Personality Test

Several people expressed displeasure in my attendance at an event sponsored by the Church of Scientology of Kansas City on Tuesday, December 17.  I have no meaningful personal experience with the group, but I can verify a friend’s assertion that the majority of organization’s representatives on hand at Stanley Clarke’s concert are inordinately attractive.

I paid $40 to attend a 2016 concert in Atlanta by the most important bassist in the history of jazz fusion.  I wasn’t about to pass on an opportunity to see him for free.  A meager audience of about 250 consisting of jazz geeks, homeless men and Scientologists heard Clarke, trumpeter Mark Isham, pianist Rusian Sirota and tabla master Salar Nader play for about an hour in a heated tent catacorner to the stately Scientology building at the intersection of 18th Street and Grand Boulevard.

The setlist- “India,” “Brazilian Love Affair,” “Lover Man” (a duet between Clarke and Isham), “Three Wrong Notes” (a duet between Clarke and Sirota), “Spain,” “School Days” (Clarke’s only turn on electric bass) and “Sleigh Ride”- covered every base a fan could want.  And given the frigid conditions- my feet went numb on the icy pavement- the quartet’s hour-long outing was just the right length.

In contrast to the heavy-handed tone of the Kansas City Symphony’s pricy benefit concert (I was given a ticket) starring Yo-Yo, Ma, Emanuel Ax and Pamela Frank on the previous night, the Scientologists’ proselytizing was easily digestible.  The Symphony's conductor and artistic director Michael Stern said that “young people” were no longer listening to “music.”  His haughty attitude offended me far more than the subtle sloganeering of the Scientologists.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image of Clarke, Isham and Nader by There Stands the Glass.)