"Kansas City Shuffle" is the name of a 1926 jazz song, and a term coined by a 2006 crime film.
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In song
A song with the title was recorded by the "Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra" jazz band on 13 December 1926 in Chicago, Illinois and originally released by Victor Records on Victor 20406, the flip side being "Harmony Blues" by the same band.
It is one of the first songs called a "shuffle" using the distinctive triplet-driven beat.
The recording is an instrumental. The tune structure is similar to the standard I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate. After a short piano introduction, the band plays 2 ensemble choruses with breaks by trumpeter Lammar Wright, Sr.. This is followed by solos by banjo and saxophone, a stop time chorus featuring unison work by the reeds, trombone solo, and finally out chorus ensemble.
In film
A 'Kansas City Shuffle' was introduced by Mr. Goodkat/Smith (Bruce Willis) in the 2006 film, Lucky Number Slevin in the bus terminal scene, where he explained that a Kansas City Shuffle is where "They look right... ...and you... go left." In the movie, the targets are manipulated into hiring their own killers, one of whom they believe to be a patsy.