The elusive audience for jazz is hiding in plain view in 2015. Millions are appreciating Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. Hundreds of thousands more are dancing at concerts by the likes of Umphrey’s McGee. Charlie Hunter must wonder what he has to do to get a single percentage of those people to pay attention to his funky new album Let the Bells Ring On. It’s a jam album for jazz fans and jazz album for jam band aficionados. It’s also begging for a hip-hop remix. The populist sound of guitarist Hunter, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and drummer Bobby Previte on ”These People?” is indicative of the album’s generous vibe.
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I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s concert in the Power & Light District.
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I reviewed Samantha Fish’s Wild Heart for KCUR.
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I contributed a Local Listen segment about the Philistines to KCUR.
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Buddy Emmons has died.
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Lynn Anderson has died.
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Vic Firth has died.
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Wayne Carson has died.
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I listened to the reissue of In Through the Out Door over the weekend. I didn’t comprehend until now that the Led Zeppelin album is an extended goof on Elvis.
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I like the sound and feel of Ashes & Dust, Warren Haynes’ collaboration with Railroad Earth. Too bad about the dodgy songs.
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I just discovered Mathias Eick. Here’s a live performanc of ”Hem”. RIYL: European jazz, ECM, fiddle plucking.
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Until I listened to the compilation Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records a few days ago, I’d never heard Brute Force’s ”King of Fuh”. I wish I’d known about the novelty song when I was young enough to appreciate it.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
