Blame It On My Youth

My Twitter feed was inundated with posts about Kind of Blue and Time Out for International Jazz Day yesterday.  Refusing to play into the hands of cynical marketers and self-serving institutions, I didn’t write any replies.  Yet the clickbait posts soliciting answers to questions like “which jazz records changed your life?” prompted me recall becoming a discerning jazz enthusiast in the 1980s.  Then, as now, my ears were open to all genres, so jazz albums had to be just as exciting as groundbreaking music by the likes of the Clash, Prince, Public Enemy and Talking Heads.  The ten albums on the following list that I purchased as new releases in the 1980s met that standard.  Without these titles in my life during that formative decade, I may not have made a lifelong commitment to jazz.

1. Jack DeJohnette- Special Edition (1980)

2. Pat Metheny- 80/81 (1980)

3. James Blood Ulmer- Free Lancing (1981)

4. Miles Davis- Decoy (1983)

5. Wynton Marsalis- Black Codes (From the Underground) (1985)

6. John Zorn- The Big Gundown (1985)

7. Ornette Coleman- In All Languages (1987)

8. Henry Threadgill- Easily Slip Into Another World (1988)

9. Bobby Watson & Horizon- No Question About It (1988)

10. Chet Baker- Plays and Sings from the Film “Let’s Get Lost” (1989)

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image of the Tennessee Theater at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Leikeli47- Acrylic

Appreciation of laudable art is often hard won.  I almost gave up on Leikeli47’s Acrylic when references to high fashion on the eighth selection “Post That” and Greek life at H.B.C.U.s on the sixth track “Roll Call” (a knockoff of T.I.’s 2003 hit “Rubber Band Man”) irritated me the first time I played the album.  The mind-bending production compelled me to stick with Acrylic.  My perseverance paid off.  Repeated plays of the wide-ranging album revealed that the extremely bright, audaciously funny and vigorously feminist New York rapper is as wonky as Dessa, as accessible as Brandy and as deliriously unhinged as Cardi B.  Yet it’s the consistently surprising sonic textures that include pure pop, murky grime, lovely R&B and spare footwork that make Acrylic one of my favorite albums of the year, even if it took some time to get my head around it.   Here’s “Girl Blunt”.


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My review of Ernest Melton’s The Time of the Slave Is Over is at Plastic Sax.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

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Roy Clark has died.  Not only was Hee Haw a big part of my cultural education, I recall seeing a few of his albums in my dad’s collection.

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Alec Finn of De Dannan has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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The Hawaiian slack key guitarist Cyril Pahinui has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Anderson Paak’s astounding Oxnard is a throwback to the Death Row era.  Paak delivers SoCal
gangsta rap with a knowing wink.  RIYL: Doggystyle, coming to terms with horrendous misogyny, The Chronic.  Here’s “Tints”.

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Even though the Rubberband EP consists of five remixes of a single Miles Davis track from a suppressed 1985 session, the repetition never becomes stale.  Context for the oddly compelling project is available here.

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The most surprising aspect of Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy is that the drummer’s frequent collaborator Bill Frisell doesn’t make an appearance.  Even so, the worthy project fits squarely in the instrumental folk-jazz realm associated with the guitarist.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

So What

The new boxed set The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 documents the death knell of jazz as a form of popular music.  Months after Miles Davis’ sublime Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s monumental Giant Steps were released, the jazz titans toured Europe with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

Eager audiences expected to hear a unified band firing on all cylinders.  The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 is the sound of disappointment.  A press release insists that the 220-minute collection showcases the “musical chemistry shared by Miles and Trane.”  What a laugh!

Davis and Coltrane are clearly at odds with one another.  Coltrane’s connection with the rhythm section is even shakier.  I’m on #teamtrane, but I understand how Coltrane’s lengthy and often dissonant solos could be construed as selfish grandstanding.  The band’s unwillingness or inability to respond with a corresponding sense of exploration is cringe-inducing.

The clearly audible responses of enraged fans seem misguided in hindsight, but the auspiciousness of the participants places these sessions among the most significant breaches of jazz’s accord with the general public.


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I consider suburban jazz at Plastic Sax.

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Avicii has died.

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“Groomed By the Block” is the best track on Kontra-Band, a collaboration between the Kansas City rappers Stevie Stone and JL.

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Kandace Springs reveals her supper club inclinations on the three-song Black Orchid.  RIYL: Diana Ross, formal wear, Dionne Warwick.  Here’s the title track.

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I like J. Cole as a person but I don’t particularly care for his music.  Most of KOD is insufferable.

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Sorrows & Triumphs may be too much of a good thing.  Edward Simon’s latest effort features a large cast of ringers including Brian Blade, Imani Winds, David Binney and Gretchen Parlato.  The result is aggravatingly fussy.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Silent Movies Make More Money

I bought a $15 ticket to be a part of the in-crowd at Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear’s joyous concert at the Midland theater last week.  The audience of 1,500 was the biggest I’ve seen for any single locally based artist in the past three years aside from Tech N9ne, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, Joyce DiDonato or the Kansas City Symphony.  Here’s Tim Finn’s review.


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I reviewed last night’s Incubus, Deftones, Death From Above 1979 and the Bots concert.

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I reviewed Radkey’s Dark Black Makeup for KCUR.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Samantha Fish to KCUR.

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I play the role of Debbie Downer at the Charlie Parker Celebration.

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Even with the lousy sound on some of the later stuff, Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 serves as a spectacular survey of jazz history.

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Nicholas Payton plays a lot of keyboards on the engaging Letters.  RIYL: Kamasi Washington, grooving, Stanley Cowell.

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I can’t decide if Tunde Olaniran’s Transgressor sounds more like an indie-rock version of Beyoncé or a pop version of TV On the Radio.  I also can’t decide if I like it.

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Omar Souleyman’s Bahdeni Nami is my kind of party.

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The Foreign Exchange’s Tales From the Land of Milk and Honey is RIYL: Soul II Soul, grown-and-sexy music, Bobbi Humphrey.  Here’s the video for the somewhat unrepresentative “Asking For a Friend.” 

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Oleta Adams, Chaka Khan and Nancy Wilson are among the guest vocalists on Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul.   Here’s the EPK.

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I listened to Luke Bryan’s new album.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Cecil Womack, 1947-2013

When I was footloose and fancy free, music played a significant role in facilitating my romantic life.  Their brilliant music wasn't the only reason I spent a lot of time listening to Michael Jackson and Prince.  But even geniuses can get played out.  The appeal of the Gap Band and Rick James diminished away from the dance floor.  And there's only so much Lionel Richie and Luther Vandross a guy can take.  I was on the prowl for new music that could set the mood even as it stimulated my brain.  Enter Womack and Womack.  Love Wars, Radio M.U.S.C. Man and Conscious were my extremely helpful jams.  Cecil Womack died February 1.  An obituary in The Telegraph offers further evidence that truth is stranger than fiction.  (Tip via BGO.)


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Womack and Linda (Cooke) also cowrote one of the best songs of the 20th century. 


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I reviewed Kid Rock's concert at the Sprint Center.

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Reg Presley of the Troggs has died.

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I discovered the Diablos Del Ritmo: Colombian Melting Pot compilation via There Stands the Glass reader Big Steve.  I hadn't even realized that my life had been incomplete until I heard Myrian Makenwa's essential "Amampondo" for the first time this week.

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Lenny Kaye likes Rory Gallagher?  That's just one of the many surprises of his new "What's In My Bag" segment.

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I'm constantly reminded of my limitations.

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Sometimes I just have to let myself go.  I recently listened to every second of Trinidad James' Don't Be S.A.F.E.  And I enjoyed it for what it is.  The new remix of the project's big hit features the brain trust of T.J, T.I., 2 Chainz and Young Jeezy. 

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Deerhoof makes me smile.

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Kasey Anderson, a musician who's received positive attention at There Stands the Glass, is in a heap of trouble.

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Merzbow continues to confuse me.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  Have you seen Genesis P-Orridge lately?

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Here's a video for Solas' "Lay Your Money Down."  RIYL: Flogging Molly, alcohol, Philadelphia.

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I can't locate an EPK at YoutTube, so you'll have to watch the essential footage of Chick Corea talking about the latest Miles Davis official boot of 1969 recordings at the retail link.  Spotify has also made the album difficult to find.  Here you go.

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Kansas City Click: Cam'ron appears at the Riot Room on Tuesday.

The Steepwater Band play Knuckleheads on Wednesday.

The Brick hosts Mike Dillon on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)