Our Past Is Present July 5, 2018

July 5, 2018

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            The history of jazz in Junction City connected closely with the history of Kansas City Jazz, a style of music that evolved between the 1920s and 1940s and incorporated elements of ragtime, big band and bebop.  Junction City was a frequent stop for Kansas City jazz musicians, who found jazz clubs and an appreciative audience in the local African American community here.

            The local history of the Kansas City-Junction City jazz connection is murky.  Kansas City Jazz was on the rise at a time when both Kansas City and Junction City were largely segregated and as such, the movement of jazz musicians and bands between the two cities is largely undocumented. 

            Big name musicians, however, did make local headlines when they played at white venues.  Duke Ellington first played at the Municipal Auditorium in 1939 in a performance that was expected to sell out. 

            Such racial segregation drove the development of the Ninth Street business district in Junction City, particularly after the all black 9^th Cavalry Regiment (nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers) was stationed at Fort Riley in 1922. 

            As Susan Lloyd Franzen, author of Behind the Façade of Fort Riley’s Hometown, found in her research, performances at Ninth Street area clubs, too, were left out of the newspaper. 

            “The irony of the segregation was that African American people who wanted to avail themselves of the opportunity could enjoy Kansas City jazz every Saturday night.  By today’s cultural standards, the music they heard was of higher quality and greater sophistication than most of the offerings white people would hear at the Opera House or Elk’s Club.  But only black people knew it was there.”  

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.