Kansas City jazz legend dies at 90

The American Jazz Museum just sent out the following press release:

Kansas City, MO. (December 7, 2006) — Jay McShann, the veteran pianist closely identified with the Kansas City tradition of jazz and blues, passed away today at the age of 90 at St. Luke’s Hospital. A master of many styles, McShann established an evolutionary bridge between traditional Kansas City jazz, renowned for a swinging, rhythmic sensibility, and the more intuitive, improvisational bebop form of jazz.

McShann, who became known as “Hootie” among his contemporaries, was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1916 and taught himself piano as a child. In 1936, he relocated to Kansas City and had organized his first big band by 1939, the Jay McShann Orchestra.