November Recap

Top Five Performances
1. Logan Richardson’s Blues People- Capsule
My review.
2. Wilco- Midland theater
My review.
3. Lana Del Rey- Uptown Theater
My review.
4. Bobby Watson & Horizon- White Recital Hall
My review.
5. Doubledrag- Riot Room
My review.

Top Five Albums
1. Miranda Lambert- Wildcard
My review.
2. Matt Villinger- All Day
My review.
3. Brother Ali- Secrets & Escapes
My review.
4. Terri Lyne Carrington- Waiting Game
Dreams and Desperate Measures, the 42-minute suite that concludes the contentious album, is perfect.
5. Cecilia Bartoli- Farinelli
Baroque bops.

Top Five Songs
1. José James with Ledisi and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah- “I Need Your Love”
The collaboration of my dreams.
2. Earl Sweatshirt- “East”
West of the moon.
3. Norah Jones featuring Tarriona Tank Ball- “Playing Along”
I knew she had it in her.
4. Atmosphere- “Bde Maka Ska”
Slug takes the plunge.
5. Michael Kiwanuka- “Living in Denial”
Haunting throwback soul.

I conducted the same exercise in October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

(Original image of Wilco by There Stands the Glass.)

David Murray: An Appreciation

Although the designation doesn’t have any impact on my estimation of the man, I’m glad that Henry Threadgill won a Pulitzer Prize yesterday.  In his self-congratulatory report, Howard Reich notes that Ornette Coleman was awarded a Pulitzer in 2007.  David Murray could be the next titanic jazz saxophonist and composer to be similarly honored.  Perfection, Murray’s new collaboration with pianist Geri Allen and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, is the latest entry in a massive discography that was already loaded with thrilling music.  Unlike the output of most supergroups, Perfection doesn’t disappoint.   With a previously unrecorded Coleman composition as its centerpiece, the album shot past Logan Richardson’s Shift as my favorite jazz release of 2016.


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I reviewed a concert by the Bad Plus Joshua Redman at the Gem Theater.

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The most recent rounds of the weekly music previews I write for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine are here and here.

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I wrote an extended show preview about the Tedeschi Trucks Band for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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The Kansas City rapper Gee Watts created a video for ”Grammys”.

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Gib Guilbeau, an integral part of the West Coast country-rock revolution, has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Phil Humphrey of the Fendermen has died.  The group’s version of “Mule Skinner Blues” was a  hit in 1960.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Loyalty is good.  Nostalgia is bad.  That’s why I don’t entirely trust my affection for Deftones’ Gore.  Combining Boy-era U2 and Disintegration-era the Cure with thrash elements makes my heart go pitter-patter, but I’m inclined to dismiss the approach as a cynical parlor trick.  Pals who suggest that I need to get in the “right frame of mind” to properly appreciate Gore are undoubtedly right, but I’m on a straight-and-narrow tip at the moment.  Here's "Prayers/Triangles".

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Hayes Carll’s Lovers and Leavers is a spot-on evocation of the moment in the 1970s when Billy Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker and Guy Clark were at their artistic peaks.

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The Black Sabbath cover that serves as the colossal title track of Charles Bradley’s Changes is the album’s best song.  RIYL: O.V. Wright, emoting, Wilson Pickett.

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Yeah, I like Aesop Rock.  Wanna make something of it?  Here’s a live reading of ”Lazy Eye”.

(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.)

Finnish Tango and Gamelan Grief

Finnish tango has been a big deal for decades.

That's just one of many things I learned as I camped out at the intimate world music stage at last weekend's Jazz Winterlude festival.  Correctly anticipating a line outside the door of the 100-person capacity Recital Hall, I arrived early with an empty bladder.

I refused to give up my seat for the next five hours.  The education I received made my social and physical discomfort seem immaterial. 

Accordionist Juha Silfverberg clued me in to the scene of his native Finland.

Ensemble Ibérica, a guitar trio led by Beau Bledsoe, played music of Spain, Portugal and Latin America with impressive precision. 

I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't taken in a performance by Marimba Sol de Chiapas until Saturday.  Although I could have done without the patronizing  tone of the bandleader- "can you say Chiapas?"- the quartet made absolutely gorgeous music. 

Did you know that musicians in gamelan orchestras use hammers as mallets?  I didn't.  Gamelan Genta Kasturi made one hell of a racket.  The sonic assault was made even more overwhelming by the raucous Arturo Sandoval sound check that bled into the room. 

My head still hurts. 


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My notes about Terri Lyne Carrington's concert at the Jazz Winterlude festival are published at Plastic Sax.

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I mourned Keith Whitley's death in 1989.  That's one reason Jason Eady's Daylight & Dark instantly hit home with me.  Another reason is the reference to Kansas City on the opening track "OK City".  Refusing to drink 3.2 beer in an Oklahoma tavern during a pit stop on a southbound drive toward Texas, a man has an ill-fated encounter with whiskey.  RIYL: Gary Stewart, heartaches and hangovers, Alan Jackson.

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Listeners who are don't speak English and are unaware of the backstory of Against Me! might think that Transgender Dysphoria Blues is just another solid third-generation punk album.  But the lyrics- many of which take on self-referential gender issues- are great.  RIYL: The Clash, the new sincerity, F*cked Up.

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I admire how organizers of Plano's Suburbia Music Festival own it.  Besides, the lineup is truly impressive.

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I'm going to skate to one album and one album only.  Jennifer Holliday's The Song Is You is a completely over-the-top collection of standards.  And I can dig it.  RIYL: Eartha Kitt, gay cabaret, Luciano Pavarotti.

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I've always loved the Grammy Awards.  A ranking of yesterday's performances follows.  (Roomful of Teeth knocked me out during the non-televised segment.)  Kendrick Lamar/Imagine Dragons, Beyoncé/Jay-Z, Paul McCartney/Ringo Starr, Pink/Nate Ruess, John Legend, the Sound City all-stars, Carole King/Sara Bareilles, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/Mary Lambert/Madonna, Lang Lang/Metallica, Daft Punk and company, Kacey Musgraves, Chicago/Robin Thicke, Lorde, The Highwaymen, Billie Joe Armstrong/Miranda Lambert, Ringo Starr, Taylor Swift, Gary Clark Jr./Keith Urban and Katy Perry.  Sorry, Katy- that was wack.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image of a portion of Gamelan Genta Kasturi by There Stands the Glass.)

Terri Lyne Carrington- Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue

When you get into popularity then you're talking about money, not music. -Duke Ellington

Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue is the sort of high-concept album that music geeks adore.  In a nutshell: three of today's most accomplished jazz musicians reinterpret a classic jazz album with bold political perspectives and contemporary sounds.  I applaud the audaciousness of the project.

A core group of drummer and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist Christian McBride and pianist Gerald Clayton employ a few additional likeminded musicians and a slew of provocative spoken word samples about economics.  The original Money Jungle- a 1963 collaboration between Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach- merely implied what Carrington and her cohorts make explicit. 

The risk of a project of this nature is that the wealth of ideas could easily outshine the music.  That's not the case here.  The album is consistently entertaining.  Its sole fault is that two or three of the piano trio tracks more closely resemble the Ray Brown Trio than the legendary original Money Jungle assemblage.  There are worse things, of course, than hearing McBride emulate his Ray Brown.

Clark Terry's slurry scat on "Fleurette Africain” is just as articulate as the sampled monetary quotes from figures including Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ron Paul and Condoleezza Rice that are sprinkled throughout the album.   The neo-soul of "Backward Country Boy Blues," featuring vocalist Lizz Wright, is superior to most of Esperanza Spalding's disappointing Radio Music Society.  Mainstream jazz fans may object to these updates, but Carrington's versatility is in line with the progressive inclinations of Ellington, Mingus and Roach.

It's difficult not to interpret Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue as a commentary on today's dismal jazz economy.  This is an essential album made by some of the biggest names in jazz.  Yet it only stands an outside chance at breaking into sales of five figures.  Only a handful of critics have yet to even acknowledge the album's existence.  Amazon's current sales ranking of the February 5 release is #1,178. 

The album closes with Herbie Hancock reading the Ellington quote posted above.  Was Ellington right?  Or was he making a self-serving excuse for the diminished role jazz plays in American culture? 


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I reviewed performances by Willy Moon, Shiny Toy Guns, the Beautiful Bodies and IAmDynamite at the Midland last Friday.

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The KC Cypher Series just got real.  The latest episode features Stik Figa, Riv Locc and Young Fate. Ron Ron (at the 7:37 mark) makes the most interesting appearance. 

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Flatlands Country Music Festival anyone?

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Here he goes again- Mac Lethal's "I Gotta Pee But I'm Too Comfortable To Get Up".

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RCA is pawning off 29 Van Cliburn discs for $80.  EMI is selling 11 Boris Christoff discs for $35. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…"

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I don't care what anyone says- I think Frank Ocean's weird Grammy performance was brilliant.

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The very existence of a hopelessly esoteric new release from Arhoolie Records fills me with joy.  The Wall Street Journal offers perspective.

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Last night I dreamed that I was married to the daughter of Irma Thomas.

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Kansas City Click: Ex-Cult are Tuesday's headliners at the RecordBar.

Lonnie McFadden performs at WestChase Grille on Wednesday.

Carrie Rodriguez returns to Knuckleheads on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)