Kansas City Youth Jazz Inc.

In January 2001, Kansas City Youth Jazz program began with one band and a handful of dedicated students and parents. It has since grown to 4 bands and a jazz choir composed of over 100 students from over 50 different schools throughout greater Kansas City, including students from Lawrence, Lansing, Olathe, Raytown, Raymore-Peculiar, Lee’s Summit, Blue Valley, Blue Springs, Kansas City, MO, Independence, and Turner schools along with several students from Shawnee Mission and Kansas City, Kansas. The staff, students, parents, Board and friends of Kansas City Youth Jazz are diligently committed to:

• Developing and maintaining a multicultural, jazz education program in metropolitan Kansas City where students in grades six through twelve, learn respect, responsibility and tolerance through music.

• Enhancing the music education programs currently taught in public and private schools by providing participation opportunities for students of institutions without music programs and to increase musical creativity for those students in institutions with established music programs.

• Increasing social competency by providing experiences that break down stereotypes and foster cultural sensitivity through students of different social and cultural backgrounds performing side by side and forming bonds of friendship and respect.

• Improving school attendance and academic achievement at all levels of educations through the positive effect of music education.

• Developing the life skills of self-discipline and diligence, self-expression and creativity, cooperation and problem solving.

• Nurturing leadership by increasing self-esteem through the feelings of pride and accomplishment derived from program participation and public performance.

© 2006 Kansas City Youth Jazz, Inc.
1317 Central Ave.
Kansas City, Kansas 66102
Tel 913.371.4157

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 8520
Prairie Village, Kansas 66208

For more information, please contact:
Leon Brady, Executive/Artistic Director

Leon A. Brady, Executive Director of Kansas City Youth Jazz and also Musical Director of the bands, is an educator and professional percussionist. Mr. Brady earned his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music Education from Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee. He arrived in Kansas City in 1957 to teach at Northeast Junior High in Kansas City, Kansas. Later, he taught band, marching band, orchestra and jazz band at the old Sumner High School, earning many awards for excellence. From 1976 to 2000, he owned and operated Brady & Sons Music Company & Studio in Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000, Mr. Brady closed the retail store to spend more time teaching. He currently instructs 35 percussion students, both privately and in groups. He has developed a unique program for students on the drum set as young as 4 years old. Mr. Brady has also performed with many national and international musicians throughout his professional percussion career. While serving in the US Air Force, he performed regularly with John Williams and Frank Hitner, and later toured and recorded with Ray Charles. He has also performed with Max Roach, Clark Terry, George Salisbury, Marilyn Maye, Grover Washington, Carmel Jones, George Duke, John Park and many, many others. Since closing the store, Mr. Brady, along with his wife, Linda, has designed and developed the KC Youth Jazz Program, for Kansas City area music students. In October of 2007 Mr. Brady received the prestigious "Pinnacle Award" for his contributions to Kansas City Music Education.

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Linda Richter Brady is Program Administrator of Kansas City Youth Jazz. She is a music educator and earned her Bachelors of Arts Degree in Music from Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas in 1978, and earned a diploma in Band Instrument Repair from Western Iowa Tech School, Sioux City, Iowa in 1980. Mrs. Brady helps to develop and maintain Youth Jazz programs and works on fund development and grant writing.

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Jill Atherton, woodwinds, earned her Bachelor of Music performance degree from Washburn University and her Master of Music Performance degree from Wichita State University. She has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, in concert with Anne Hampton Calloway & with Ben Vereen, with the popular " Boulevard Big Band", and with the unique ensemble " Half Mad Poet". She has also performed regularly as a member of the River City Jazz Orchestra and Descarga KC. Jill has also held the position of clarinet and saxophone instructor at Ottawa University. She is featured on Megan Birdsall's CD "Track 13", plays all of the supporting sax and clarinet parts (equal to an entire sax section) on Noel Scott & Don Warner's CD "Mosaic", and has just released "Pure Imagination", a jazz duet recording with pianist Greg Richter. Jill is the Saxophone instructor for Kansas City Youth Jazz Inc.

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^ Jason Goudeau plays a solo trombone feature during the recording of "Track 13".

Jason Goudeau, trombone, is a native of Houston, Texas, where he attended the highly acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He studied jazz under the direction of Dr. Robert Morgan and performed with Frank Rehak, Kirk Whalum, Bobby Shew, Billy Cobham, Marvin Stamm and Sebastian Whitaker. He was awarded the first “George Salisbury Memorial Scholarship” given at UMKC in 1985 and earned his Bachelor of Music in music performance degree from UMKC in 1989. Jason is featured on both Megan Birdsall's popular CD, "Track 13" and Noel Scott/Don Warner's album, "MOSAIC". On "Mosaic" he performed multiple overdubs in order to create the effect of a full trombone section. He has performed with many local musicians and also enjoys serving the music department at his church.

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^ Jill Atherton on Alto and Jack Lightfoot on Flugelhorn during the recording of an ensemble passage on Megan Birdsall's ballad "The End" from the CD "Track 13".

Jack Lightfoot, trumpet, has been a professional musician for the past 35 years. He has performed with big bands, jazz combos, Broadway musicals, and jazz cruises, as well as orchestras and small brass groups. He has performed with many artists such as: Jack Jones, Melissa Manchester, The Temptations, the O.J.’s, Denise Williams, Martha Reeves, Buddy Greco, Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, and Billy Eckstein. He is featured on Megan Birdsall's recording, "Track 13", along with Jason Goudeau and Jill Atherton; on which all of the horn section tracks were recorded as live ensemble performances in the studio, and all in first takes. Jack was an instructor at the Charlie Parker Foundation, has taught improvisation classes at Central Missouri State, and serves as a brass specialist for the KCMO School for the Arts.

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^ Greg with recording engineer, Ron Eubel and vocalist Megan Birdsall during the production phase of "Track 13". (For more information on this CD see www.meganbirdsall.com )

Greg Richter, piano, vibes, percussion, and keyboards. Greg lived for 13 years on St. Croix performing regularly with Jimmy Hamilton, (famed clarinetist of the Duke Ellington Orchestra). He has performed with such diverse talents as: Cab Calloway, Little Anthony, The Shirelles, Gary Burton, James Cotton, Boots Randolph, Frank Foster, and Dizzy Gillespie. He has served as pianist and music director for The Wiz, Camelot, and Gypsy. After working for 4 years at the Grand Hotel Resort, Mackinaw Island, Michigan(1993-1996), Greg returned to Kansas City in the fall of 1996. Greg has also produced and performed on recordings including “Old Friends-New Point" with Bobby Watson; he played vibes, arranged for strings, Dixieland combo, and full big band, and conducted for Noel Scott/Don Warner's CD "Mosaic"; and performed on and arranged all of the tracks for “Track 13” with Megan Birdsall also featuring Bobby Watson. His newly released recording, "Pure Imagination", with Jill Atherton is a series of jazz duets. Greg now performs at many of the top jazz venues in Kansas City and throughout the Midwest.

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Bob Ousley, tenor, alto and soprano saxophone, clarinet and flute, has played with bands such as Tex Beneke, Henry Mancini and Jack Teagarden. He has played behind many of the biggest stars in the entertainment business – Mel Torme, John Denver, Dihanne Carroll, Wayne Newton, and Glen Campbell to name a few. Along with playing musical stage productions, he has played for a number of radio and television commercials as well as being featured with the Kansas City Symphony. Mr. Ousley, though now retired from KC Youth Jazz, is still considered a part of the Kansas City Youth Jazz family, and, it should be noted, he was instrumental in the development of the Youth Jazz program.

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Steve Miller, our individual piano instructor, is originally from New York City, and attended Music and Art High School, now called the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts. He received a scholarship from the Julliard School of Music, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree. While in New York he played with the Dean Dixon Orchestra and studied with Teddy Wilson. He was a member of the Kansas City Philharmonic for eight years and received his Master’s Degree in Music and Education from UMKC. Steve now leads the popular Steve Miller KC Band and enjoys teaching piano.

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Ron Stinson, is our new trumpet & improvisation/theory instructor starting in the Summer of 2007. Ron is the director of the Jazz program at Johnson County Community College. Welcome to the team, Ron!

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Clarence Smith, director of Jazz studies at Penn Valley Community College, is our new assistant to Mr. Brady. He conducts rehearsals for several of the bands each Saturday morning. Welcome aboard, to you too, Clarence!! Before he began teaching full-time at Penn Valley at the start of the 2003 school year, Smith was the director of the jazz program at the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts High School in Kansas City from 1993 – 2003. During his ten years there, Smith directed a nationally acclaimed jazz ensemble that performed hundreds of times each year, including performances at the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., and the Music Educator’s National Conference. In 2000, Clarence Smith was named “Jazz Educator of the Year” by Downbeat Magazine. In 2003, he was selected as a Music Fellow at Northwestern University’s School of Music in Evanston, IL. Smith earned an undergraduate degree in music education from Central Methodist University, Fayette, Mo. and has a Master of Education degree, specializing in creative arts in learning, from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. (Kansas City Campus). He has also studied jazz extensively at Central Missouri State University and Northwestern University. Amongst the many artists with whom he has appeared as a drummer/percussionist are Mike Vax, Bill Watrous, Rich Matteson, Amaadd Aladeen, Carmel Jones, and Jim Widner. In the Kansas City area he has also performed in ensembles including the Louis Neal Big Band, PSF Band, The Kansas City Wind Symphony, The Lee’s Summit Symphony, and many of The Joe Athon Jazz Groups. He is in demand as a jazz clinician and contest adjudicator. He has provided educational assistance for the American Jazz Museum and served as an instructor for their Summer Jazz Institute. In 2001, Smith was interviewed as a part of the Discovery Channel’s program, “The Ties That Bind” which chronicled the history of Kansas City Jazz.

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