Brenda Dingley, Saba, Letensie Isaac & Bec Francis, Thomas & Kako, Wagaye, Dr. Aaron Tesfai, Turu Negash and Tesfai Tsehaie, James Fallon, Dr. Dale, and Mehari Zehaie & Rigat Ghebre.

- We had a wonderful time in Barcelona and were received very well at the club we played at called Jazz Man. We met many great musicians at jam sessions and intend to go back.

- We are meeting musicians every night and becoming more and more familiar with the jazz scene. There are many great musicians and people here, and we are glad to be a part of the scene.

- The Diverse Trio will be hosting a jam session at Miroiterie on June 27 in Paris. It will be our “going away” party and many of our friends that we have met here will be there.

- The Diverse Trio will be performing at the Hemingway Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 29th and 30th before heading back home to Kansas City.

More updates and pics to follow soon…

While the NY Times was in the area preparing  ”36 Hours in Kansas City, Mo.” a reporter stopped by for a sample of the sold-out performance. As a result, a picture from the tribute surfaced in the article’s slide-show:

* Photo credit: Steve Hebert for The New York Times

A message from Lori Werr, owner of Take Five Coffee + Bar:

Diverse Trio is packing bags for Paris to share what they’ve learned in Kansas City and learn what the French jazz scene has to teach. To raise funds for their transatlantic voyage, they will be performing an early evening show at Take Five Coffee Bar in Leawood, at 151st and Nall, Sunday, May 16, beginning at 6:30pm.

“These guys are going to Paris to take the message of Kansas City jazz – today’s Kansas City jazz – and share it with the world. That’s something we want to support,” said Lori Werr, owner of Take Five.

South Johnson County is known more for its residential neighborhoods than its music, but Take Five provides an oasis amid the rooftops for lovers of good music as well as good coffee.

“I think there are people in Johnson County who want to hear more good jazz,” said Werr. “We’re trying to bring something here that people would normally only be able to see if they drove downtown.”

Take Five Coffee + Bar is a locally owned coffee house in Leawood, Kan., that opened Jan. 2, 2010. Take Five serves fine teas, beer, wine, coffee-based cocktails, light lunches and pastries as well as the finest coffee drinks in town in a relaxed, inviting atmosphere.

On Thursday night we got to see the Monty Alexander Trio perform with Winard Harper on drums. The next couple of days had us judging and giving clinics to a lot of middle school and high school bands. It was a great chance for us to really connect with students of this music and try to inspire them as much as possible. We performed twice on Friday, one being a “club” like performance for a smaller group of people, and the later one being for a huge packed ballroom with a stage. We were very well received!

Here is a performance we did of Lionel Loueke’s Benny’s Tune (click to download) the next day for some students.

-Hermon

Any support is greatly appreciated!

Due to the large costs of playing overseas, Diverse has teamed up with Kickstarter, an entrepreneurship-based web service.

To see a video clip of the Diverse Trio, click here; this excellent video was generously produced by Brandon Cummins.

by Kara Petrovic

This is only an excerpt. To view the full article, click on this link.

They never expected to win the recording contract or to see their self-titled CD “Diverse” reach No. 49 on the JazzWeek charts in early September. Members of the jazz quintet, Diverse, knew they had talent, but their dreams were modest. Four of the five members – Hermon Mehari, 22, trumpet; Ben Leifer, 23, bass; and cousins William Sanders, 23, tenor saxophone; and Ryan Lee, 21, drums – are studying at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance with jazz musician and composer Bobby Watson.

The students officially formed the group in 2007 after playing their first gig together in Mehari’s hometown of Jefferson City, Mo. During the fall semester, the group approached Watson for help. The group members no longer wanted to perform separately at the Conservatory; instead the students wanted the band to become an independent quartet. “I knew they had talent,” says Watson, UMKC’s William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri Distinguished Professor in Jazz Studies and Director of Jazz Studies, “so I wanted to help them not only perform together, but also to get credits for performing.”

The judges at the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Competition held in Boise, Idaho, saw something they liked in Diverse, too – a uniqueness that set the group apart from 11 other seasoned bands competing from around the country. Mehari began researching the Idaho jazz competition in January 2008 and immediately took the competition details to Sanders, Leifer and Lee, as well as pianist John Brewer, 29, friend and teacher, who occasionally played with the group. Brewer even offered up his van to transport the group to Idaho.

“When I heard them play the day before they went to Idaho, they had really developed a repertoire,” says Waston, who has performed with jazz greats Max Roach, Louis Hayes and George Coleman. “I had a good feeling about them. I didn’t know they were going to win, but I had a good feeling that they could win.”