20. February 2025
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Museums & Exhibitions

American Jazz Museum (Kansas City)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

American Jazz Museum

10 USD
American Jazz Museum
3.6

Rating

 3.6/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very interactive
  • Tries to make ideal use of space
  • Concerts in Blue Room

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Limited space
  • I could not spot 21st century jazz

I haven’t taken you to Kansas City for quite a while. That’s rather unfortunate, as my backlog still features some really interesting places. In this post, I take you to the American Jazz Museum in the historic district of the city. Let’s have some musical history together.

 

American Jazz Museum – Location & Admission

The American Jazz Museum is located at the E 18 St in Kansas City. Thus, the front entrance of the museum is facing the Historic District of Kansas City. There is a large parking lot at the rear of the building, which also hosts the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. There is also a bus stopping right in front of the museum (line 18/18x, On 18th at Vine stations).

The American Jazz Museum is from Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. On summer Mondays (June to August), there is also a Monday opening from 10:00 to 15:00. Additionally, the museum is opening on Sundays, noon to 17:00. Adult admission to the museum is 10 USD. I feel to remember that there is a discounted combined ticket for both museums. However, you cannot buy them online, so that I had two separate admissions.

 

American Jazz Museum – The Visit

The museum is trying to illustrate the history and development of jazz as well as introducing you to the genre’s biggest names.Thereby there are a lot of interactive displays, which allow you listen, but also to explore jazz. The American Jazz Museum thereby has a nice archive of original items. However, I have to say that the museum managed to educate, but it failed to fascinate me. There are quite some movies and background material, but it did not touch me on the emotional side that much.

The exhibition space is rather small. On top of that, I here and there struggled to find the right way through the museum. Unfortunately, that also lead to the situation that I did not learn that much about jazz in the 21st century. To me, the chronology of the  exhibition felt to stop around the millennium.

 

American Jazz Museum – Services

The museum drives a gift shop next to the entrance. It is rather large and features a nice collection of music. However, there are also some other items like music-related socks and other typical merchandise.

The Blue Room located within the museum is also a popular place for concerts.

 

American Jazz Museum – My View

To me, the American Jazz Museum is struggling with its small size. You feel that the organizers put a lot of heart into it, but you just feel that there is something missing. This of course especially implies to the very latest stories of American jazz. Nonetheless, the museum is not too bad. It just does not reach its potential. A positive aspect about the museum is the high level of interaction, indeed.

 

Kansas City Postings

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Jazz on Flyctory.com

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