Patrons listen to live jazz during a jam session at the Mutual Musicians Foundation in the early-morning hours Jan. 12 in Kansas City, Mo. Attendance is once again on the rise at the sessions with the return of alcohol sales.

Kansas City, Mo. ? The music never stopped at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. Now the booze is back – and with it the hopes that a singular reminder of this city’s jazz heyday will live on.

The after-hours club, founded more than 90 years ago as a segregated union for black musicians, has hosted late-night, weekend jazz jams for as long as anyone can remember. Not just late, but real late: the music doesn’t start until 1:30 a.m. and goes until the sun comes up.

For just as long, the foundation served alcohol, even though it officially lacked a city liquor license. When that oversight was detected by a Kansas City liquor inspector in 2006, the club was forced to go dry. Crowds plummeted, and the foundation’s finances were on shaky ground.

“We were just hanging on by our fingernails,” said Betty Crow, a foundation board member. “No one was coming.”

Kansas City jazz lovers mobilized. First they persuaded city officials to grant the club a 3 a.m. liquor license. Then they won a historic designation from state lawmakers in Jefferson City to go with an exemption that allows the club to serve alcohol until 6 a.m.

The drinks started flowing again in late December, 14 months after city inspectors discovered what plenty of people in town already knew.

The involuntary abstinence forced foundation leaders to re-examine their operations. The club now hosts a Friday evening jazz happy hour. A revamped Web site was designed to reach a younger generation of clubbers. A summer music camp attracts neighborhood children.

Much like jazz in Kansas City – a town that claims legendary musicians Charlie Parker, Count Basie and Jay McShann among its past residents – the foundation’s reputation extends far beyond Missouri.

On a recent Friday night, the audience included tourists from Washington, D.C. as well as a group of college students from Australia.

When not hosting the late-night sessions, the foundation serves as a practice space for experienced artists and students alike. On many days it’s a meeting ground for some of the elder statesmen and grande dames of K.C. jazz.