Personality Test

Several people expressed displeasure in my attendance at an event sponsored by the Church of Scientology of Kansas City on Tuesday, December 17.  I have no meaningful personal experience with the group, but I can verify a friend’s assertion that the majority of organization’s representatives on hand at Stanley Clarke’s concert are inordinately attractive.

I paid $40 to attend a 2016 concert in Atlanta by the most important bassist in the history of jazz fusion.  I wasn’t about to pass on an opportunity to see him for free.  A meager audience of about 250 consisting of jazz geeks, homeless men and Scientologists heard Clarke, trumpeter Mark Isham, pianist Rusian Sirota and tabla master Salar Nader play for about an hour in a heated tent catacorner to the stately Scientology building at the intersection of 18th Street and Grand Boulevard.

The setlist- “India,” “Brazilian Love Affair,” “Lover Man” (a duet between Clarke and Isham), “Three Wrong Notes” (a duet between Clarke and Sirota), “Spain,” “School Days” (Clarke’s only turn on electric bass) and “Sleigh Ride”- covered every base a fan could want.  And given the frigid conditions- my feet went numb on the icy pavement- the quartet’s hour-long outing was just the right length.

In contrast to the heavy-handed tone of the Kansas City Symphony’s pricy benefit concert (I was given a ticket) starring Yo-Yo, Ma, Emanuel Ax and Pamela Frank on the previous night, the Scientologists’ proselytizing was easily digestible.  The Symphony's conductor and artistic director Michael Stern said that “young people” were no longer listening to “music.”  His haughty attitude offended me far more than the subtle sloganeering of the Scientologists.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image of Clarke, Isham and Nader by There Stands the Glass.)

The Bourgeois Bumpkin

When Michael Stern began his defense of the placement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 2 on the program to the audience of about 1,400 at Helzberg Hall on Sunday afternoon, I was embarrassed for the Music Director of The Kansas City Symphony.  I felt that his apparent need to justify the presence of the occasionally jarring and overtly Leninist composition amid the “Beethoven sandwich” of “Meersstille und glückliche Fahrt” and Symphony No. 9 was patronizing.  Then I heard the piece for the first time and loved every minute of it.  Stern’s conciliatory spiel enhanced my appreciation of the work.  I suppose that makes me a bourgeois bumpkin.


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I reviewed a concert by Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Tech N9ne, Rich The Factor and Stevie Stone.

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I reviewed a concert by Fantasia and Anthony Hamilton.

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I reviewed a concert by Béla Fleck & the Flecktones.

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I selected songs by Krizz Kaliko, Logan Richardson, Psychic Heat, Kanye West, Carrie Rodriguez and Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom for my appearance on Best Music of 2016 (So Far) show on KCUR’s Up To Date.

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

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I documented my visit to SoJo Summerfest at Plastic Sax.

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"If You Ask Me Again (I Do)", the new single by Soul Revival, the Kansas City duo of Derick Cunigan and producer Desmond Mason, is lovely.  RIYL: John Legend, marriage, Chrisette Michele.

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The Kansas City rapper Farout’s new song “Guns” is shocking.  And I like it.

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Attrell Cordes of P.M. Dawn has died.

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Gojira’s Magma is RIYL A Perfect Circle, French metal, Lamb of God.  Here’s ”Silvera”.

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Death Grips’ Bottomless Pit is RIYL El-P, true punk, Karlheinz Stockhausen.  Here’s the title track.

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Brandy Clark’s Big Day in a Small Town sounds like money.  Almost every song could have been a hit for Miranda Lambert or Kenny Chesney.  Here’s ”Girl Next Door”.

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I’m not on the Car Seat Headrest bandwagon.  Teens of Denial leaves me cold.  I’ll stick to my dusty collection of albums by Pavement and the Fall.

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I’m pretty sure I can find the perfect theme song for my next podcast on The Odd Tape.  Oddisee strikes a winning balance between jazz and hip-hop on his latest effort.  Here’s ”Brea”.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)