Ever since Charlie Parker first took flight, Kansas City jazz audiences have been interested in players with sax appeal. Banking on this public penchant for the reeds, the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors have assembled a powerhouse trio of local saxophonists for their upcoming "Battle of the Saxes" at the Grand Emporium. Nationally renowned local favorites Ahmad Alaadeen (pictured), Hal Melia and Jim Mair will take the stage to punch it out with Parker and duke it out with Duke -- and each will happily go down swinging. The elder statesman of the group, Alaadeen has been a KC fixture for the past fifty years and represents one of the last local links to those heady developmental years of the bop movement. This lineup, which encompasses a wide range of styles and sounds, offers KC audiences the opportunity to sample some of the best jazz instrumentalists this town has to offer.
