Fats Domino, 1928-2017

I’ll share an extremely unflattering anecdote as I note the passing of Fats Domino.  I sat next to the noted New Orleans based music journalist Jeff Hannusch, the author of I Hear You Knockin: The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues, on a bus during a music industry convention in the 1990s.  When the conversation inevitably turned to Domino, I told Jeff that I regretted my recent purchase of the icon’s four-CD, 100-song box set that includes his expansive liner notes.  I explained that the single disc compilation I already owned was more than enough Fats for any reasonable person.  I think Jeff might have quit talking to me.  Not only was I a jerk, I was wrong.  There could never be enough of the Fat Man’s seminal American music.


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I’ve partnered with the Green Lady Lounge to revive The Kansas City Jazz Calendar.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I named Freight Train Rabbit Killer KCUR’s Band of the Week.

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My review of a performance by the Owen/Cox Dance Group and the People’s Liberation Big Band at Polsky Theatre is at Plastic Sax.

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Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s The Emancipation Procrastination may be the best of the three albums the polarizing jazz artist has issued in 2017.

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I’ve long been enamored of Chanté Moore.  The Rise of the Phoenix is a delight.  Here’s ”Something to Remember”.

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I lost my taste for Magnetic Fields somewhere along the way.  I’m sure I’d admire a handful of songs on 50 Song Memoir, but I’m not willing to invest the time to find them.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Kanye and Stanley

I fell in love with Atlanta last week.  I was smitten by the city’s Southern hospitality, collard greens, excellent public transportation and vibrant downtown.  Even so, I was unable to get past the highly publicized cancellation of Kanye West’s tour.  I had wheeled the trip around the troubled star’s concert at Philips Arena.  I settled for a Stanley Clarke show.  While the jazz-fusion legend looked and sounded amazing, I never got into his performance.   Not even keyboard whiz Beka Gochiashvili’s lovely playing on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” allayed my disappointment.


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I reviewed The Owen/Cox Dance Group and the People’s Liberation Big Band’s interpretation of The Nutcracker.

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I wrote an extended preview of tonight’s Mary J. Blige and Maxwell concert for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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The new compilation Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria is an amusing diversion.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Phil Neal & the Wornalls- Lifeline

I'm accustomed to embarrassing myself on the radio.  My latest faux pas occurred while I was talking up the latest album by Phil Neal & the Wornalls.  I suggested that I'd just as soon catch the Kansas City band at the RecordBar as make an investment in a ticket for Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker's concert at Sprint Center.  A colleague quickly pointed out that Petty's concert had been canceled.  Even so, I stand by my sentiment.  The Wornalls may not be as accomplished as the Heartbreakers and Neal's vocal range is even more limited than Petty's.  Yet the songs on the new album Lifeline are raw, honest and entirely relevant to my life.


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I spent over eight happy hours at Warped Tour on Thursday.  Here's my review.

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Last week's Local Listen segment for KCUR's Up To Date featured Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats.  This week's feature focused on the People's Liberation Big Band. 

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Bent Edge Punk documents Kansas City's early punk and new wave scene.  (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Impossibly strange fact: fans attending a Kansas City Kings game in 1978 were given free copies of Ian Matthews' Stealin' Home.  The album is being reissued by Omnivore Recordings.

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Is Nicholas Payton trolling on his new project Numbers?  The twelve pleasant grooves are almost interchangeable.  RIYL: soulful background music, Decoy, high concept.

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Ex-Cult's Midnight Passenger is very good.  RIYL: Iceage, thinking about the Sex Pistols, Stooges.

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Nothing's Guilty of Everything is RIYL: Deafheaven, brooding, My Bloody Valentine.

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Raheem DeVaughn's graphic King of Loveland 2 is RIYL: Prince, you already know, the Isley Brothers.

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".38 Airweight", the solid new single from Doomtree, is RIYL: Minneapolis, Aesop Rock, smart rappers.

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I intended to briefly audition Trampled By Turtles' Wild Animals.  Before I knew it, I'd enjoyed the entire album.  Twice.  RIYL: American Beauty, mornings, Fleet Foxes.

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It seems like several lifetimes ago that I loved Scruffy the Cat.  I spend a few hazy nights catching the band at the Lone Star and Parody Hall.  Here's the trailer for a new compilation of the band's roots rock. 

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Where Are We Now? Music Midway in 2013

Best Albums (Spotify playlist)
Thanks to seamless streaming services, I've listened to over 225 new releases in their entirety during the first six months of 2013.  These are indeed "the days of miracle and wonder."

1. Pat Metheny- Tap: John Zorn’s Book of Angels, vol. 20
2. The Grisly Hand- Country Singles
3. Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge- Twelve Reasons To Die
4. Kvelertak- Meir
5. Kanye West- Yeezus
6. José James- No Beginning No End
7. Mark Lowrey- Tangos for 18th Street
8. A$AP Rocky- Long Live A$AP
9. Barbara Hannigan and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France- Dutilleux: Correspondances
10. Fidlar- Fidlar
11. Joe Lovano & Us Five- Cross Culture
12. Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba- Jama Ko
13. Baptists- Bushcraft
14. Rudresh Mahanthappa- Gamak
15. George Strait- Love Is Everything
16. Bill Frisell- Big Sur
17. James Blake- Overgrown
18. Cherokee Rock Rifle- Ta-Li
19. Terri Lyne Carrington- Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue
20. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Push the Sky Away
21. Soweto Kinch- The Legend of Mike Smith
22. Alaturka- Yalniz
23. The Haxan Cloak- Excavation
24. DJ Muggs- Bass For Your Face
25. Pat Metheny- The Orchestrion Project


Best Singles (Spotify playlist)
My car may not have heat or air conditioning, but it has a radio.

1. B.o.B- "We Still In This Bitch"
2. Janelle Monae- "Q.U.E.E.N."
3. Justin Timberlake- "Suit & Tie"
4. David Bowie- "Where Are We Now?"
5. Marc Anthony- "Vivir Mi Vida"
6. Tamar Braxton- "Love and War"
7. Pusha T- "Numbers On the Boards"
8. José James- "Trouble"
9. Black Sabbath- "God Is Dead?"
10. Kutt Calhoun- "I Been Dope"
11. Charlie Wilson- "My Love Is All I Have"
12. Robin Thicke- "Blurred Lines"
13. Ashley Monroe- "Like a Rose"
14. Chris Brown- "Fine China"
15. Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly- "Cruise (Remix)"
16. Carlos Vives- "Como Le Gusta a Tu Cuerpo"
17. Alice In Chains- "Stone"
18. Future- "Karate Chop (Remix)"
19. Kelly Rowland- "Dirty Laundry"
20. Rittz- "Switch Lanes"
21. Ms. Jody- "Still Strokin'"
22. Kenny Chesney- "When I See This Bar"
23. Dr#ke- "Started From the Bott#m"
24. Frank Turner- "Recovery"
25. Deftones- "Swerve City"


Best Shows
I've taken in 163 performances during the first six months of 2013.

1. Bobby Rush- Living Room at Knuckleheads
2. Mary J. Blige- Sprint Center
3. The Grisly Hand- Take Five Coffee + Bar
4. Rakim- Riot Room
5. Julian Lage and Jorge Roeder- Yardley Hall
6. Grizzly Bear- Uptown Theater
7. Diana Krall- Midland Theater
8. Volbeat- Penn Valley Park
9. Dave Douglas- Blue Room
10. Limp Bizkit- Granada
11. The Appleseed Cast- Riot Room
12. Making Movies- Yardley Hall
13. Kurt Elling- Gem Theater
14. They Might Be Giants- Crossroads KC
15. The Matt Otto/Alan Ferber Quartet- Westport Coffee House
16. Sweet Honey In the Rock- Muriel Kauffman Theatre
17. Gov't Mule- Uptown Theater
18. James Carter- Folly Theater
19. A Celebration of the Poetry of Langston Hughes with Vinson Cole- White Recital Hall
20. People's Liberation Big Band- RecordBar
21. Elena Urioste and Gabriela Martinez- Folly Theater
22. Diverse with Tony Tixier- house party
23. C.J. Boyd- Psychfest HQ
24.  Eliane Elias- Folly Theater
25. Jason Isbell and 400 Unit- Crossroads KC

(Original image of Regina Carter and Yacouba Sissoko at the American Jazz Museum on April 4 by There Stands the Glass.)