Concert Review: Paolo Nutini at Knuckleheads

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

I jumped at the chance to catch a free show by the male version of Adele at one of my favorite venues on Saturday. 

Realizing that the room housing the primary indoor stage would reach capacity quickly, I showed up at Knuckleheads 75 minutes early.  As Paolo Nutini and his band conducted a sound check, I waited in line outside with a couple hundred shivering people.  I was the only member of the queue without a canned food donation.  The event was apparently promoted by 90.9 The Bridge as a charitable benefit, but I rarely listen to the station.

After buying a PBR man-can for $3.50, I secured a seat at the back of the room and immediately sensed trouble.  Everyone around me was in the celebratory mood associated with holiday weekends.  No one was talking about Nutini.

Sure enough, half of the people in attendance didn't even acknowledge Nutini and his band when the 55-minute show began.  After 15 minutes of not being able to make out individual songs, I fought my way to the front.  A generous friend found room for me at a prime table 20 feet from the stage.  I still couldn't hear. 

I sensed that  Nutini's sound crew created a lush mix that would have been ideal if no one was talking.  Yet chatter overwhelmed the music.  Two bros squeezed next to me were talking about "locking down" women, whatever that means.

While I couldn't make out individual instrumentation, Nutini's voice occasionally rose above the din.  His recordings don't lie.  Nutini is a superb singer who has staked out a prime territory between Otis Redding and Maxwell.

At least, that's what I think I heard.


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I reviewed Slipknot's return to the Sprint Center.

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I list the Top Jazz Albums of 2014 at Plastic Sax.

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Ensemble Ibérica is releasing a new album next week.

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Teddy Dibble conducts a show-and-tell with the face-themed album art in his vinyl collection.

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Ottomans, the new album by Hidden Pictures, was released today.   RIYL: Crowded House, smart pop, OK Jones.

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Bobby Keys has died.  I have a vague recollection of once seeing him perform as a member of Johnny Copeland's band.  Is that possible?

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"Elvis Presley Blvd" is the best song on Rick Ross' entertaining Hood Billionaire.

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I finally got around to listening to Eric Church's The Outsiders.  Like the little girl with the curl, when it's good, it's very, very good, but when it's bad, it's horrid.

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How did I overlook Broken Ankles, the 2014 collaboration between Freeway and Girl Talk?  "Lived It" is excellent.

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The Art of Conversation, the highly praised duet album by Kenny Barron and Dave Holland, is exquisite.  RIYL: tony clubs, New York City, elegance.

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I'm not feeling De La Soul's new song "The People".

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Syleena Johnson's Chapter 6: Couples Therapy is RIYL: Lalah Hathaway, heartache, Jill Scott.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Ron Gutierrez at KC Live!

Ron Gutierrez's reputation as the Latin Luther received an enormous boost at the KC Live! stage in the Power & Light district on Sunday.  A woman standing next to me lost her composure during Gutierrez's spot-on rendition of Luther Vandross' "A House Is Not a Home." 

"He's reincarnated!" she screamed.

Backed by a six-piece band, Gutierrez's versions of songs associated with Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Spinners and the Commodores showcased his incredible voice.  By the time he closed his hour-long set with McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," many in the audience of over 1,500 had forgotten that they had been waiting to hear Bryson.  

I've had the good fortune to hear Gutierrez perform in a variety of contexts.  He appears at jazz clubs, has worked with ensembles led by the late Kerry Strayer including the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and has become a go-to artist for National Anthem duties at professional sporting events.  He never fails to awe his audience.  Gutierrez isn't merely soulful.  His lustrous voice is impossibly pure.

After Sunday's star-making performance opening for Bryson, the Latin Luther may also come to be known as the Maxwell of the Midwest and Kansas City's Nat King Cole.


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Philip Chevron of the Pogues has died.

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Doug Ramsey reports that Oscar Castro-Neves has died.

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

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"Thank God" is Krizz Kaliko's latest video.

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Cowboy Indian Bear's new video for "Let It Down" is lovely.

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Here's a video recap of Dancefestopia. 

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Approach made an 11-minute documentary about the making of his new album.

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Hidden Pictures has released a new 3-song EP.

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Marc Myers offers an inside peek at his interview with Ginger Baker.

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I recently discovered a remarkable "music video" Jimmy Martin made for "20/20 Vision."

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I suppose I'm just not sophisticated enough to appreciate Matana Roberts' Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile.  RIYL: John Zorn, advanced degrees, AACM.

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Ponder the Mystery, William Shatner's new prog-rock album, is a hoot.

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I cosign OFWGKTA's "Look".

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Gary Numan is an interesting cat.

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Riff Raff remains my favorite troll.

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A new box set containing material Woody Guthrie recorded for the Feds is titled American Radical Patriot.

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"Am I getting to deep here for you?"- Sonny Rollins.

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Leron Thomas' new album Whatever is good but not great.  RIYL: Christian Scott, Sean Jones, Harish Raghavan.

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A coffee table book about Houston's hip hop scene?  That's ridiculous.  But I want it.

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There Stands the Glass reader BGO encouraged me to share this NPR-sponsored performance by saxophonist Melissa Aldana.  The kid has great ideas.  RIYL: Lee Konitz, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre. 

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Jill Scott is featured in a video from the Robert Glasper Experiment's forthcoming album.

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I'm entranced by The City Under the City, the new release by L'Orange & Stik Figa.  Also released today: Anberlin. Jon Batiste, Mary J. Blige, Brandy Clark, Cults, Death Angel, Devin the Dude, Dismemberment Plan, Tim Hecker, Will Hoge, Boldy James, Glenn Lewis, Lucius, Paul McCartney, Morcheeba, Willie Nelson, Gary Numan, Aaron Parks, Pelican, Quadriga Consort, Red Fang, Ralph Towner, Trivium and Young Dro.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Elena Urioste and Gabriela Martinez at the Folly Theater

A pair of staggeringly beautiful women who happen to be accomplished musicians made Leoš Janáček's harrowing "Sonata for Violin and Piano" the centerpiece of their concert Friday at the Folly Theater.  What's not to love?  Over 900 people took advantage of the 25th installment of the free Discovery Concert of the Harriman-Jewell Series.  I was completely smitten by the performances of violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Gabriela Martinez.  A sensitive reading of Claude Debussy's "Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor" served as a secondary highlight.  By the time the inspired rendition of the piece concluded, I more fully understood why jazz musicians including Charlie Parker adored the French composer. 


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I reviewed the There Might Be Giants at Crossroads KC on Thursday.  "Doctor Worm" refuses to crawl out of my noggin- "I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm- I am an actual worm!"

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Much of the video for Not a Planet's "Kingdom Come" was shot on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

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Nico Yoch has an ambitious video for "Ain't Stoppin'".  RIYL: Ces Cru, Atmosphere, 9th Wonder.  (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Sister Wife is the latest recording by power pop maestros Hidden Pictures.

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Doby Watson and Margo May's Watson & May is RIYL the Head and the Heart, Grouplove, NPR.

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"I'm basically a product of my record collection."  Learning that Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth is a fellow obsessive geek makes me happy. 

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I'm delighted and surprised to see that Azymuth is being reclaimed by fashionable DJs.

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Bonnie Prince Billy and Dawn McCarthy's cover of "Omaha" floors me.

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Light In the Attic put together a nice miniature documentary on Bobby Whitlock.

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The end is nigh.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)