The Long Run

My obsessive-compulsive tendencies dictate my music consumption.  The necessity to fully immerse myself in the sounds that interest me means that lengthy works occasionally gum up the works.

The discovery of Anthony Braxton’s four-hour Quartet (New Haven) 2014 in December clogged my queue during the holiday season.  The live recordings of saxophonist and composer Braxton, trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Greg Saunier rendering a thorny form of free jazz aren’t exactly easy listening.

The new 230-minute version of Handel’s Agrippina that’s currently being staged at the Metropolitan Opera is similarly problematic.  Yet the 122 distinct selections of the digital version allow me to experience each distinct piece as an avant-garde chamber-pop song.

Dipping in and out of Agrippina during the past ten days- not to mention knowing less than 25 words of Italian- stripped all context and continuity from the work.  As is sometimes the case, not knowing what’s going on can be enormously comforting.


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I reviewed Post Malone’s party-hearty concert at the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I admire Guitar Elation’s new album Double Live at Green Lady Lounge at Plastic Sax.

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Justin Gillespie, the Kansas City man who rapped as Info Gates, has died.  I recall witnessing him best a clutch of area rappers at the Riot Room in 2018.  His work with the Beat Academy of Kansas City was also extremely promising.

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I indulged my obsession with Jerry Hahn at his first Kansas City performance in eight months.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)