Belt Branch event will be a discussion on the late jazz critic Stanley Crouch

“A good number of our myths are as porous as Swiss cheese, but there is no more deservedly mythic city in the jazz story than Kansas City, Missouri.” – Stanley Crouch

The late author, columnist, social critic and jazz champion Stanley Crouch will be the subject of a talk at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, in the Belt Branch Upper Story, 1906A N. Belt Hwy.

St. Joseph-native and Central High School alum Glenn Mott, who is a Brooklyn-based editor, journalist and poet, and Books Revisited manager Hans Bremer will discuss Crouch’s writing and contributions to the jazz world.

Crouch, who passed away in 2020, was the author of eight books, including five collections of essays (two of which were nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards), a novel and the acclaimed biography Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker.

In 1987, Crouch co-founded then served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at the Lincoln Center in New York City and was founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center, often writing notes and essays for concert programs.

He was a biweekly columnist for the New York Daily News from 1995 to 2014, writing about culture, politics and race, and authored hundreds of magazine articles, essays, album liner notes and reviews on jazz that influenced the genre. For his work as a jazz historian and critic, the National Endowment for the Arts named him a Jazz Master in 2019.

“Stanley believed our democratic lives are apparent in the making of jazz: The creation of jazz (specifically improvisation) is an American art form that memorializes the amendment process in the human condition,” Mott said. “Stanley was always authentic, someone who provoked with insight, rather than one who assembled consensus. He didn't want to persuade you as much as provoke thought.”

Mott edited Crouch’s American Perspectives columns for more than a decade after bringing him on as a syndicated columnist at Hearst. After Crouch’s passing, he edited the book Victory is Assured: Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch, which was published in 2022. Copies of the book will be for sale at the event.

Mott has been the recipient of a Davis Fellowship for Peace and was a Fulbright Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has authored two books of poetry and essays, Eclogues in a Mustard Seed Garden and Analects on a Chinese Screen.

Your move! Sign up for library's first chess tournament

Rolling Hills Library will launch its first-ever chess tournament on Saturday, June 8, featuring a U.S. Chess Federation-rated section and an open section for all ages and skill levels who are not USCF members.

The first of four rounds, Swiss style, of this free tournament begin at 10 a.m. in the Belt Branch Upper Story, 1906A N. Belt. Doors will open at 9 a.m. for players to register if they have not done so already at events.rhcl.org/event/10041386. USCF memberships can be purchased on site if needed.

Awards will be handed out at 5 p.m. and consist of first, second and third place medals for each section with an additional prize for first place in each section.

Bridgid Reeves, the library’s technology services librarian, is planning for the tournament to be an annual event. She began thinking about having a tournament after taking over the library’s Chess and Checkers Club in 2017.

The club had a core group of dedicated members who gathered to talk chess and play games, she said. When the pandemic hit in 2021 and forced the library to suspend public programs and events, participation declined and thoughts of a tournament were shelved.

Now a few years after the pandemic’s high point, participation in the chess club has grown, and Reeves is planning on making the tournament an annual event.

“Chess teaches you how to focus and think creatively,” she said. “It helps to develop problem solving skills and how to think calmly and carefully and consider the consequences of your actions. And it brings people together and fosters a sense of community and even cooperation.

“It seemed to me that sharing this hobby, or sport depending on who you ask, would be a great addition to the community as a whole.”