INTRO: In the 1920s and 30s, Kansas City was considered a wide open town -- wide open for gangsters, liquor and gambling -- but also great blues, ragtime and swing. The distinctive sound of Kansas City jazz developed at all-night jam sessions around town, and particularly at the black union hall now known as the Mutual Musicians Foundation. Through the decades, the Foundation has become a Mecca for musicians from around the world, but a recent crackdown by Kansas City liquor authorities has left jazz fans wondering if the scene can really live on into the 21st century. Sylvia Maria Gross visited the Foundation late on a recent Saturday night ? actually very early Sunday. UPDATE: The police shut down the Mutual Musician Foundation's liquor sales in September 2006. They're now serving until 3am, and hoping a new state law that's in the Missouri legislature will grant the Foundation, as a non-profit located in a National Historic Landmark, an exception to serve liquor until 6am. For more on the Mutual Musicians Foundation: http://www.umkc.edu/orgs/local627/foundation/ http://thefoundationjamson.org/