Jazz singer Toni Gates' upcoming concert

For three years, singer Toni Gates has organized a show at Unity Temple on the Plaza, called the One by One Concert Series, which brings together a number of musicians who originally met as teachers at Paseo Academy of the Arts, like sound engineer Tom Ransom and percussionist Clarence Smith.

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Kansas City, MO – You might not think of the teacher's lounge at a high school as the starting point for a musical collaboration. But at Paseo Academy of the Arts in the 1990s, a group of enthusiastic music teachers forged bonds that lasted beyond their time at Paseo, and influenced many of their students to become musicians. Singer Toni Gates has organized the One by One Concert at Unity Temple on the Plaza on Friday. Performing with her, among others will be Clarence Smith, who now teaches music at the Penn Valley campus of Metropolitan Community Colleges, and sound engineer and musician Tom Ransom, who runs his own studio Ransomed Productions.

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