Una Copita de Ron

I’m beginning to suspect that I’m on the wrong continent.  The joy I felt on a recent trip to Chile and at a concert by a cumbia band on Friday has me rethinking my place on the planet.

My Spanish may be atrocious, but most everything else feels right about a potential move to the south. 

I didn’t understand what a member of the dynamic show band Tropicalísimo Apache said when he pointed me out during Friday’s free concert at Barney Allis Plaza.  If he was encouraging a brave woman to dance with me, his request went unheeded.

No matter.  I was so enthralled with the expertise with which the Mexican band played the music of Columbia that I’m ”Una Copita de Ron” away from buying a one-way ticket to Bogotá or Santiago. 


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Here are my most recent weekly music picks for The Kansas City Star and Ink.

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I previewed the Crossroads Music Fest for Ink and contributed to a review of the event for The Kansas City Star.

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An item about Second Hand King is among my recent contributions to KCUR.

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I caught a portion of the Prairie Village Jazz Festival at Plastic Sax.  Here are my notes.

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A vibrant mix of Afrobeat, soukous, rock and electronica, Mbongwana Star’s From Kinshasa is stunning.  Here’s ”Malukayi” (Tip via Big Steve.)

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I’m unable to resist the Go! Team’s charms.  Listening to The Scene Between gives me the same feeling I had when I was seven years old and watching a new episode of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon.  RIYL: the Magnetic Fields, Sid and Marty Krofft, the Crystals.  Here’s the title track.

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I didn’t catch last year’s Chick Corea/Bela Fleck tour.  The concert document Two indicates that you had to be there.

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Live in Cuba, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s new 137-minute album, alternately thrilled and bored me.  RIYL: certain Grammy winners, Wynton, big bands.

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Anne-Sophie Mutter gets it.  The Club Album is everything it’s meant to be.  RIYL: populism (of a sort), Vivaldi, marketing genius.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Reggie B- DNA

I've never been a big fan of the Innate Sounds vibe.  The flighty funk, scat-happy vocals and meandering jazz beats I associate with the label just aren't my bag.  Yet DNA, the new recording by sometime Innate Sounds artist Reggie B, instantly connected with me.  The 70-plus-minute recording is based on the foundations laid down by Prince, J Dilla and Roy Ayers.  The project also contains embellishments inspired by R. Kelly, Teddy Riley, Bob James and Bootsy Collins.  While derivative, the mix works.  DNA is one of my favorite albums of the year by a Kansas City-based artist.


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I reviewed concerts by Sara Bareilles, Bonnie Raitt and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last week.

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Ronald Shannon Jackson has died.

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Jazz bassist Butch Warren has died.

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Noel Harrison has died.

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The doofus at Plastic Sax reviewed A Kansas City Trumpet Summit.

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KCUR aired a ten-minute feature on Mike Stover.

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Mac Lethal is in his wheelhouse in the In Other News segment for Pharrell Williams' channel.

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Shame is the latest release by Mike Borgia & the Problems.

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Tim Horner's The Head of the Circle is RIYL: Joe Locke, Ted Nash, mainstream jazz.

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The EPK for the Robert Glasper Experiment's Black Radio 2 is exceedingly annoying.

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Revocation made a video for "Fracked".  RIYL: environmental activism, death metal, headbanging.

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Danny Brown's Old has its moments.  RIYL: Richard Pryor, substance abuse, A$AP Rocky.

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I don't invest much time worrying about the ongoing debates related to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.  Here are my five personal favorites- not the best or the most important artists- among the current batch of nominees: LL Cool J, The Meters, N.W.A., the Replacements and the Zombies.

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Trivium's Vengeance Falls is RIYL: Metallica, energy drinks, Guitar Hero.

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I adore Deer Tick's new album Negativity.  RIYL: Rick Danko, the Gourds, John Prine's Pink Cadillac.

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Here's additional recent footage of Charlie Musselwhite performing at a tribute to Little Walter.

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Tommy McCook's classic Reggae In Jazz was just reissued.  RIYL: The Skatalites, life, Duke Reid.

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A forthcoming collection of Lone Justice recordings from 1984 features liner notes by Chris Morris.

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This week's new releases of special interest to There Stands the Glass include AFI, Best Coast, Cage, Brandy Clark, Brett Dennen, Tom Harrell, DJ Khaled, Metal Church, Motorhead, Najee, Ednita Nazario, Polica, Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones, Omar Souleyman and Linda Thompson.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.  Also, "Am I Evil?" - you may or may not see me at the Diamond Head show tonight (October 22) at the Riot Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)