There is a short film that precedes your entrance to the main gallery that is pleasant, if not truly illuminating. Inside the gallery, you'll find shrines to some of the biggest names in jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker. There are interactive multimedia stations that help differentiate musical styles, a nice touch for those who are just beginning to explore jazz music.

Finally, you might want to coordinate your visit with a performance in the neighboring nightclub space. It has been restored so that residents and visitors can once again experience what it was like to be in Kansas City when it was one of the most lively and influential bastions of jazz music.

There are lots of artifacts (including Charlie Parker's alto saxaphone), and interactive music-making activities. Mostly though, you have lots of listening booths and lots of commentary at hand that allow you to piece together Jazz's musical developments over the past 100 years. Imagine the listening booths at Borders, except there are lots more disks, and they are all the most important pieces in history.

The space is brand new and co-located with the Negro League Museum. The facility is located in the historic heart of Kansas City's African American community, and is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, with a couple of jazz clubs and nice restaurants springing up nearby. If you want to learn about Kansas City's past, this is as good a place to do it as any.