Jazz Beat: Hermon Mehari Trio at the Majestic

The space is a speakeasy that has hosted jazz since politicians gathered here for drinks during Prohibition. The trumpeter is one of KC’s young jazz lions, expanding the music’s reach with sounds from an earlier generation: hip-hop and Michael Jackson. Hermon Mehari’s trumpet — blowing an Ellington standard, a Charlie Parker bebop or a more contemporary tune — breathes fresh, inventive ideas about what jazz can be. Every Tuesday, Mehari’s Hermon Mehari Trio builds on KC’s jazz tradition in the downstairs club at the Majestic. It’s the future and the past, all wrapped up into one show.