Spanning Latin jazz, hip-hop, country and beyond, KC’s music scene has a little bit of everything. These 10 local performers, whether rising talents or local legends, paint a portrait of the city’s diverse soundtrack. Plus, these rappers, producers and orchestral musicians alike tell us what they are currently listening to.
The KC Saxman
From NYC bop band to UMKC’s halls, a KC sax legend comes home: Bobby Watson
In a lineage of legendary alto saxophonists that hail from KC, Bobby Watson succeeds Charlie Parker.
Born and raised in KCK, Watson is best known for his tenure as music director in drummer Art Blakey’s hard bop band, The Jazz Messengers, throughout the late ’70s and early ’80s. “I was going around New York City in 1976 with various musicians, and a friend brought Mr. Blakey down to Storyville, where I was sitting in, to hear me,” Watson says. “He asked me to join the Messengers that night.” The esteemed collective became an apprenticeship of sorts for rising talents including Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter and more. Watson likes to say he earned his “doctorate” during his time with the group.
After 25 years in NYC, Watson decided it was time to come home. In 2000, he accepted an offer to head the UMKC Conservatory’s jazz program. In the past two decades, Watson has become a patriarch of KC’s jazz community, mentoring many of the musicians leading today’s jazz scene.
“Coming back to Kansas City was the completion of a full circle,” Watson says. “I was ready for the opportunity to lead and build a world-class jazz program in my hometown.”
Watson’s performances abroad are plentiful (he spent last month touring Spain), but local sightings are a rare treat. If the opportunity arises to see this living legend, don’t miss it. —NC
Currently spinning: Watson couldn’t pick just one album. “I never become tired of listening to Charlie Parker’s Bird With Strings or John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme,” Watson says. “A recent release I’m listening to is saxophonist Jaleel Shaw’s Painter of the Invisible.”
Brass Without Boundaries
From symphony star to street brass band player, this trombonist loves it all: Evelyn Carlson
It feels like there should be a large gulf between grand concert halls and raucous street parades, but Evelyn Carlson is proof there doesn’t have to be. Carlson is currently performing in her third season as principal trombonist with the Kansas City Symphony. She accepted the position for the 2023-2024 season following a stint with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but it hasn’t taken her long to get involved with other facets of the KC music scene. Between the rigorous seasonal responsibilities of being a full-time orchestral musician, the trombonist has sought other avenues to perform.
“If I’m going somewhere after a concert, I’ll often have my trombone in the car,” Carlson says. “Depending on the show, I might carry it on my back in a visible way hoping to get spotted. The Ship is really the main venue. If I have a friend playing, like Ryan Davis (Kadesh Flow), I can usually weasel my way up on stage to play.”
In addition to impromptu live collaborations, Carlson plays with Sass-A-Brass, a local LGBTQ+ street parade brass band, as well as in many other community-oriented events aimed at raising classical music’s visibility. “It is a privilege to have grown up fortunate enough to have parents able to afford private lessons and access to classical music” says Carlson, who also donates her talents for charity concerts.
Catch Carlson performing the Kansas City Ballet’s The Nutcracker with the Symphony throughout December, and look for Sass-A-Brass at Mardi Gras events in February. —RR
Currently spinning: Mother Earth’s Plantasia by Mort Garson (1976)
Heartland con Ritmo
A percussionist with purpose is shaping KC’s Latin jazz legacy: Pablo Sanhueza
For more than 20 years, Pablo Sanhueza has been working to cultivate the Latin jazz scene in Kansas City. Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, he saw firsthand the way music captures the story of a people. Moving to the United States in the ’90s during the aftermath of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s fall, Sanhueza recognized that the sounds of American Latin jazz resonated deeply with the immigrant experience.
In 2018, after becoming a professional percussionist and instructor, Sanhueza founded the Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra and Latin Jazz Institute with Cynthia Ammerman. “A lot of people come into music thinking that they’re going to make a living and then they find out the path is not that smooth,” Sanhueza says. “That’s why we created the apprenticeship program. I think there are a lot of people irresponsibly talking about the Kansas City music industry when we don’t have an industry. We have a service and hospitality industry that hires bands where the bar owners become curators of the arts.”
Through the Institute and the Orchestra, musicians are not only compensated but taught the business. This is important to Sanhueza, who is trying to cultivate collaboration and relationships between different countries. For this reason, he established an exchange program for musicians with Chile.
“The ultimate goal of this is to generate and foster creativity,” Sanhueza says, “to pass traditions, to advance the music and to move forward with the times.”
Visit the Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra’s website kansascitylatinjazzorchestra.com to learn more. —RR
Currently spinning: Vámanos pa’l Monte by Eddie Palmieri (1986)
Global Guitarist
The Ensemble Ibérica founder builds bridges through music from every shore: Beau Bledsoe
Guitarist Beau Bledsoe has been fascinated with folkloric music nearly all his life. Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Bledsoe grew up picking traditional songs from the Ouachita mountains.
After moving to attend grad school at UMKC’s Conservatory, Bledsoe has called KC home for more than 30 years now. Today, the guitarist is the founder and artistic director of Ensemble Ibérica, a KC-based chamber music group now in its 12th season. Primarily playing music from the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, the ensemble performs far and wide, from quaint European taverns to Carnegie Hall. Later this month, Ensemble Ibérica will present a program of songs from Mexico’s golden age of cinema, followed by a cross-cultural evening of Scottish and Americana music in January.
“Playing other styles is a fast track to empathy with another culture,” Bledsoe says. “If you learn someone’s songs and you show up there with a few songs in your bank, that’s how you make friends.”
Beyond the premier ensemble, Bledsoe also likes getting down to some honky-tonk. The guitarist plays with Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices every fourth Tuesday at The Ship’s country nights. Occasionally, Bledsoe’s son and daughter join in for a family jam. —NC
Currently spinning: Vida Profunda by Carolina Calvache (2020)
Man of Many Bands
A multi-instrumental journeyman hits his stride through country tunes: Fritz Hutchison
I’ve seen Fritz Hutchison play in more bands (and more genres) than I can count. A utility man of sorts, he might be strumming guitar in a folk trio one night and holding it down on drums in a jazz combo the next.
An alum of KC’s Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, Hutchison honed his chops as a drummer in the high school’s jazz program. From there, he developed a hunger for all things music: teaching himself to play guitar, writing songs and delving into genres beyond jazz.
Today, he plays with myriad local groups including folk-rock band True Lions and doom blues group Freight Train Rabbit Killer. Over the years, the multi-instrumentalist has also built a solid reputation as the first call for local musicians in search of a solid sub. “It’s a lot of patching things together and taking opportunities as they come,” Hutchison says.
But Hutchison’s latest focus is his own brainchild, country band Fritz and Sons. “It came together organically,” Hutchison says. “It was kind of an accident. I had put out a couple solo rock ‘n’ roll records, and there were these country songs that just didn’t fit. I put out an EP that was me just dumping all of my leftover songs into one project. I was trying to get out of a rut creatively.”
The singer-songwriter assembled the Fritz and Sons group for a one-off release show, but the chemistry just clicked, so he kept booking gigs. Fronting the group from behind the drumset, Hutchison is joined by bassist Carly Atwood, Alison Hawkins on fiddle and keys, steel guitarist Marco Pascal and Zach Arias on electric guitar.
Find Hutchison’s upcoming shows on his Instagram @fritte_orca. —NC
Currently spinning: Ark by Lefty Parker (2025)
Sound in Bloom
The Babe Gabe blossoms into her own pop universe: Gabrielle Kearney
It’s been a big year for Gabrielle Kearney, who performs as The Babe Gabe. Coming out of the acclaimed hip-hop/indie-rock trio Blackstarkids, the singer-songwriter released two full-length solo albums this year: HONEYPOP and HONEYPOP: RELOADED. Where HONEYPOP leans more into its pop namesake, RELOADED drifts closer to rap and R&B.
“I feel like my musical style is a bunch of different things,” Kearney says. “I love so much different types of music and I want to create all kinds of sounds. I love pop. I love hip-hop. I love jazz.”
Kearney’s various musical influences aren’t the only things that are all over the place. Kearney is all over the place, too; she performed in both New York City and Wichita this fall. And if that weren’t enough, Kearney’s hoping to have a new collection of HONEYPOP remixes out before the end of the year. Still, The Babe Gabe is exploring and trying new things. “I’ve been in my Amy Winehouse era for a minute, so I would love to just have a full-on jazz album where I pour my heart out,” Kearney says.
Check out The Babe Gabe on Instagram @ughthatsgabe and listen to her music on all streaming platforms. —RR
Currently spinning: Brown Sugar by D’Angelo (1995)
Restless Rhythms
From studio engineer to stage performer, this rebel musician doesn’t stop: Ian Dobyns
Ian Dobyns has been at it from the get-go, getting thrown out of The Riot Room, where he was performing, at 16 because he was underage. Music is part of his DNA.
He currently performs with four Kansas City bands: Doubledrag, They’re Theirs, Lavish and Bledso. But there have been many more in the past, from local groups and side projects to on-the-road touring bands. “I do too many things,” Dobyns says. There are some musicians who just can’t get enough, spending their lives involving themselves in the creative process any way they can. As a vocalist, drummer, guitar player, engineer and producer playing indie rock, shoegaze, post-punk and metal, Dobyns is very much one of those musicians. In addition to performing with his various bands, he is also a sound engineer at Element Recording Studios. Why would someone stretch themselves across so many projects? “Each one allows me to do something a little different,” Dobyns says. “No one band could allow me to go in all the directions I want to go.”
Being in the studio full time and helping other bands make their music has been energizing and inspiring, he says, especially this year’s Honeybee EP, midtown girl. Dobyns does miss touring sometimes, but the Kansas City soundscape is richer for it.
Check out Doubledrag’s 2024 record, Alone With Everyone, on Apple and Spotify along with midtown girl by Honeybee. Doubledrag plays at Warehouse on Broadway later this month. —RR
Currently spinning: She Said, He Said by Softcult (2025)
Crowned in KC
After Atlanta and Kanye co-writes,The Royal Chief reigns in KC: Jamel Thompson
For KC rapper Jamel Thompson, better known as The Royal Chief, attending an Usher concert in middle school sealed his fate as a performer. It wasn’t the headliner but the opening act, Kanye West, who left the biggest impression.
“I remember thinking ‘This is what I want to do with my life,’” Thompson says.
Drawn to Atlanta’s booming hip-hop industry, Thompson moved south in 2012. Living and working out of Tree Sound Studios, he spent five years building his name and sharpening his production skills. His most notable project? Ghostwriting for Kanye West.
Although he still performs frequently in Atlanta, Thompson is back home in KC. Keeping busy with plenty of creative ventures through his brand Sovereign, the rapper released KC Current’s anthem earlier this year and curates an array of events, including Juice Jams at Ruby Jean’s Juicery, monthly performances at In Good Company and B&B Theatre’s Mainstreet Movie Club.
His latest project, Fire, released this past summer, reflects his decision to pursue a music career full-time in 2023. “I always felt like I was in survival mode, figuring out how I was going to create and make a living off of art,” Thompson says. “I wanted to break that thought process and that energy down. It represents that spark in surviving.”
The EP is the first in a larger collection of Thompson’s Survival series. Be on the lookout for three subsequent releases: Water, Food and Home.
Stay up to date with The Royal Chief on his Instagram @theroyalchief. —NC
Currently spinning: Why Not More? by Coco Jones (2025)
Soul in the City
Her soulful originals and popular ballad renditions are bringing Kansas Citians to their feet: Shelby Autumn Winfrey
Shelby Autumn Winfrey, who performs as Curlzofoz, has been busy. Performing with Lost Wax, Kansas City’s premier party band, she’s belting classics, mashups and originals all over the metro, from the NFL Draft to Royals games and, more recently, at Arrowhead Stadium during a Chiefs halftime show.
“I’m always at The Phoenix on Wednesday nights,” Winfrey says. “The Phoenix is my main home. I wanted a residency spot where people know where to find me. So that’s where I am. Sometimes The Blue Room, sometimes Barley’s Kitchen and Tap, sometimes The Levee. I’ll be at The Levee soon. All over the city, man, honestly.”
At The Phoenix, where Winfrey performs her soulful originals every Wednesday, her powerful voice fills the room and connects in a setting very different from the jumbotron. “It’s way more intimate,” she says. “It could be the smallest crowd or it could be really bumping, and it’s always like everybody in there is just kind of feeling the vibes.”
Besides her Wednesday residency, Winfrey has a lot in the works. You can catch her with Lost Wax on the HBO show Second Chance Stage, a competition reality show shot in KC last March. She also served as the vocal coach for all the singers appearing on the show. On the horizon? Winfrey plans to release an EP this winter.
Keep up to date with her on Instagram @curlzofoz. —RR
Currently spinning: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams (2025)
Midwest Daydream
A small-town songwriter turns her indie reverie into a KC reality: Kat King
If you listen to The Bridge, chances are you’ve heard Kat King’s dreamy indie pop-rock stylings over the airwaves.
The daughter of a pastor and worship musician, King is originally from the small town of Osage City, Kansas. Growing up immersed in music, the guitarist and singer-songwriter recalls writing her first song in second grade. By middle school, when her mom drove her to a friend’s home studio in Omaha to record, she had an album’s worth of originals under her belt. Naturally, her musical inclinations have evolved quite a bit since then.
Since moving to KC seven years ago, King has carved out a name for herself on the local scene, playing festivals like Boulevardia and the Plaza Art Fair and putting on a wildly successful annual Zombie Prom. In her current band, she’s joined by guitarist and back-up vocalist Derek Melies, bassist John Kaul McCain, Kara LePage on keys and drummer Daniel Cole. “We just clicked musically and personality-wise,” King says.
Her latest EP, Merry Go Rounds, which she calls a collaborative effort, is representative of the group’s tight-knit bond. Her favorite track? A brutally honest rock ballad, “I Might Like It.”
“It started with a voice memo that Derek sent me on guitar,” King says. “I really fell in love with it the second I heard it, so I started crafting lyrics around that. It’s a reflection of patterns I had in the past with relationships, being addicted to the chase of somebody.”
Those recordings are a part of a larger project. King is busy working on the band’s debut full-length album, with an anticipated fall 2026 release, with hopes of releasing some singles come spring.
Stay up to date with Kat King on her Instagram @katbking. —NC
Currently spinning: Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay (2024)
