Book Review: Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music, by Philip Watson

Original image by There Stands the Glass

Pitchfork’s list of The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s inspired outraged tirades last month.  Recently reading Philip Watson’s new book Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music reminded me that by including guest appearances and collaborations, an enthusiast could compile a solid “The 50 Best Bill Frisell Albums of the 1990s” list.

The music of the staggeringly prolific Frisell became a staple of my rotation during that decade.  The guitarist who is a genre unto himself hasn’t slowed much in the intervening years.  I continue to listen to a lot of Frisell, and I’m fortunate to have attended many of his performances.  Having devoured Beautiful Dreamer, I’ll continue overdosing on Frisell for the foreseeable future.

The primary value of Beautiful Dreamer for this reader is its detailed accounting of works that had escaped my memory.  Even though I own physical copies of the ensemble’s albums including I Have the Room Above Her, I’d forgotten about Frisell’s trio with Paul Motion and Joe Lovano.  Furthermore, I hadn’t known that John Zorn played a significant role in Frisell’s evolution.

Watson wrote Beautiful Dreamer with the participation of Frisell.  He’s susceptible to accusations of being a fawning flatterer, but Watson is not wrong in his assertion that Frisell is the modern-day equivalent of titanic figures of American music like Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix and Thelonious Monk.

I’ve never been particularly interested in the private lives of artists.  I’m not disappointed, consequently, that Watson treads lightly on the subject of Frisell’s spectrum-ish disposition.  Besides, the portion of the biography’s 548 pages dedicated to listening sessions with admirers ranging from Mary Halvorson to Justin Vernon are more insightful than theoretical armchair psychology.

Even after reading Beautiful Dreamer, I’m not mad at Pitchfork for overlooking Frisell. I like the publication’s rankings although my list would include only a couple dozen of the same titles. I’d begin by sifting through Frisell’s discography were I to take on the task today. Thanks partly to Watson’s invaluable biography, the list-making would be delectably difficult.

Album Review: Brian Harnetty- Words and Silences

In recent months the ways in which my approach to life changed during the pandemic have begun to come into focus.  Trying to make sense of the days remaining to me as I attempt to develop a better understanding of God outweighs other obligations that once seemed so important.

Encountering The Seven Story Mountain in 2021 played a role in changing my priorities.  Thomas Merton’s autobiographical account of his dramatic spiritual transformation inspired me.

Naturally, I was drawn to Words and Silences, an unusual new project overseen by Ohio composer Brian Harnetty.  While living on the grounds of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1967, Merton recorded his musings on topics including God, philosophy, music and current events.  Here’s a visual representation of the opening track “Sound of an Unperplexed Wren.”

Harnetty sets snippets of Merton’s spoken meditations to wistful chamber music.  I initially thought Harnetty’s accompaniment was too genteel.  I’ve since come to believe the fragile sounds perfectly reflect the ineluctable sadness of mortality voiced by Merton.

Not all of Words and Silences is heavy. Merton documents a “New Year's Eve party of one” as he spins records by jazz artists including Mary Lou Williams. His humanity- as well as Harnetty’s sympathetic enhancements- gives me courage. At one point Merton wonders “who am I who sit here? It’s very difficult to say.” Amen, brother.

Concert Review: Ohma and FKJ at the Midland Theater

Original image of Ohma by There Stands the Glass.

Eight musicians made a mockery of genre classifications at the Midland theater in Kansas City on Sunday, October 16.  A six-piece ensemble led by FKJ and the duo of Ohma created blissed-out sounds that transcended category for an audience of 2,000 young stoners, graying ravers and cultured globetrotters.

Ohma, the Los Angeles based duo of Mia Garcia and Hailey Niswanger, opened the show with a 30-minute sampling of material from their stunning new album Between All Things.  The tasteful application of backing tracks and a boost from extreme volume elevated Garcia’s guitar and Niswanger’s woodwinds.

Peers in California’s improvised music scene including Sam Gendel, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Carlos Niño share Ohma’s ability to draw on multiple styles without diluting the music’s potency.  The stage backdrop resembling the visual art of Hilma mf Klint and Georgia O’Keefe offered a clue into Ohma’s intent.

The duo strives to honor the “divine feminine and power within feminine creation.”  Ohma compositions such as “Seeing Beyond What Is Here” could be experienced as profound musical representations of O’Keefe’s poetry.  Where Ohma’s cosmic improvisations contain no commercial concessions, the music of FKJ is flavored with pop and R&B.

FKJ, aka French Kiwi Juice, is the stage name of Vincent Fenton, a self-described “Paris based self-taught kid.”  An extensive palette made Fenton’s 100-minute outing more interesting than the efforts of most electro-funk artists.  The solo piano EP he released last year is typical of his propensity to defy expectations.

The multi-instrumentalist was joined by a bassist, drummer and a string trio in a dynamic recital of R&B, yacht-rock, pop, house, ambient and space age bachelor pad music.  The hybrid sounds were united by a theme of gentle positivity enhanced by verdant plant-oriented visuals. 

One dolt wasn’t receptive to the musical mergers.  An impertinent kid accosted me after Ohma’s set.  Having seemingly made a connection between my enthusiasm for the duo and my comparatively advanced age, he amused himself by mocking “jazz”- his word, not mine.  The innovative one-two punch of Ohma and FKJ indicated the joke’s on him.

Concert Review: Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt at the Uptown Theater

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt swapped stories and told jokes for 140 minutes at the Uptown Theater on Wednesday, October 13.  Every so often, they remembered to play one of the most iconic American songs of the past 50 years.  The majority of the audience of more than 700 wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Longtime fans can compare and contrast decades of performances by both men in a variety of settings.  This admirer witnessed Hiatt perform in Ry Cooder’s band at the Uptown Theater in 1981.  He’s since played the same venue with a number of rock bands.  Most memorably, Hiatt and Lovett performed in an acoustic song circle with Guy Clark and Joe Ely at the Uptown Theater about 25 years ago.

Lovett mixes it up even more than Hiatt.  He’s assumed a variety of folk, country, blues and jazz themes in the approximately dozen times since I first heard him perform in the late 1980s.  Just three months ago he performed at Starlight Theatre with a band featuring the heavyweight pop and rock rhythm section of bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel.

Both men were as good as ever on Wednesday.  Not only do their compositions thrive in stark acoustic settings, Lovett and Hiatt are exceptional conversationalists.  Mercy, are they ever funny!  The evening began with Hiatt teasing his pal about a bespoke shirt/jacket, a garment Hiatt characterized as a “jirt” or “shacket.”

Lovett exacted a genial form of revenge by lightly mocking Hiatt’s elaborate and entirely sincere story about his family’s encounter with ghosts.  The pair’s freewheeling discussion also touched on songcraft, child rearing and Christianity.  Although he’s more reticent than Lovett, Hiatt’s remembrance of stealing cars as a teenage delinquent in Indiana was the best tale told.  

While they sometimes seemed like an afterthought, the songs performed by each man were well chosen.  “12th of June,” the potent title track of Lovett’s strong 2022 album, was the most rewarding selection of the evening.  The solemn meditation on fatherhood and family lineage was balanced by the new children-inspired romps “Pants Is Overrated” and “Pig Meat Man.”

He name-checked Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez as the man “that won the game” in a thoughtful version of Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.”  Complimentary vocal and guitar assistance from Hiatt kept a few fan favorites including “If I Had a Boat” fresh.

Hiatt’s familiar weatherbeaten voice is like an abandoned barn impervious to collapse, but Lovett’s vocal tone seems to have undergone an astonishing transformation.  A newfound vocal strength caused Lovett to sound like the star soloist of a laconic cowboy gospel choir as he traded verses on Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love.”   

Hiatt also offered interpretations of his signature songs “Have a Little Faith in Me,” “Slow Turning” and “Drive South.”  A spellbinding rendition of “Icy Blue Heart” was followed by a hilarious but insightful analysis of the motivations of the song’s characters.  It’s precisely the sort of unexpected detour that made Wednesday’s concert an unforgettable exhibition of two master craftsmen at the peak of their powers.

Concert Review: Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo conducted by Marin Alsop at Helzberg Hall

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I can’t recall the last time I had so much unadulterated fun at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City.  Overseen by the unassuming star conductor Marin Alsop, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo did away with the veil of pretension that too often stifles joy at Helzberg Hall on Monday, October 10.

With the artificial construct of high culture eradicated, the Brazilians’ elite renderings of compositions by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov could be appreciated without the default filter of stodgy formality.  From my perch in the least expensive seat ($38.50!) high above the stage, I had a bird’s eye view of how exceptional artists can thrive in the absence of the haughty affectations associated with traditional concert halls.

Only “Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra, Op. 86” and José Staneck’s subsequent encore of “The Girl from Ipanema”- ugh, a bane of my existence!- didn’t fully succeed.  As is usually the case in the room, the sound of the amplified instrument died before it reached the cheap seats.  An invigorating reading of the ear-tickling “Scheherazade” after intermission made up for the lapse.

The 1,600-capacity room was half full. The low turnout heightened the sense of relaxed intimacy. During a post-concert chat, Clark Morris, the Executive and Artistic Director of the Harriman-Jewell Series, cited a concurrent professional football game as the reason for the empty seats. Alsop responded with words to live by: “with music, you always win.”

EP Review: Jackoffs- Prime Specimen

A year ago I was a steadfast member of the rock-is-dead club. I’ve since changed my tune. Partly to support my friend and podcast partner Aaron Rhodes of Shuttlecock, I began making regular appearances as the weird old guy at underground punk rock and metal shows. The visceral rush of kids in mosh pits and defiantly amateurish musicianship at these small-scale performances renewed my passion for unpolished guitar-based rock. Prime Specimen, the new EP by the Lawrence, Kansas, noisemakers Jackoffs, consists of precisely the sort of savage sounds I admire. Allusions to 1970s-era no-wave and new-wave amid the apoplectic attack provide this old head with plenty of points of entry. Being proven wrong has rarely felt so good.

Concert Review: Karen Hsiao Savage, Hyeyung Sol Yoon and Gregory Beaver at White Recital Hall

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Had I realized I’d be able to watch a video of the concert the next day, I probably wouldn’t have dragged my poor human body to White Recital Hall on Monday, October 3. But I would have missed the privilege of sitting 15 feet away from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long. An interpretation of his “Spirit of Chimes” (13:30) thrilled me. I also enjoyed monitoring composer Mathew Fuerst’s reaction to a rendering of his “Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano” (33:20). I moved to the back row for Felix Mendelssohn’s “Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49” (62:25 mark) ater intermission. The piece initially struck me as stale, but I gradually became invested in the reading of the 1839 composition by pianist Karen Hsiao Savage, violinist Hyeyung Sol Yoon and Gregory Beaver. And for better or worse, had I stayed home I wouldn’t have been troubled with the knowledge that less than 50 people availed themselves of the free offering on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

September 2022 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of Sondra Radvanovsky in the trailer of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Cherubini’s “Medea” by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of September

1. Sarah Davachi- Two Sisters

Ecumenical drones.

2. Caroline Shaw and Attacca Quartet- Evergreen

A Mozart among us.

3. James Brandon Lewis- Molecular Systematic Music

Live mutations.

4. Julian Lage- View with a Room

With Bill Frisell, Jorge Roeder and Dave King.

5. Charles Lloyd- Trios: Ocean

Celestial trio with Gerald Clayton and Anthony Wilson.

6. Laura Jurd- The Big Friendly Album

Howdy.

7. Ohma- Between All Things

My review.

8. Billy Woods- Church

Unanswered prayers.

9. Jeff Parker, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits- Eastside Romp

No ordinary guitar trio.

10. Björk- Fossora

Ridiculously good or just ridiculous?



Top Ten Songs of September

1. Mister Water Wet- "Caged at Last"

Everything at once, sparingly.

2.. Santigold- "Ushers of the New World"

I prefer to stand, thank you.

3. Channel Tres- "No Limit"

A slick shocker.

4. M.I.A.- "Beep"

Bop.

5. LCD Soundsystem- “New Body Rhumba”

Workout.

6. Stormzy- "Mel Made Me Do It"

An old-school tour de force.

7. Smino featuring J. Cole- "90 Proof"

Strong.

8. Little Big Town- "Three Whiskeys and the Truth"

Fleetwood Mac sounds better than ever.

9. Kany García and Christian Nodal- "La Siguiente"

Romantic duet.

10. Clutch- "Three Golden Horns"

Clutch is my favorite novelty act.



Top Ten Concerts of September

1. Blackstarkids- recordBar

My review.

2. Lucibela- Old Church Concert Hall

My review.

3. Algara, P.S.Y.W.A.R. and New Obsessions- Farewell

My review.

4. Porridge Radio and Blondshell- Doug Fir Lounge

My Instagram video.

5. Live Skull- recordBar

My review.

6. Ozomatli- KC Live

My Instagram video.

7. Gorillaz and EarthGang- Moda Center

My review.

8. Billy Cobham- Dolores Winningstad Theater

My review.

9. Roger Waters- T-Mobile Center

My review.

10. The Shins and Joseph- Pioneer Courthouse Square

Temporarily displaced unhoused people were not pleased.



Last month’s survey is here.

Concert Review: Blackstarkids at recordBar

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I’ve been in a funk since returning to Kansas City following a brief residency in Portland.  The malaise has been particularly frustrating because I’m not experiencing an immediate crisis.  A sweaty encounter with a buoyant pop band may have cured what ails me at recordBar on Monday, September 26.

Bouncing to the giddy ditties of Blackstarkids felt liberating, but an incident directly related to the Kansas City trio is the root cause of a portion of my emotional impairment.  I met with Deiondre, Gabe and Ty at a coffee shop in March of 2020 to verify their willingness to participate in a radio feature.

I was elated.  The profile about the then-unknown band almost certainly would have been my best work for an NPR affiliate.  Yet when I attempted to book studio time, I was informed the nascent pandemic forced the cessation of all such activity.  I have yet to recover from the setback.

In spite of my involuntary betrayal, Deiondre told me last night that my enthusiastic confidence in his band’s prospects bolstered it in an uncertain moment.  Ostensibly rejected by hometown record labels, Blackstarkids subsequently signed to the hit-making London based Dirty Hit consortium.  

Anticipating a sellout, I paid $15 for a ticket when the show was announced last month.  Yet the hometown celebration attracted less than 150 people. Blackstarkids displayed a dazzling stage presence developed through steady touring with more prominent acts for the small audience of friends, family and true believers.

Balancing the slaphappy frivolity of K-pop with the unsettling anxiety associated with members of the Odd Future collective, renditions of songs including “Love, Stargirl” soothed my heavy heart. Ty referred to Gabe as “the future of music” near the end of the show. Here’s hoping all three kids change the world.

Concert Review: Live Skull at recordBar

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Three notable post-punk touring bands performed at separate venues within a half-mile radius of one another in Kansas City on Saturday, September 24.  I passed on Gwar at Grinder’s KC because I’m an adult.  I skipped Dinosaur Jr. because I’d already been pummeled by the band two or three times.  But I’d never previously had an opportunity to catch Live Skull.

I’ve been a fan of the New York City no-wave pioneers since buying the groundbreaking Speed Trials compilation as a new release in 1985.  About three dozen old heads paid $12 to hear the underground legends play a 60-minute headlining set at recordBar.  Forty years after its inception, Live Skull still sounds all wrong in all the right ways.

Live Skull was ahead of its time. Not surprisingly, dust hasn’t accumulated on its jagged blend of reverse funk and discriminating noise. The enhanced musical proficiency that comes with age hasn’t diminished the band’s visceral impact. The tense interplay among the current lineup causes Live Skull to seem every bit as dangerous as it did in the 1980s.