Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City brought him the same scorn from some jazz types he received from country purists 21 years earlier for Nashville. This time, it was because the film was as much a crime/gangster epic as a tribute to the swing era, despite the great care given to ’30s musical authenticity, cuisine, language and attire.
The film's major storyline focuses on the kidnapping of a two-bit character (Dermot Mulroney) by a casino kingpin (Harry Belafonte), and his wife's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) scheme to rescue him. Part of her plan involves another kidnapping, this one of a socialite who is also a big-time drug addict (Miranda Richardson). These two become a most unlikely pair, riding around Kansas City in search of a scumbag.
Still, what makes Kansas City ideal to jump-start the Belcourt's three-week run of jazz films in its Music City Mondays series (also see Let’s Get Lost on Feb. 11 and Miles Ahead on Feb. 18) is the sensational array of musicians recruited to portray iconic figures. A secondary plot features the black-owned Hey Hey Club holding an all-day, all-night jam session that lures a host of greats in a battle for supremacy.
Whether it's Joshua Redman portraying Lester Young, James Carter as Ben Webster, Craig Handy playing Coleman Hawkins or Cyrus Chestnut holding court as Count Basie, the score features superb recreations of vintage sounds. Music director Butch Morris and producer Hal Willner emphasized spontaneity and a free-wheeling improvisatory approach that makes every musical sequence and scene unforgettable.
Those who want all cinematic images and presentations of jazz pristine, and the music's historic link to casinos and brothels either excised or ignored, weren't pleased by the prominence of the Hey Hey Club and Belafonte's menacing character Seldom Seen. But anyone with an affinity for great swing and an unvarnished (if at times exaggerated) portrait of ’30s life and black culture will enjoy Kansas City.
You have two chances to see the film today, at 2:50 and 8 p.m. See the Belcourt website or the box office for tickets.
