KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hollywood legend and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman is bringing his Symphonic Blues Experience to town alongside the Kansas City Symphony in September, and I got a chance to chat with him.
We sang a little version of one of the most famous songs about our town to start.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Lindsay Shively
"You're coming to Kansas City, Kansas City here you come. I'm so excited you're coming here," I told him.
He chimed in immediately.
"They got some crazy little women there, and I'm gonna get me one," he laughed.
In the show, he narrates the important history of the blues in the Mississippi Delta. Alongside the Kansas City Symphony, you'll hear blues artists who play in Mississippi at the Ground Zero Blues Club, partly owned by Freeman.
Freeman spent a lot of his life there and is still deeply connected to the community. You can watch a sneak peek below.
He told me he has been all over the world but has never been to Kansas City, so I got to talk to him a little about our incredible jazz history and, of course, Kansas City native and jazz legend Charlie Parker.
"Charlie Parker was one of my favorite musicians, and I could hum along with him on his bebop," he said. "He backed a Norman Luboff choir singing 'In The Still of the Night.' And him playing along with them, it was just awesome," Freeman said as he sang a bit more. "In the still of the night, as I came from my window, and you can hear Charlie Parker in the back like that."
You can see Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience with the Kansas City Symphony Sept. 2-3 at the Kauffman Center.
—
