Ready Ornette

I’ve long been curious about the ludicrously cheap European reissues of classic American jazz material.  My recent purchase of Complete Albums Collection: 1958-1962 allowed me to examine the quality of the packaging and sound of one such release.  The four CD set consisting of Ornette Coleman’s first eight albums set me back $11.99.  I didn’t really need it- I already owned physical copies of several of the albums and each is available on streaming services- but the price proved irresistible.  The skimpy liner notes don’t supply song credits, but Coleman’s co-conspirators including Don Cherry and Charlie Haden come through loud and clear on the wholly acceptable sonics that are housed in a surprisingly sturdy jewel case.  As I rang in the new year with five hours of crucial skronk that was recorded before I was born, I was struck by the marginalization of Coleman’s innovations.  Aside from an occasional rendering of “Lonely Woman,” I almost never detect Coleman’s influence emanating from a bandstand in Kansas City.


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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I named Edison Lights the KCUR Band of the Week.

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I reviewed Danny Embrey’s Dues Blues at Plastic Sax.

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Tim Finn quoted my 2016 review of a Bonnie Raitt concert in a story about her upcoming tour with James Taylor.

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Maurice Peress has died.  From his obituary in The New York Times: He led the Kansas City Philharmonic from 1974 to 1980, which proved to be an unhappy period. “The audience didn’t want to hear much new music,” he told The Christian Science Monitor in 1989. “I would introduce a new piece, and they would start booing and hissing.”

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Ironic listening is one of my pet peeves.  Even so, I can’t stop marveling at this hellish Brazilian knockoff of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

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I had hoped that it would have cleared up by now, but I'm still infected by an unhealthy obsession with Tigran Hamasyan. The odd tone poem “Rays of Light” is from the prolific maverick’s next album.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Bury Me Deep: Andre Williams’ Morbid Checklist

Old friends are dropping like flies.  And even my hair ached when I crawled out of bed yesterday.  Maybe it’s time to begin making funeral arrangements.  Andre Williams’s “Bury Me Deep” indicates that the process needn’t be joyless.  Here’s the beginning of his outlandish checklist: “when I die, I want six female pallbearers, and I want a Jewish hearse driver, and I want a black preacher preaching for me, and I want a pink hearse- gotta be pink…”  The outlandish song is from Williams’ forthcoming Don’t Ever Give Up album.


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I reviewed concerts by Bonnie Raitt, Toni Braxton, Il Divo and Bob James for The Kansas City Star.

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I reviewed the Conquerors’ Wyld Time album for KCUR.

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My most recent weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine are published here and here.

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I recently discussed Various Blonde and Kansas on KCUR.

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Tonight’s Schoolboy Q concert is my Big Show of the week for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I recently reviewed jazz concerts by Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle and the Hermon Mehari Quartet at Plastic Sax.

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Helado Negro found ways to transcend the quandry faced by laptop pop artists at RecordBar last night.  Rather than merely singing into a microphone after pushing the play button on his MacBook, he and his computer were flanked by two costumed dancers and were supplemented by a nifty light system.  The experimental artist is also a convincing guitarist.

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Phil Chess has died.

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I’m all about Joyce DiDonato’s latest video.

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Time/Life: Song for the Whales and Other Beings by Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra is a nice surprise.  The late bassist is heard on two of the five tracks.

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Jamie Lidell’s Building a Beginning is RIYL Hall & Oates, old-fashioned love songs, Bobby Caldwell.  Here’s ”I Live To Make You Smile”.

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The intentionally absurd album cover of D.R.A.M.’s Big Baby D.R.A.M. reflects its contents.  ”WiFi” features Erykah Badu.

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Metal na Madeira, a collaboration between vocalist Paula Santoro and guitarist Ian Faquini, is RIYL Gal Costa, cool water on a hot day, João Gilberto.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Reggie B- DNA

I've never been a big fan of the Innate Sounds vibe.  The flighty funk, scat-happy vocals and meandering jazz beats I associate with the label just aren't my bag.  Yet DNA, the new recording by sometime Innate Sounds artist Reggie B, instantly connected with me.  The 70-plus-minute recording is based on the foundations laid down by Prince, J Dilla and Roy Ayers.  The project also contains embellishments inspired by R. Kelly, Teddy Riley, Bob James and Bootsy Collins.  While derivative, the mix works.  DNA is one of my favorite albums of the year by a Kansas City-based artist.


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I reviewed concerts by Sara Bareilles, Bonnie Raitt and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last week.

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Ronald Shannon Jackson has died.

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Jazz bassist Butch Warren has died.

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Noel Harrison has died.

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The doofus at Plastic Sax reviewed A Kansas City Trumpet Summit.

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KCUR aired a ten-minute feature on Mike Stover.

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Mac Lethal is in his wheelhouse in the In Other News segment for Pharrell Williams' channel.

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Shame is the latest release by Mike Borgia & the Problems.

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Tim Horner's The Head of the Circle is RIYL: Joe Locke, Ted Nash, mainstream jazz.

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The EPK for the Robert Glasper Experiment's Black Radio 2 is exceedingly annoying.

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Revocation made a video for "Fracked".  RIYL: environmental activism, death metal, headbanging.

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Danny Brown's Old has its moments.  RIYL: Richard Pryor, substance abuse, A$AP Rocky.

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I don't invest much time worrying about the ongoing debates related to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.  Here are my five personal favorites- not the best or the most important artists- among the current batch of nominees: LL Cool J, The Meters, N.W.A., the Replacements and the Zombies.

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Trivium's Vengeance Falls is RIYL: Metallica, energy drinks, Guitar Hero.

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I adore Deer Tick's new album Negativity.  RIYL: Rick Danko, the Gourds, John Prine's Pink Cadillac.

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Here's additional recent footage of Charlie Musselwhite performing at a tribute to Little Walter.

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Tommy McCook's classic Reggae In Jazz was just reissued.  RIYL: The Skatalites, life, Duke Reid.

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A forthcoming collection of Lone Justice recordings from 1984 features liner notes by Chris Morris.

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This week's new releases of special interest to There Stands the Glass include AFI, Best Coast, Cage, Brandy Clark, Brett Dennen, Tom Harrell, DJ Khaled, Metal Church, Motorhead, Najee, Ednita Nazario, Polica, Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones, Omar Souleyman and Linda Thompson.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.  Also, "Am I Evil?" - you may or may not see me at the Diamond Head show tonight (October 22) at the Riot Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)