popular summer Sunday night concert series in Parade Park, beginning in 1919. Originally from St. Joseph, Louisiana, Blackburn apprenticed with a German Marching band in Illinois. In 1894, he moved to Kansas City and joined the Midland Band. In 1915, Blackburn organized the 19-piece Knights’ Templer Band sponsored by the Masons. Two years later, Blackburn, along with educators Charles Watts and Major N. Clark Smith, helped established the Colored Musicians’ Union Local 627.

Source

• Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix. Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)

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