He Believes He Can Fly

It may take me the rest of the year to process everything I heard and saw at R. Kelly’s bizarre outing at the Sprint Center on Saturday.  I hadn’t attended a Kelly concert in nine years, a period in which the Pied Piper of R&B made several essential additions to his vast discography.

The first 30 minutes of his maddeningly inconsistent appearance were so disheartening that I cursed myself for wasting $67 on the cheapest available ticket. My interest grew as the concert became increasingly odd. 

An abbreviated list of Kelly’s foibles: He spent a few minutes watching television from an easy chair (pictured).  A woman in the front row ostensibly massaged his crotch for about a minute (thankfully, my view was obstructed).  After his microphone was wrested away during a foray into the audience, Kelly was propositioned by a self-described “thick midget.”  Kelly had an extended discussion with a drone/blimp.  A video demonstrating his prowess as a trick shot hoop star was screened.  A man with an anemic t-shirt cannon shot objects into the audience.

Kelly’s rhapsodic voice belied these oddities throughout the disjointed show.  He sounded phenomenal even though it was unclear whether he was singing over prerecorded tracks or with a live band.  He paid tribute to Prince by playing a recording of “Purple Rain” as he hung his head.   Prince’s tragic death moves Kelly, a man already known as The King of R&B,  to the top rung of a category I’ll call “Most Vital and Brilliant Veteran R&B Artist.” 

It’s a shame that Kelly doesn’t have someone on his team with the authority to help him properly showcase his immense talent.  Here’s Tim Finn’s review of Saturday’s concert.



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I previewed the Middle of the Map Fest’s lineup of Zhu, Vince Staples, Gallant, Ebony Tusks and Blk Flanl.

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I talk about music with Steve Kraske on KCUR every Wednesday at 11:55 a.m.

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My $40 ticket to the Who was- please forgive me- a bargain, the best I ever had.  It took less than ten minutes for the band to eradicate my ill-placed skepticism.  Here’s Tim Finn’s review.

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Terrace Martin’s Velvet Portraits seems to go on forever.  Even so, the best tracks are first-rate.  RIYL: K-Dot, noodling, Curtis Mayfield.

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I recently praised Snarky Puppy at There Stands the Glass.  A few tracks on the live session Family Dinner, Vol. 2 tricked me into believing that the collective was more than the 21st century version of the Stan Kenton Orchestra.  I was wrong.  The new album Culcha Vulcha is RIYL: high school band camp, Doc Severinsen, transcribing solos.

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My friend S. raved to me about Parker Millsap several months ago.  I joined S. on the young Oklahoman’s bandwagon when I heard  the new album The Very Last Day last weekend.  RIYL: Steve Forbert, next-big-(folk)-things, Greg Brown.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Les Arts Florissants at Helzberg Hall

I couldn’t afford not to go to the Les Arts Florissants concert at Helzberg Hall last Saturday.  The 80% discount the presenter offered to everyone on its mailing list reduced the price of the ticket I purchased in the back row of the room to $4. 

At that absurdly low sum, I was willing to bail at intermission if the show wasn’t entertaining.  Rather than finding Les Arts Florissants tiresome, I wished that the vocal and instrumental ensemble that specializes in playing baroque music on period instruments would have performed all night.

An exceedingly sober review of the concert bears the headline “Consistency, grace, good taste.”  Those words don’t reflect my reaction to the presentation.  I’d go with “Sexy, steamy, fun” instead.  Vintage footage of a Les Arts Florissants show captures only a bit of the ensemble’s sultry side that enthralled this bargain-hunter on Saturday.


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I reviewed a concert by the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

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I reviewed a concert by Magic Man, the Griswolds and Panama Wedding.

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My friends don’t call me Rain Man for nothing.  My stilted commentary is featured in an audio review of Logan Richardson’s Shift that was aired by KCUR on Wednesday.

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I chatted about Duncan Burnett with Steve Kraske on KCUR last week.

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I wrote an extended concert preview about the Arcs.

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I wrote an extended show preview for R. Kelly’s return to the Sprint Center.

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

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Lonnie Mack has died.

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Billy Paul has died.

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Papa Wemba has died.

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The Kansas City band Making Movies created a video for “Ready For the Rain.”

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Nihil Novi, the wonderful album by Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life, is a post-Kamasi Washington, post-Robert Glasper project.  RIYL: Randy Weston, groovin’, Meshell Ndegeocello.  The 15-minute album trailer contains a few interesting insights.

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Most of Mind of Mine, the solo debut album by former One Direction member Zayn Malik, is an unabashed homage to R. Kelly.  In other words, it’s pretty good.  Here’s ”Befour”.

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George Coleman’s A Master Speaks is a treat.  RIYL: octogenarians, Jackie McLean, standards.

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The press release for the Yellowjackets’ Cohearence suggests that the band offers a “modern take on Weather Report.”  If by “modern” the publicist meant “watered down,” the assertion is spot-on.  And I’m not even going to pretend that I’m too cool for sophisticated elevator music.  The Yellowjackets are one of my favorite contemporary jazz groups.

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Levitation Room’s Ethos is an almost perfect neo-garage-rock album.  RIYL: The Electric Prunes, “Pushin’ Too Hard,” the Pretty Things.

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Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom- Otis Was a Polar Bear is delightful.  RIYL: Jenny Scheinman, giving the drummer some, Myra Melford.  Here’s a promotional video.

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A$AP Ferg’s Always Strive and Prosper is immensely entertaining.  RIYL: Wu-Tang Clan, glossy production, Danny Brown’s XXX.  The uplifting ”Strive” may be my favorite song of 2016.

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Black Stone Cherry’s Kentucky is RIYL: Lynyrd Skynyrd, boogie, Kid Rock.  Here’s “Soul Machine”.

(Original image of a facade in Kansas City’s jazz district by There Stands the Glass.)

Freakin' Weekend

As I gave each of my favorite releases a final run-through before I submitted a top ten album list to The Kansas City Star last weekend, I was indignantly reminded that not everyone in my compound is eager to hear language that most people consider objectionable.  I’ve become so inured to lurid content that it takes a lot to shock me.  It’s noteworthy, consequently, that R. Kelly’s new song ”Marching Band” is way too much for me to handle.


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After impatiently watching the Family Stone riff for 15 minutes as it attempted to solve what I assumed was a stage monitor issue at last month’s 18th & Vine Jazz and Blues Festival, I gave up and went to the Blue Room to secure a good seat for an appearance by Kahil El'Zabar.  Cynthia Robinson was probably on the stage with the Family Stone, but because my notes at There Stands the Glass and Plastic Sax are seemingly the only reviews of the festival, I may never know for certain.  I encountered ”Dance to the Music” long before I was exposed to “Peter and the Wolf”.  The song taught me about the sonic components of pop.  And Cynthia Robinson’s cry of “all the squares, go home” was one of the most exciting things I’d ever heard.  Robinson died last week.


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A segment about the Roseline is among my recent contributions to KCUR’s weekly Local Listen feature.

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Should jazz be treated with kid gloves?  I don’t think so.

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Andy Johns has died.

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“Food” is my favorite song by Ces Cru since the duo has been signed to Strange Music.  Here’s the video.

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Joey Cool made a video for “All Hail.”

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Teddy Dibble issued a 36-minute jazz vinyl missive today.

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Romain Collin’s Press Enter strikes me as overly polite.  RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson, Euro jazz, the Bad Plus.

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The slick folk that infects Lizz Wright’s Freedom & Surrender doesn’t appeal to me.  RIYL: Natalie Merchant, Lilith Fair, k.d. lang.

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I caught Dave Douglas’ current group at the New York venue this year, but I’m not I’m prepared to buy all eight hours of Brazen Heart Live at Jazz Standard.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)