Review: The Dubliners at Royal Albert Hall

I fulfilled a lifelong dream last week by squeezing into a nearly sold-out concert at Royal Albert Hall. The grand old room is a real beauty.

A deliriously celebratory performance by The Dubliners made the fulfillment of my ambition especially sweet. The band is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. While the current cast is a group of frail survivors, the legendary act managed to enhance its legacy at the familiar venue by playing masterfully for well over two hours. The band dealt with the sad absence of its most revered members by occasionally strumming along to video footage of their old friends. Seeing the late Luke Kelly belting out "Monto" moved me to tears even though I may have been the only person among the 5,000 souls on hand without a drop of Irish blood.

Everyone else, however, was in their element. I'm reluctant to reinforce stereotypes, but the audience went berserk during renditions of alcohol-themed classics like "Seven Drunken Nights" and "Whiskey In the Jar". How the Guinness flowed!

"And it's no, nae, never!"

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Alex Smith's KCUR feature on Brody Buster references my glowing review of the former blues man's striking new album.

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Kansas City Click: We Were Promised Jetpacks perform at the Riot Room on Tuesday.

Dan Baird plays Knuckleheads on Wednesday.

New Jazz Order and the Boulevard Big Band compete in a battle of the big bands Thursday at Californo's.

(Original image of Royal Freaking Albert Hall by There Stands the Glass.)

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Bragging about a Pandora station is akin to blabbing about a basketball tournament bracket or a fantasy football team. I realize it's tedious, yet I just can't help it. Since Lent began February 22, the Pandora station that corresponds to this blog has kept me company on sixteen solitary walks. (I think you need a Pandora account to listen.) One rainy night it played consecutive deep tracks by Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, My Morning Jacket, Simon & Garfunkel and Ralph Stanley. Just a closer walk with thee, indeed.

My only beef, in fact, is that the playlist tends to get stuck in a single genre. The other day I spent 45 minutes listening to nothing but vintage reggae acts like Culture, Jackie Mittoo and U-Roy. The station also goes on extended Brazillan, Tejano, blues, bluegrass and funk jags. (The station's advertisements, incidentally, are in Spanish.)

I'm tempted to add more variety but I'm afraid I'd have to resume culling out stuff I don't like. Adding Nina Simone, for instance, might cause Diane Schuur to pop up. Suggesting I want to hear more Raphael Saadiq might lead to unwanted tracks by John Legend. I currently only need to "thumbs-down" stray underground hip hop tracks that glorify marijuana. I'll be taking a blogging break, so feel free to enjoy my station in my absence. Please let me know if you hear anything that's less than sublime.


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Sketchy vocals aside, this new track from New Riddim is solid.

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The schedule for the Middle of the Map festival has been published.

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I'm elated that Mayhem added a KC date. Slipknot, Motorhead, Slayer and Anthrax? Oh man.

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I enjoyed reading the backstory of the final years of the fanzine-turned-magazine Jetlag.

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Why I'm ambivalent about attending hip hop shows: reason #73.

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Rudresh Mahanthappa appeared in a Tiny Desk Concert.

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Texas guitarist Bugs Henderson has died. (Tip via BGO.)

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Sound of Class Warfare

My opinions about Super Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh, the status of the Euro and tensions between Israel and Iran have no place at There Stands the Glass. Yet after perusing the responses to the announcement of the lineup for Kansas City's annual Rockfest I can not longer keep my thoughts on a music-related social issue to myself.

"I'm sure there will be 50,000 rowdy losers in Harley shirts and ripped blue jeans throwing their cigarette butts all over Liberty Memorial," sniffed a commenter at a popular music blog. "Me? I'm excited about Radiohead on Sunday. I doubt many Rockfest attendees will be at that show. God, I hope not."

What an ostentatious snob! I'm repulsed when music is employed as a signifier of cultural superiority. It doesn't matter if it's a Radiohead proponent looking down at a Shinedown fan, an opera lover dismissing pop music. a backpacker advocate of the Roots mocking kids who like Soulja Boy or a guy in a Miles Davis t-shirt ridiculing Kenny G. Such elitist dismissals are often rooted in caste and class rather than in actual music preferences.

I'm not suggesting that Flo Rida is the artistic equal of Ornette Coleman. He's not. But gratuitously dismissing fans of "bad" music as uneducated morons isn't merely offensive. Such aspersions often betray an economic and sociological bias. Besides, I love this song.


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I reviewed Saturday's concert by The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra.

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Stik Figa has released a free new EP.

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The Spinto Band proves that there's still life in a popular meme in its excellent spoof of SXSW.

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Ronnie Montrose has died. I remember being titillated by the album cover of Jump On It.

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The new Vijay Iyer album really is all that.

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Kansas City Click: Chali 2na performs at the Riot Room on Tuesday.

The Chieftains perform at Helzberg Hall on Wednesday.

Alaturka returns to the R Bar on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

In the Red

Louisiana Red and Red Holloway died on February 25. Both men regularly appeared on Kansas City stages. Louisiana Red was in the area three or four years ago for the Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival. The bluesman was so compelling that I insisted the members of my compound attend his performance later that evening at BB's Lawnside BBQ. "My uncle used to beat me," Red says in his introduction to the typical "Orphanage Home Blues". I loved that man. Red Holloway last performed in Kansas City in 2009 as part of Kevin Mahogany's band in a tribute to Joe Turner at the Folly Theater. I also recall seeing the saxophonist at the same venue with Jay McShann.


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"Everything Is Fine" with Josh Turner. Here's my review of last night's concert at the Uptown Theater.

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"Pleasant Valley Sunday" was one of the first pop songs to captivate me. Farewell, Davy Jones.

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Krystle Warren's new video is epic.

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Someone combined one of my favorite songs with footage shot in one of my favorite cities.

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The Kansas City Rock and Roll History Project catches up with Ray Hildebrand, a man best known as "Paul" of Paul and Paula.

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I'm partial to Plastic Sax.

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"Can I Get a Reee-fill?"

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Here's an excellent EPK for the new Billy Hart album.

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Heresy alert: I kinda wish Never Mind the Bollocks sounded more like Ceremony's Zoo. Here's the video for "World Blue".

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My affection for SSION's "My Love Grows in the Dark" video is unhealthy. (Tip via Wayward Blog.)

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I'm mystified by the critical enthusiasm for Grimes.

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Yes.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published by Ink here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Charles Gayle- Streets

In a candid interview with the Village Voice, Charles Gayle refers to portions of his approach on the new album Streets as "paint-peeling" music. When I worked in record stores, I called the sound "room-clearing." It's funny, though, because I find Streets not just bracing, but remarkably soothing. Sure, it's "out", but anyone who's accepted Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane shouldn't be intimidated by Gayle's ferocity or spiritual inspiration. Streets is a strong candidate for the #BAM, gospel, folk or jazz album of 2012.


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I reviewed Benny Golson's appearance at the Blue Room on Saturday.

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I recently happened upon the documentary Music By Prudence. Watch it if you need a bit of inspiration.

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Here's some life-affirming S.E. Rogie via BigSteveNO.

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Anyone who's been to an "active rock" concert in the past dozen years knows that a sincere acknowledgement of men and women serving in the military is a part of the ritual. The video for Black Stone Cherry's "In My Blood" takes it one step further.

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Suspect's "Kansas City Anthem" keeps it real. (Tip via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Diverse Plays Michael Jackson shows are thrilling.

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I recently rediscovered "Ripple". That's my jam.

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New Death Grips.

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Kansas City Click: I'd like to be at the Westport Coffee House on Monday, Knuckleheads on Tuesday, the Beaumont on Wednesday and Sprint Center on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Last Millennium

What if Napster never happened? I was stunned when I walked into Music Millennium last weekend. The longstanding Portland music retailer was filled with eager customers and enthusiastic clerks. The shelves overflowed with vinyl, compact discs and music-related tchotchkes. It was as if digital downloading didn't exist. I hadn't been in such a vibrant record store in over a decade. Even so, the store's Terry Currier keeps it real in a recent interview. (Full disclosure: I was once employed by a company affiliated with Music Millennium.)

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Here are my notes on an Enrico Rava concert I attended in Portland. Please let me know if you have any clue as to why Plastic Sax commenters are so spiteful.

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The new album by the Brody Buster Band is shockingly good. Here's my review.

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A provocative and creepy new video from the BLNRB crew has under 200 views while a provocative and creepy new video by OFWGKTA has 3.5 million views. Look, I'm as obsessed with the hip hop stars as anyone, but c'mon man!

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I can't make up my mind about the quality of Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts' new An Attitude of Gratitude album. That's probably a good sign.

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I recommend the video for Wooden Wands' "Winter In Kentucky" to fans of Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Aldi and record stores.

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Carolin Widmann and Alexander Lonquich? Yes, please. I'm not sure why, but this stuff really resonates with me right now.

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Billy Strange has died. (Tip via BGO.)

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image of Music Millennium by There Stands the Glass.)

Jodie Christian, 1932-2012

Dear Diary- I was saddened to learn of the death of Jodie Christian a couple days ago. Yet I can't help but smile at a memory his name evokes. Back when flying was easy and I accumulated Southwest Airlines travel vouchers like a champion, I regularly spent my weekends in Chicago. My friend Duane suggested we take our dates to Pops for Champagne. It worked for me- watching jazz pianist Christian perform just five feet away thrilled me. I let Duane, a regular at the venue, order the first bottle of champagne. Midway through the third bottle, Duane and his date left. "Don't worry Duane, it's my treat- thanks for suggesting this great place." My giddiness ended when the check arrived. Unbeknownst to me, we'd been sipping on $100 bottles. Christian was wonderful, though. His work for Delmark is very fine.


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I have no regrets about seeing Roy Ayers instead of Craig Finn last Saturday, but this footage from the Record Bar is pretty great.

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I learn a lot from Marc Myers' Jazz Wax blog. The photo that opens this entry solves a longtime mystery for me.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Star Maker Machinery Behind the Popular Song

I listened to a conservative talk show host during my commute Monday morning. (I know.) She blamed the recent death of a prominent pop star on "cultural degradation." That's dumb. Against my better judgement, I'll share my theory. A close friend died last year. I consider his passing the culmination of a twenty-year-long suicide. He was unwilling to break free from the expectations that had been forced upon him. He dealt with his internal conflict in an unhealthy manner. I sense that the pop star may have been just like my friend. It's heartbreaking that neither was able to reject the pressure to fulfill false obligations.


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I reviewed Roy Ayers' concert Saturday.

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I consider the new venue at Kansas City Academy at Plastic Sax.

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Brother Ali dropped a free new 27-minute EP today. It's not his best work, but hey, the price is right.

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Rich the Factor's social media feed slays me. Here's a recent sample: I broke my MFR bracelet last nite cancoonin too hard one love to moms at town topic for the burgers yeah no bodyguards hangn out til 4 tho

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I like the feel of the new video from She's a Keeper.

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Kansas City Click: I don't know if the booking of the Pretty Things Peep Show at the Beaumont Club on Valentine's Day is pure genius or a train wreck in the making.

Does loving Psychostick's "Girl Directions" make me a horrible person? The band appears at the Beaumont Club on Wednesday.

The Features return to the Record Bar on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Capybara- Dave Drusky

Until I witnessed its incredibly sensitive yet thoroughly dynamic performance backing the legendary Daniel Johnston at the Middle of the Map festival in 2011, I dismissed Capybara as an irredeemably slight ensemble. Cute and cuddly aren't qualities I admire in a rock band. I'd written Capybara off as soft.

Capybara's ability to inspire the best Johnston performance I've witnessed changed my perception of the band. That explains why I'm so uncharacteristically smitten by Dave Drusky, the Kansas City band's new album. The delightfully disorienting project could be mistaken for a clever remix of isolated tracks from the recent deluxe reissue of the Pet Sounds sessions.

Dave Drusky's wispy dream pop is unflaggingly pleasant. Even when it musters energy on "Black Apollo Rain," the band's rock is tastefully understated. "Bill Dabbler, Lorn Line" could be the theme song for a children's cartoon. And the fact that one selection is titled Pierre Bensusan is the fulfillment of a music geek's fantasy.

Given my affinity for the music of the French guitarist, I should have already understood that soft and mellow are entirely different things.


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I admired Put Your Back N 2 It, the fine new album by Perfume Genius, even before I saw the wonderful video for "Hood." Amazing.

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I fail to hear how Sharon Van Etten's Tramp is substantively different than Adele's 21. Why is it considered "indie" by tastemakers who dismiss Adele as a mainstream act? That said, while I like both Adele and Van Etten, I continue to prefer Cat Power's The Greatest.

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The "What's In My Bag?" spotlight on Nick 13 is honky-tonk heaven.

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Mac Lethal is offering digital copies of the first six volumes of his Love Potion projects- 85 tracks in all- for $10 at Bandcamp.

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Beverly Kenney! (Via Euclid Records.) Unfortunately, there's also this.

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Van Halen's new album is an actually halfway decent listen if you like stoopid party rock. And I do. The best bits sound like Who Are You-era The Who.

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"He's good-bad, but he's not evil."

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I discovered the genius of Nico Muhly this week.

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Alex Smith of KCUR goes "cratedigging".

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Wando has died.

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Chad Kassem of Acoustic Sounds is one of my heroes.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Vivica Genaux and Europa Galante at the Folly Theater

My knees are still weak days after attending Friday's concert by Vivica Genaux and Europa Galante. It's not just the nonexistent leg room in the balcony of the Folly Theater that made me wobbly. I'm still swooning from the intoxicating combination of the vocalist's superb voice, sultry visage and sublime accompanists.

It looked like this but it sounded as good as any concert I've experienced. No amplification was employed in the high-ceilinged hall. I could distinguish every note played by the 14-piece Italian ensemble. I caught glimpses of God during Concerto for 2 violins Op 3 Nº 8 RV 522.

I loved much of the live jazz and metal I've already witnessed in 2012, but Friday's concert is the one to beat.

Here's John Heuertz's review.


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David Peaston has died.

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Here's the music video for Esperanza Spalding's "Black Gold."

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What did I think of the halftime show at the Super Bowl? Thanks for asking. Just the mere idea of the trio of Madonna, M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj being broadcast into tens of millions of homes around the world strikes me as remarkably subversive.

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I recently listened to Sun Ra's Magic City for the first time in over a decade. It's unfortunate the legend sometimes gets in the way of the music. This stuff is absolutely brilliant.

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I returned to the Folly Theater on Saturday to catch Phil Woods and Grace Kelly. Here are my notes.

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Kansas City Click: It's my understanding that Stacy Barthe opens for Estelle at the Riot Room on Monday.

Everette DeVan plays at the Phoenix on Tuesday.

Amy Farrand's Weirdo Wednesday Supper Club is at Davey's Uptown.

Max Justus is among the acts performing Thursday at the Record Bar.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass. I didn't dare try for an in-concert photo. Sure enough, Genaux sternly scolded a shutterbug during the show.)

Review: Icons Among Us

I flipped my lid when I stumbled across a copy of Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense at my local library. I'd been eager to see the documentary for a couple years. Alas, it wasn't quite as definitive as I'd hoped. Some of the footage that had piqued my interest in various clips at YouTube didn't make the cut. (The material is presumably available on the deluxe edition.) And the finished product seems disjointed- it skips about randomly. My favorite bits include Donald Harrison creating a symphony with just his voice and a bucket on his front porch in post-Katrina New Orleans, Terence Blanchard's scathing insights, Bugge Wesseltoft's excellent performance and the opportunity to hear Courtney Pine speak for the first time. As anyone familiar with Plastic Sax already knows, I subscribe to the film's assertion that there's no shortage of essential jazz #BAM being played today even if hardly anyone is listening. Here's an eight-minute trailer for the film.


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F*cked Up and Mission of Burma are the acts that have me excited about the 2012 edition of the Middle of the Map festival.

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Don Cornelius loomed large in my childhood.

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The new Leonard Cohen album is absurdly rewarding.

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God bless the Free Music Archive. Check out Raw Music International's Kenyan Underground compilation.

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The new music video for The Element makes Kansas City look beautiful. (Tip via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Clare Fischer, 1928-2012

Well aware that it's overused, I tend to avoid using the phrase "musicians' musician." Yet the characterization is almost unavoidable in any reference to Clare Fischer. A note from steadfast There Stands the Glass reader BGO aside, the only notifications I received about Fischer's recent passing were from musicians. Frankly, I never got it. Fischer's smooth solo albums continue to baffle me. Honestly, I have no frame of reference here.

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D'Angelo!

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Why does Rodrigo y Gabriela always leave me cold? The new Area 52 should be just my thing, but it seems far too slick and forced.

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I'm sadly underwhelmed by the new album by Cloud Nothings. Really good video, though.

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Kisses On the Bottom, Paul McCartney's new release, reminds me of those wonderful comeback albums by Alberta Hunter.

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I know a lot of people who are very excited about the latest shenanigans of Neil Young.

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Jumpin' Jehosafats! Vivica Genaux is in my town Friday!

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Kansas City Click: Slow Southern Steel oozes into the Beaumont on Wednesday.

Marty Bush of Salt the Earth performs at the Beaumont's Sidecar on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Kill Them All

Spotting an outbreak of graffiti in a Kansas City suburb earlier this week threw me into a bout of bittersweet nostalgia. As an alienated teen, I became obsessed with The Clash for about eighteen months. The band epitomized my inchoate rebellious instincts. Confessing to my former naiveté is a bit embarrassing, but the band's first three albums served as my code during that time. If I was 16 years old today there's little doubt I'd be tagging OFWGKTA's name in my neighborhood. The hip hop collective's obscene nihilism is tailor-made for disaffected American youth in 2012. I'm more than a little bit jealous of the kids responsible for the vandalism pictured above.

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Appropriately creepy photos highlight my review of Friday's Scott Ian-less Anthrax concert.

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"Batteries", the latest song and video from XV, is disappointing.

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Chairlift take me nowhere.

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No Mayhem 2012 date in KC? I feel like a spurned teen.

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Heems' Nehru Jackets is one of my favorite new releases of the month. "Burritos 'til I die!"

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Attention wimps refined music lovers: a delicate Marketa Irglova concert is available as a free download at NoiseTrade.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Ioannis and Jamesetta

Johnny Otis was a brilliant work of fiction. And Etta James was much more than one song.

Ioannis Alexandros Veliotes was born in 1921. His story is hard to believe. Thankfully, one version of the truth can be found in Listen to the Lambs, a 1968 book in which Otis examines race in America. He identified as black, although his parents were Greek immigrants. Even Otis' biggest hit was blatantly subversive. (And what is Lionel Hampton doing in that clip?)

Otis is described as "The King of Rock and Roll" in the opening credits to his televised variety show. Although I adore his tributes to Jay McShann and Bill Basie on this amazing album, that characterization works for me.

Otis "discovered" Jamesetta Hawkins fourteen years after her birth in 1938. The lascivious recorded result was James' 1955 hit on Modern Records. Ever since I purchased her excellent album Seven Year Itch as a new release in 1989, I've been mildly obsessed with James. A wild woman until the end, her final performance in Kansas City scandalized me. The obituaries that focused on James' "At Last" miss the point. "It Hurts Me So Much."

Veliotes and Hawkins died last week.

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Here's my review of the Jazz Winterlude festival.

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I'm included in a KCUR audio feature titled "Where To Next For KC Jazz?"

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I could mess around at Paul McCartney's Rude Studio for hours on end. (Tip via Rock Town Hall.)

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OFWGKTA in a nutshell.

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Welcome to 2012 (Part 2).

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Youn Sun Nah covers "Enter Sandman." I love the 21st century.

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I never knew him well, but I take pride in once having worked with Glenn Jones. Here's the guitarist's new Tiny Desk Concert.

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Winston Riley has died.

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I genuinely love about a quarter of the tracks on the massive new Chimes of Freedom album. Inevitably, a handful of selections on the benefit project for Amnesty International make me wonder if torture isn't such a bad idea.

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Kansas City Click: Ladysmith Black Mambazo perform Tuesday at the Kauffman Center.

Emilie Autumn does her thing Wednesday at the Beaumont Club.

Death Angel open Thursday's concert at the Midland.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Jack DeJohnette- Sound Travels

Jack DeJohnette will celebrate his seventieth birthday on August 9, 2012, and it seems as if he can get everything he asks for at this stage of his illustrious career. The credits of his new album Sound Travels read like a who's-who of today's top "jazz" artists. The list includes Ambrose Akinmusire, Lionel Loueke, Jason Moran and Esperanza Spaulding. Bobby McFerrin also makes a (very nice) appearance. The only misstep is a jamband track featuring Bruce Hornsby. It's five minutes of pain on an otherwise exceptional album. Here's the EPK.


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I love scrutinizing the annual Pazz and Jop poll. Here's a short list of artists I overlooked in 2011: Matana Roberts! Wussy! Tombs! Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal! Random Axe! And I'm chagrined that my top album, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's Race Riot Suite, isn't among the 1734 titles that received at least one tally. Am I the album's sole champion?

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ZZ Ward's "Better Off Dead" confounds me.

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I feel obligated to spend my time and money on the new Chick Corea/Eddie Gomez/Paul Motian tribute to Bill Evans. Here's the EPK.

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The KC Sound Collective- the act responsible for my favorite performance of 2011- is the subject of a nice introductory video.

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I recently discovered the Freedom Suite, a collaboration between Nnnenna Freelon and The Beast, at Bandcamp. (It's free.)

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Welcome to 2012.

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I'll consider the life of the late Johnny Otis next week at There Stands the Glass.

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Vizzy Zone.

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"We've got the songs- we don't have the money." Here's Molly McGuire's Kickstarter campaign.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Jimmy Castor, 1947-2012

"One of the Butt sisters!" I've been snickering at "Troglodyte"'s lowbrow gag since I was a child. Yet Jimmy Castor, who died yesterday, did much more than provide me with cheap laughs.

My friend BGO chided me in an email exchange for implying that Castor was a mere novelty artist. And sure enough, according to Castor's site "(b)efore even finishing junior high school, Jimmy Castor had written his first million seller for Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers called 'I Promise To Remember'." Castor would have been nine years old at the time. How does that work? I'll count on superior scholars to sort out Castor's career. Besides, I heard the entirety of Castor's 1966 hit "Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You" for the first time today.

It's an odd thing to attribute to a novelty song, but "Troglodyte" had an enormous impact on my musical development. The monstrous groove prepared me for the advent of the Ohio Players and the life-changing "Flash Light" five years later. The hip hop samples that followed in the next decade only confirmed my ardor.

One last note- it was "Troglodyte" that first stirred my prepubescent hormones. And what could possibly be more significant than that?


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I wrote an piece about Nicholas Payton's Black American Music proposal.

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An "elitist music snob" reviewed Nnenna Freelon's concert Saturday at The Folly Theater.

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I'd intended to offer a survey of today's new releases but I couldn't get past this.

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Ebony Tusks' video for "Everybody Runs" is on point.

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Kansas City Click: Whoop whoop! Boondox hit the Beaumont Club tonight.

The Life and Times return to the Riot Room on Wednesday.

I'll made the trek to Lawrence for Doomtree's show at the Granada on Thursday.

Start Here

I'm hardly a shill for NPR's music programming. I frequently mock the insular indie rock that's closely associated with the media conglomerate and its self-congratulatory audience. Last year's list of its listeners' favorite albums is a case in point. While I respect and even admire acts like The Decemberists, that rarefied sound rarely moves me.

I'm a hypocrite, however, because that same smug tone doesn't bother me half as much when it's applied to jazz Black American Music and "world" music. In fact, NPR's free concert downloads from globalFEST have dominated my listening this week.

I implore you to grab 'em all. My favorites are the performances by Wang Li and Mayra Andrade. Both artists had been unfamiliar to me. Andrade's straightforward take on a Caetano Veloso song is the dreamiest thing I've heard in 2012. So, thanks NPR. My gratitude is so earnest that I won't use this space to mock your endorsement of Real Estate.


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I'd love to check out Coachella. Truth be told, however, I'm much more of a Essence guy.

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You know what the world needs? A great new Alicia Keys album.

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CES Cru signs to Strange Music.

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The trailer for the forthcoming LCD Soundsystem doc is pretty great.

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The dull EPK for the new Robert Glasper album dampens my enthusiasm for the project.

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What's up, mirror?

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Micah Herman- The Ship

The Micah Hermon album review is reposted from Plastic Sax:

It must be terribly frustrating to be a Kansas City-area jazz bassist not named Bob Bowman, Jeff Harshbarger or Gerald Spaits. The three men invariably secure a disproportionate number of the area's high profile gigs. Each member of the triumvirate deserves his elite standing, but that doesn't mean that the talent pool ends with them. James Albright, Ben Leifer, Bill McKemy and Dominique Sanders are wildly different but uniformly excellent bassists.

And then there's the often overlooked Micah Herman. He's no less impressive than the aforementioned bassists, but to my knowledge he hasn't had a regular widely-touted public gig since he teamed up with Loren Pickford at the Golden Ox for a three-year run that ended in 2009. His new album The Ship, Vol. 1: The Studio Sessions makes a strong case for Herman as a top-tier talent.

While The Ship contains a breadth of styles, Herman generally works from a post-Coltrane perspective. "My Ship", a duet with saxophonist Matt Carrillo, is gorgeous. The contributions of saxophonist Matt Chalk also impress.

Yet it's the presence of Logan Richardson that makes the album essential for listeners not already heavily invested in Kansas City's scene. The brilliant saxophonist appears on five of The Ship's nine tracks. Richardson's innovative soloing on "Ease Back" is the sort of next-level stuff that fans of adventurous jazz dream about. Rather than merely admiring Richardson's improvisations, Herman acts as an electric Charlie Haden to Richardson's stunning Ornette Coleman.

The Ship's quiet issuance in December didn't do it any favors. In spite of its unfortunate timing and complete absence of hype, The Ship is the best album released by a Kansas City jazz artist in 2011.


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The Oak Ridge Boys and the Dukes of Dixieland team up for a new version of "Elvira".

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I intend to catch the A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs touring exhibit this month.

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Tinariwen's Tiny Desk Concert is wonderful.

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Rich Forever, Rick Ross' free new mix tape is shockingly good if you like that sort of thing. (And I do.)

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A link provided by BigSteveNO threw me into full geek mode.

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I don't know what to make of "Glory", Jay-Z's tribute to his newborn child.

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"She Smells So Nice"!

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Miles Bonny has a new Kickstarter campaign.

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Kansas City Click: Jason and the Scorchers appear Wednesday at Knuckleheads.

Lord T & Eloise do whatever it is they do Thursday at the Riot Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Jad Fair's Bird House

Jad Fair's latest project instantly transported me back to the early '80s. In those days I felt compelled to salvage Half Japanese and Jad Fair solo albums from record store cutout bins. I didn't particularly enjoy the absurd outsider sounds but I loved the fact that "music" of this nature could actually be recorded, released, distributed and sold. A video for the title track for the forthcoming EP Bird House is an uncanny representation of my disjointed memories of that era. I continue to embrace the anarchy.

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Album of the Year?

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The unseasonably warm weather somehow makes the idea of driving to Arkansas to hear acts like Bob Weir and Railroad Earth at Wakarusa seem attractive.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Why Are There So Many Songs About Rainbows?

I'd been waiting for the moment for months. Hearing a song I selected at the internet site Turntable.fm boom through the sound system at a real life nightclub was a genuine thrill. When a few friends organized a Turntable.fm-themed event at Czar Bar during the holidays, the first song I programmed was Heavy D's "The Overweight Lover's in the House." I went on to play a few of my punk, metal and hip hop favorites but the party was eventually co-opted by fans of pop, dance and techno. That meant that a few of my selections- including Nashville P*ssy's "All F*cked Up"- were quickly skipped after they were "lamed." It was no surprise, consequently, that my troll pick "Rainbow Connection" made it all the way through without getting axed. I'll get another crack at it when The Beaumont Club hosts a similar event January 13.

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Here's 66 minutes of excellent footage from Mark Lowrey's December 21 gig at the Record Bar.

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I'll admit it- I always look forward to hearing Skillz' year-end wrap-up. Just once.

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Mac Lethal's new release is out. Here's the video for "Jake + Olive".

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Skip past the introduction for a sublime performance by Terri Lyne Carrington, Geri Allen, Esperanza Spalding and Tineke Postma.

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Jeff Harshbarger is Plastic Sax's Person of the Year.

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I can relate to the subject matter of the latest effort by Brother Ali.

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Kansas City Click: This is the best time of year to investigate locally-based talent.

(Original image of a large-screen projection from the Turntable.fm party by There Stands the Glass.)