Lend Me Your Ears and I'll Sing You a Song: The Top EPs and Reissues of 2017

In my rush to get a jump on the onslaught of year-end music lists, I neglected to include rankings of EPs and reissues in the publication of my top albums, songs and concerts of 2017.

The Top Ten EPs of 2017
1. DJ Shadow- The Mountain Has Fallen
2. Graves- Tomorrow Tape
3. Sudan Archives- Sudan Archives
4. Stik Figa- Central Standard Time
5. Momma’s Boy- Liquid Courage
6. Yaeji- Yaeji
7. Young Thug- Young Martha
8. F*cked Up- Year of the Snake
9. Mastodon- Cold Dark Place
10. Instant Karma- Trying To Find My Mind

The Top Ten Reissues of 2017
1. Mulatu Astatke- Mulatu of Africa
2. The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Pop Makossa- The Invasive Dance Beat of Cameroon 1976​-​1984
4. Can- The Singles
5. Isaac Hayes- The Spirit of Memphis (1962-1976)
6. Prince- Purple Rain
7. Louis Armstrong- The Complete Decca Singles: 1935-1946
8. Alice Coltrane- World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane
9. Jackie Shane- Any Other Way
10. Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

I Might

I have no patience for the several important new albums that were released on Friday.  My obsession with “Slide” is in the way.  The collaboration between Calvin Harris, Migos and Frank Ocean is pure pop bliss.  “Slide” may be the best step dance song since R. Kelly’s joyous 2003 jam “Step in the Name of Love”. 


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I discussed Momma’s Boy on KCUR.

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

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I address the Janelle Monáe-related snafu that’s distressed much of Kansas City’s music and political communities at Plastic Sax.  I desperately hope that the following artists are the primary targets of the people in charge of the booking the American Jazz Museum’s new $50-per-day festival: A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Childish Gambino, Al Green, Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, Kendrick Lamar, Diana Ross, Solange and Stevie Wonder.

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I wrote an extended concert preview about Valerie June for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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Larry Coryell has died.

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Leon Ware has died.

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Barbara Carroll has died.

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Blacswet, a self-titled EP featuring Spoek Mathambo, sounds like the soundtrack to George Clinton’s most lucid dream.  RIYL: “Atomic Dog,” European discotheques, Clipping.  (Tip via Big Steve.)

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Charlie Wilson has supplied an inordinately large portion of the soundtrack of my life.  Alas, In It To Win It is disappointing.  Only two or three songs are exceptional.  Here’s ”I’m Blessed”.

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The sparseness of La Diversité fooled me at first.  The open spaces cleverly obscure the depth of the latest effort by the Belgian saxophonist Nicolas Kummert and Lionel Loueke.  RIYL: Chris Potter, eurojazz, Pat Metheny.

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It’s not them; it’s me.  Windy City and Highway Queen, the new albums by Alison Krauss and Nikki Lane, don’t move me.

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Adam Schneit reached out to me about securing coverage of his 2016 album Light Shines In.  I’m pleased to report that it’s superlative progressive jazz in the vein of Bill Frisell and Steve Lacy.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)