All bets are off. I suppose it’d be nice to act my age in 2018, but I don’t think it’s in me. I walked out of a distinguished jazz concert on Sunday. Blame
Brockhampton.
The urgency of
Saturation III, the third album of 2017 from self-professed “best boy band since One Direction” obliterated my patience for bop formalism. How can I relish the sound of June 1964 when
“Boogie” is happening in December 2017?
Saturation III isn’t perfect- the new release contains the best and worst songs of Brockhampton’s crazed career- but its vitality makes almost everything else seem stale.
N.E.R.D’s
No One Ever Really Dies is similarly inconsistent. Even so, the highs are the stuff of codeine dreams. Had I waited another week to publish my year-end best-of lists,
Saturation III and
No One Ever Really Dies would have placed prominently.
I wish I also embraced
Revival. While I’m predisposed to like Eminem, his new album induces involuntary eyerolls and reflexive raspberries. I should have known that there’d be side effects to my obsessive listening to Future all year.
---
I was a
guest on Chris Haghirian’s
Eight One Sixty radio show on December 5. I featured tracks by Samantha Fish, Vince Staples, Isaac Cates & Ordained, Brother Ali, Pistol Pete, Bobby Watson and Syd in the year-end best-of program.
---
An article about my work on behalf of the
Kansas City Jazz Calendar is in the December issue of
Jazz Ambassador Magazine magazine.
---
I recently named
The Matchsellers,
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and
The Floozies the KCUR Bands of the Week.
---
John Scott of the Green Lady Lounge is
Plastic Sax’s Person of the Year.
---
My most recent weekly music previews for
The Kansas City Star were published
here and
here.
---
Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens has died. He appeared to be in very poor health when the band performed at a community festival in downtown Overland Park in 2016.
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Kevin Mahogany has died.
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Johnny Hallyday has died.
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Keely Smith has died.
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The jazz guitarist
Mundell Lowe has died.
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The jazz drummer
Sunny Murray has died.
---
Leon Rhodes of the Texas Troubadours has died.
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The Chicago jazz pianist
Willie Pickens has died.
---
Saxophonist
Ralph Carney has died.
---
Blues man
Leo “Bud” Welch has died.
---
After dreading the obligation for months, I finally hit play on Chuck Berry’s posthumous album
Chuck. It’s fine.
---
I regret overlooking Downtown Boys’
Cost of Living this year. RIYL: the Clash, relevant rock, Priests.
---
The vintage Ghanaian party album
Ebo Taylor and the Pelikans has been reissued. RIYL: Osibisa, highlife, Fela.
---
Tyler, the Creator’s
Tiny Desk Concert outing is vastly superior to his recent perfunctory concert at the Truman.
---
Dustin Lovelis adds a polished spin to the psychedelia of Syd Barrett and Ty Segall on
Been Hit Before. (Via S.S.)
---
My former coworker Glenn Jones delivers
“A Different Kind of Christmas Carol”.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
