Karen Matheson- Rithill Aill

Washed away.

I attended a Celtic Woman concert last night. It was about what one would expect. I sensed that most of the performers, most notably Orla Fallon, would prefer to attempt more adventurous fare. But that doesn't always pay the bills, does it? A few might aspire to do something along the lines of Karen Matheson's The Dreaming Sea. While it always keeps its Gaelic roots within striking distance, the project's creator's explore jazz concepts and the romantic lushness of Roxy Music's Avalon. (Yes, I realize that Matheson is Scottish, but the same principle applies.)

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My review of Friday's Saliva, Drowning Pool and Since October show is here.

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The ludicrous psychedelic pop of The Ruby Suns makes me smile.

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I guess when you have as many albums as Van Morrison, it's inevitable that they're going to start looking alike. The cover of the new release Keep It Simple is indistinguishable from Into the Music at first glance.

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Another Levert died. Awful.

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Kansas City Click: The Trews open for Ace freakin' Frehley tonight at the VooDoo.

Paul Grabowsky- Silverland

Faded.

I don't deserve my friends. While I'm often cantankerous and aloof, they're usually understanding and generous. My buddy L. even ordered me a couple jazz CDs last Christmas. One is Tales of Time and Space by Australian pianist Paul Grabowsky. It features jaw-dropping interplay between saxophonists Joe Lovano and Branford Marsalis. Buy the album to hear those tracks. According to the liner notes, this composition is named for the Australian rock band Silverchair. I'm not sure I believe it, though- the nifty melody is more Chick Corea than Kurt Cobain. Thanks, pal.

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Day 26 are moving units in these parts.

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Trust me, guys. You'll want to take a look at this Grace Potter site.

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Kansas City Click: The gift shop at Harrah's does not sell gum or ear plugs. Prepare accordingly for Drowning Pool and Saliva at the casino's VooDoo Lounge tonight.

The Clash were my gateway band to punk, reggae and dub. And I'll admit to owning that first Generation X album. It'll be a big thrill for fans of a certain age to see Mick Jones and Tony James, now working as Carbon/Silicon, at the Record Bar on Saturday. "Sing, Michael sing!"

Three of the Clash's musical progeny- Anti-Flag, the Briggs and Street Dogs tear up the Beaumont on Sunday.

Loituma- Viimesen Kerran

No more beauty.

Call me Mr. Jones. Something is happening here, but I don't know what it is.

I have no earthly idea why a live performance video of Finnish folk group Loituma has been viewed over three million times at YouTube. I suppose it has something to do with the popularity of this techno remix. And then there's this nonsense. There's no end to the phenomenon. I suppose the sheer randomness is much of the appeal, but even so, WTF!.

While Things of Beauty concludes with the accidental culprit, it's actually a traditional Finnish folk album. Fans of Trio Mediaeval and Anonymous 4 should be all over the Finnish group's gorgeous sound.

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It's taken a valiant effort, but I've succeeded in avoiding disclosing my relationship with The Network at There Stands the Glass. The genius of the Foxboro Hot Tubs is making it increasingly difficult not to divulge the darkest of secrets.

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KPRS and KQRC are my favorite commercial radio stations in Kansas City. Both cultivate a strong sense of community. A large part of that social contract includes airing local talent. I'm thrilled that "The Rock" currently has Red Line Chemistry in heavy rotation.

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Kansas City Click: Alas, the Backsliders playing tonight at Crosstown Station aren't the Backsliders. This group with the same name sound as if they could have opened for the Knack in 1979.

The Wave Pictures- Now You Are Pregnant

No more art.

I owe the staff of Artrocker an apology. Assuming it was the deranged product of a misguided music journalist, I've been automatically deleting the publication's artless email bulletins for a couple years.

So I was shocked to spot the magazine on a newstand on my recent trip to London. And it's great. Better yet, the free CD packaged with the March issue is loaded with spectacular music from the Moshi Moshi label. My favorite is this sentimental song by The Wave Pictures.

The trio somehow balances the epic emotional sweep of the Smiths with the sweet naivete of Jonathan Richman. "Now You Are Pregnant" is a worthy successor to Squeeze's "Up the Junction" and Billy Bragg's "Greetings To the New Brunette."

Here's a video for their current single. I haven't been so utterly gobsmacked by a European pop act since I discovered Aberfeldy and Camera Obscura a couple years ago. I'm swooning.

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I attended a painfully awkward in-store by Five Times August earlier this week. The guy's getting 30,000-plus plays a day at MySpace but drew only a dozen people to a local Borders store on a Monday night. One of the singer-songwriter's fans took some representative footage.

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Rifftides pointed me to this obituary of jazz musician Patti Bown. It sounds like she was quite a character.

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Please don't misconstrue this link as an endorsement, but reggae star Coco Tea has released a credible song endorsing Barack Obama.

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Kansas City Click: Mike Doughty will undoubtedly provide a sufficient soundtrack for a memorable party tonight at the Beaumont.

Israel "Cachao" Lopez, 1918-2008

Farewell.

Israel "Cachao" Lopez died in Florida on Saturday. He was 89. He was to mambo what Bill Monroe was to bluegrass. Even if Cachao wasn't the inventor of the sound, he was an integral participant in its creation. Master Sessions, Volume 1 was released to great acclaim in 1994. Three years later a similar project, Buena Vista Social Club, surpassed the commercial success of Cachao's comeback album. As heard here, the Master Sessions are unspeakably joyous. Now's a great chance to rediscover Cachao. Here's a video of one of his '90s recording sessions. Yes, that's actor Andy Garcia, who served as Cachao's sponsor in his final years.

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Kansas City Click: I've long contended that Armor For Sleep are one of the rare Warped Tour-style bands that stands a strong shot at enjoying a prolonged mainstream career. They play an early show for the kids tonight at the Record Bar. A Cursive Memory open.

Mikey Dread, 1954-2008

Farewell, friend.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the distinctive sound of Mikey Dread spilling out of storefronts and from market boomboxes when I visited Brixton last week. I hadn't yet learned that the reggae legend died March 15.

While Dread was Jamaican, I'll always associate him with England. It was Dread's work with the Clash brought him to my attention. And he produced acts like UB40 while he lived in London.

I pulled this track from a compilation titled Strictly Rockers, but it's most readily available on World War III, available as a British import. Here's a video of Dread performing the song.

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A public bus took me from central London to Brixton. Schools had just let out, and I was secretly delighted to hear kids talking in the accent and using the slang I knew primarily through Dizzee Rascal. In this video, the young lion speaks of his collaboration with the Arctic Monkeys. Whether he knows it or not, Dizzee is deeply indebted to Dread.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Paul Brady- You're the One

No more.

The proverbial luck of the Irish found me drinking beer in London's Trafalgar Square on St. Patrick's Day. When my associates asked me the name of the Irish folk singer performing before the throng of revelers, I mistakenly told them it was Paul Brady.

Blame it on Vincent Van Gogh. My head was swimming less from beer than from seeing many of the world's most famous paintings in the adjacent National Gallery. The entertainer was actually Luka Bloom. He annoyed much of the crowd by endorsing the reelection of Mayor Ken Livingstone and by playing too many morose songs. And it was "feckin'" cold, to borrow one of Bloom's phrases. He did manage to inspire the crowd with a mean cover of Bob Marley's "Natural Mystic." I'd moved on by the time this fan footage was shot.

Brady is best known to Americans as a hit songwriter for Bonnie Raitt, Brooks & Dunn and other mainstream acts. But he has a long history in traditional Irish music. This song from 1995's Spirits Colliding combines those elements.

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Renaissance man Peter Lubin recounts signing Steve, Bob & Rich (a.k.a. The Rainmakers) in this wonderful tale.

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Kansas City Click: I'm so ashamed! I just discovered that I've never recommended an Eddie Delahunt gig at There Stands the Glass. Our city's most celebrated Irish troubadour is at Mike Kelly's Westsider this evening.

Saturday's concert at the Gem Theater with Mary Stallings, Karrin Allyson and Bobby Watson holds extraordinary promise.

The Record Bar claims that legendary second wave British ska band Bad Manners will appear on their stage Sunday night. No offense guys, but I won't believe it until I see Buster Bloodvessel's distinctive mug with my own two eyes.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

I'm Gone

I'm leaving you with Bobby Rush's finest ambassador while I take a blogging sabbatical.

Little Beirut- Love During Wartime

War is over.

Little Beirut thinks big. Several moments on High Dive, the Portland band's new release, resemble the bombastic arena rock of Oasis and Pink Floyd. And that's a good thing. Such elevated songwriting craft, with its emphasis on melody and difficult subject matter, is a valuable commodity in the realm of indie rock. One of the more intimate songs on High Dive, "Life During Wartime" features a characteristically clever arrangement. It concerns Condoleeza Rice and features a fetching trumpet solo. This unlikely combination almost guarantees the band a place on year-end best-of lists.

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My review of Friday's Gipsy Kings concert is here.

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Is the Washington Post reading There Stands the Glass? A big weekend think piece about the state of smooth jazz expanded on my March 5 comments.

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44 Long lives! I'm delighted to have stumbled across their MySpace page via fellow Portland band Little Beirut. I adored these guys back in '99. Fans of Tommy Womack, Elvis Costello and the Bottle Rockets are advised to download the four songs at the link immediately.

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Kansas City Click: The woefully undervalued Cloud Cult visits Davey's tonight.

Syl and Syleena Johnson- They Can't See Your Good Side

Turned away.

A couple of MCs at last weekend's big soul-blues concert in Kansas City made a running joke out of the scarcity of white people attending the event. It bugged me. Oh, I didn't mind getting playfully elbowed every time the subject came up between acts.

But the enormous musical divide between demographic groups troubles me. I really like Amy Winehouse too, but why is she a superstar in a community that treats the late Luther Vandross like a virtual nonentity? And how is it that 99% of the people who buy tickets to see Mel Waiters and Marvin Sease are of one race?

I don't doubt for a second that Winehouse would have gladly attended the show, just as she would appreciate this wonderful 1995 track from This Time Together by Syl Johnson and his daughter Syleena. Syleena Johnson has a fledgling career of her own. Here she is with fellow Chicagoan Kanye West on his "All Falls Down."

With that in mind, a likely Winehouse arena tour of North America in 2009 has the potential to bring people together. Just for grins, I'm proposing two possible lineups. "The Women of R&B Tour": Mary J. Blige, Winehouse, Etta James and Keyshia Cole. Or... "The New 'Old School' R&B Tour": Winehouse, Fantasia, Robin Thicke and Sir Charles Jones. Whattaya think?

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The Riverfront Times did a nice cover story on Rockwell Knuckles. The St. Louisian's Rhymesayers-style sound deserves a national audience.

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Kansas City Click: Pat Metheny, Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez perform tonight in Lee's Summit. The concert is sold out.

There Stands the Glass favorite Paul Kelly opens for Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the Uptown on Saturday.

Blues harp veteran Sugar Blue hits Knuckleheads on Sunday.

Ralph Towner- The Lizards of Eraclea

Under a rock.

Remember how a calculated air of mystery hung over Belle & Sebastian as the band rose to fame? Details about their appearance and personnel were kept carefully under wraps. That's how the ECM roster of the 1970s seemed to me. Terje Rypdal? Jan Garbarek? Ralph Towner? Who were these guys? The label's album art provided no clues. To a Kansas boy in the pre-internet days, they might as well have been Martians. Now it's all too easy to discover that Towner looks like this. Time Line, the guitarist's most recent release, is typically ravishing.

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I just received a promotional email from Live Nation offering VIP premium access to concerts. It looks like little more than a "seat license program." (It's available at Starlight Theater in my town.) I don't begrudge promoters, venues, artists and labels for exploring new ways to make money. In fact, kudos to Trent Reznor. Be it NIN selling 2,500 units of a limited edition package at $300 a whack, or a power pop artist with a strong cult following selling personalized songs for $100 each, we're all going to have to figure out new ways to earn a living.

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Kansas City Click: It's gypsy punk night at the Beaumont. How will Gogol Bordello resist the mechanical bull?

Herbie Mann- The Purple Grotto

Gone black.

Allow me a culturally uncool assertion: The world needs more Kenny Gs, Grover Washington, Jr.s, Chris Bottis, and yes, Herbie Manns. Believe me, I understand why these crossover jazz artists are mercilessly ridiculed by elitist taste-makers. And while I don't spend my days listening to Dave Koz, I know that his instrumental pop has never pulled a single fan away from "real" jazz. To the contrary- it ultimately leads to additional sales of A Love Supreme. So goof on Herbie Mann all you like. I'll be unapologetically grooving on his 1954 Plays session.

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Speaking of easy targets, how about the recently announced line-up for Rocklahoma? It's an army of '80s hair metal acts. Say what you will, but fans of bands like Tora Tora are loyal consumers of physical music product. That makes them my heroes. And come to think of it, the festival campgrounds are a mere five hours drive away... Roadtrip!

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Kansas City Click: This Will Destroy You canceled tonight's show at the Record Bar, but you can still catch Bob Walkenhorst's weekly matinee.

Jeff Healey, 1966-2008

Farewell.

There was no avoiding the Jeff Healey Band during the last big blues boom. Healey had a radio and MTV hit, a role in a classic cable TV movie, and he toured constantly. Even though I didn't particularly care for his heavy-handed power trio style, I remember seeing him two or three times during that era. Healey was so personable that it was hard to not to like his music at least a little bit, even if albums like Feel This sounded eerily similar to the latest efforts by Bad Company and .38 Special. Healey died yesterday. He was 41.

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I caught this year's big soul-blues package tour Saturday night. Shirley Brown and Bobby Rush were particularly good, and it was my first time seeing Mel Waiters. My review is here.

Kansas City Click: Take solace on a stormy Monday at Jardine's with the organ jazz of OJT with Bukeka Shoals.

Rachel Taylor Brown- Abraham and Isaac

The story has ended.

Half Hours With the Lower Creatures, the new release from Portland's Rachel Taylor Brown, opens with ambient noise that slowly builds into an ominous dreamlike pulse. If Ennio Morricone could be convinced to score a nasty slasher film he would do well to come up with something as eerily evocative. It's an appropriate start to the bleak and often harrowing album. Inevitably, Brown's art-pop will receive comparisons to Tori Amos and Regina Spektor, but it more closely resembles Supper's Ready-era Peter Gabriel. "Abraham and Isaac" is representative of the album's ugly beauty. "You always hurt the one you love," she imagines Abraham sighing as he prepares to sacrifice his son. Half Hours With the Lower Creatures will be released nationally in May. Until then, it's available for purchase at CD Baby.

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I watched bits of PBS' broadcast of the New York Philharmonic's North Korean concert last night. The program streams here. I have mixed feelings about such "musical diplomacy." And what's up with optical illusion that makes the audience in the front section seem invisible?

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Kansas City Click: Fine trumpeter Terell Stafford graces the stage of the Folly Theater tonight.

The best soul blues lineup possible in 2008 comes to the Hale Center on Saturday. Bobby "Blue" Bland, Latimore, Bobby Rush, Shirley Brown and Marvin Sease are among the attractions.

Dozens of musicians converge on BB's Lawnside BBQ Sunday to raise money for the annual Hope House benefit.

Billie Holiday- I Love You Porgy

No more sadness.

Although he's always been accessible, I hadn't met Chuck D until last night. I write about the experience here. Among the dozens of topics Chuck broached during his lecture was the concept that hip hop is only the latest expression of black musical creativity.

"There are parallels between Billie Holiday and Jay-Z, between Art Tatum and break dancers," Chuck asserted.

With that in mind, here's the incomparable jazz vocalist singing one of the most significant songs about the tragedy of slavery in America. It's an utterly devastating performance. The out-of-print Live At Storyville, captured at the Boston club in 1951, might be my favorite Holiday recording. Here's far lesser but still invaluable video footage of Holiday interpreting the song in a television studio. (The arrangement is atrocious.)

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Buddy Miles has died.

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Herschel "Speedy" Haworth died Tuesday. The Ozarks-based guitarist worked with Porter Wagoner, Rex Allen and Red Foley.

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Kansas City Click: The spirit of Johnny Cash burns brightly in Tom Russell. The outstanding songwriter is at Knuckleheads tonight.

The Amalgamated All Stars- Memories

Faded.

I was saddened to hear that Jamaican music industry veteran Joe Gibbs died last week. But I'm delighted that it compelled me to return to this stunning collection of material he oversaw between 1967-73. It'd been a few years since I spun the disc; it's even better than I remembered. The instrumental featured here is marvelous, yet it's probably the least compelling of the compilation's eighteen tracks. Sir Lord Comic, Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Overtakers are among the standouts on this essential set. Gibbs may be best remembered for his later work, but music doesn't get much more compelling than this.

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Erykah Badu's Amerykah is a spectacular mess. Self-indulgent and filled with pointless detours, it sounds like something George Clinton might have orchestrated during a lost weekend in 1973. Needless to say, I like it a lot.

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Talk about an act that fits the There Stands the Glass aesthetic: Uncle Monk is a modest old-timey duo that you'd think would be relegated to providing warm smiles at a coffee house's open mic night. But there's a twist. Tommy Ramone is in the band! Uncle Monk is on an extensive tour. I am so there.

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Kansas City Click: For Midwestern power pop twits, tonight's triple bill of Ludo, Anything But Joey and Ha Ha Tonka at the Record Bar is pure bliss.

The Golden Gate Quartet- Give Me Two Wings

Flew away.

I like to think I'm well-versed in area history.

But a wonderful feature in Sunday's Kansas City Star exposed me to the almost entirely forgotten gospel music legacy of the Jackson Jubilee Singers of Western University. It was all news to me. Sure, accounts of the black abolitionist town of Quindaro, Kansas, are part of most regional Border War histories. Yet I had no idea that "for a time, roughly between 1907 and 1940, (the Jackson Jubilee Singers) were wildly popular with both black and white audiences." It's fascinating stuff.

The Star links to clips of a couple surviving recordings at Emusic. Their sound resembles the Golden Gate Quartet only in passing. But I'm going with what I own. As the Star's story points out, traditional slave songs like "Give Me Two Wings" are part of gospel's subversive tradition. While the lyric is ostensibly about Jesus, the real message concerns a desperate longing for more than just spiritual freedom.

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I'll pick up Erykah Badu's new release tomorrow, but the album I can hardly wait to get my hands on is the new Luciano. The two new songs streaming at his MySpace are scorching. (I will not be buying Webbie's new release. The best/worst hit since, "Crank That," "Independent" has already inflicted irreparable brain damage to my poor noggin. "She cook/She clean/Never smell like onion rings!")

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Kansas City Click: Luz D'Sol play at Jardine's tonight. They were the subject of a KCUR profile aired yesterday.

Erik Satie- Gnossienne Lent

Left.

Jim, my first freshman roommate, insisted on playing music all night long. He hit the automated repeat button on my turntable so that the second side of Pretenders or the first side of Some Girls would play until morning. In spite of that nightmarish experience, I sometimes like to let a CD put me to sleep. This set of Erik Satie's piano music is ideal for that purpose. It's not a proper sedative. To the contrary, it's so fascinating that I can focus on its intricacies rather than allow myself to worry about work, knee pain or the barking dog next door.

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Teo Macero died Tuesday. Not to take anything away from Mingus, Miles, Brubeck or Byrd, but it's probably no accident that Macero contributed to many of the greatest crossover albums in the history of jazz.

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Kansas City Click: Jazz has its own version of Billy Ray Cyrus. Pianist and bandleader Michael Wolff sired the Naked Brothers. He plays tonight at the Blue Room.

In a symbolic changing of the guard, Snuff Jazz follows Ida McBeth at Jardine's on Saturday night.

Sunday brings an ideal pairing- Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys and the Westport Flea Market.

Aterciopelados- La Misma Tijera

Quiet.

Perhaps it's a reaction to the frigid temperature and the gray winter tundra outside my window, but the music that sounds best to me right now emanates from approximately 1,000 miles south of my current location. Celebrated Colombian band Aterciopelados doesn't worry about classifications- electronica, M.P.B., lounge, cumbia, and pop are all on equal footing on their 2001 release Gozo Poderoso. Here's a video for "El Album", my second favorite song on the Grammy winner.

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It'd be a heckuva commute, but this blog post by Steve Pick makes me want to apply for a job at St. Louis' Euclid Records. And while I don't always trust Steve's judgement, his concise dismissal of Holy F*ck just saved me thirty minutes of frustration.

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I've managed to capture video images of my dreams. Here's what I experienced at 3:22 a.m. this morning.

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Kansas City Click: But for the ice falling from the heavens, I might head for Knuckleheads tonight to catch folk-jazz duo Stereofidelics.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba- Preludio Proyecto Latino

Thinking of Cuba in silence.

The combination of the insightful profile in Sunday's New York Times and the glimmer of hope that arrived yesterday for the people of Cuba compels me to offer this post focusing on Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The 44-year-old Cuban expatriate's Avatar was released earlier this month. The pianist's stunning technical proficiency is on display in this solo piece from the out-of-print Mi Gran Pasion. The 1987 date was his first official session as a leader. It's frightening to consider that he's expanded his formidable talent even further in the intervening 21 years.

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As I indicated in my previous post, I was floored by Kid Rock's effort Sunday. Yet it might not have been the best show I caught last weekend. The Redwalls' Friday gig was also wonderful. My review is here.

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And on Saturday I was one of two dozen people in the audience for Mark Olson at Davey's Uptown Rambler's Club. Here's a two-minute sample of his performance. It ended very awkwardly as fans of metal act Red Line Chemistry began arriving for the bar's late show. The rockers were in no mood for Olson's rootsy songs. It was an extraordinarily uncomfortable clash of cultures.

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Kansas City Click: Kentucky's People Noise are tonight's headliners at the Record Bar.