Thursday, January 26, 2017

Album Review: Yelena Eckemoff- Blooming Tall Phlox


Transfixed by the 98-minute album, I listened to Blooming Tall Phlox twice before researching the backstory of the unheralded but startlingly brilliant new release.  I discovered that each of the selections is intended to evoke a different scent that Yelena Eckemoff recalls from her childhood in Russia.  Whatever.  I’m far more interested in the ingenious arrangements and stellar playing of Eckemoff and the young band of Finns who realize her vision.  The cringey album trailer doesn't reflect the project's dazzling qualities.


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I suggest at Plastic Sax that a reading by poet Hanif Abdurraqib ruined jazz for me.

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I reviewed a disappointing Alexis y Fido concert.

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I reviewed “I Got Rhythm” at Quality Hill Playhouse.

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I featured A La Mode on my weekly segement on KCUR.

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

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I wrote an extended concert preview about Eric Church’s return to the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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Maggie Roche has died.

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Overend Watts of Mott the Hoople has died.

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Jaki Liebezeit of Can has died.

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Butch Trucks has died.

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Kid Koala’s wondrous Music To Draw To: Satellite is RIYL floating, Björk, dreaming.

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Cherry Glazerr’s Apocalipstick is a rockin’ good time.

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Nicky Jam’s new album Fénix goes on forever.

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Bash & Pop’s quaint Anything Could Happen is RIYL: Pleased to Meet Me, Keith Richards’ solo career, Isolation Drills.

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Craig Taborn’s Daylight Ghosts has that new ECM smell.

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Wells Fargo’s Watch Out, an archival release by an obscure rock band from Zimbabwe, is RIYL the Faces, electric guitars, Jefferson Airplane.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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