Kansas City Blues
Kansas City blues is a genre of blues music. It has spawned the Kansas Blues & Jazz festival and the Kansas Blues Society. Kansas City has many blues and jazz fans. The careers of Count Basie and Charlie Parker began in Kansas City. Local Clubs in Kansas City feature many noteworthy Kansas City Bands. On the corner of 39th and Jackson in Kansas City, Missouri, lies an old night club balled The Blues Alley. This club serves as one of the homes and starts of various jazz legends.
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event that features four days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June. The event has always taken place in Grant Park, adjacent to the Lake Michigan waterfront east of the Loop in Chicago. Chicago has a storied history with blues that goes back generations stemming from the Great Migration from the South and particularly the Mississippi Delta region in pursuit of advancement and better career possibilities for musicians. Created by Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg, the festival began in 1984, a year after the death of McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, who is generally considered "the father of Chicago blues".
