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.)

Prince, 1958-2016

I wore out the grooves on all four sides of 1999 in the months following the release of the album.  It’s a tribute to the universal appeal of the music that none of the guys in my college dorm ever complained.

Such was the power of Prince.  He changed everything.

The six albums beginning with Dirty Mind and ending with Sign o’ the Times is one of the greatest strings of consecutive brilliant releases in pop music history.

In terms of altering both the musical and cultural landscapes, Prince’s feat is matched by only a handful of artists including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Sly and the Family Stone and Kanye West.

(Original image 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.)

Swinging Doors: Remembering Merle Haggard

As I’ve mentioned several times in this space, I was raised on country.  A few portions of my indoctrination didn’t initially take.  Ray Price’s countrypolitan hits, for instance, struck me as corny until my hair began to gray. 

I always loved the music of Merle Haggard.  The Songs I’ll Always Sing compilation was my dad’s preferred Merle album.  And hearing the latest Hag hit on the radio pleased both of us.  One of the biggest mindblowers in my dad’s record collection was A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, my salute to Bob Wills).   The crazed Western swing broadened my horizon. 

My dad allowed me to tag along with him to a few Merle concerts when I was a kid.  When I later took dates to Merle’s shows, I desperately hoped I wouldn’t run into my old man.  That confession is especially painful now that both Merle and my dad are gone.

I reviewed Haggard’s final Kansas City show last year.


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I reviewed a concert by Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster and Paul Thorn.

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I reviewed the Christian McBride Trio’s concert at the Folly Theater.

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My favorite selection of the master’s recital by Garrett Torbert at St. John’s United Methodist Church last Friday was a reading of Aaron Copland’s ”The Promise of Living.”  Here’s a rendition by a larger group. 

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Tony Conrad has died.

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Leon Haywood has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Ralph Peterson’s ably played but entirely predictable Triangular III is precisely the sort of mainstream jazz album that causes me to question my commitment to the form.

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The EPK for In Movement, the new collaboration between Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison, is compelling.

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Maxwell’s BLACKsummer’snight was my top album of 2010.  I’m atwitter about ”Lake By the Ocean”, the lead track from the long-anticipated follow-up.

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Phronesis’ Parallax is RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Euro-jazz, The Bad Plus.  Here’s ”Stillness”.

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Bombino’s lovely Azel is RIYL: Tinariwen, the Sahara, Terakaft.  Here's ”Inar (If You Know the Degree of My Love For You)”.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Sprint Center

I found a lover's rendezvous.

_ and I had only one interest in common when we first met.  Girl-crazy 15-year-olds, we pursued imprudent dalliances with a determination that mystified our less amorous classmates. 

I got some beer and the highway’s free.

We bonded after I introduced _ to alcohol and Bruce Springsteen.  He never got his fill of either. 

I took a wrong turn and I just kept going.

While alcohol has never been more than an amusing diversion for me, _ drank constantly.  My passion for Springsteen stalled with the 1984 release of Born in the U.S.A. but  _ went on to write his senior thesis about the artist’s response to the Reagan era.  He also caught more than two dozen Springsteen concerts.

I’m a rocker.

I dubbed _’s copy of The River on the day the album was released in 1980.  I can’t quite remember what we illegally consumed before and during Springsteen’s 1981 concert in support of the album at Kemper Arena in the West Bottoms of Kansas City, but I recall that it was a massive night.

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?

We gradually drifted apart, partly because I just couldn’t hang.  It took me a full day to recover after each of the handful of occasions we reunited during his last years. 

The price you pay.

I brought a boombox and a copy of The River to _’s room in a hospice two days before his body gave out.  He was coherent enough to indicate that he appreciated the gesture.

My brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room.

The tears that streamed down my face at Thursday’s concert at the Sprint Center, consequently, didn’t come as a surprise.  I cried for myself during “Independence Day” and lost it while thinking of _ as the band performed “Wreck on the Highway.” 

They can’t touch me now.

Had I not been sober and in the arms of the woman I love, I might not have made it through the night.

(Tim Finn wrote a proper  review of the concert. Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Céu- Tropix

Summer has arrived.  I first felt the supremely relaxed sensation that I associate with the combination of sunburn, sangria and a refreshing evening breeze when I encountered ”Perfume do Invisível”, the opening track of Céu's Tropix.  She mixes campy lounge music with contemporary electronic grooves on the intoxicating new album.  Tropix sounds as if Seu Jorge, Beck and Elis Regina passed out on inflatable rafts in the same Brazilian swimming pool.


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I reviewed Matt Otto’s Soliloquy for KCUR.  There’s a corresponding audio feature at the link that doubles as a case study in Asperger syndrome.

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I wrote an extended preview of Gary Clark Jr.’s concert at the Uptown Theater.

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My review of a concert by Pablo Ziegler’s Quartet for New Tango is posted at Plastic Sax.

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Gato Barbieri has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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For the Imperfect, For The Dilligent, the latest effort from the Kansas City duo BLKFLANL, is RIYL: J Dilla, backpacks, Madlib.

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Have I no shame?  I’m horrified by my affection for Babymetal’s Metal Resistance.  Here’s ”Karate”.

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

Album Review: Into It Over It- Standards

A few years after our graduation, a former classmate spotted copies of our high school yearbooks on a bookshelf in my apartment.  He spent the next hour pouring over the volumes as he reminisced about the good old days.  I threw the books in the trash the next day.  Even though I’ve always been more interested in tomorrow than yesterday, Into It Over It’s new album Standards makes me feel like a giddily confused 17-year-old.  And I like it.  RIYL: The Get Up Kids, teenage kicks, Ben Gibbard.


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I reviewed the touring production of A Night With Janis Joplin.

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I admired Tinashe’s career in advance of her show at 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 the Conquerors with Steve Kraske on KCUR last week.

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I take note of Gerald Spaits' Sax & Violins at Plastic Sax.

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Herb Palmer, a longtime fixture on Kansas City’s music scene, has died.  Here’s a related article written by CJ Janovy in 2004.

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Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest has died.

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The gospel star Daryl Coley died earlier this month.  Here’s ”He’s Preparing Me”.

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What I’m Feelin’, the first Anthony Hamilton studio album (aside from a Christmas project) in five years, makes me feel disappointed, depressed and angry.  Even the album’s best songs are tedious.  Hamilton has ceded the title of the best traditional male R&B vocalist of the new millennium.  Here’s ”Amen”.

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Henry Threagill’s new works inspire me.  Old Locks and Irregular Verbs will be released on April 1.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Walker Family Singers- Panola County Spirit

Friends know that I throw myself into the Lenten season with gusto.  The deprivations I’ve endured (it’s day 41, but who’s counting?) have seemed inconsequential this year.  The Walker Family Singers’ Panola County Spirit is partly responsible for guiding me through this period.  The new album is an a cappella gospel gem that brings tears of gratitude to my eyes.  Here’s a frustratingly brief promo video.


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I reviewed a thoroughly engaging concert by Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and Delain.

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Patti Austin’s concert at the Gem Theater was a mess.  Here’s my review.

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I discussed David Cook's career on KCUR last week.

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

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I wrote an extended preview for Brian Fallon’s performance at the Riot Room.

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I reviewed the Paul Shinn Trio’s Into That Good Night at Plastic Sax.

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Steve Young has died.  ”It’s Not Supposed to Be That Way” is my favorite Young composition.

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Julian Lage’s Arclight is excellent.  RIYL: Django Reinhardt, loud twang, Chet Atkins.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: UFO at the VooDoo

While countless people marked news of the death of George Martin by playing albums by the Beatles last Wednesday, I joined about 400 aging rockers at a concert by the British hard-rock band UFO at the VooDoo at Harrah’s Casino.  Martin produced UFO’s 1980 album No Place to Run.

Much of the nearly two-hour outing possessed a punchy, melodic attack that wasn’t too far removed from the Beatles songs like “Hey Bulldog,” “The Night Before” and “Taxman.”

Aside the showy guitar solos of Vinnie Moore (every one of his statements would have benefited from extensive pruning), UFO resembled a commendably humble pub rock band.  Renditions of “Only You Can Rock Me,” “Rock Bottom” and “Shoot Shoot” were transformed into beery singalongs.

The unpretentious tone was accentuated by the goofy antics of vocalist Phil Mogg.  He joked that his beer was “best glass of urine I’ve ever had,” mocked his wardrobe and feigned indifference about the band’s discography.

Andy Parker, the drummer who co-founded UFO with Mogg in 1969, ambled to Mogg’s microphone at the conclusion of the concert to acknowledge the passing of a legend with four words: “God bless George Martin.”



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I discussed Maria the Mexican on Local Listen last week.

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I wrote an extended preview of Basia Bulat’s appearance at the Riot Room.

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

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I reviewed Alicia Olatuja’s concert at the Folly Theater at Plastic Sax.

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Louis Meyers has died.  The co-founder of SXSX looked fit as a fiddle when I spoke to him at the Folk Alliance conference last month.

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Nana Vasconcelos has died.

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Ernestine Anderson has died.

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Keith Emerson has died.  Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1977 appearance at Municipal Auditorium was one of the first rock concerts I attended.

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Nolatet, a group that features Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, James Singleton and Johnny Vidacovich, has released Dogs.  RIYL: Charles Mingus, no holds barred, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.

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Call it revenge of the (band) nerds.  About half of the selections on Snarky Puppy’s Family Dinner, Vol. 2 are excellent.  I'll no longer mock the enthusiasm of the collective’s rabid fans.

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Jim Rotondi’s mainstream album Dark Blue tickles my fancy.  RIYL: Clifford Brown, contemporary bop that isn't boring, Claudio Roditi.

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La Santa Cecilia’s Buenaventura is RIYL: Lila Downs, the sun, Making Movies.  Here’s ”Nunca Mas”.

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Vilde Frang’s Britten/Korngold is wonderful.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review- Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin

It’s discouraging to see one of the greatest figures in American music reduced to a punchline.  The Willie-and-weed narrative was played out 20 years ago but I still encounter many more Willie-related marijuana jokes than serious discussions of his music. 

The ongoing artistic vitality of Nelson, 82, is one of the most remarkable achievements in popular music.  While his performances are ramshackle affairs, several of his recent albums are exceptional.

The gentle swing and the unabashed sentimentality of the new Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin brings tears to my eyes.  My emotional reaction is partly based in nostalgia.

My old man bought every Nelson album in the 1970s.  Willie's greatness was about the only thing he and I agreed upon.  The 1978 album Stardust introduced me to standards like “September Song” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.”  Summertime may be even better.


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I reviewed Logan Richardson’s magnificent new album Shift for KCUR.

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I reviewed Lee Fields’ impressive concert at the Granada.

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I previewed Kacey Musgraves’ concert for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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

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I’m the gray blip that moves from the left to the right side of the stage at the 4:49 mark of the transfixing time lapse video of the Be/Non album release show at the Scottish Rite Temple.

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Some of the tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s new collection of outtakes and demos are merely footnotes to Good Kid M.A.A.D. City and To Pimp a Butterfly.  Other selections- particularly the jazz and funk selections- are stunning.

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Aki Rissanen’s Amorandom is an up-to-date acoustic piano trio album.  RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson, Finland, Brad Mehldau.

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Birds of Chicago’s Real Midnight is RIYL: Sonia Dada, nouveau hippies, Poi Dog Pondering.

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Esperanza Spalding’s wretched new album is a half-baked tribute to the collaborations between Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius.

(Original image of a stagehand vacuuming the set of a Vance Joy concert by There Stands the Glass.)

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.)

Folks Back Home

I reviewed 19 showcases at the Folk Alliance Conference on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I’m not particularly enthused by dust bowl ballad revivalists, bluegrass traditionalists or fiddle champions, but I found plenty of international acts, outsider musicians and straight-up rock bands to embrace.  Video links to my ten favorite Folk Alliance acts of 2016 follow.

1. Lady Maisery (absurdly talented British trio)
2. Maarja Nuut (visionary Estonian woman)
3. Tarabband (dance band led by an Iraqi refugee)
4. Chris Bathgate (Midwestern chamber-rock)
5. WÖR (the Belgian band goes “back to the 1780s”)
6. Sutari (enchanting Polish trio)
7. Birds of Chicago (Joe Henry produced the freaky rock band’s new album)
8. Twelfth Day (Scottish art-folk duo)
9. Ben Caplan & the Casual Smokers (Canadian beardos)
10. Leyla McCalla (a former Carolina Chocolate Drop)

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I reviewed Bill Frisell’s concert at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Sunday.

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I reviewed a concert by Vance Joy, Elle King and Jamie Lawson on Thursday.

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I  reviewed Live at Pilgrim Chapel, the new album by David Basse and Joe Cartwright, for KCUR.

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

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Denise Matthews, the woman better known as Vanity, has died.  She was my first celebrity interview.  I met her in a hotel suite as she was promoting the action movie The Last Dragon.  I haven’t forgotten the scent of her perfume and each alluring fold of her bathrobe. 

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The EPK about Lou Tavano doesn’t convince me that I need to hear the French vocalist’s album, but her speaking voice… oh man.

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Lawrence Brownlee and Jason Moran for the win.

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Herlin Riley’s New Direction has a few nice moments.  RIYL: jazz drummers, Roy Haynes, swing.

(Original image of Chris Bathgate’s band by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Exmortus at Aftershock

Being the oldest guy in the room didn’t phase me, but I started to panic on the evening of Ash Wednesday when I realized that I might have been the feeblest person at Aftershock.  Almost every one of the 75 other people at the metal show was capable of cleaning my clock.

The hulking bill of Enforcer, Warbringer, Exmortus, Cauldron and Vanlade attracted corresponding burly people.

I documented my appreciation for Exmortus’ Ride Forth last month.  The new songs by the Los Angeles metal band sounded even better live.  The four guys in the band, incidentally, may have been the only men at the Merriam venue smaller than me. 

Kansas City’s Vanlade opened the show.  Bless their hearts.  Cauldron, a throwback metal trio from Chicago, was excellent.  Exmortus’ amazing guitarist sat in with the Los Angeles thrash band Warbringer. 

Sensing that I was pressing my luck and knowing I’d already received a great deal in exchange for my $20 investment, I didn’t stick around for the headlining set by Enforcer.  Even so, I regret not seeing a Swedish band accustomed this playing for a few dozen people in Kansas.


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I boldly predicted that the Steeldrivers would win a Grammy Award in my review of the band’s concert at the Folly Theater on Friday.  I was right.

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I reviewed a concert by Avant and Silk at the Uptown Theater.

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I have yet to hear The Life of Pablo, but I’m looking forward to digging in.  Kanye West’s previous six albums are nothing short of great.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Lecrae- Church Clothes 3

“I’m hearing screams and they saying we sold out, but I’m hearing screams from the stands ‘cause we souled out.”- Lecrae, “It Is What It Is”

Even in the insular world of Christian music, you’re nobody until you’ve attracted a congregation of haters.  Lecrae sold out a 5,800-capacity arena in his most recent appearance in the Kansas City area.  He addresses his unusual status as an explicitly Christian artist who keeps one foot planted on secular turf on “It Is What It Is,” one of many impressive tracks on his new mixtape Church Clothes 3. 

While much of his early work is corny, Lecrae has become one of hip-hop’s most vital artists during an implausible era in which the world’s most acclaimed rapper explicitly examines his Christian faith in his songs.  Like Kendrick Lamar, Lecrae is troubled by the contradictions that confront him.  A 16-minute promotional video for Church Clothes 3 includes a few of the mixtape's most conflicted moments.

When American churches scuff they Toms on our brother's dead bodies as they march to stop gay marriage... We had issues with Planned Parenthood too, we just cared about black lives outside the wombs just as much as in. -Propaganda, on Lecrae’s “Gangland”


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I reviewed Bach Aria Soloists’ The Adventures of Don Quixote concert for The Kansas City Star.

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I reviewed a concert by Lamb of God, Anthrax, Deafheaven and Power Trip for The Kansas City Star.

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

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I featured Organized Crimes’ excellent “Bel Ray Flats” on KCUR’s Local Listen last week.

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I reviewed a Bukeka Shoals concert at Plastic Sax.

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The Kansas City rapper James Christos has altered his approach.  He recently released Conception as James D. Conqueror.  RIYL: Mos Def, makeovers, A Tribe Called Quest.

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My Rockfest headliner prediction was wrong.  I had expected Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth or Volbeat to top the bill.  Instead, Disturbed is returning as the headliner.

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Earth, Wind & Fire was second only to Stevie Wonder in sparking my interest in soul when I was a kid.  The brilliant Maurice White has died.

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Dan Hicks has died.

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While King’s creamy We Are King goes down easy, I’d rather listen to my old SWV, DeBarge and TLC albums.  Here’s ”The Greatest”.

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I like Aoife O’Donovan’s In the Magic Hour when it evokes Astral Weeks and Bryter Layter.  Too much of the album, however, resembles safe coffeehouse fare.

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I suspect that my affection for Savages’ Adore Life is rooted in nostalgia.  RIYL: Gang of Four, college rock radio circa 1987, Sonic Youth.

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Tord Gustavsen freaks me out.  The EPK for the latest album by the vampire-like pianist is spooky.

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Susan Tedeschi has surpassed her hero.  I’ve heard almost every Bonnie Raitt album.  None is better than the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Let Me Get By.  The two TTB concerts I’ve attended have also impressed me more than any of four or five (post-1980) Raitt shows I’ve seen.

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Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Evolution is shockingly vital.  RIYL: Jack McDuff, monster grooves, Shirley Scott.

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“I’m Nick Saban in Alabama!”  Oh, Boosie.

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The tracks on Regina Belle’s The Day Life Began sound as if they belong on separate albums.  I adore the gospel song (“He’s Alright”) and the sophisticated uptown jazz number (“A Night of Love”). 

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I recently discovered the late vocalist Victoria de los Ángeles.  What is this sorcery?

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Black Tusk’s Pillars of Ash is every bit as solid as headbangers say it is.  RIYL: pre-rap Beastie Boys, metallic sludge, Mastodon.

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The first half of Rihanna’s Anti is embarrassingly awful.  The last several tracks are keepers.

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I didn’t know that Winston Jarrett was still among us.  A new in-studio session for KEXP is impressive.

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Technical death metal may be the most awful genre in music.  And I can't stop listening.  Obscura's Akróasis sounds like Lucifer fronting Return to Forever.  Here’s the title track.

(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.)

Concert Review: 1349 at the Riot Room

The malevolent sound of 1349 wasn’t the scariest thing at the Riot Room last Thursday.  Repugnant odors were far more horrifying than the music of the Norwegian black metal band.  Combined with the acidic smell of dry ice, the stench of dank hair that filled the air as hirsute members of the audience began headbanging to 1349’s opening selection “I Am Abomination” caused me to involuntarily retch.  The rancid funk couldn’t prevent me from grinning at the band’s face paint and the ostensibly evil hand gestures made by some of 100 or so fans and thrill-seekers who paid $15 to see the show.  It looked and sounded a lot like this.  Jackson May wrote a more respectful account of the show for Mills Record Company.


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I reviewed last night’s Winter Jam festival at the Sprint Center.

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

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I reviewed Matt Hopper’s First Love at Plastic Sax.

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Strange but true: a band named Agoraphobic Nosebleed created my favorite song of January. "Not a Daughter" floors me.

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The self-titled album by Bloodiest is RIYL: Tool, rawk, Big Black.

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On paper, Tortoise should be one of my favorite bands.  I admire the theoretical impulse behind the music.  The reality is quite different.  Like most other Tortoise projects, The Catastrophist does little for me.  RIYL: the lack of swing, Stereolab, soullessness.

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Dave Mustaine sounds like he’s running for office on Megadeth’s Dystopia.  He doesn’t have my vote.  Here’s the title track.

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I suppose I’m obligated to have a take on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “White Privilege II”:  I prefer to atone in private.  Tying oneself up into knots in public is bound to backfire.

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Paul Westerberg and Juliana Hatfield are charming as the I Don’t Cares on the modest Wild Stab.  RIYL: The dB’s, demos, Alex Chilton.

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Adrian Younge’s Something About April II is kitschy fun.  RIYL: Isaac Hayes, blaxploitation flicks, Honey Cone.

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If Yes had been a black metal band, it would have sounded like Borknager.  Winter Thrice is RIYL: Game of Thrones, pomp, Coheed and Cambria.  The title track is glorious.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Exmortus- Ride Forth

The cover art is ridiculous, the guitar solos are garish, the vocals are generic and the production is flat.  I adore Exmortus’ Ride Forth anyway.  The band's standard-issue metallic riffing scratches one of my recurring itches.  ”For the Horde” is exactly what I need to get me through this dark month.


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I reviewed G-Eazy's sold-out concert at the Midland theater.

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I featured Jay McShann in an episode of KCUR’s weekly Local Listen and reviewed a centennial birthday concert in his honor.

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I can’t keep up with the spate of notable deaths.  The careers of Phil Everly, Paul Bley, Long John Hunter, Pierre Boulez, Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, Red Simpson and Glenn Frey may or may not be examined in this space in the weeks to come.

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As the first genuine soul man to drip sweat on me while I was on a dance floor, Otis Clay had a more profound impact on me than any of the men listed in the item above.  I first saw him pour it all out at a blues club in Chicago in the 1980s.  I also recall the late George Myers, a co-owner of the Grand Emporium, playfully delivering a nickel and a nail to the stage of his bar during a Clay performance.  Clay died on January 8.  Here’s footage from Soul Train.

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I asked McClain Johnson an “uncomfortable question” after I heard 3,000 white kids yell a racial epithet during A$AP Ferg’s performance at the Midland.  Here’s his response.

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Blackstar is solid.  Had David Bowie released the album a month earlier, Blackstar would have ranked #15 on my Best Albums of 2015 list.

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Charles Lloyd & the Marvels’ I Long To See You is dreamy.  RIYL: Bill Frisell, folk-jazz, Greg Leisz.

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Halsey’s excruciating ”New Americana” makes me want to summarily dismiss her entire generation.

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Bill Stewart’s Space Squid is RIYL: Seamus Blake, modal jazz, Paul Motian.

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Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s ”Changes” is a revelation.

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I’ll gladly buy a ticket to see Hinds perform, but I’ve already heard all the sounds on Leave Me Alone too many times.  RIYL: The Blake Babies, enthusiasm, Burger Records.

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The Spirio Sessions, a virtual piano duet between Uri Caine and Jenny Lin, is RIYL third stream, Keith Jarrett, high concept.

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I may grow to love the album, but my initial reaction to Anderson Paak’s Malibu is that it’s precisely one-third as good as To Pimp a Butterfly.  Here’s ”Come Down”.

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Why didn’t any of you jerks tell me about Judith Hill’s Prince-produced 2015 album Back In Time?  I would have missed the fine R&B project entirely had the bots at Spotify not insisted that I hear it.  Here’s ”Cry Cry Cry”. RIYL: Etta James, Prince media blackout, Alicia Keys.

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Moments on Baaba Maal’s wildly inconsistent The Traveller are rapturously beautiful.  RIYL: Salif Keita, production tricks, Peter Gabriel.

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I’m not disappointed that Esperanza Spalding has turned to psychedelic funk-rock. Instead, I’m disappointed that she’s turned to pedestrian psychedelic funk-rock.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Watch That Man: David Bowie, 1947-2016

David Bowie died yesterday.  Here’s an incomplete timeline of his impact on my life:

1978-80: As a misfit kid in the pre-internet era, determining who and what I was became easier once I discovered David Bowie.  I studied his back catalog as if it was a musical hidden treasure map.  The aggressive glam-rock of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars blew my mind.  The application of jazz on Aladdin Sane made a profound impression on me.  Low remains my favorite Bowie album.

1980-81: Two or three of my high school friends insisted that Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) be utilized as the soundtrack for several hazy high school experiences.  (Maybe that’s why I never acquired a taste for the album.)

1982: I talked my way into a Stevie Ray Vaughan rehearsal for Bowie’s Let’s Dance project at Billy Bob’s Texas.

1983-84 Bowie’s Let’s Dance became a mainstream pop sensation.  I was thrilled when “normal” girls would dance with me as Bowie songs played.

1990-93: I was a sales rep for Rykodisc as the record label rolled out reissues of Bowie’s catalog.  I was awarded the autographed poster pictured above at a sales conference.

2015: I was pleased but not surprised upon learning that Bowie was collaborating with the jazz musician Donny McCaslin for what would become his final album.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Lemmy Kilmister, 1945-2015

Motörhead knew only one song.  Thankfully, it was a great one.  The running time of my collection of physical copies of Motörhead albums and CDs is more than six hours.  Talk about overkill... 

I never had any use for Hawkwind, but Lemmy Kilmister’s Motörhead meant a lot to me.  I came upon the Ramones and Motörhead at about the same time.  Like a lot of self-conscious teenagers, I had been under the foolish impression that image had meaning.  Lemmy and his partners in crime helped me to understand that the barriers between punk and metal were artificial constructs.

My bones were rattled at several Motörhead performances.  The group’s 2006 concert at the minor league baseball stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, is ranked #19 on my 2009 list of The Best Shows of the Decade.

Kilmister died last week.


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I reviewed Tech N9ne’s Strangeulation for KCUR.

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Natalie Cole has died.  Her live version of ”Something Got a Hold On Me” is my favorite Cole performance.

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Craig Strickland has died.  The member of Backroad Anthem last performed in the Kansas City area at Kanza Hall on Jan. 15, 2015.

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Nicole Mitchell’s Artifacts is the first entry on what’s sure to be a long list of unintentional omissions from my Top 50 Albums of 2015 post.   Check out the skronky combination of flute, fiddle, bass and drums on ”The Clowns”.

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The soundtrack for The Revenant is RIYL: Tangerine Dream, isolation, Nico Muhly.

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Posted without commentary: footage of Osa Johnson, the native Kansan who traveled the world with her husband Martin, dancing to jazz with African pygmies.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Let’s All Get Up and Dance to a Song

One of the most most delightful aspects of my holiday season was watching the eldest member of my brood rediscover the Beatles catalog during her brief visit to her childhood home.  On the day the band’s music was made available to streaming services, I observed her reactions to relatively deep tracks like “Your Mother Should Know” and “Dig a Pony” and sang along with her to old favorites like “Blackbird” and “In My Life.”  All together now...


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

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Tim Finn of The Kansas City Star compiled a few dozen year-end album and song lists.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)