It was a center of the development of the "Kansas City Style" of jazz, and was immortalized in the song "627 Stomp".

Famous members of the Mutual Musicians Foundation included Count Basie, Bennie Moten, Jay McShann, George F. Lee, singer Julia Lee, trumpeter Hot Lips Page, tenor saxophonists Dick Wilson, Herschel Evans and Lester Young, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, drummer Baby Lovett, and pianist Pete Johnson.

The Mutual Musicians' Foundation Building is located in downtown Kansas City, on the east side of Highland Avenue between 18th and 19th Streets.

Originally built as a multiunit residential property, many of its windows have been removed, their openings filled either by bricks or glass blocks.

The local sponsored tournaments in which musicians competed, whose proceeds were eventually used to acquire and adapt this building as its headquarters.