Album Review: Hailu Mergia- Lala Belu

Friday wasn’t going well.  A couple setbacks put me in a foul mood that even a plethora of new music releases couldn’t remedy.  As I began to prepare for sleep at the end of the disappointing day, I auditioned one last album.  The dark clouds in my head dissipated five minutes into “Tizita,” the opening track of Hailu Mergia’s Lala Belu.

I’d just read The New York Times’s profile of Mergia that explained that the Ethiopian musician was now a cabdriver in Washington D.C.  The guy behind Awesome Tapes From Africa tracked Mergia down and recorded Lala Belu with him.  It’s a cool story, but I still wasn’t expecting much.  I was mistaken.

The life-affirming Lala Belu sounds as if the Ethiopian icon Mulatu Astatke is jamming with the jazz luminaries Charles Mingus and Robert Glasper.  Simultaneously old, new, African and American, the album is a potent sonic salve.


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I reviewed Logan Richardson’s Blues People at Plastic Sax.

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I featured David George in my weekly segment for KCUR.

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Cry No More, the second solo album by Kansas City blues-rock luminary Danielle Nicole, puts me in mind of the classic 1970s work of Delaney & Bonnie.  The title track is the second-best song on the new release.

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I’m as excited as everyone else about Janelle Monáe’s new songs “Django Jane” and “Make Me Feel”.

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I don’t begrudge Dessa for making crass pop moves on Chime.  It’s ridiculous that the enormously talented Doomtree standout isn’t already a household name.  I hope Chime makes her a star, but I’m not going to spend much time listening to the slick bid for mainstream acceptance.  RIYL: Madonna, commerce, Gwen Stefani.  Here’s “Half of You”.

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I still mourn Lou Reed.  I might even miss Mark E. Smith of the Fall someday.  But I’ll be damned if Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest doesn’t prove himself to be a worthy heir of those innovators on Twin Fantasy.  Here’s “Nervous Young Inhumans”.

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Noah Preminger is on a roll.  Genuinity, the most recent in a string of impressive albums by the New York based saxophonist, is RIYL Ornette Coleman, jazz emancipation, Rudresh Mahanthappa.

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While the contents aren’t as interesting as the title, Leslie Pintchik’s You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl! is a better-than-average mainstream jazz album.  RIYL: Bill Charlap, accordion flourishes, Matt Wilson.

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Black Milk’s Fever is decent, I guess.  RIYL: Dwele, good enough, Oddisee.  Here’s “Laugh Now Cry Later”.

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A couple tracks on Soulive’s instrumental EP Cinematics Vol. 1 are spectacular.  RIYL: Booker T. & the M.G.'s, imaginary soundtracks, Badbadnotgood.

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They still make ‘em like they used to.  Even the cover art of the new recording by baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan’s Alternative Contrafacts is straight out of 1974.  The dated packaging is belied by the freshness of the music.  Bassist David Wong and drummer Rodney Green push Smulyan into wooly terrain.  RIYL: Harry Carney, unexpected treasures, Hamiet Bluiett.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Noah Preminger- Meditations On Freedom

Noah Preminger is tilting at windmills.  Few artistic statements are more quixotic in 2017 than jazz protest albums.  Twitter rather than tonality is the order of the day.  Yet even if the New York based saxophonist fails to engage the new president in a war of words on social media, he’s made jazz great again with his sixth album Meditations On Freedom.  The project is slated for digital release on Friday, January 20, to coincide with the presidential inauguration.  Trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Kim Cass and drummer Ian Froman join the saxophonist on instrumental interpretations of familiar material including Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way It Is” and striking original compositions like “The 99 Percent.”  Performed in the liberating free jazz style associated with Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet, the appropriately named Meditations On Freedom is terrific, tremendous and very, very strong.


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I wrote a nasty review of a desultory concert by Lloyd and J. Holiday.

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I reviewed Ramsey Lewis’ concert at the Gem Theater.

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I reviewed Echoes of Europe, the new album by the Dino Massa Kansas City Quintet, for KCUR.

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I chastised a misguided Kansas City artist at Plastic Sax.

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I wrote an extended preview about Atmosphere’s return to the Granada.

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

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I discussed Blackbird Revue on KCUR this week.

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Posted here, for the first time anywhere- my response to the contemporaneous teen albums meme:

1. The Clash- London Calling
2. Michael Jackson- Off the Wall
3. Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson- Waylon & Willie
4. Bob Marley- Survival
5. Prince- 1999
6. Ramones- Ramones
7. Bruce Springsteen- Darkness on the Edge of Town
8. Talking Heads- Fear of Music
9. Hank Williams, Jr.- Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound
10. Stevie Wonder- Songs in the Key of Life

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Buddy Greco has died.  I thought about goofing on the late lounge lizard, but I genuinely like this ish.

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Tommy Allsup has died.

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Greg Trooper has died.

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William Onyeabor has died.

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Yukmouth’s JJ Based On a Vill Story is an unexpected triumph. RIYL: The Game, Oakland gangsta rap, E-40.  ”Thank You Lord” may be the album’s worst song.

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Systema Solar’s Rumbo A Tierra is a party-starter.  RIYL: Bomba Estéreo, a sense of surprise, Julieta Venegas.

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The XX’s I See You is an adorable homage to 1980s synth-pop artists like Alison Moyet and the Human League.

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I’m glad for my friends who are excited about Radiohead’s return to Kansas City on April 5.  An even more promising performance of forward-thinking sounds will take place at the Folly Theater on April 7.  The quartet of Donny McCaslin, Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana act as convincing jazz ambassadors in a recent Tiny Desk Concert.

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Bonobo updates smooth jazz on the impressive Migration.  RIYL: Bob James, hot tubs, John Klemmer.

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Sepultura’s Machine Messiah isn’t just another perfunctory genre exercise.  RIYL: Pantera, rage, Kreator.

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Who needs the parody act Steel Panther when Grave Digger is still producing unironic gems like ”Healed By Metal”?

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Roots Magic- Hoodoo Blues

I’ve spent the majority of my life under the impression that I’m the only person on the planet who considers Henry Threadgill’s ”I Can’t Wait Till I Get Home” to be one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century.  I resigned myself to the lonely life of an isolated avant-garde jazz weirdo enthusiast years ago.  A trip to Italy might be in order.  Roots Magic is an Italian quartet that specializes in loving recreations of classic left-of-center American jazz compositions, including Threadgill’s “I Can’t Wait ‘Til I Get Home.”  How does that even happen?  Hoodoo Blues restores my zeal for life on Earth.


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I wrote an extended preview for Run the Jewels’ concert.  Alas, the show disappointed me.  Here’s my review.

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

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A feature about Ron Carlson is among the recent Local Listen segments I’ve contributed to KCUR.

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Last week’s John Gross concert was not exactly what I had in mind.

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Duncan Burnett & the Ministry created a video for ”Junkies”.

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Strange Music released a video for Ces Cru’s ”Letterman”.

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The Xtraordinair$ made a video for ”Best Me”.

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Brian Berg has died.  I was a big fan of his roots-rock band 44 Long in the late 1990s.

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Mark Murphy has died.  I vaguely recall seeing the vocalist perform at a short-lived venue on Southwest Boulevard in the 1990s.

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Cory Wells of Three Dog Knight has died.

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The lineup of the 2016 edition of the Big EarsFestival is extremely impressive.

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Vivian Green’s Vivid is disappointingly dull.  RIYL: Marsha Ambrosius, adult R&B, Anthony Hamilton.  Here’s ”Gets Right Back to My Baby”.

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I saw Noah Preminger perform at the 55 Bar in New York seven months ago.  (My review.)  Not surprisingly, the saxophonist’s new album Pivot: Live at the 55 Bar sounds a lot like what I heard.  RIYL: late Coltrane, fury, Archie Shepp.

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I’m charmed by the Suffers’ Make Some Room.  RIYL: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Houston, the Diplomats of Solid Sound.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall From Kansas?

I’ve long felt like a provincial yahoo. 

I’m an expert on budget hotels in Amarillo but I’ve never traveled to Africa.  I’ve walked countless streets in small towns in central Kansas but I know only a couple hundred words of Spanish.

A visit to Carnegie Hall last week made me feel like less of a rube.  I’d never made it to the storied concert hall during a handful of previous visits to New York City.

An unamplified performance by my fellow Kansan Joyce DiDonato with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Perspectives series she curates was sufficiently loud in my $40 balcony seat.  The program was dominated by material from DiDonato’s Stella di Napoli, my ninth favorite album of 2014.

A duet between DiDonato as Romeo and Laura Claycomb as Juliet during a selection from Vincenzo Bellini’s “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” is one of the most stimulating things I've witnessed.  My cousin Lawrence Brownlee was also impressive.

The New York Times reviewed the concert.


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An appearance by Charlie Wilson was no less memorable than shows I’ve witnessed by James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes.  Here’s my review.

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I reviewed a concert by Maroon 5, Magic! and Rozzi Crane.

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I caught a performance by Noah Preminger’s quartet while in New York.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment on the New Riddim to KCUR.

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Earl Sweatshirt’s new I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside… initially strikes me as a rehashed version of his amazing Doris.  ”Grief” sounds like a suicide note.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)