The Kansas City Jazz Museum is a heritage of jazz. At the museum people listen to music performances. There is an exhibit for each of the four main musicians in this snazzy

walk-through museum. Each of these four main jazz musicians have their photographs along with a collection of interesting facts and artifacts from their lives on display. The main people featured at the museum are Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Charlie "Bird" Parker. Other famous jazz musicians included to a lesser extent at the museum include Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Bennie Moten, and Billie Holiday.

The rules at the museum are: No chewing gum, No smoking, No drinking, No eating, and all photographic equipment, umbrellas, backpacks, brief cases, and all large purses should be left in the coat check area. While in the museum, children must be accompanied by an adult.

The Kansas City Jazz Museum is located on the corner of 18th and Vine in Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America. Phone number: (816) 474-8463. Fax:(816) 474-0074. When the Jazz Museum was opened it had 2,500 artifacts. The building has 55,200 square feet. The museum took eight years to complete. Former Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver allocated $20,000,000 for the Jazz Museum. The people who put in the most effort on the Jazz Museum include former City Council members (as of 1997) Charles Hazley and Carol Coe, current City Council member (since 1997) Ron Finley, and former Mayor Emanuel Cleaver. Kansas Citians and Jazz musicians also worked to build the Jazz Museum.

While in the museum, there are many opportunities to listen to jazz music. Some songs that can be heard as you tour the museum are "I Love Paris", "A-Tisket A-Tasket", "Take The ‘A’ Train", "Lush Life", "I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good", "Scrapple From An Apple", "You Can Depend On Me", "Anything Goes", and "That Old Black Magic".

Some of the many instruments of jazz are on display at the Jazz Museum. Drums, keyboards, guitars, various rhythm instruments, a bass, brass trumpets, cornets, trombones, and a tuba can all be seen. There are also jazz instruments from the reed family. Clarinets, saxophones, and beautiful flutes fill several display cases.

The Mixing Room in the Jazz Museum is a place where people can experiment with instruments to create their own jazz sound. This room also encourages visitors to "think in jazz." The many different panels in the "Mixing Room" available for people to use to focus on the three primary elements of music: harmony, melody, and rhythm.

During the 1920’s and ‘30’s, Kansas City’s many dance halls and clubs were open around the clock for music and dancing. At the Jazz Museum, "The Blue Room" is a reproduction of the nightclubs that could be found in Kansas City in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Local jazz bands and musicians now perform and play there.

The Charlie "Bird" Parker exhibit is the first of the four main the musicians’ displays you come to as you tour the Jazz Museum. Displayed at the Kansas City Jazz Museum is a Grafton alto saxophone that looks like pure ivory with brass accents, but your eyes trick you! It is really plastic! Parker’s May 15th, 1953 contract with Massy Hall in Toronto can also be seen. He was paid $200 for performing there that night. People sometimes consider this performance to be the greatest, or at least, one of the greatest performances of jazz of all time.

The next exhibit on the tour is that of Louis Armstrong. His nickname is the "Great Satchmo". On display are record albums and a concert-touring schedule. Also on display are Armstrong’s trumpet, mouthpiece, lip salve, awards, sheet music, and magazine covers. Armstrong is credited for creating jazz, (the only truly original American music), out of the spirituals and blues of African American culture. It is said that he made a path for future musicians to follow.

The third of the four main exhibits features Ella Fitzgerald. Ella Fitzgerald is known as the "First Lady of Jazz". Fitzgerald is also considered a rhythmic genius. At the Jazz Museum she has a very big display. This display includes: record albums, concert programs, original sheet music, awards, and a beautiful sparkly pinkish-peach performance gown.

The last main musician featured is Duke Ellington. Ellington was both a composer and a pianist. He is credited with over 2,000 compositions, (symphonies, suites, comic operas, and tone poems. He also scored numbers for films, plays, and ballets.). Duke Ellington’s display at the museum includes: a navy suit, a yellow tie, brown dress shoes, sheet music, lyrics in his own handwriting, certificate of Lifetime Membership in the NAACP, awards, and concert programs. Duke Ellington was well known for his sophistication and self-confidence. This happened to be different than most people viewed African Americans. From 1927 to 1931 the Duke Ellington Orchestra played in the Cotton Club, (in which blacks were not allowed, but whites were welcome.).