This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

a Black-owned soul-food bar-and-grill and live blues/jazz venue at 1700 E 18th St in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, founded by KC entrepreneurs Benny and Calvin Shelby and run by Andrea Shelby; Tier 1 as a deeply rooted, family-owned anchor of the city’s Black music heritage.

Description

The Kansas City Juke House (operating as The KC Juke House and Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House) is a soul-food bar-and-grill and live-music venue at 1700 E 18th St in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, immediately adjacent to the American Jazz Museum.123 It bills itself as “a throwback to the greats,” programming live blues, R&B and jazz alongside open-mic, poetry and karaoke nights.3 The room seats roughly 215 and stages live blues on multiple nights of the week.3

The kitchen runs a Southern / soul-food bar menu — hot wings, steamed crawfish, fried catfish and butterfly shrimp are signature items, with the broader card spanning fried chicken sandwiches, fish po’boys, gumbo, chicken and waffles, burgers and fried appetizers.13 The venue offers dine-in, takeout and a full bar, plus party rentals and private events.14

The Juke House is one of the few sustained live-music rooms keeping the blues-and-jazz tradition alive inside the 18th & Vine district, the cradle of Kansas City jazz; KCUR’s April 2026 guide to KC’s jazz clubs lists it among the city’s current venues for live jazz.5 Its Shelby-family ownership ties it directly to a lineage of Black-owned KC nightlife businesses stretching back to the late 1970s.6

Ownership and history

The Juke House was launched by brothers/longtime KC entrepreneurs Benny and Calvin Shelby, who opened the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Juke House Bar and Restaurant at 1700 E. 18th St. in the 18th & Vine district.6 The Shelbys were fixtures of Black Kansas City nightlife for decades, owning a string of establishments — The Epicurean, Bodyworks, Mingles and The 9th Inning Sports Bar & Grill — between 1978 and 2021 before concentrating on the Juke House.6 The venue is now operated by Andrea Shelby, Benny Shelby’s daughter, who serves as the general manager/operator.67

The motivation behind the venue was the lack of a regular weekly home for blues in the district — a place “for blues people to go on a weekly basis to hear some good blues music.”6 The business is commonly cited as having opened around 2008, though a precise founding date is not firmly documented in available sources.7

Like much of the 18th & Vine corridor, the Juke House weathered pandemic-era disruption and district street/construction closures, which suppressed business for an extended stretch before recovery.7

Sources

Disputes

(None active.)

Footnotes

  1. The KC Juke House — official website — https://thekcjukehouse.com/ — asserts: address 1700 E 18 Street, Kansas City, MO 64108; hours (Wed/Fri/Sat 5 PM–2 AM, Sun 7 PM–1:30 AM); phone (816) 472-0013; soul-food/American menu (fried chicken sandwiches, fish po’boys, gumbo, chicken & waffles, wings); Friday live band; weekly events; party/private rentals. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Yelp — Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House — https://www.yelp.com/biz/kansas-city-blues-and-jazz-juke-house-kansas-city — asserts: address 1700 E 18th St; listing updated February 2026 with 55 reviews; categorized Jazz & Blues / Restaurant; phone (816) 472-0013. ↩

  3. VisitMO — Things to Do — The KC Juke House — https://www.visitmo.com/things-to-do/the-kc-juke-house — asserts: located at 1700 E. 18th St. in the historic 18th & Vine jazz district; live blues, R&B and jazz plus open-mic, poetry and karaoke; menu of hot wings, steamed crawfish, fried catfish, butterfly shrimp; ADA compliant, year-round. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Restaurant.com / general listings — https://www.restaurant.com/locations/kansas-city-blues-jazz-juke-house-kansas-city-1700-e-18th-st — asserts: dine-in, takeout, full bar, party rentals and private events at 1700 E 18th St. ↩

  5. KCUR — “Kansas City’s best jazz clubs and lounges for live music,” April 25, 2026 — https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2026-04-25/jazz-kansas-city-live-music-concerts — asserts: The Kansas City Juke House is listed among current KC Jazz District venues for live jazz (as of April 2026). ↩

  6. EURweb — “My Cousin Benny Shelby, The Life of a Kansas City Legend” (2021) — https://eurweb.com/2021/my-cousin-benny-shelby-the-life-of-a-kansas-city-legend/ — asserts: Benny and Calvin Shelby launched the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Juke House at 1700 E. 18th St.; the Shelbys owned The Epicurean, Bodyworks, Mingles and The 9th Inning Sports Bar & Grill between 1978 and 2021; motivation was a weekly home for blues. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Search-synthesized reporting / interview references (April 2026) and Kansas City Blues Society listing — https://blueskc.org/kc-juke-house-looking-for-blues-band/ — asserts: Andrea Shelby (daughter of Benny Shelby) operates the venue; commonly cited ~2008 opening; venue seats ~215 with live blues multiple nights; pandemic/street-closure disruption noted in a 2026 interview reference. Opening-year precision unconfirmed. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Soul Food
  • 18th And Vine