Danny Cox
Danny Cox was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943. He started singing as a youth in a church choir. As an 18 year old, he began his professional music career in 1960 performing on a Hootenanny Folk Tour.
His first trip to Kansas City was in 1963. On that tour, he was not allowed to stay downtown at the Muehlebach Hotel because he was black. So instead he was transported across the river into Kansas City, Kansas, for his lodging. For the past 35 years, KCK has been his home.
Danny Cox has recorded for ABC Dunhill, Casablanca, MGM, and others. Danny partnered a company called Good Karma Productions, which managed the acts of Brewer and Shipley, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and his own career.
These days he is busy writing jingles, performing his new
songs and working with childrens’ theatres.
Joe Miquelon
Joe Miquelon wrote the music, performed (piano, organ, alto sax and tenor sax) and produced the Troost Avenue Blues CD.
Joe is a Kansas City native with a degree in music composition from Tulsa University. He is one of Kansas City’s most respected musicians and has worked with numerous regional and national musical groups as saxophonist and/or keyboardist. Some of these include Bonnie Raitt, The Temptations, The Spinners, members of Eric Clapton’s band, The Mills Brothers and Asleep at the Wheel.
Joe has also performed with Blue Riddim, SDI, Albert King, Lee Oskar of WAR, Mike Finnigan, Rufus Thomas, The Kansas City Blues Band, Little Hatch, Hot House, Kevin Mahogany and Ida McBeth.
Currently, Joe is the keyboardist for The Elders. Recently he wrote, arranged and recorded horns for Blues Notions; co-wrote and performed on Terri Wilder’s debut CD, This Is It.
He also produced, arranged and performed on the Silent the Night CD with Tom Hall.
Roger Coleman
Roger Coleman has lived and worked in Kansas City’s midtown area for 34 years. He is director of Pilgrim Center, Inc., a not-for profit organization that operates the historic Pilgrim Chapel as a public chapel for people of all faiths. Pilgrim Center also sponsors a variety of neighborhood youth programs including the annual Hyde Park Children's Film Festival. He served for 20 years as the director of Westport Allen Community Center. Prior to this he was the Director of Westport Cooperative Services, a coalition of churches providing social services to midtown Kansas City residents.
Major experiences include serving as pastor to mass murderer Bob Berdella; serving as chairman of the Mayor's Task Force on Hunger and being in Ethiopia during the famine of 1986; and playing a major role in the merger of an African-American church with an all-white congregation - the first in America.
From this vantage point of community involvement, Roger wrote the lyrics for Troost Avenue Blues. (In 2004, he wrote the lyrics to Silent the Night produced by Joe Miquelon.)
Roger is an ordained minister (Christian Church – Disciples of Christ) and holds graduate degrees from Texas Christian University, the University of Missouri and St. Paul School of Theology. He is also President of Clergy Services, Inc. an organization that provides clergy for performing weddings, baptisms, memorial services and other celebrations of faith. Clergy Services also distributes the Family Medallion®, resources developed by Dr. Coleman in 1987 for use in celebrating new family relationships including the involvement of children in the wedding service when parents remarry, adoption ceremonies and the birth/blessing/baptism of children.
Musicians
Part 1: Livin’ on Troost Ave
James Albright (bass), Dan Bliss (acoustic guitar), Bill Dye (slide guitar)
Part II: Cityvu from Troost Ave
Max Berry (guitar), Scotty McBee (drums), Joe Miquelon (organ and piano), Forest Stewart (bass)
Part III: Dyin’ on Troost Ave
Max Berry (guitar), Stan Kessler (trumpet, flugel horn), Scotty McBee (drums), Joe
Miquelon (organ, piano, alto sax, tenor sax), Forest Stewart (bass)
Other Participants
Studio Engineer: Rick Kloog
CD Design: Muller and Co.
CD Cover Photograph: Ernie Block, Ernie Block Studio, Inc.
Editing and Promotion: Mary Beth Gordon
Recorded at Berry Music Group (Now Cypher Music Studio)
3600 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
Copyrighted by Roger Coleman 2005. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.A.
NEWS RELEASE
AREA ARTISTS AND ACTIVISTS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE
A RIVETING, BLUES-STYLE MUSICAL TOUR OF URBAN AMERICA
Roger Coleman, midtown activist and director of Pilgrim Center, had long been frustrated by the growing incidence of violence, suffering and helplessness he experienced in many of Kansas City’s urban neighborhoods. Several local musicians shared his concern. Together they began to focus on Troost Avenue as a metaphor for the problems plaguing urban communities.
"Troost has always been a dividing line," says Joe Miquelon, a well-known Kansas City piano and sax player who has worked nationally with a variety of artists, including Bonnie Raitt. He currently is the keyboardist with The Elders. "The perception is that everything east of Troost is the epicenter of Kansas City's social and economic problems."
Area singer Danny Cox, who has earned a national reputation for both his folk and rhythm & blues vocals, recalls the early 1960s, when Troost Avenue around 31st Street was a bustling economic district for the African-American community. "Today, the area is characterized by vacant lots, second-hand stores and crumbling infrastructure."
The issue, according to Cox, Miquelon and Coleman: Although the media carried stories about the disintegration of the urban core, few west of Troost seemed to care. So the three artists/activists decided to use the universal language of music to bring the problems of urban Kansas City to life in a way that people could relate to on an emotional level. "Folks who don't respond to sermons, speeches or even news stories can relate to the power of good music,” Coleman says.
The three men joined forces to create Troost Avenue Blues, a vibrant blues song that portrays life in Kansas City's urban core - and the rest of urban America. "There's a major street in every city that symbolically separates the poor from the rest of the community in an effort to contain social problems," explains Coleman, who wrote the lyrics for Troost Avenue Blues. "That’s why we also refer to the song as Truth Avenue Blues.”
Miquelon wrote the score for the 30-minute, three-part piece. He utilized three different blues styles - Delta blues, Kansas City-style blues and gospel blues - to convey the range of emotions among the vivid characters who populate Troost Avenue Blues.
Coleman and Miquelon produced the CD, with Danny Cox as vocalist backed by Miquelon and other top area musicians. Because Cox's vocal rendition added so much depth and humanity to the lyrics, his name was added to the title: Danny Cox's Troost Avenue Blues.
"I'm so proud of this release," Miquelon says. "I know the music business and Troost Avenue Blues stands up to any blues piece released nationally."
Kansas City Debut
A debut live performance of Danny Cox's Troost Avenue Blues is scheduled for Sunday, February 26, 2006 at B.B.'s Lawnside B.B.Q., 1205 East 85th Street.
For more information, contact Roger Coleman (816/753-6719)or visit our website, www.troostblues.com.
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