Album Review: Takuya Kuroda- Rising Son

My refusal to disavow smooth jazz continues to shock many friends and readers.  I happily attend a handful of smooth jazz concerts every year and regularly listen to the music without a trace of irony.  The artists I most admire in the format aren't necessarily the purveyors of the stuff that's played in elevators.  Roy Ayers, the Crusaders, George Duke, Bob James and Lonnie Liston Smith are among the artists I adore.  Takuya Kuroda shares my love of the work of those musicians.  The trumpeter's soulful new album Rising Son includes an exceptional cover of Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine."  Reclassifying the music as acid jazz hasn't done much to revive the form's popularity.  In spite of solid promotion by Blue Note Records, the new album's current sales ranking at Amazon is #13,382.  Here's the EPK for the unfairly neglected recording.


---
I reviewed Sevendust's concert Thursday at the Midland theater.

---
Latenight Callers made a beautiful video for "Tourniquets"

---
The Strive created a video for "Keep Dreaming".

---
"Bye Felicia" is a new track by MarksMyBarber & Kansas Smitty.

---
Duck Sauce's Quack is RIYL: "Disco Duck," K-Tel, "Disco Inferno."  And Barry Gibb help me- I really like it.

---
The Encyclopedia of Arto promises to be a handy guide to the work of Arto Lindsay.

---
Neneh Cherry's new album doesn't do much for me, but "Everything" indicates that she still knows how to make a striking video.

---
Hood Internet's "Digital Humpty" tickles my pleasure centers.

---
Kris Bowers' "History of Jazz Piano" is pretty great.

---
1987 forever!  The feedback-laden squall of Perfect Pussy's Say Yes To Love appeals to my nostalgic side.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Tompall Glaser, 1933-2013

My dad wore out the grooves of Wanted!: The Outlaws.  The album resounded hundreds of times in our home in the years following its release in 1976.  I relished the repetition, although I was a little creeped out by the lusty way my dad sang along to the songs about women.  Tompall Glaser, one of the four artists featured on the compilation, died Tuesday.  Glaser's rendition of "T For Texas" was my introduction to Jimmie Rodgers.  Put another log on the fire.


---
Eydie Gormé has died.  (Video selection via BGO.)

---
Jody Payne, Willie Nelson's guitarist, has died.

---
Akkilles' Something You'd Say is streaming at Bandcamp.  RIYL: Sea Change, America (the band), Toro y Moi.

---
Bowinero's Asterism is recommended if you like Antennas Up, Modest Mouse, Young the Giant. 

---
The Floozies' new single ""Love, Sex and Fancy Things"" is RIYL: "Blurred Lines," "More Bounce To the Ounce" and "Suit & Tie."

---
Antennas Up has a new video for The Awkward Phase".

---
Red Kate's When the Trouble Comes is RIYL: the Big Boys, the Wipers, Naked Raygun.

---
The video for Tech N9ne's "Party the Pain Away" is what you thought it was. 

---
Dolls on Fire created a video for "Fem vs the Volcano".

---
Tim Finn checks in with Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids.

---
I'm glad hundreds of thousands of people are excited about Kendrick Lamar's explosive verse on Big Sean's "Control."  I dig it too.  A similar reaction supposedly greeted Coleman Hawkins' famous solo on "Body and Soul" in 1939.  My ongoing fantasy is that a similar number of active music lovers will lose their collective minds over a new solo by someone like Rudresh Mahanthappa. 

---
Thanks in large part to the contributions of Julian Lage, Gary Burton's Guided Tour is one of my favorite jazz albums of 2013.  Here's the EPK.

---
The critical acclaim that's greeted Grant Hart's unlistenable new album The Argument strikes me as insane.

---
Music critics occasionally know what they're talking about.  Ka's The Night's Gambit is every bit as good as the scores of breathless reviews suggest.  RIYL: Ghostface Killah, Rakim, Cut Chemist.

---
The National's set at last weekend's Outside Lands festival featured the Kronos Quartet and Bob Weir. My interest in the mopey band is renewed.

---
Myron & E's retro soul album Broadway sounds incredible.  Unfortunately, it's done in by extremely awkward lyrics.

---
José James' new Come To My Door EP compliments his stunning full-length 2013 album.

---
I recommend No Age's An Object to fans of the harsh post-punk sound of 1983. 

---
Trillwave 3 is the deliriously fun new mixtape by mashup masters the Hood Internet. 

---
I'll eventually get around to listening to this week's new releases by Glen Campbell, Bela Fleck, Valerie June, K. Michelle, Stevie Stone, Washed Out and Barrence Whitfield and the Savages.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)