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Up To Date

Trumpeting Jazz In Kansas City

How do you get to be one of the rising stars of Kansas City's jazz scene?

In the second part of Thursday's Up to Date, we'll talk with jazz trumpeter Hermon Mehari about how his background led him to become a jazz musician and what he thinks of the jazz scene in Kansas City today.

Hermon Mehari is a jazz trumpeter and a member of Diverse, who recently finished a record for Origin Records as a result of winning the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Festival. He won the 2008 National Trumpet Competition Jazz Division and took second place in the 2010 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition held in Sydney, Australia. Along with Diverse, Mehari plays with a jazz trio called Tri-Dimensional. He is also a regular member of the New Jazz Order, a jazz band led by Clint Ashlock that performs at Harlings every Tuesday night. Mehari has performed with such notable artists such as Bobby Watson, Hubert Laws, Jaleel Shaw, Kenny Loggins, Logan Richardson, Paul McKee, Randy Brecker, Dave Pietro, Gary Hobbs, Clay Jenkins, Mike Vax and John Harner.

When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.