Throw Your Hands in the Air

Before I could even consider pouting because I was working an Idina Menzel concert rather than a nearby outing by Kendrick Lamar last night, I began receiving a series of unsolicited texts about the poor quality of the consequential artist’s show from outraged friends.  While undiscerning status-conscious Stans might rightfully point out that I wasn’t on hand to bear witness to the greatness of Kung Fu Kenny on Wednesday, the judgements of my like-minded pals affirms what remains painfully obvious: live performances by hip-hop/rap stars (including the two times I’ve seen Lamar) are invariably disappointing.  There are exceptions- Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, the Roots and (sometimes) Tech N9ne come to mind- but too often the quality of hip-hop/rap shows is inversely proportional to the monumental vitality of even the most essential recordings.


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I reviewed Green Day’s concert for The Kansas City Star on Friday.

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I reviewed a concert by Logic and Joey Badass for The Kansas City Star on Saturday.

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I reviewed “An Evening With George Gershwin” at MTH Theater on Sunday.

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I reviewed Idina Menzel’s concert at Starlight Theatre on Wednesday.

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I featured Soul Revival on my weekly KCUR segment.

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Me and my big mouth: I inadvertently stirred up race-related trouble in Kansas City.  My mea culpa is posted at Plastic Sax.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

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Aesop Rock’s instrumental score for Bushwick is dandy.  RIYL: Isaac Hayes, tension, Hans Zimmer.

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Single Mothers’ Our Pleasure is RIYL F*cked Up, extremely irritating vocalists, Titus Andronicus.

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Reactionary condemnations of the latest disruptive sound are always a bad look.  Unlike some of my peers, I endorse Lil Peep’s controversial Come Over When You’re Sober.  The successful merger of the aesthetics of Kurt Cobain and Lil Uzi Vert seems like a license to print money.  Here’s ”Brightside”.

(Original image of Joey Badass at his wickity-wickity-wack performance on Saturday by There Stands the Glass.)

David Murray: An Appreciation

Although the designation doesn’t have any impact on my estimation of the man, I’m glad that Henry Threadgill won a Pulitzer Prize yesterday.  In his self-congratulatory report, Howard Reich notes that Ornette Coleman was awarded a Pulitzer in 2007.  David Murray could be the next titanic jazz saxophonist and composer to be similarly honored.  Perfection, Murray’s new collaboration with pianist Geri Allen and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, is the latest entry in a massive discography that was already loaded with thrilling music.  Unlike the output of most supergroups, Perfection doesn’t disappoint.   With a previously unrecorded Coleman composition as its centerpiece, the album shot past Logan Richardson’s Shift as my favorite jazz release of 2016.


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I reviewed a concert by the Bad Plus Joshua Redman at the Gem Theater.

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The most recent rounds of the weekly music previews I write for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine are here and here.

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I wrote an extended show preview about the Tedeschi Trucks Band for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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The Kansas City rapper Gee Watts created a video for ”Grammys”.

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Gib Guilbeau, an integral part of the West Coast country-rock revolution, has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Phil Humphrey of the Fendermen has died.  The group’s version of “Mule Skinner Blues” was a  hit in 1960.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Loyalty is good.  Nostalgia is bad.  That’s why I don’t entirely trust my affection for Deftones’ Gore.  Combining Boy-era U2 and Disintegration-era the Cure with thrash elements makes my heart go pitter-patter, but I’m inclined to dismiss the approach as a cynical parlor trick.  Pals who suggest that I need to get in the “right frame of mind” to properly appreciate Gore are undoubtedly right, but I’m on a straight-and-narrow tip at the moment.  Here's "Prayers/Triangles".

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Hayes Carll’s Lovers and Leavers is a spot-on evocation of the moment in the 1970s when Billy Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker and Guy Clark were at their artistic peaks.

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The Black Sabbath cover that serves as the colossal title track of Charles Bradley’s Changes is the album’s best song.  RIYL: O.V. Wright, emoting, Wilson Pickett.

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Yeah, I like Aesop Rock.  Wanna make something of it?  Here’s a live reading of ”Lazy Eye”.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Gee Watts- 199X

Gee Watts is obsessed with Kendrick Lamar.  And why not?  Lamar is arguably the most important rapper alive. He also gave Watts' career a kick start by contributing a few bars to the Kansas City rapper's track "Watts R.I.O.T." last year.  Unfortunately, Watts' new album 199X sounds like an extended homage to Lamar's groundbreaking album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.

Worse still, Watts isn't even the star of his own album.  The poetry of Purpose on the tracks "Mourning Soul" and "Hide & Seek" provide 199X's best moments.  Only on the sorrowful "Hide & Seek" and the hip-hop collage "Deeper Than Rap" can Watts' true potential be easily discerned.

During the opening moments of 199X, Watts admits that he "feel(s) like I might have let the town down."  I can't speak for anyone else, but he let me down.  I'm not about to jump off Watts' bandwagon, but I'm convinced that he has much more to offer than than can be heard on the disappointing 199X.


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I reviewed Dream Theater's concert at the Uptown Theater on Wednesday.

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I love the fact that there's a song titled "'02 Boschee".  Unfortunately, I don't love Chase Compton's composition.

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Slowly Rolling Camera created an appealing video for "Dream a Life".  RIYL: Portishead, jazz that's not jazz, Soul II Soul.

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Cloud Nothings' Here and Nowhere is RIYL: Japandroids, college radio in 1987, Fugazi.

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Free Aesop Rock!

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I think Steel Panther is hilarious.  (I'm a 14-year-old boy at heart.)

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I realize that it's an ignorant thing to suggest, but Tinariwen's Emmaar is a bit, um, samey.  RIYL: John Lee Hooker, repetition, Ali Farka Touré. 

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Originality isn't the strong suit of Black Label Society.  I adore Catacombs of the Black Vatican anyway.  RIYL: Ozzy, sledgehammers, Slash.

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Ibibio Sound Machine's self-titled album is RIYL: Angélique Kidjo, world parties, Antibalas.

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I'm unable to resist the charms of Tune-Yard's "Wait for a Minute".  RIYL: Graceland, tomorrow, Reflektor.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)