If it's a special occasion, Lonnie acknowledges it.” They needed to have that chance to celebrate. “For a lot of people, they haven't been out in a long time,” Judy explains. Now, celebrating is more important than ever. Judy says people held off marking personal milestones during the pandemic. LaVelle and Martin, 41-year anniversary.” Maitre d’ Joshua Judy prepares the list of names and goes over it with McFadden before the show, so McFadden can be sure he pronounces every name correctly. In between songs, McFadden takes a moment to showcase those celebrations. I quit high school at 16 years old and I left Kansas City and went on the road.”Īfter Lonnie McFadden's show, Federica Spagni (left) McFadden and Cindy Bussjaeger pose with him for a photo. McFadden says he was able to convince his parents that he was serious about music. “I had to make a decision and to me it was no decision, but I had to talk with my mom and dad,” he remembers. McFadden says he found himself at a fork in the road. When the band went on the road they asked him to join the tour. “Every weekend, I'm going to school, I'm playing these gigs with Clyde N’em and Her at these nightclubs: AG's Lounge, The Inferno, 50-Yard Line, all these basically Black clubs because, back then, a predominantly Black band couldn't play on the Country Club Plaza." McFadden was a 16-year-old trumpet player at Lincoln High School when he was picked up by legendary Kansas City funk band Clyde N’em and Her. “I've always been proud of the DNA, the whatever it is that we have here that makes our swing different,” McFadden says. His father, tap dancer Jimmy McFadden - known as “Pops” - toured with Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Count Basie in top jazz orchestras in the thirties and forties. McFadden grew up just blocks from 18th & Vine. Lonnie McFadden tap dances onstage at Lonnie’s Reno Club downtown at The Ambassador Hotel “And just reliving the history of Kansas City. In the front row, Sandy and Leo Miller are at the Reno Club to celebrate 39 years of marriage. “I'm glad that I get a chance to tell the story about Basie and Hot Lips Page, Mary Lou Williams, The Chocolate Drops, Charlie Parker, so many great musicians and so many great things that have happened here in the history of jazz and I like telling the story,” McFadden says. And it’s where early radio broadcasts introduced Kansas City jazz to the world. McFadden named the club after the original Reno Club, where Count Basie forged the Count Basie Orchestra in 1935. “Just to play for people and there's laughing and smiling and clapping and dancing,” McFadden says. He says his need to perform outweighs his fear of COVID. Soon, though, staff at the Ambassador Hotel approached him about performing - outside at first. When McFadden’s regular gigs were canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020, he started a weekly livestream concert. This is his 50th year in show business, but the first time he's had his own place. LaVelle and Martin smile as the audience claps wildly.Īt 66, McFadden is celebrating a milestone himself.
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