Album Review: Bill Frisell- Valentine

I’ve said it a thousand times: jazz isn’t merely something that happened long ago.  Just as giants like Django Reinhardt, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor transfigured past decades, equally brilliant improvisors continue to push the music forward.  Bill Frisell is one such modern master.  The guitarist’s new album Valentine- his 42nd album as a leader by my count- is yet another stunning triumph.  Abetted by bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston, Frisell continues to find fresh and engaging ways to expand his unique conception.  The incorporation of the pop and folk sounds of the early 1960s with the innovations of guitarists ranging from Wes Montgomery to Jimi Hendrix doesn’t seem particularly promising, but Frisell has successfully mined the genre-fluid terrain for decades.  My immediate affinity for Valentine is partly due to catching Frisell perform most of the selections live in the past 24 months, but I can’t imagine anyone not admiring of his gorgeous interpretations of the familiar melodies “What the World Needs Now is Love,” “Wagon Wheels” and "We Shall Overcome".

---

I kvetch about politicians’ gaffes at Plastic Sax.

---

Robert Wilson’s version of John Cage’s “Lecture on Nothing” at National Sawdust’s virtual festival last week was my first encounter with the absurdist treatise.  I was particularly amused by the unexpected references to Kansas.  The state is “like nothing on earth!”

---

I read Keri Hulme’s The Bone People several months ago.  Inspired by the novel’s frequent references to recordings by Julian Bream, I began exploring to the guitarist's vast catalog in earnest.  I quickly fell under his spell.  Bream died last week.

---

I took in 22 performances of the August 16 edition of the Bang on a Can Marathon.  My five favorite sets: Sarah Cahill (performing Annea Lockwood); Kaki King (original compositions); Rebekah Heller (performing Marcos Balter); Craig Taborn (original improvisation); Oliver Lake (original compositions).

---

Opera update: The BBC’s version of “Porgy and Bess” was the 145th dose of my daily injection of opera.  I’ll share two takes.  I realize mine isn’t among the most important voices in the ongoing debate about “Porgy and Bess,” but I’m now able to authoritatively attest that the principle characters are as fully realized as any figures in opera.  They’re more respectfully rendered than the individuals portrayed in similarly agrarian Italian operas like “L’Elisir d’Amore,” “Ruggero Leoncavallo” and “Cavalleria Rusticana.”  Secondly, “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” is the equal of any Puccini aria.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

May 2020 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

My opera compulsion continues. I’ve taken in streams of 68 productions in the last 67 days.  The following albums, songs and livestreams balanced my maximal intake of ostensible high culture this month.

Top Five Albums
1. Bad Bunny- Las Que No Iban a Salir
Even the Puerto Rican’s discards are thrilling.
2. Sleaford Mods- All That Glue
My review.
3. Future- High Off Life
Chart-topping nihilism.
4. Aaron Parks- Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man
Fusion lives.
5. Dinosaur- To the Earth
Laura Jurd’s lawless group careens into the center lane.

Top Five Songs
1. Little Simz- “Might Bang, Might Not”
Oh, it bangs all right.
2. 6ix9ine- “Gooba”
I know, I know.  As the hooligan suggests, I must be “dumb, stupid or dumb.”
3. Shirley Collins- “Wondrous Love”
Selah.
4. The Magnetic Fields- “Favorite Bar”
Gloriously droll.
5. Hot Country Knights- “Then It Rained”
A gut-busting Garth Brooks spoof.

Top Five Livestreams
1. Bang on a Can Marathon
The online version of the canceled festival featured appearances by luminaries including Meredith Monk.
2. KC Bands Together
Full disclosure- I’m listed in the closing credits.
3. Bill Frisell- Blue Note at Home
The guitarist’s apartment has a better vibe than the venue.
4. Century Media’s Isolation Festival
Dead Lord was among the metal bands bringing the vital noise.
5. Molly Hammer- Jazzy Jamdemic
Classic Kansas City.

(I conducted the same exercise in April, March, February and January.

(Screenshot of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Nico Muhly’s "Marnie" by There Stands the Glass.)

Expense Ratios

I’m a value investor.  I relish taking advantage of market anomalies in stocks as well as in goods ranging from albums to airline tickets.  Operating as an adaptable music obsessive in Kansas City means it’s impossible to uncover attractive deals on admission to concerts by stars like Lil Uzi Vert, but bargains abound for ostensibly highbrow performances.

The highlight of my stingy concertgoing career may always be nabbing a deeply-discounted front-row ticket to a 2012 Philip Glass concert for $30.  Even so, I’m inordinately pleased to have spent a measly $20 (plus a $4 dollar service fee) to see the jazz giant Bill Frisell last week.  (My review at Plastic Sax).

I’ve also been living high on the hog due to market aberrations for chamber music at the Folly Theater.  Spending $35 on a front-row seat for a concert by the revered chamber orchestra Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin allowed me to live like a Prussian monarch for two hours on February 21.  I pondered palace intrigue while basking in the rarified sound of unamplified period instruments.

The wondrous experience compelled me to buy another $35 front-row ticket for a concert by the Pavel Haas Quartet featuring pianist Boris Giltburg on March 6.  As the embedded photo of the string quartet’s Veronika Jarůšková and Giltburg indicates, I was so close to the action that I couldn’t capture the entire ensemble in a single frame.  As much as I’ll always love “XO Tour Lif3”,  the chamber music concert transformed me in a way an Uzi performance can not.  Watching Giltberg wrestle with Rachmaninoff’s “Études-tableaux”- (more or less exactly like this)- from a distance of ten feet allowed me to finally grasp the appeal of the composer’s work.

The jazz inflections in a contemporary piece by Ľubica Čekovská reminded me of Anthony Davis (this AD) compositions while the ensemble’s vital take on String Quartet No. 9 in C major made it seem as if Beethoven should be celebrating his 50th rather than his 250th.  Even though I didn’t enjoy a 45-piece Dvorak nearly as much, I walked out of the Folly Theater a changed man.  Eternal Atake resonated differently on my drive home.

I’ve saved the best for last.  I lamented the necessity of passing on Daniil Trifonov’s March 12 concert.  Tickets were far too rich for my blood.  But less than five minutes after receiving an email notification from the presenter offering remaining seats at a eighty-percent discount, I owned a fourth-row center ticket to hear the one of the most celebrated pianists in the world for a price of just $20.50.  I trust Uzi admires my investment acumen.


---
I make weekly concert recommendations for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Top Musicians, Albums, Songs and Concerts of the Decade

I created this survey as a companion to a Kansas City compendium that serves as the outline for my appearance on the radio program Eight One Sixty on Tuesday, July 2.


The Top Ten Musicians of the Decade
1. Kanye West
2. Kendrick Lamar
3. Jóhann Jóhannsson
4. St. Vincent
5. Flying Lotus
6. Bill Frisell
7. Rihanna
8. Drake
9. Taylor Swift
10. Future


The Top 25 Albums of the Decade
1. Kendrick Lamar- Good Kid, M.A.A.D City 2012
2. Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 2010
3. Frank Ocean- Channel Orange 2012
4. Rihanna- Anti 2016
5. Earl Sweatshirt- Doris 2013
6. Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp a Butterfly 2015
7. Kanye West- Yeezus 2013
8. Chance the Rapper- Coloring Book 2016
9. St. Vincent- Strange Mercy 2011
10. Ambrose Akinmusire- When the Heart Emerges Glistening 2011

11. Kanye West- The Life of Pablo 2016
12. Jlin- Autobiography 2018
13. Kendrick Lamar- Damn 2017
14. Vince Staples- Summertime '06 2015
15. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah- Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah 2012
16. Jill Scott- Woman 2015
17. Solange- When I Get Home 2019
18. Robert Glasper- Black Radio 2012
19. Killer Mike- R.A.P. Music 2012
20. Jóhann Jóhannsson- Orphée 2016

21. Beyoncé- Beyoncé 2013
22. Brad Mehldau- Highway Rider 2010
23. Brockhampton- Saturation II 2017
24. Miranda Lambert- The Weight of These Wings 2016
25. Drake- Scorpion 2018


The Top 25 Songs of the Decade
1. Kanye West- “Ultralight Beam” 2016
2. Tyler, the Creator- "Yonkers" 2011
3. Nicki Minaj- "Beez in the Trap" 2012
4. Pusha T featuring Kendrick Lamar- “Nosetalgia” 2013
5. Lorde- "Royals" 2013
6. Drake- “Nice For What” 2018
7. Kendrick Lamar- “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” 2012
8. Ledisi- "Pieces of Me" 2011
9. Taylor Swift- “Getaway Car” 2017
10. Akwid- "California" 2010

11. Run the Jewels- “Close Your Eyes (And Count to F*ck)” 2014
12. Nas and Damian Marley- "As We Enter" 2010
13. Leela James- "Tell Me You Love Me" 2010
14. ASAP Rocky- "Purple Swag" 2013
15. Kanye West- "Power" 2010
16. Pusha T- "Numbers on the Boards" 2013
17. Cardi B- “Bodak Yellow” 2017
18. Skating Polly- "Alabama Movies" 2014
19. Rick Ross featuring Kanye West and Big Sean- "Sanctified" 2014
20. E-40 with YG- "Function" 2012

21. Das Racist- "Rainbow In The Dark" 2011
22. Waka Flocka- "Hard In Da Paint" 2010
23. Rihanna with Kanye West and Paul McCartney- “FourFiveSeconds” 2016
24. Rosalía- “Malamente” 2018
25. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment- “Sunday Candy” 2015


The Top 25 Concerts of the Decade
1. Kanye West- Sprint Center 2013
2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Midland theater 2014
3. Joyce DiDonato with the Philadelphia Orchestra- Carnegie Hall (New York City) 2015
4. Bobby Rush- Living Room at Knuckleheads 2013
5. Deftones- VooDoo Lounge 2011
6. Chance the Rapper- Midland theater 2015
7. The Dubliners- Royal Albert Hall (London) 2012
8. Mary J. Blige- Sprint Center 2013
9. David Byrne- Muriel Kauffman Theatre 2018
10. Maze- Municipal Auditorium 2014

11. The Art Ensemble of Chicago- Tennessee Theater (Knoxville) 2019
12. Miranda Lambert- Sporting Park 2013
13. Pharaoh Sanders- Blues Alley (Washington D.C.) 2014
14. Salif Keita- Town Hall (New York City) 2017
15. Lawrence Brownlee and Eric Owens- Folly Theater 2017
16. Erykah Badu- Sprint Center 2018
17. Future- Petco Park (San Diego) 2018
18. Philip Glass and Tim Fain- Helzberg Hall 2012
19. Anthony Braxton and Jacqueline Kerrod- American Turners Club (Louisville) 2018
20. Miguel- Midland theater 2015

21. Bettye LaVette- Knuckleheads 2014
22. Juan Gabriel- Sprint Center 2015
23. Enrico Rava's Tribe- Winningstad Theatre (Portland) 2012
24. Merle Haggard- Uptown Theater 2015
25. Os Mutantes- Granada 2010

(Original image of the Soul Rebels at the Gem Theater in 2017 by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan- Epistrophy

I deliberately avoided appearances by Bill Frisell at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville last month.  I reasoned that I should focus on showcases by artists I’d never seen.  Even though I’ve heard the guitarist perform seven or eight times, I’m beginning to wonder if my reasoning was faulty.  Epistrophy, a set of astounding duets between Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan recorded at the Village Vanguard, is yet another addition to the already staggering mountain of evidence that Frisell may be the most brilliant musician of our time.  

---

I reviewed Chris Tomlin’s concert at the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star.

---

I reviewed the Joshua Redman Quartet’s concert at the Folly Theater for Plastic Sax.

---

I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

---

Angry Ethiopian jazz?  Sign me up.  Black Flower’s Future Flora is RIYL Hailu Mergia, trippy jams, Sons of Kemet.

---

Lizzo tries way too hard on Cuz I Love You.  The anonymous production on her ostensible breakout album makes her alacrity even less appealing.  At least I’ll always be able to say “I saw her when.”.

---

The Budos Band pummels a single good idea into the ground on V.  RIYL: Link Wray, repetition, the Ventures.  Here’s “Ghost Talk”.

---

Relentless Doppelganger, a live stream of malevolent bots creating entirely credible death metal, is as impressive as it is terrifying.

(Original image of Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer- Nordub

I’m at the center of the tiny target audience for Nordub, an unlikely collaboration between the reggae innovators Sly & Robbie and the jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer.  There can’t be more than a few thousand people who appreciate deep Jamaican dub and experimental Norwegian jazz.  Yet Nordub deserves an audience beyond a handful of oddball music obsessives.  The album’s colossal sonic landscape would appeal to admirers of Miles Davis’ electric bands as well as to intrepid listeners eager to hear the sound of tomorrow today.


---
I reviewed a concert by Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston at Plastic Sax.

---
Proper appreciation of most Kool Keith-related projects requires being in the right frame of mind.  Dr. Octagon’s Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation is no different.  Here’s the gloriously absurd “Flying Waterbeds”.

---
I didn’t care for the 2014 duet album by Nels Cline and Julian Lage, but bassist Scott Colley and drummer Tom Rainey add enormous excitement to the guitarists’ Currents, Constellations release.  Here’s “Imperfect 10”.

---
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers’ Years is a modest alt-country album that could have been released by Bloodshot Records in 1998.  RIYL: the Bottle Rockets, bottom shelf whiskey, the Meat Purveyors.  Here’s “Good as Gold”.

---
Dave Douglas & Joe Lovano Sound Prints combine their enormous talents on Scandal, a post-bop quintet date that I wish was just a couples notches further outside.

---
Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy rivals Migos’ Culture II as my favorite party album of 2018.

---
Rafiq Bhatia’s Breaking English is a worthy progressive noise album.

---
The Aruán Ortiz Trio’s Live in Zurich provides additional evidence that the pianist is a genius.  RIYL: Thelonious Monk, giants hiding in plain sight, Craig Taborn.

---
While Kurt Elling’s performances never fail to impress, his albums have never done much for me- until now.  The adult pop effort The Questions is like a marriage of Joni Mitchell and Frank Sinatra. 

(Original image at There Stands the Glass.)

Recycled Sounds

Nostalgia is for suckers.  Predilections for the past can be emotionally crippling.  The disorder applies to musical preferences.  I’m inclined to distance myself from people who suggest that the music of today is inferior to the sounds of the past.  Against my nature, I’ve spent recent days begrudgingly appreciating three albums that induce repressed memories.

I cringed when an acquaintance proclaimed the Breeders’ All Nerve as his favorite album of 2018.  The disconcerting confession compelled me to give it a chance.  It’s not bad.  “Wait in the Car” is among the songs that help make All Nerve sound like the eighth-best alternative rock album of 1993.

Progger appeals to my worst musical impulses.  I allowed myself to pine for the mid-’70s days when the big brothers of my pals turned me on to since-forsaken jazz fusion bands like Brand X, Curved Air and Lifetime while listening to “Housewives” on the Austin band’s new album Dystopia.

I documented my single favorite sound in this space last month, so it’s not a surprise that I was eager to sample the expanded edition of the soul revivalists Durand Jones & the Indications’ self-titled album.  The ten live tracks demonstrate that Jones and his band simulate the atmosphere of a 1965 frat party featuring the likes of Joe Tex or Eddie Floyd.

Now excuse me while I go back to obsessing over my presumptive album of the year.


---
I reviewed Pink’s concert at the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star.

---
I reviewed Everyday, Forever, the latest album by the Project H, at Plastic Sax.

---
I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

---
Matt Dike, a co-founder of Delicious Vinyl, has died.

---
Bill Frisell’s solo album Music Is includes pastoral elegies and big city meltdowns.  Even though I haven’t heard all of the guitarist’s three dozen albums, I'm comfortable with the assertion that Music Is is among his ten most essential recordings. Here’s “Rambler”.

---
The title of the Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie in 1980s South Africa compilation is perfect.  Hearing the sounds of groups like Shalamar, the Gap Band and the Whispers filtered through a South African sensibility is worlds of fun.  (Tip via Big Steve.)

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Desiccated

Do I look tired to you?   I feel compelled to leave a few notes in this space before I embark on a recuperative respite south of the border.


---
I reviewed a concert by Dan + Shay for The Kansas City Star on Friday.

---
I attended concerts by Bill Frisell and Jack DeJohnette on Saturday.  My impressions are published at Plastic Sax.

---
I reviewed Quality Hill Playhouse’s production of “As Time Goes By” on Sunday.

---
Look for new rounds of my weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine here.

---
Hyborian’s Vol. 1 is my favorite Kansas City metal album in recent memory.

---
Spoek Mathambo’s Mzansi Beat Code is allegedly only 58 minutes long.  I don’t believe it.  Brimming with hundreds of fresh ideas, the project feels as if it lasts several hours. Albums don’t often stump me, but I’m overwhelmed by Mzansi Beat Code.

---
I don’t appreciate Joey Bada$$’s insurrectionary Land of the Free nearly as much as a few of my pals.  RIYL: Noam Chomsky, A$AP Rocky, Amy Goodman.

---
I’ve been waiting for pianist Christian Sands to make an album as solid as Reach.  RIYL: Christian McBride, promise realized, Gerald Clayton.

---
Rhymesayers uploaded footage of a 2007 Atmosphere concert at First Avenue.  Here’s  ”God Loves Ugly”.  As longtime readers of There Stands the Glass know, I can’t get enough of that stuff.

---
Damn gets better with each listen.  If you’re not already on board, the video for ”DNA” is a good entry point.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Folks Back Home

I reviewed 19 showcases at the Folk Alliance Conference on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I’m not particularly enthused by dust bowl ballad revivalists, bluegrass traditionalists or fiddle champions, but I found plenty of international acts, outsider musicians and straight-up rock bands to embrace.  Video links to my ten favorite Folk Alliance acts of 2016 follow.

1. Lady Maisery (absurdly talented British trio)
2. Maarja Nuut (visionary Estonian woman)
3. Tarabband (dance band led by an Iraqi refugee)
4. Chris Bathgate (Midwestern chamber-rock)
5. WÖR (the Belgian band goes “back to the 1780s”)
6. Sutari (enchanting Polish trio)
7. Birds of Chicago (Joe Henry produced the freaky rock band’s new album)
8. Twelfth Day (Scottish art-folk duo)
9. Ben Caplan & the Casual Smokers (Canadian beardos)
10. Leyla McCalla (a former Carolina Chocolate Drop)

---
I reviewed Bill Frisell’s concert at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Sunday.

---
I reviewed a concert by Vance Joy, Elle King and Jamie Lawson on Thursday.

---
I  reviewed Live at Pilgrim Chapel, the new album by David Basse and Joe Cartwright, for KCUR.

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

---
Denise Matthews, the woman better known as Vanity, has died.  She was my first celebrity interview.  I met her in a hotel suite as she was promoting the action movie The Last Dragon.  I haven’t forgotten the scent of her perfume and each alluring fold of her bathrobe. 

---
The EPK about Lou Tavano doesn’t convince me that I need to hear the French vocalist’s album, but her speaking voice… oh man.

---
Lawrence Brownlee and Jason Moran for the win.

---
Herlin Riley’s New Direction has a few nice moments.  RIYL: jazz drummers, Roy Haynes, swing.

(Original image of Chris Bathgate’s band by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Hélène Grimaud- Water

I listen to instrumental music as I write.  Words from vocalists and rappers disrupt my already tenuous ability to concentrate.  Dramatic orchestral works are also out of the question.  While I can’t focus as Hélène Grimaud plays a stirring rendition of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s flashy Piano Concerto No. 2, her unusual new album Water provides ideal accompaniment to my typing.  A thought-provoking and creativity-inducing combination of solo piano compositions by the likes of Leoš Janáček and electronic “transition” pieces, Water will likely provide me with conducive workplace inspiration for the remainder of 2016.


---
I reviewed a concert by Mark Chesnutt, Joe Diffie and Lorrie Morgan.

---
I contribute the weekly Local Listen segment to KCUR.  Your Friend was featured last week.

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

---
The lineup for Rockfest will be revealed on February 8.  I’ve set odds on the most likely headliners: Five Finger Death Punch (6/4), Megadeth (9/4) and Volbeat (9/1).  Bet at your own discretion.


---
I look forward to spending quality time with Westend Recording Presents: "Amplify KC" Vol. 1, a collection of “heavy music” by Kansas City bands.

---
Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane has died.

---
Reading about the Fat White Family’s antics is more enjoyable than listening to the music created by the band of British hooligans.  Songs for Our Mothers is RIYL: exhaustion, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, hangovers.  The video for ”Whitest Boy on the Beach” is suitably messed up.

---
I like Kevin Gates’ Islah in spite of myself.  Here’s 2 Phones.

---
Boosie has ”Cancer”.

---
I don’t particularly care for elaborate high-concept musical humor, but the David Gordon Trio’s Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band is both amusing and impressive.  RIYL: P.D.Q. Bach, music school, André Previn.

---
When You Wish Upon a Star, Bill Frisell’s new album of film music, is RIYL: Ennio Morricone, hillbilly jazz, Nino Rota.  I highlighted Frisell's forthcoming Kansas City show at Plastic Sax.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Homegrown Buzz Showcase

Knowing my basketball team was bound to lose on Saturday afternoon, I hedged my bets by attending the Homegrown Buzz Showcase in the Power & Light District.

I kept one eye on television monitors- there’s no shortage of screens in the entertainment district- and both ears on music.

I caught complete sets by five acts and small samples of a few other bands. Three artists stood out.

Various Blonde isn’t perfect- there are a couple elements that could stand a little improvement- but its outing in a crowded restaurant verified my assertion that Various Blonde’s is one of Kansas City’s best rock bands. 

Brandon Phillips covered Iron Maiden, Elvis Costello, Jawbreaker, Leonard Cohen and a song by his band the Architects in his solo set.  It’s not the first time I’ve fallen under his spell.

I’ve seen a lot of mainstream pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop and country acts on the KC Live! stage.  It was a nice change of pace, consequently, to see the post-hardcore band Maps For Travelers make a mighty noise on the big stage.

About that game- my team lost on a last-second shot.


---
I reviewed Bill Frisell’s appearance at White Theatre.

---
I reviewed Helmet’s show at the RecordBar.

---
I reviewed Live at the Living Room, the new album by Victor & Penny Loose Change Orchestra and Their Loose Change Orchestra.

---
I contributed a segment on Millie Edwards to KCUR.

---
Lew Soloff has died.

---
Brandon Phillips of the Architects throws down the gauntlet in an essay for Alternative Press.

---
The Kansas City Chorale’s Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil was released this week.

---
I’m tempted to think that Cannibal Ox made Blade of the Ronin with me in mind.  It’s right in my wheelhouse.  RIYL: Wu-Tang Clan, hip-hop in 1993, Ultramagnetic MCs.

---
I guess Estelle isn’t the artist I thought she was.  The new album True Romance isn’t very good.  RIYL: Solange, disappointments, Jazmine Sullivan.  Here’s ”Conqueror”.

---
The production on Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise is excellent.  Too bad about the rapper.  Here’s a video for the opening track.

---
Rhiannon Giddens has doubled down on the retro thing.  Her debut album is RIYL: Judy Collins, calculated realness, Mimi Farina.

(Original image of Various Blonde’s Josh Allen by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Lalah Hathaway at KC Live

I've witnessed performances by Tony Bennett, Deborah Brown, Joyce DiDonato and Bettye LaVette this year.  Lalah Hathaway out-sang all of them at the KC Live stage in the Power & Light District on Sunday.  About 5,000 people attended the free concert.

From the vocal trickery of the Grammy-winning "Something" to the emotional histrionics of the big hit "Forever, For Always,  For Love", Hathaway's repertoire allowed her to demonstrate that she's among the best vocalists in popular music. 

Poor Ruben Studdard didn't stand a chance against Donny's daughter.  He and Hathaway shared a band.  The concert was successful in part because the needless ambient noise I complained about in my review of Eric Benét's recent concert in the same space was blessedly silenced on Sunday. 


---
I reviewed the 18th & Vine Jazz & Blues Festival.

---
Paul Revere has died.

---
Flying Lotus's stunning new album You're Dead! is equal parts hip-hop, jazz and electronic music.

---
Jason Moran's All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller RIYL: Meshell Ndegeocello, high concept, Joni Mitchell.  Here's a recast rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'.

---
It was nice to see the longtime There Stands the Glass favorite Lazerbeak support Lizzo on the Late Show with David Letterman.  (My notes on Lizzo's 2014 appearance at the RecordBar are here.)

---
Mark Kozelek has jokes.

---
Bill Frisell's new surf-oriented Guitar in the Space Age is RIYL: The Ventures, baby boomers, Steely Dan.

---
The self-titled album by Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn is wondrous.  RIYL: banjer, Raymond Fairchild, no frills.

---
My selections among the recently nominated candidates for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in order: Chic, N.W.A., Lou Reed, Kraftwerk and War.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Radkey- Spotify Sessions

My friends look at me as if I'm a heretic every time I mention Radkey's striking resemblance to the Misfits and Glenn Danzig.  I guess I didn't get the memo that pointing out the obvious characteristic of the St. Joseph trio is forbidden.  I happen to adore Danzig, so my taboo commentary isn't an indictment.  My primary concern about the young band's prospects are related to the quality of their songs.  The raw power of Radkey's live performances, however, is incontestable.  That's why the new Spotify Sessions is my favorite Radkey recording.


---
I would have enjoyed last week's concert by François Rabbath even more if the woman next to me hadn't been chomping on gum.  Here's my review.

---
I reviewed a concert by Sarah McLachlan at Starlight Theatre.

---
I review Everette DeVan's new album at Plastic Sax.

---
D/Will's 13-minute mixtape Ready. Aim. Beautiful is nice.

---
The blasphemers behind the Studio Rio project have extracted the original vocals from iconic songs and recast them in Brazilian settings.  Listen to them mess with Billie Holiday's "You've Changed".  Welcome to the future.

---
Drums are dumb.  That's my takeaway from Scott Feiner's A View From Below.  A Brazilian hand drum replaces a drum kit on the fascinating release.  The trio's keyboardist provides the low end while the fusion-happy guitarist is given plenty of room to meander.

---
Lizzo's new album LizzoBangers is delightful.  RIYL: Lazerbeak, honesty, Missy Elliott.

---
I can't believe that I'm infatuated with a Judas Priest album in 2014. Redeemer of Souls is surprisingly solid.

---
As a concept album, CunninLynguists' Strange Journey, Volume Three is terrible.  As pure entertainment, it's very good.  RIYL: Grieves, rhyming dictionaries, Aesop Rock.

---
Mournful Congregation's Concrescence Of The Sophia is RIYL: funerals, Tombs, 20-minute death metal jams.

---
Kendrick Lamar parodied ignorant rappers on "Backseat Freestyle."  Most of These Days, the new album by his label mate Ab-Soul, sounds like the moronic music Lamar mocked.  Largely because it could have been great, the project infuriates me.  Here's Lamar's contribution to the mess.  RIYL: Kendrick Lamar, darkness, Jay Rock.

---
Ginger Baker's Why? is RIYL: Charlie Watts' jazz, Charles Mingus, Jack Bruce's jazz.

---
A lot of the cool kids are touting Forgetting the Present, the latest release by the Mogwai-affiliated Remember Remember.  My verdict?  It's a propulsive new age album.  RIYL: Shadowfax, the healing properties of crystals, Nightnoise.

---
Bill Frisell goes surfing.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Crossroads KC

I'd worked up a mean thirst by the time Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit hit the stage at Crossroads KC last night.  Yet I'd already determined that I wasn't going to have a single drink.

After writing a few of the most harrowing songs about substance abuse of the past twenty years, Isbell has gone straight.  An excellent profile in The New York Times examined Isbell's recovery.  Out of respect for Isbell's bold change of course (as well as for the sake of my bank account), I abstained.

Based on the strength of the new album Southeastern, I knew Isbell and his band would be solid.  I wasn't sure, however, if he'd be willing to dip into his past work.  Much to my delight, he sang the disturbing ode to suicide-in-slow-motion "Goddamn Lonely Love" from the Drive-By Truckers' classic The Dirty South album with conviction.  "Codeine" and "Outfit" were similarly exceptional examinations of the dark side of life. 

As if to offer further proof that he wouldn't let his new perspective prevent him from addressing songs about decadence, he and his band covered the Stones' sordid "Can't You Hear Me Knocking."  Isbell is a hero.


---
A remarkable footnote regarding last night's concert: Almost 1,000 people paid $18 or more to hear Isbell, American Aquarium and the Turnpike Troubadours even though the show conflicted with two free performances by country notables- current Nashville hit-makers Gloriana at the KC Live! stage and BR549's Chuck Mead at a suburban shopping center.  Kansas City really loves its country.

---
Slim Whitman has died.  His 1951 version of "Indian Love Call," of course, is one of the most amazing documents of the 20th century.  And gee, does anyone else remember these Whitman infomercials?

----
Let You Tell It is Stik Figa's new three-song EP.  RIYL: Mos Def, Tech N9ne, Topeka.

---
The Guardian takes notice of Radkey.

---
TIm Finn checks in with the Pedaljets.

---
The jazz trio of Massot, Florizoone and Horbaczewski is RIYL Astor Piazzolla, Howard Johnson, travel.

---
Regular reader BGO shared an amazing document with There Stands the Glass.  In an essay published by Negro Digest in 1961, Duke Ellington suggests that "Rock-and-roll is the most raucous form of jazz, beyond a doubt; it maintains a link with the folk origins, and I believe that no other form of jazz has ever been accepted so enthusiastically by so many."

---
Are we living in the golden age of French pop music?  Maître Gims' "J'me tire" is RIYL: Akon, Wyclef Jean, Justin Timberlake.

---
Have you heard ELEW, aka Eric Lewis? RIYL: Scott Joplin, Art Tatum, Brad Mehldau.

---
Bill Frisell's Big Sur is spectacular.  RIYL: string quartets, Charlie Haden, Eric Dolphy.

---
Gummy Soul created a mashup of Big Boi and Otis Redding.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)