Album Review: BJ the Chicago Kid- In My Mind

Some of the people who share my enthusiasm for Frank Ocean whine about the absence of a follow-up to his 2012 masterpiece Channel Orange.  I have better things to do.  Appreciating good-to-great albums by male R&B artists including Avant, Babyface, Bilal, D’Angelo, D.R.A.M., José James, Jodeci, R. Kelly, Miguel and the Weeknd has kept me busy during the past three years.  Add BJ the Chicago Kid to that list.  In My Mind doesn't achieve the heights of Channel Orange, but even the album's weakest tracks are enjoyable Keith Sweat, Prince and D’Angelo knockoffs.  Frank should feel free to take his time.  I’ll be in ”Church”.


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I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s sold-out concert at the Uptown Theater.

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I featured Fullbloods on KCUR’s Local Listen.

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I wrote an extended concert preview about Wavves.

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The album release show for Be/Non’s Mystic Sunrise/Sunset Magic at the Scottish Rite Temple was mind-blowing. 

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Much of Your Friend’s Gumption resembles the vacillating sounds I heard when I suffered from night terrors as a child.

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There’s nothing I don’t like about the song and the video for Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal’s ”Parts of Man”.  RIYL: Lee Fields, not-so-silly love songs, Percy Sledge.

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Ed Motta’s delightfully odd Perpetual Gateways is RIYL: Steely Dan, LA session cats of the 1980s, Gregory Porter.

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I embraced GoGo Penguin’s 2014 album, but the British group’s debut on Blue Note Records is overly chilly.  Here’s ”Res”.

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Cian Nugent’s Night Fiction is RIYL: Sandy Bull, spacing out, the Autumn Defense.

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Rogue Waves,  five remixes of a single Miguel song, is incredibly impressive.

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Wolfmother’s Victorious is big, dumb rawk, and Leslie West help me, I like it.  RIYL: Mountain, 1972, Billy Squier.

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Brian McKnight’s sappy Better makes me happy.

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We Like It Like That, a new documentary about Latin boogaloo, looks like my kind of movie.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Hélène Grimaud- Water

I listen to instrumental music as I write.  Words from vocalists and rappers disrupt my already tenuous ability to concentrate.  Dramatic orchestral works are also out of the question.  While I can’t focus as Hélène Grimaud plays a stirring rendition of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s flashy Piano Concerto No. 2, her unusual new album Water provides ideal accompaniment to my typing.  A thought-provoking and creativity-inducing combination of solo piano compositions by the likes of Leoš Janáček and electronic “transition” pieces, Water will likely provide me with conducive workplace inspiration for the remainder of 2016.


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I reviewed a concert by Mark Chesnutt, Joe Diffie and Lorrie Morgan.

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I contribute the weekly Local Listen segment to KCUR.  Your Friend was featured last week.

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

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The lineup for Rockfest will be revealed on February 8.  I’ve set odds on the most likely headliners: Five Finger Death Punch (6/4), Megadeth (9/4) and Volbeat (9/1).  Bet at your own discretion.


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I look forward to spending quality time with Westend Recording Presents: "Amplify KC" Vol. 1, a collection of “heavy music” by Kansas City bands.

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Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane has died.

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Reading about the Fat White Family’s antics is more enjoyable than listening to the music created by the band of British hooligans.  Songs for Our Mothers is RIYL: exhaustion, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, hangovers.  The video for ”Whitest Boy on the Beach” is suitably messed up.

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I like Kevin Gates’ Islah in spite of myself.  Here’s 2 Phones.

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Boosie has ”Cancer”.

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I don’t particularly care for elaborate high-concept musical humor, but the David Gordon Trio’s Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band is both amusing and impressive.  RIYL: P.D.Q. Bach, music school, André Previn.

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When You Wish Upon a Star, Bill Frisell’s new album of film music, is RIYL: Ennio Morricone, hillbilly jazz, Nino Rota.  I highlighted Frisell's forthcoming Kansas City show at Plastic Sax.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Surface Noise at Ink's Middle of the Map Fest

I don't share the musical sensibilities of the organizers of Ink's Middle of the Map Fest.  That doesn't mean that I couldn't find plenty to enjoy last weekend.  I caught at least two sets at each of the event's six stages in the 17 hours I logged at the festival.  All of my favorite performances, however, took place at the Riot Room.  Here's the top five:

• Wolf Eyes- searing noise
• Reggie and the Full Effect- a glorious mess
• Bummer- Olathe grunge
• Shabazz Palaces- interstellar hip-hop
• Josh Berwanger Band- Kansas power-pop

Some of my commentary is incorporated into reports here and here.


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Your Friend's session for KJHK at the KU Natural History Museum is impressive. 

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I ponder Mike Dillon's Band of Outsiders at Plastic Sax.

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Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders has died.

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Atmosphere's "Kanye West" is a bit disappointing.

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The European piano trio Phronesis is doing interesting things.

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Dave Koz's rendition of the "Game of Thrones" theme has gone viral.

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B.B. King's performances continue to deteriorate.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image of James Dewees by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 1960-1978

The crazed shouting of a man on Les Loups Noirs' "Pile Ou Face" matches my reaction to Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 1960-1978.  The vocalist's manic wailing is consistent with the combination of elation and shock I felt as I realized that such amazing music had eluded me until now.  Given the massive scope of the collection, there's not much continuity.  The quality, however, remains high.  Almost every track features a novel twist on merengue, salsa, mambo, boogaloo, cumbia, R&B, mento, Afrobeat and/or psychedelic rock.  (Initial tip via Big Steve.)

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I contributed to a review of the final day of the Folk Alliance Festival.

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Your Friend's Jeckyl/Hyde was picked up by Domino Recording Company.  Here's the video for "Tame One".  RIYL: Hospital Ships, epic sadness, Angel Olsen.

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Tech N9ne and I share a long-standing infatuation with the same album.

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I prefer a little bit of nastiness in my throwback psych rock.  Temples' Sun Structures is just too nice for me.

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Akuma, the new album by Sly 5th Ave, makes most new jazz recordings seem boring.  Here's a trailer.  RIYL: Randy Weston, real roots music, Don Cherry.

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Rufus Reid's Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project is an unconventional big band album.  RIYL: Charles Mingus, left field, Duke Ellington.

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The future of popular music probably sounds much like a mashup of the sounds produced by the lineup of the Snowball Music Festival.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)