Eboni Fondren at the Blue Room

Eboni Fondren was hesitant to scat. Everette DeVan, the Hammond B-3 organist she took lessons from by day and whose jam sessions she cut her teeth on at night, put her on the spot anyway, on the stage of the Drum Room inside The President Hotel.

This May, Kansas City Ballet named her one of three Kansas City guest artists for The Great Gatsby, with Lonnie McFadden and Tanner Rose, and she sang May 8–17 in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre alongside Billy Novick's Blues Syncopators from Boston. "The fact that I am allowed to free-form scat along with the choreography is truly special," she told the ballet before opening. One review called her center-stage moment a "show-stopping vocal performance."

In January she was the jazz musician-in-residence at Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, where she worked on her multimedia show of storytelling and song about the women of jazz. In 2022, the year she appeared in Visit KC's Official Guide, KCUR called her "in a way, the face of Kansas City jazz for out-of-towners." She's also done voiceover work for AMC Theatres, the Kansas City Royals, and Wendy's.

She came to Kansas City, she told IN Kansas City in 2023, with "one mission, and that was to sing this music." In December 2021 the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra booked her to front its Hallelujah Holidays show at Helzberg Hall.

The Blue Room, 1600 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108. Friday, December 4, 2026. Shows at 8:30 pm & 10 pm. $10 per show.