Victor & Penny

Kansas City Jazz Presentation
View All Concerts

Fayetteville Public Library

401 West Mountain St

Fayetteville, AR

Feb 13, 2019

6:00 PM CST

I Was There

Leave a Review

About this concert

For more information, visit: https://www.faylib.org/events/musical-time-capsule-evolution-kansas-city-jazz Please join us on Wednesday, February 13 at 1 pm for a Musical Time Capsule: The Evolution of Kansas City Jazz brought to us by the Faulkner Performing Arts Center. “Jazz was born in New Orleans, but it grew up in Kansas City.” – B. McDevitt Jeff Freling and Erin McGrane of Victor & Penny offer a highly entertaining, living musical history lesson as they delve into a topic close to their hearts: the roots and evolution of Kansas City Jazz. From Euday Bowman’s 1913 composition,“12th Street Rag” to Charlie Parker’s classic 1946 “Yardbird Suite”, experience how the face of popular music changed in the first half of the 20th century. In the course of a 75-minute live concert and presentation, Jeff and Erin bring to life the birth of the Kansas City Jazz sound and the elements that make this music so compelling. The duo takes you to Kansas City during the great depression, when boss Tom Pendergast blatantly rejected Prohibition and KC became known as the Paris of the Plains, a hotbed of creativity and new ideas. Hear how Jazz cut its teeth in this rich culture as its early innovators began to change the sound of the art form. Soon, Jazz was on its way to national notoriety. The presentation puts the listener inside the music to hear how Walter Page’s 4-beat bass lines began to drive the rhythm, how Charlie Parker turned harmony and melody on its side, and how Big Joe Turner made what many regard as one of the first Rock n Roll recordings… in 1938! It all comes together as these elements reveal the inspiration behind Victor & Penny’s sound, born of this unique, hard-swinging Kansas City style. Driven by McGrane and Freling’s effortless and engaging style, this presentation offers a fun and captivating look into the music of the city that was coined “the Paris of the Plains” in the 1930s. A must attend for fans of music and history alike. Victor & Penny and the Loose Change Orchestra will be appearing at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on Thursday, February 14 at 7:30 pm. Victor & Penny deliver swing-infused folk-jazz in the band's signature high-energy style with joy, humor, and soaring musical improvisation. V&P were named "Best Folk Ensemble 2015" by the PITCH; "Standout Concert of the Year" by the Joplin Globe; and are the two-time Folk Alliance International official showcase artists. For more information or tickets, visit https://faulkner.uark.edu/events/faulkner-performing-art-center-events.php.

Find a place to stay

What fans are saying

Carla

February 11th 2024

Wonderful night! Love Danielle Ate The Sandwich! She is funny. Love her songs and beautiful voice! V and P are such talents! Always enjoy their shows! Great musicians and Jeff on his guitar…just wow! Loose Change guys really rock too! Have seen many of their shows and hope they continue playing together as V and P and the Loose Change Orchestra!

Lenexa, KS@

Green Guitar Folk House

Easily follow all your favorite artists by syncing your music

Sync Music

Share Event

Victor & Penny Biography

Victor & Penny and their Loose Change Orchestra deliver swing-infused folk-jazz in the band’s signature high-energy style with joy, humor, and soaring musical improvisation. Victor & Penny were named “Best Folk Ensemble 2015” by the PITCH; “Standout Concert of the Year” by the Joplin Globe; and are five-time Folk Alliance International (FAI) official showcase artists, including a recent appearance at the FAI Exchange in Sweden. V&P and the LCO feature tight vocal harmonies, dazzling guitar work, red-hot horns and a fiery ukulele. This corset-tight quintet brings a modern Kansas City voice to their original tunes and prohibition era jazz with sterling musicianship. V&P and the LCO impress and delight with charm and hot licks and they are an "absolute rollicking blast."

The group released a full-length CD, “Electricity” which debuted on the Folk Radio DJ charts at #12 with the #3 song. "Electricity" crackles and sparks with joy and regret; truths and dares; love and love gone wrong all set to a score of vibrant, rhythmic swing and virtuosic musicianship. Electricity is the culmination of 250,000 miles, 7 years and over 1,000 personal appearances and is a testament to the incomparable vivacity of Victor & Penny’s live show, with newly added sophistication and rich instrumentation.

Victor & Penny are Jeff Freling (Blue Man Group, Chicago) and Erin McGrane (George Clooney's, "Up in the Air" and cabaret troupe Alacartoona). Ms. McGrane is an ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Grant recipient and a Mid-America Arts Alliance Professional Development Grant recipient as well as a fellow of the ArtistINC program for which she currently serves as a peer facilitator and a workshop presenter. Formally trained at Berklee School of Music (Boston) and the Conservatory of Music (Kansas City), Mr. Freling participated in the international program, The Acoustic Guitar Project in 2014 and is an accomplished composer, arranger, and outstanding instrumentalist. Classically trained reeds virtuoso James Isaac fronts his own highly respected jazz quartet, The James Isaac Group and is a member of the People’s Liberation Big Band. Bassist Rick Willoughby attended the UMKC Conservatory of Music and is a member of Quixotic, The Snow Globes and the Barclay Martin Ensemble. Multi-instrumentalists Kyle Dahlquist rounds out the lineup with trombone, accordion and vocals. Their 4th album, 'Electricity,' joyfully captures the energy, humor, and soaring musical improvisation of their live show. For more information, please visit: http://www.victorandpenny.com

Follow artist