Album Review: Hailu Mergia- Lala Belu

Friday wasn’t going well.  A couple setbacks put me in a foul mood that even a plethora of new music releases couldn’t remedy.  As I began to prepare for sleep at the end of the disappointing day, I auditioned one last album.  The dark clouds in my head dissipated five minutes into “Tizita,” the opening track of Hailu Mergia’s Lala Belu.

I’d just read The New York Times’s profile of Mergia that explained that the Ethiopian musician was now a cabdriver in Washington D.C.  The guy behind Awesome Tapes From Africa tracked Mergia down and recorded Lala Belu with him.  It’s a cool story, but I still wasn’t expecting much.  I was mistaken.

The life-affirming Lala Belu sounds as if the Ethiopian icon Mulatu Astatke is jamming with the jazz luminaries Charles Mingus and Robert Glasper.  Simultaneously old, new, African and American, the album is a potent sonic salve.


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I reviewed Logan Richardson’s Blues People at Plastic Sax.

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I featured David George in my weekly segment for KCUR.

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Cry No More, the second solo album by Kansas City blues-rock luminary Danielle Nicole, puts me in mind of the classic 1970s work of Delaney & Bonnie.  The title track is the second-best song on the new release.

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I’m as excited as everyone else about Janelle Monáe’s new songs “Django Jane” and “Make Me Feel”.

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I don’t begrudge Dessa for making crass pop moves on Chime.  It’s ridiculous that the enormously talented Doomtree standout isn’t already a household name.  I hope Chime makes her a star, but I’m not going to spend much time listening to the slick bid for mainstream acceptance.  RIYL: Madonna, commerce, Gwen Stefani.  Here’s “Half of You”.

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I still mourn Lou Reed.  I might even miss Mark E. Smith of the Fall someday.  But I’ll be damned if Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest doesn’t prove himself to be a worthy heir of those innovators on Twin Fantasy.  Here’s “Nervous Young Inhumans”.

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Noah Preminger is on a roll.  Genuinity, the most recent in a string of impressive albums by the New York based saxophonist, is RIYL Ornette Coleman, jazz emancipation, Rudresh Mahanthappa.

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While the contents aren’t as interesting as the title, Leslie Pintchik’s You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl! is a better-than-average mainstream jazz album.  RIYL: Bill Charlap, accordion flourishes, Matt Wilson.

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Black Milk’s Fever is decent, I guess.  RIYL: Dwele, good enough, Oddisee.  Here’s “Laugh Now Cry Later”.

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A couple tracks on Soulive’s instrumental EP Cinematics Vol. 1 are spectacular.  RIYL: Booker T. & the M.G.'s, imaginary soundtracks, Badbadnotgood.

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They still make ‘em like they used to.  Even the cover art of the new recording by baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan’s Alternative Contrafacts is straight out of 1974.  The dated packaging is belied by the freshness of the music.  Bassist David Wong and drummer Rodney Green push Smulyan into wooly terrain.  RIYL: Harry Carney, unexpected treasures, Hamiet Bluiett.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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.)

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.)