The Top Albums, Songs and Performances by Kansas City Musicians in 2019

Favorite Albums and EPs by Kansas City Artists
1. The Sextet- Among Friends
2. Samantha Fish- Kill Or Be Kind
3. Matt Villinger- All Day
4. Heather Newman- Rise From the Flames
5. Making Movies- Ameri’kana
6. Adam Larson- Listen With Your Eyes
7. Rich the Factor- The Tonite Show
8. Jay McShann- Live in Tokyo
9. Keaton Conrad- Nova
10. Drugs and Attics- Clean Their Room

11. Dylan Pyles- Popular Songs for the Heart
12. Hmph!- Hmph!
13. The Get Up Kids- Problems
14. Wing Walker Orchestra- Hazel
15. Joyce DiDonato- Songplay
16. Norman Brown- The Highest Act of Love
17. Jan Kraybill- The Orchestral Organ
18. Kevin Morby- Oh My God
19. The Greeting Committee- I’m Afraid I’m Not Angry
20. Julian Vaughn- Supreme

21. Merlin- The Mortal
22. A’Sean- One Big Happy Family
23. The Kansas City Chorale- Artifacts: The Music of Michael McGlynn
24. Le Grand- Plastic Jazz
25. Calvin Arsenia- LA Sessions


Favorite Songs by Kansas City Artists
Spotify playlist
1. Keaton Conrad- “What Am I Supposed to Do?”
2. Drugs and Attics- “Dad Party”
3. Samantha Fish- “Love Letters”
4. The Sextet- “To Be Determined”
5. Heather Newman- “Rise From the Flames”
6. Pat Metheny- “America Undefined”
7. Reggie B and the Popper- “Not Funky”
8. Sara Morgan- “Church in a Bar”
9. Tech N9ne- “Like I Ain’t”
10. The Sluts- “Break Their Heart”

11. Ubi- “Gameshow”
12. Norman Brown- “Free”
13. The Get Up Kids- “The Problem Is Me”
14. Stik Figa- “More or Less”
15. The Freedom Affair- “Rise Up”
16. Matt Villinger- “Shot Roulette”
17. Godemis- “Eye Zkreem”
18. Making Movies- “Accidente”
19. Puddle of Mudd- “Uh Oh”
20. Brody Buster’s One Man Band- “Week Long”

21. JL and Joey Cool- “That’s Him”
22. Drop Dead XX- “Betty Ford”
23. The Creepy Jingles- “Atom & Evolution”
24. Nick Schnebelen- “Crazy All By Myself”
25. Other Americans- “Neon Sunrise”


Favorite Performances by Kansas City Artists
1. Logan Richardson’s Blues People- Capsule
2. The Greeting Committee- West Bottoms (Boulevardia)
3. The Sextet- RecordBar
4. Ensemble Ibérica- MTH Theater
5. My Brothers & Sisters- The Brick (Crossroads Music Fest)
6. Bobby Watson & Horizon- White Recital Hall
7. Jerry Hahn and Danny Embrey- Recital Hall at the Carlsen Center
8. Making Movies- KC Live
9. Heather Newman- Legacy Park Amphitheater
10. Doubledrag- Riot Room

11. Matt Otto Quartet- Black Dolphin
12. The Kansas City Symphony- Helzberg Hall
13. Una Walkenhorst- Songbird Cafe (Middle of the Map Fest)
14. Ben Tervort’s Classically Trained- Westport Coffee House
15. Rod Fleeman and Gerald Spaits- Green Lady Lounge
16. Brian Scarborough Quintet- RecordBar
17. Tech N9ne- KC Live (StrangeFest)
18. Soul Revival- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
19. Peter Schlamb Trio- Capsule
20. Guitar Elation- Green Lady Lounge

21. Midwest Chamber Ensemble- Lutheran Church of the Resurrection
22. ARQuesta Del SolSoul- RecordBar
23. Katy Guillen’s Womanish Girl- The Brick (Middle of the Map Fest)
24. Black Creatures- West Bottoms (Boulevardia)
25. Jason Vivone & the Billy Bats- PorchFestKC

(Original image of the Matt Otto Quartet at Black Dolphin by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Boulevardia 2019

I abandoned Boulevardia ninety minutes before rain washed out the headlining acts Dashboard Confessional and Ha Ha Tonka on Saturday.  Abstaining from alcohol allowed me to focus on 13 performances.  Capsule reviews of my five favorite sets follow.

The Black Creatures
I’d been so nonplussed by the Black Creature’s postings at Bandcamp that I’d planned to pass on the duo’s set.  An urgent impulse to take refuge from the sun led to a wonderful discovery at a small indoor stage.  The Black Creatures’ psychedelic neo-soul recordings don’t reflect front person Jade Green’s charming stage presence.

The Greeting Committee
Vindication!  I recently came under fire for claiming that the Greeting Committee is Kansas City’s most popular rock band in an audio feature I created for KCUR.  The thousands of drunk bros and middle-aged admirers who joined the group’s core fan base of young women in singing along to greasy-kid-stuff songs like “Hands Down” proved my point.

Katy Guillen and the Drive
Kansas City loves boogie.  Guillen’s new power trio satisfies Kansas City’s abiding passion for the ‘70s guitar-rock associated with groups like Foghat, Humble Pie and Mountain.  Light rain during the group’s set enhanced my appreciation of its throwback sound.

Kelly Hunt
A publicist recently attempted to pique my interest in the re-release of the debut album by the Kansas City folk artist Kelly Hunt by unknowingly including pull quotes from my rave review of Hunt's 2018 album in her pitch.  Hunt may be my favorite musician in Kansas City.

DJ Jazzy Jeff
Does anyone else remember the 2009 brouhaha that followed DJ Jazzy Jeff’s ostensible ouster from the Power & Light District?  Saturday’s benign set was even less threatening than the Greeting Committee’s frothy rock that preceded it.  The jock jams-themed mix blended Tupac, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” J Balvin, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Toto’s “Africa” and (tons of) Bruno Mars with the DJ’s own hits including “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.


---
I reviewed the Kansas City debut of Snarky Puppy at Plastic Sax.

(Original image of DJ Jazzy Jeff by There Stands the Glass.)

Kansas City's (Not So) Hot 100

While trying to devise an appropriate headline for the online component of my new audio feature about the Greeting Committee for KCUR, I toyed with the premise that the indie-pop quartet is Kansas City’s most popular band.  Is that true?  I dove into Spotify’s statistics to gauge how Kansas City acts past and present stack up.  The following ranking is based on the service’s monthly listeners metric.

1. Tech N9ne 2,789,000
2. Janelle Monaé 2,748,000
3. Puddle of Mudd 2,481,000
4. Count Basie 2,342,000
5. Kevin Morby 1,230,000
6. Pat Metheny 804,000
7. Melissa Etheridge 735,000
8. Bob Brookmeyer 538,000
9. Ben Webster 538,000
10. Charlie Parker 495,000

11. Oleta Adams 416,000
12. Coleman Hawkins 375,000
13. Dreamgirl 311,000
14. Lester Young 297,000
15. Krizz Kaliko 281,000
16. Burt Bacharach 254,000
17. The Greeting Committee 188,000
18. David Cook 181,000
19. Stevie Stone 179,000
20. Norman Brown 173,000

21. The Get Up Kids 167,000
22. Mac Lethal 159,000
23. Karrin Allyson 141,000
24. Ces Cru 137,000
25. Big Scoob 130,000
26. Big Joe Turner 127,000
27. Radkey 120,000
28. The Floozies 119,000
29. Gene Clark 114,000
30. Jay McShann 113,000

31. Bloodstone 95,000
32. Kutt Calhoun 93,000
33. Samantha Fish 87,000
34. Nicolette Larson 83,000
35. Making Movies 71,000
36. Iris DeMent 70,000
37. JL 69,000
38. Kevin Mahogany 67,000
39. Hembree 59,000
40. Me Like Bees 54,000

41. Danielle Nicole 53,000
42. Brewer & Shipley 52,000
43. Joyce DiDonato 51,000
44. Reggie and the Full Effect 47,000
45. 77 Jefferson 45,000
46. Julian Vaughn 45,000
47. Krystle Warren 42,000
48. Mackenzie Nicole 38,000
49. Miles Bonny 35,000
50. Madison Ward and the Mama Bear 31,000

51. Listener 30,000
52. Nathan Davis 28,000
53. Eldar Djangirov 27,000
54. Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7 27,000
55. Marva Whitney 26,000
56. The Anniversary 24,000
57. Joey Cool 21,000
58. Rich the Factor 21,000
59. Shy Boys 21,000
60. Chris Connor 16,000

61. Black Oxygen 15,000
62. Ubi 15,000
63. Various Blonde 15,000
64. Beautiful Bodies 14,000
65. Kelley Hunt 14,000
66. The Republic Tigers 12,000
67. Ha Ha Tonka 11,000
68. Coalesce 10,000
69. Jo Jones 10,000
70. Missouri 10,000

71. Shooting Star 10,000
72. Buck Clayton 9,000
73. Evalyn Awake 9,000
74. Bobby Watson 9,000
75. The Kansas City Symphony 8,000
76. Blair Bryant 6,000
77. Godemis 6,000
78. Kyla Jade 6,000
79. Julia Lee 6,000
80. Pageant Boys 6,000

81. The Rainmakers 6,000
82. 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians 5,000
83. The Kansas City Chorale 5,000
84. Bennie Moten 5,000
85. Trampled Under Foot 5,000
86. The Casket Lottery 4,000
87. The Marcus Lewis Big Band 4,000
88. Fat Tone 3,000
89. The Life and Times 3,000
90. Behzod Abduraimov 2,000

91. Calvin Arsenia 2,000
92. Mess 2,000
93. Radar State 2,000
94. Shiner 2,000
95. The Architects 1,000
96. Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys 1,000
97. Info Gates 1,000
98. Walter Page’s Blue Devils 1,000
99. Logan Richardson 1,000
100. Virgil Thomson 1,000


Notes and caveats:

*My listing- the product of three hours of racking my brain for every consequential artist from the Kansas City area- almost certainly contains several glaring omissions.  Yet before you call me an idiot for overlooking an artist, be advised that many ostensible hometown heroes are streamed by only a few hundred users each month.

*The number for Charlie Parker includes his separate listings for the Charlie Parker Quartet, the Charlie Parker Quintet, etc.  I also combined multiple entries for Count Basie, Pat Metheny, Bennie Moten and Ubi.

*Spotify updates its statistics daily.  The numbers for artists with popular new releases such as the Get Up Kids are sure to change dramatically in the following weeks.

*I recognize that the listening habits of Spotify users don’t necessarily reflect overall music consumption.  Even so, it’s among the most accurate gauges of what’s actually getting played.

*Although Eminem was born in St. Joseph, he’s not considered a local. Besides, his 28,811,000 monthly listeners make everything on my list look like a pitiful scrap.  (Khalid is currently the #1 artist in the world with 49,685,000 monthly listeners.)

*Sevendust has 1,055,000 monthly listeners, but only vocalist Lajon Witherspoon lives in the Kansas City area.

*So, is the Greeting Committee (#16) currently Kansas City’s most popular band?  Kinda sorta.

*EDIT: I’m arbitrarily boycotting Topeka artists. Here are the numbers on four notable Top City acts: Kansas- 5,362,000, Origin- 24,000, Youngblood Supercult- 21,000, Stik Figa- 7,000.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)