Album Review: Action Bronson- Mr. Wonderful

You have to love a guy who can laugh at himself.  That’s precisely what Action Bronson does throughout the hilarious Mr. Wonderful.

The people who accuse Bronson of swagger jacking Ghostface Killah’s flow are missing the point.  Bronson’s raps are in the spirit to hip-hop humorists Kool Keith, the Beastie Boys and Mac Lethal.

Bronson is the new Biz Markie.

Amusing tracks like ”Baby Blue”, ”Actin’ Crazy” and ”Easy Rider” make Mr. Wonderful my party album of 2015.


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I reviewed a concert by Chris Tomlin, Tenth Avenue North and Rend Collective.

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My notes on a performance by the Lee Konitz and Dave Douglas Quintet have attracted quite a bit of attention.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Danielle Nicole (Schnebelen) to KCUR.

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Al Bunetta has died.  To say we didn’t care for each other would be an understatement.

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John Renbourn has died.

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Tech N9ne made a video for “Aw Yeah? (Intervention).”

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Stik Figa has released Stik Figa Is Not Quite Himself.

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Brandon Draper’s Night-Night Songs is RIYL: lullabies, Iron & Wine, nice guys.

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Rhodes Ahead Volume 2, the latest release from Marc Cary, makes me extremely happy.  RIYL: George Duke, instrumental funk, J Dilla.  Here’s ”Astral Flight 17”.

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Liturgy’s The Ark Work is either the best or the worst album of 2015.  RIYL: Thurston Moore, “serious” metal, Swans.

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Much of Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue is just as poorly conceived as the album’s title.  Even so, it’s nice to hear Van Morrison and Gregory Porter revive “The Eternal Kansas City.” 

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The self-titled EP by Mali’s Trio Da Kali is gorgeous, but it offers me little to sink my teeth into.

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There Stands the Glass reader Gary alerted me to a reissue of Owen Maerck’s Teenage Sex Therapist.  RIYL: Pere Ubu, rock eccentrics, Henry Kaiser.

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Although it features a couple musicians I really admire, much of Alex Sipiagin’s Balance 38-58 bored me.  RIYL: Tom Harrell, conservatories, Terell Stafford.

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It almost goes without saying that the Next Stop Soweto: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985 compilation is ridiculously good.  (Via Big Steve.)

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Maybe you had to be there.  Steve Wilson’s Vanguard Sessions failed to move me.  RIYL: Charlie Parker, the Village Vanguard, Thelonious Monk.

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I’m enjoying the ECM Records radio channel at iTunes (I don’t know how to link to it). The stream includes a lot of amazing stuff- Lumen Drones and The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon, anyone?- that I hadn’t heard.

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Minnesota Public Radio published an interesting piece about music critic Jon Bream and his record collection.

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I’m not a Deadhead, but I keep select tracks from early albums including American Beauty in regular rotation.  At its best, Freedom & Dreams, the collaboration between the North Mississippi Allstars and Anders Osborne, approximates that sound.

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Courtney Barnett's Sometimes I Sit & Think & Sometimes I Just Sit is almost as good as people say it is.  RIYL: Jim Carroll, talking-not-singing, Tonio K.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall From Kansas?

I’ve long felt like a provincial yahoo. 

I’m an expert on budget hotels in Amarillo but I’ve never traveled to Africa.  I’ve walked countless streets in small towns in central Kansas but I know only a couple hundred words of Spanish.

A visit to Carnegie Hall last week made me feel like less of a rube.  I’d never made it to the storied concert hall during a handful of previous visits to New York City.

An unamplified performance by my fellow Kansan Joyce DiDonato with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Perspectives series she curates was sufficiently loud in my $40 balcony seat.  The program was dominated by material from DiDonato’s Stella di Napoli, my ninth favorite album of 2014.

A duet between DiDonato as Romeo and Laura Claycomb as Juliet during a selection from Vincenzo Bellini’s “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” is one of the most stimulating things I've witnessed.  My cousin Lawrence Brownlee was also impressive.

The New York Times reviewed the concert.


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An appearance by Charlie Wilson was no less memorable than shows I’ve witnessed by James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes.  Here’s my review.

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I reviewed a concert by Maroon 5, Magic! and Rozzi Crane.

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I caught a performance by Noah Preminger’s quartet while in New York.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment on the New Riddim to KCUR.

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Earl Sweatshirt’s new I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside… initially strikes me as a rehashed version of his amazing Doris.  ”Grief” sounds like a suicide note.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Ghostface Killah and Badbadnotgood- Sour Soul

2014 was a miserable year for hip-hop.  Very little in the genre thrilled me.  Yet the first few weeks of 2015 represent an embarrassment of hip-hop riches. 

Along with an alarming portion of the rest of the world, I’m listening to Kendrick Lamar’s new album at the moment.  (Jazz and funk!)

Not taking the chart-topping release by my sworn enemy into consideration, Cannibal Ox and Doomtree have already released albums that are better than any hip-hop titles that came out last year.

While it’s not in the same class as Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Sour Soul, the new collaboration between Ghostface Killah and Badbadnotgood, is very good. 

Ghost, of course, is the most notable voice of the Wu-Tang Clan. I once thought of the Canadian band Badbadnotgood as a “fake jazz” collective, but the group has since come a long way in a short time.

With each play of Sour Soul, Ghost’s rhymes become increasingly funny.  The album makes me happy.  Here’s a video for ”Ray Gun”.


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I reviewed the Chieftains’ short and cheesy concert at Helzberg Hall. 

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I contributed a feature about Drakkar Sauna to KCUR.

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I indulge in a so-called guilty pleasure at Plastic Sax.

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Danielle Nicole Schnebelen’s new EP is impressive.  I prefer it to the output of her former band Trampled Under Foot.  RIYL: Etta James, blue-eyed soul, Wilson Pickett.

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Daevid Allen of Gong has died.  When I went through my prog-rock phase, Allen was still one of the leading lights of the form.

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New MC Lyte?  I guess I’m in.

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I put off listening to Butch Walker’s new album for weeks.  Having lost my most of my taste for sensitive rock, I figured it wouldn’t be my thing.  I was wrong.  Afraid of Ghosts is RIYL: Lindsey Buckingham, songs about death, Matthew Ryan.

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There’s nothing unique about Tim Warfield’s Spherical, but the Monk tribute is excellent nonetheless.  RIYL: Charlie Rouse, all things Monk, Coleman Hawkins.

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Big Steve’s endorsement of the project compelled me to audition the Mavericks' fine new Mono.  The flat sound field can be remedied by playing the album through a portable speaker.

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No one asked me, but I believe that the verdict in the Gaye-Thicke/Pharrell Williams is a travesty.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Homegrown Buzz Showcase

Knowing my basketball team was bound to lose on Saturday afternoon, I hedged my bets by attending the Homegrown Buzz Showcase in the Power & Light District.

I kept one eye on television monitors- there’s no shortage of screens in the entertainment district- and both ears on music.

I caught complete sets by five acts and small samples of a few other bands. Three artists stood out.

Various Blonde isn’t perfect- there are a couple elements that could stand a little improvement- but its outing in a crowded restaurant verified my assertion that Various Blonde’s is one of Kansas City’s best rock bands. 

Brandon Phillips covered Iron Maiden, Elvis Costello, Jawbreaker, Leonard Cohen and a song by his band the Architects in his solo set.  It’s not the first time I’ve fallen under his spell.

I’ve seen a lot of mainstream pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop and country acts on the KC Live! stage.  It was a nice change of pace, consequently, to see the post-hardcore band Maps For Travelers make a mighty noise on the big stage.

About that game- my team lost on a last-second shot.


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I reviewed Bill Frisell’s appearance at White Theatre.

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I reviewed Helmet’s show at the RecordBar.

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I reviewed Live at the Living Room, the new album by Victor & Penny Loose Change Orchestra and Their Loose Change Orchestra.

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I contributed a segment on Millie Edwards to KCUR.

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Lew Soloff has died.

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Brandon Phillips of the Architects throws down the gauntlet in an essay for Alternative Press.

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The Kansas City Chorale’s Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil was released this week.

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I’m tempted to think that Cannibal Ox made Blade of the Ronin with me in mind.  It’s right in my wheelhouse.  RIYL: Wu-Tang Clan, hip-hop in 1993, Ultramagnetic MCs.

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I guess Estelle isn’t the artist I thought she was.  The new album True Romance isn’t very good.  RIYL: Solange, disappointments, Jazmine Sullivan.  Here’s ”Conqueror”.

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The production on Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise is excellent.  Too bad about the rapper.  Here’s a video for the opening track.

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Rhiannon Giddens has doubled down on the retro thing.  Her debut album is RIYL: Judy Collins, calculated realness, Mimi Farina.

(Original image of Various Blonde’s Josh Allen by There Stands the Glass.)

The Right Profile

As a typical teenager, I viewed the world in black and white. 

I took the nascent punk revolution at face value and renounced my affinity for everything that didn’t conform to the new sound.  I spent the better part of a year attempting to be a purist, an absurd challenge for a kid who grew up loving Waylon Jennings, Michael Jackson, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. 

It’s almost impossible to overstate the impact of London Calling.  When my favorite band embraced jazz, reggae, rockabilly and blues in 1979, I was freed from the false stylistic constraints of punk.

I wasn’t alone.  Thousands of Midwestern kids like me would soon welcome a new wave of Los Angeles bands like the Blasters and Los Lobos. 

J.D. McPherson’s excellent Let the Good Times Roll reminds me of that era.  The smart, funny and soulful album is as solid as anything that came out of the roots revival of the early 1980s.


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I reviewed Aaron Lewis’ concert at the VooDoo.

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I created a Local Listen segment about Maps For Travelers for KCUR.

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The lineup of the 2015 edition of Rockfest represents a step up from recent years.

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Orrin Keepnews has died.

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EarthEE, the new album by THEESatisfaction, is very good.  RIYL: Shabazz Palaces, funkateers, Erykah Badu.

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Ibeyi’s self-titled album is just a tad too precious for my taste.  RIYL: Dirty Projectors, public radio, Cibelle.  Here’s Ghosts.

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Jacky Terrasson is the exactly the type of brash ambassador that jazz desperately needs.  That said, his new album Take This makes me want to listen to Slayer.  Here’s the album trailer.

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If Spoon wasn’t really good, the band might sound like Diamond Rugs. Cosmetics also resembles an  inferior version of the Latin Playboys or Morphine.

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Gang of Four's What Happens Next is depressingly uninteresting.

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Bob! How could you? (I love that man.)

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I don’t even know who I am anymore.  A couple tracks on Diana Krall’s easy listening album Wallflower brought me to the brink of tears.  RIYL: Julie London, elevators, Andy Williams.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)