What's Up in Wichita KS?

[lowfreqgeek]

Is there a scene of any kind there? My preference is Jazz (electric, fretless) and singer-songwriter pop/rock, but I'll play country and quite a bit of other stuff, too - even Christian music if it's done really well. I know Wichita used to be big for jazz...

I have a potential employment opportunity for a company that I'd love to work for there. Long story short, I didn't get the job earlier this year, but they want to talk to me about another position they feel I'd be better for. Great company, interesting work - but the thought of closing up shop and starting over is daunting, to say the least.

[sloasdaylight]

It's Wichita....

[lowfreqgeek]

Originally Posted by sloasdaylight

It's Wichita....

And? You've been there (in a working capacity)?

Charlie Parker recorded his first album in Wichita. Granted, that was in the '40s, but still... Pat Methany and Lyle Mays met each other for the first time at the Wichita Jazz Festival...

There's certainly a history there.

[blendermassacre]

wichita is a butt hole.

[MakiSupaStar]

And there you have it folks. We have found the butthole of north America.

[macaroni tony]

Absolutely nothing





I've been wanting to post that the whole time. Now that there are a couple of posts before me hatin' on Wichita, I don't feel as bad.

On a serious note, I hope there is someone here with any kind of insight as to what kind of scene is there (there's got to be one, somewhere).

[hover]

last I heard....



aaaaaaaaaaand, not much since.

[baalroo]

Most the jazz scene is background-y trio type stuff, but there's a decent bit of it. There are a lot of "red dirt" style country bands that play all of the redneck bars around the edge of town. We have 1 of playboy magazine's top 10 "dive bars" in the US, but it's geared more towards the 21-28 demographic, and the bands play for donations.

Otherwise there's a smattering of most other genres in a pretty close knit and supportive community. Not a whole lot of venues, but the ones there are have pretty consistently high quality acts.

It's definitely not anywhere near as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

[lowfreqgeek]

Thanks, Baalroo.

I spent a few days there last winter (arrive the night of the 6" snow storm...) interviewing for another position within the same company. Got to see the area (under snow), but didn't get a chance to check out the music scene.

I didn't get that job, but they've called me back for another position, so I've got some thinkin' to do. Overall, we really liked the area. In my experience, 90% of the people hating on Wichita have never been there - so I don't take anything they say seriously. Nearly every person I've ever talked to who actually lived there loved it... But none were musicians.

[baalroo]

Oh, btw I missed the bit about singer songwriter pop-rock, but we've actually got a lot of that stuff going on here at a pretty high caliber.

One thing people say surprisingly often about Wichita is how good the food is, if you're into "comfort" style foods this place is hard to beat. Also, cost of living is quite low, so if you have a decent job you can afford a lot more toys and because of the airplane industry staying pretty solid our economy never really tanked like most other small/mid-sized cities.

End of the day, most of the musicians here tend to be pretty happy to be here and the quality of musicianship is much higher than most might expect, it's just not as many musicians overall.

[SoonerMatt]

My dad's best friend lives in Wichita. I once asked him what kind of concerts roll through. He laughed at me.

Translation: jack ****.

[baalroo]

Originally Posted by SoonerMatt

My dad's best friend lives in Wichita. I once asked him what kind of concerts roll through. He laughed at me.

Translation: jack ****.

Well, depends on what you're into. We've had Rush, Dave Mathews, and Rascal Flats in the last few months at our brand new downtown arena. The main "small" music venue (max capacity about 399) is pretty well hooked into the "indie/alternative" scene (full disclosure: I work at said venue). We've had acts as diverse as Love of Everything (bass player from Cap'n Jazz's project), Murder by Death (newgrass), and MC Frontalot in about the same timeframe (few months).

[SoonerMatt]

I did not know that. Admittedly the last time I was there was in December, 2006....

[lowfreqgeek]

So is there room for another "capable" bassist in Wichita? I say "capable" because I have worked at a pretty high level around Albuquerque (www.rexwarren.com, www.therealmattjones.com, quite a bit of jazz, etc.).

Is the scene pretty inclusive of new folks? Some are welcoming, others are pretty closed up...

Also, are there some jams or other places to meet people? Anything besides Craigslist? How would one seek out and hook in to the "high caliber" stuff? Albuquerque is full of some really great stuff, but you ARE NOT going to find it via CL. I've been here over 4.5 years and I'm still finding "new" to me stuff that's been around a lot longer than I've been here.

Oh yeah, any great music stores?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's a BIG part of my decision (assuming things progress).

[baalroo]

Music stores are pretty "meh"

All of the scenes are VERY inclusive of new people, this is the Midwest so you can just walk up and say hello and end up chatting for an hour.

I'm honestly not too up on the jazz scene, but hit up this guy:

www.jaredbrickman.com

He's a real good guy and well respected player, he moved here from NY a few years back and could give you a better outsiders perspective. Just send him an email or something, tell him Josh from Rock Island told you to contact him. He loves talking about the music scene so trust me when I say he would likely be quite happy to answer your questions.

[lowfreqgeek]

Awesome! I'll contact Jared. His samples are very cool. That (and higher) is the level of jazz here in Albuquerque - lot's of NYC transplants here, too.

Thanks for all your comments and help, Josh.