Kansas City jazz owes so much to its women musicians

Kansas City is known worldwide as a jazz town, home to the likes of Charlie Parker, Andy Kirk and Count Basie. But what about the women who helped shape the genre? To celebrate Women’s History Month, Up To Date looked at some of the city’s most iconic female jazz luminaries.
Kansas City’s female jazz musicians have never received the same amount of praise or recognition as their male counterparts. But that doesn’t mean their influence is in any way less monumental.

Musicians Julia Lee, Mary Lou Williams and Myra Taylor, to name just a few, helped create the swinging, bluesy style of jazz that the city is known for today.