Concert Review: Mary J. Blige and Nas at Starlight Theatre

An acquaintance made a distressing confession on Thursday morning.  Citing gun violence and festering social divisions, she told me she was dumbfounded by her daughter’s decision to become pregnant.  Had my friend joined me at the Mary J. Blige and Nas concert at Starlight Theatre that evening, her heartache might have been mended.  Blige offered a generous form of spiritual healing to members of the audience 6,000.

At the risk of committing blasphemy, I’ll suggest that Blige suffers for our sins.  Her unfiltered exploration of pain makes Blige one of the best performers of the new millennium.  She collapsed during a cathartic rendition of “No More Drama” and conducted her signature inelegant dance moves to chants of “go Mary” as if violent physical exertion might expel emotional trauma.

Blige exudes a sense of selflessness, but Nas is in it for himself.  Even though he and a backing band ran through many of his essential hits, his set was wack.  Nas said he didn’t recall the last time he performed in the area- this disappointed fan knows that his previous Kansas City appearance was with Damien Marley at the Beaumont Club in 2009- and repeatedly made the common faux pas of insisting he was in Kansas.  He doubled down on his geographical ignorance by asking “is this where Dorothy got lost?”

Nas’ indifference caused him to slip a few notches on my rap G.O.A.T. list.  My estimation of Blige, however, continues to grow.  If the $45.50 I paid at the gate doubled as a faith-based offering, Blige’s testimony represents one of the most rousing sermons I’ve heard.


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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Jorja Smith- Lost & Found

Jorja Smith’s episode of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert floored me.  The performance seemed to signal the arrival of a major talent.  Alas, the 21-year-old British woman’s debut album Lost & Found is slightly less convincing.  I was about to write it off until I was arrested by a surprising interpolation of Dizzee Rascal’s “Sirens,” my favorite song of 2007, on the eighth track.  Smith could be the next big star in the mode of Erykah Badu, D’Angelo or Lauryn Hill after all.


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I covered the first day of the Boulevardia festival for The Kansas City Star

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I analyzed the significance of Social Distortion in a forecast of the band’s appearance at Middle of the Map festival.

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I reviewed the Ryan Marquez Trio’s Moving Forward in Time at Plastic Sax.

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I was backstage in Austin Music Hall at a SWSW showcase for the All the King’s Men project in 1997.  I was on cloud nine watching a parade of stars walk past me to perform with Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana.  Fontana has died.

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At the conclusion of Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s first set at the Jazzhaus in Lawrence, Kansas, in the 1980s, I convinced two friends to abandon the club for my apartment.  I’d run out of money, but cold beer was in my refrigerator.  I’ve been haunted by that shameful decision for decades.  Murphy died last week.

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Lorraine Gordon of the Village Vanguard has died.  I’m fairly certain she’s the person who scolded me for dawdling during my first visit to the club in the 1990s.

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Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of the Last Poets has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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If three minutes were cut from the 7:33 “Everything,” Nas’ Nasir would be close to perfect.  It’s the best of Kanye West’s recent stellar musical outburst.  My new ranking: Nasir, Kids See Ghosts, Daytona, Ye.  Another thought: it’s increasingly clear that the five-part series (Teyana Taylor’s effort is slated for release on June 22) is intended to be heard as a single song cycle.

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Nick Lowe’s new four-song collaboration with Los Straitjackets is almost as wonderful as his classic work of the 1970s.

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The four-song Consolation affirms my belief that Protomartyr is one of the most vital bands in rock.

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Jeffrey Osborne’s Worth It All suffers from a serious quality control problem.  The soul crooner’s voice is intact, but decent songs are few and far between.  Here’s the title track.

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Lower East Suite Part Three, the sloppy debut album of the Onyx Collective, is a lo-fi mess.  And that’s precisely what I like about it.  The young jazz musicians play with the reckless indifference of punks.  RIYL: the Jazz Passengers, nose-thumbing, the Lounge Lizards.

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Orange Goblin’s The Wolf Bites Back is a blast.  RIYL: Clutch, prison tattoos, Red Fang.  Here’s “In Bocca Al Lupo”.

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I listened to The Carters’ Everything Is Love once.  Never again.  RIYL: Forbes list flexing, Us Weekly, misplaced priorities.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Nas- Illmatic XX

A common theme in alien abduction movies is the victim's inability to account for an inexplicable loss of time.  It happened to me this week.  Instead of getting probed by lusty Martians, I simply hit play on the new reissue of Nas' Illmatic.  The wormhole effect elicited by twenty-year-old tracks like "One Time 4 Your Mind" made me oblivious to the outside world.  Hey Nas- what do you want from me?  Leave me alone!


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I saw John Cale for the first time last night.  Here's my review.

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The Museum of Dead People in my basement contains several albums and CDs by Jesse Winchester.  But I never saw the man perform and I never really connected with his music.  Only covers of Winchester's material- Ted Hawkins' rendition of "Biloxi" is a prime example- resonated with me.  Winchester died last week.

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The film portion of this weekend's Middle of the Map Fest features several music movies.

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Stik Figa released The Pookey Tape this week.

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Here's a most welcome blast from the past: live footage of BCR performing at Harlings in 1995.  The expression of the young woman dancing in front of the single camera reflects my affection for Black Crack Revue.

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When worlds collide.

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Brook Tuley of Bloodbirds released First Midnight.

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An instrumental version of Romeo Santos' Formula, Vol. 2 could conceivably make by year-end top albums list.  The blend of pop and bachata is intoxicating.  But man, I just can't take Santos's smarmy ad-libs.  The feature by Rhymes-with-Snake on the seventh track adds insult to injury.

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Vampire's self-titled album is great.  RIYL: death metal, Slayer, vampires.

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Snarky Puppy, hailed by many observers as a band capable of resurrecting interest in jazz, strikes me as an unholy mashup of Steely Dan and the Brecker Brothers.  Here's a sample (note the impressive view count).

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Chuck E. Weiss makes only three selections for "What's In My Bag?".  And it's possibly the best episode yet.

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I like what I've heard of Phronesis' new live album Life To Everything.  RIYL: Medeski Martin & Wood, the sound of people cheering for a piano trio, the Bad Plus.

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John McLaughlin's new The Boston Record is seventies-tastic.  RIYL: Mahavishnu Orchestra, solos, Jaco Pastorius.

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Woods' With Light and with Love is a righteous jam.  RIYL: If I Could Only Remember My Name, patchouli, All Things Must Pass.

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Emmure's "Like LaMotta" is this week's palate cleanser. 

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)