Album Review: Wayne Shorter- Celebration, Volume 1

An incident transpired on the NPR affiliate KCUR in 2001 that encapsulates the conservative bias of Kansas City’s jazz establishment. The hosts of the weekly Just Jazz radio program aired the title selection of Wayne Shorter’s new live album Footprints only to stop the track after two or three minutes. They apologized to listeners for unintentionally exposing them to the vital improvised music of a living legend.

Even prior to the death of Shorter last year, prominent Kansas City jazz musicians regularly band together to faithfully recreate the original compositions Shorter recorded in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They don’t acknowledge the equally important music Shorter made in the final fifty years of his life.

The new archival release Wayne Shorter- Celebration, Volume 1 documents Shorter’s ongoing power at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in 2014. Inspired by pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, Shorter overflows with fresh ideas just as compelling as work he made decades earlier. 

Shorter’s 1964 recording Speak No Evil is an undeniable classic. Many later Shorter albums- Celebration, Volume 1 now among them-are also tour de forces. Shorter never stopped pushing the music forward. The hosts of the Just Jazz program would have had no use for Celebration, Volume 1. The contrary indicator acts as a powerful endorsement.

Album Review: Shelby Lynne- Consequences of the Crown

“I just keep on singing the blues” Shelby Lynne drawls in a thick Alabama accent on “Good Morning Mountain.” The song on her 17th album Consequences of the Crown is blue-eyed soul rather than the blues, but the sentiment is irrefutable. Lynne’s bittersweet artistic vision is fully realized on the welcome return to the sound and feel of her intensely personal 1999 classic I Am Shelby Lynne. The divergence between prominent accolades accorded Consequences of the Crown and meager play counts suggests there’s only a small audience for Lynne’s overt references to Ann Peebles, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick and Bill Withers. Members of an esoteric cult, however, understand that Consequences of the Crown is well worth the quarter-century wait.

Concert Review: Willow and Childish Gambino at the T-Mobile Center

Original image of Willow by There Stands the Glass.

Willow, the 23-year-old musician associated with pop-punk, rebranded herself as a jazz fusion artist at the T-Mobile Center on Monday, August 12. The scores of young women surrounding me amid the audience of approximately 9,000 seemed baffled by the surprising change in direction.

The touchstones in Willow’s mature new sound include the Brainfeeder collective, Weather Report and Esperanza Spalding. The 45-minute set featuring four studio session ringers is among the most unexpected things I’ve witnessed in 45 years of attending arena concerts.

Much of headliner Childish Gambino’s schtick consisted of asking who was a “real fan.” Given I was more impressed by the lavish production accompanying his 105-minute show than by his performance, I suppose I’m merely a fake fan.

Original image of Childish Gambino by There Stands the Glass.

Concert Review: Mike Baggetta and Peter DiStefano at the Ship

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Gearheads will want a report on the rigs used by the renowned outsider musician Mike Baggetta and the seasoned indie-rock guitarist Peter DiStefano at the Ship on Thursday, August 8. They won't get that information from me.

I paid $10 at the door hoping that the duo’s “improvised Punk Jazz music for 2 electric guitars” would succeed. No matter the setups employed by musicians, quixotic stabs at the illusory sound usually fail.

The most successful segments of the duo’s hour-long set for 15 people resembled swinging versions of the noise-rock associated with Glenn Branca. A few exquisite moments brought guitarist Marc Ribot to mind. Two or three conventional rock songs performed by Baggetta and DiStefano including the 1993 hit “Pets” by the latter’s band Porno for Pyros didn’t do much for me.

Mike Stover opened the show with 45 minutes of avant-garde pedal steel guitar exploration. I could barely hear him over the din made by the Ship’s regular patrons. Something tells me they weren’t discussing distortion pedals.

Book Review: Said On Opera by Edward Said

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

In a gratifying instance of musical synchronicity, I was listening to Les Troyens when I encountered The New York Times’ August 6 feature about Hector Berlioz. The opera is the subject of an essay in Said on Opera. The recently published collection of the late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said‘s opera commentary compelled me to investigate a work I hadn’t previously heard.

As Said and the author of The New York Times piece suggest, Les Troyens has always been denigrated partly because it’s decidedly odd. Their insights make navigating the peculiarities of Berlioz less troublesome.

Said on Opera also includes considerations of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Alfonso is underappreciated) Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio (initial drafts are superior to the final version) and Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. (his antisemitism isn’t disqualifying). Reading the excellent Said on Opera is almost as engrossing as listening to the works.

July 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for the Royal Opera’s production of Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of July 2024

1. Rakim- G.O.D.’s Network: Reb7rth
Old school freshness.

2. Common and Pete Rock- The Auditorium, Vol. 1
Redemption songs.

3. Sault- Acts of Faith
Expansive gospel.

4. Enrico Rava- Fearless Five
The octogenarian is forever young.

5. Pat Metheny- MoonDial
My review.

6. Jimetta Rose & the Voices of Creation- Things Are Getting Better
Cosmic gospel.

7. Zach Bryan- The Great American Bar Scene
My review.

8. Lava La Rue- Starface
Far out funk.

9. Nathan Bowles Trio- Are Possible
Liege and lief.

10. Childish Gambino- Bando Stone and the New World
Angsty party.

The Top Ten Songs of July 2024

1. Jesse Ware and Romy- “Lift You Up”
Higher.

2. Jorja Smith- "High"
Elevation.

3. Jpegmafia- “Sin Miedo”
Fearless.

4. Caleb Calloway, Cloonee and Alvaro Díaz- "Pe$o"
Undervalued.

5. Charley Crockett- "Visions of Dallas"
Reboot.

6. Miranda Lambert- "Alimony"
Warning shot.

7. Porridge Radio- “Sick of the Blues”
Rebirth.

8. Denzel Curry featuring Armani White- "Wishlist"
Thirsty.

9. Speed- “Caught in a Craze”
Anthrax homage.

10. Wingstop Girl- “I Ate Nothing”
Hangry.

The Top Ten Performances of July 2024

1. Sandbox Percussion, Soowin Kim and Gloria Chien at Lincoln Performance Hall
My review.

2. Jah Wobble at Mississippi Studios
My review.

3. Opus13 at Lincoln Recital Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

4. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the Aladdin Theater
My Instagram clip.

5. Trap Jazz, Divine Essence and Justus West at the Ameri’kana Festival at Concourse Park
My Instagram clip.

6. Sandbox Percussion’s masterclass at Lincoln Recital Hall
My Instagram clip.

7. Soovin Kim, Gloria Chien and Radovan Vlatković at Kaul Auditorium
My Instagram clip.

8. Old-timey jam at Northwest Portland Hostel
My Instagram clip.

9. Kyle Rivera’s composition masterclass at Lincoln Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Miami String Quartet at Yardley Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Concert Review: Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart at Mississippi Studios

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My friend R. acquired a copy Public Image Ltd.’s Metal Box in 1979. Inspecting the unique packaging while listening to the correspondingly strange music it housed in the basement of R.’s home was an otherworldly experience. Forty-five years later, I was transported by live renderings of Metal Box songs by Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart at Mississippi Studios on Friday, July 19. The interpretations of once-unintelligible songs like "Poptones" on the Metal Box: Rebuilt in Dub Tour were perfect distillations of my coinciding passions for punk, jazz and reggae. Either Wobble’s extensive career helped shape my taste or he and I simply share similar inclinations.

Concert Review: Chamber Music Northwest’s “Incandescence: Blazing Works by Joan Tower, Bartók & the ‘Kreutzer’” at Lincoln Performance Hall

Original image of Joan Tower, Soovin Kim and Sandbox Percussion by There Stands the Glass.

I worked up a lather in a hurried thirty-minute walk to Lincoln Performance Hall in ninety-degree heat on Sunday, July 14. Not having time to rinse myself off in a bathroom, I left a trail of perspiration as I made my way to my $30 seat at the back of the venue on the campus of Portland State University.

Given the fiery theme of the concert presented in Chamber Music Northwest’s 2024 Summer Festival series, my prodigious sweating was apropos. Performances of three works were accurately billed as blazing.

Joan Tower introduced the world premiere of her “Sing or Dance” with a few humble words. Much of the challenging piece rendered by violinist Soovin Kim and Sandbox Percussion resembled free improvisation. I liked it, but many in the audience of approximately 400 squirmed.

The duo of Kim and his wife, pianist Gloria Chien, dueted on the program’s two additional pieces, Béla Bartók’s “Violin Sonata No. 2” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata. Kim Chien- the festival’s artistic directors- tore through the famously difficult pieces. Kim’s astounding feat of endurance kept me sweating in sympathetic allegiance.

Album Review: Zach Bryan- The Great American Bar Scene

The uninhibited behavior of a superfan captivated me at a Flatland Cavalry concert last month. Having previously worked out elaborate routines to the band’s repertoire, he acted out the lyrics to songs including "Sleeping Alone" with hand and body motions.

Like that earnest Flatland Cavalry fan, Zach Bryan has no use for irony. The star is as painfully sincere and unabashedly corny as he’s always been on the new album The Great American Bar Scene. Apparently, I’ve changed.

I’ve previously been disinterested in Bryan’s straightforward heartland rock. Yet The Great America Bar Scene’s recasting of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and John Mellencamp’s The Lonesome Jubilee won me over. Now please excuse me while I work on my routine for "American Nights". I pity everyone seated near me at Bryan’s two concerts at my local arena next month.

Album Review: Charles Gayle, William Parker and Milford Graves- WEBO

One Hand Clapping, a set of 1974 live recordings by Paul McCartney and Wings, charmed me upon its release last month. Having adored Wings’ Band on the Run as a child in 1973, I figured One Hand Clapping would be my favorite archival recording of the year. Then I heard WEBO. Recorded at the New York City venue Webo in 1991, the 121-minute document documents the third performance by saxophonist Charles Gayle, bassist William Parker and drummer Milford Graves. The incendiary free jazz might have inflicted irrevocable psychological damage on me in 1973. The direction of my life almost certainly would have been altered had I been in attendance at Webo in 1991. In 2024, I’m all in.