Heart of the City Neighborhood Association and the UNESCO Creative City of Music-KC are hosting their third annual “Voyage of the Drum, a World Jazz Festival in Dunbar Park, 36th  and Oakley Ave, KCMO, Tues. June 21 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event which will celebrate June as Black Music Month, will include musical acts from the local region, nationwide, and globally.

This year, the event will feature well-known percussionist Bill Summers and his band Forward Back. Summers has over 50 years of musical experience, including performing and touring with Herbie Hancock, and also collaborating with Quincy Jones for musical compositions in the films “Roots” and “The Color Purple.”

The event is held each year in conjunction with World Make Music Day. This day originally launched in 1982 in France, called Fête de la Musique. Today, it has expanded across the world in over 120 countries. Musicians of all ages, musical backgrounds, and experiences are encouraged to perform in public to their community. 

Forward Back

His newest collaboration takes the world on a trip BACK  into long-established instruments, to let the culture go FORWARD by uncovering the relationship between America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Summers plays the drums (bata), which symbolize the Mother, Father, and Child on every track.