Blatherin' Bill

I perused several episodes of Blair Johnson’s Badass Records Podcast after he invited me to appear on the long-running endeavor. Aghast at the prodigious length of many episodes, I resolved to keep my remarks brief. In that regard, the embedded video is a spectacular failure.

Not even my friends and family will want to consume all two hours of my nonsense. I suspect my calculating detractors will be the only people parsing the entire discussion as they compile material to hold against me.

I disregarded Johnson’s mandate to highlight my five favorite albums. Instead, I selected releases representing different phases of my life. These are Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974), Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), Alison Krauss’ Now That I’ve Found You (1995), Kanye West’s The College Dropout (2004) and Moor Mother’s Jazz Codes (2022).

Many people I admire are among the previous Badass Records guests. They include Mark Manning, Jackie Myers, Sid Sowder, Steve Tulipana and Rich Wheeler. If you don’t care to take in my visage on the YouTube video or my Midwestern twang on Apple or Spotify, I encourage you to check out those episodes.

Concert Review: Alisa Weilerstein with the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

The aspiring conductor seated next to me at Helzberg Hall on Sunday, September 15, assessed Matthias Pintscher’s approach during intermission by suggesting “he lets the orchestra play”. The absence of self-aggrandizing posturing was a refreshing change for The Kansas City Symphony.

I invested $37 to join an attentive audience of about 1,000 in the last of three concerts of Pintscher’s first weekend as the ensemble’s conductor and musical director. Pintscher’s humble demeanor aside, it’s too soon to assess if or how the quality of the Symphony has changed. 

I consider the opening selection a promising signal. The mild dissonance of Unsuk Chin’s “subito con forza” is not dissimilar to Pintscher’s exciting original compositions. Here’s hoping for more like this.

There’s no getting around the fact that the featured piece, Antonín Dvořák’s “Concerto in B Minor,” is a drag. Not even the presence of star cellist Alisa Weilerstein could make the composition interesting.

A reading of Igor Stravinsky’s stupendous “The Firebird” more than compensated for the dullness of Dvořák. Like the characters in the corresponding ballet, I was entirely enchanted. As for Pintscher, the verdict is still out.

Album Review: Colin Stetson- The Love It Took to Leave You

Acquiring the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet’s The Real Deal as a new release in 1987 was a turning point in my relationship with sound. Exposing me to the expansive possibilities of music, the thrilling album made me receptive to experimental textures far outside conventional boundaries.

The youthful epiphany prepared me for The love it took to leave you, a gargantuan new statement by Colin Stetson. In addition to containing distant echoes of the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, The love it took to leave you expands the possibilities of classical minimalism and electronic ambiance.

Frightening in both its dissonant sonics and destabilizing emotional intensity, The love it took to leave you is often overwhelming. Immersing oneself in tracks like "The Six" and "So say the soaring bullbats" is a dangerous proposition. As the title of the album suggests, love can get awfully dark.

Album Review: Marquis Hill- Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox

Abstaining from hand-wringing about the (un)popularity of jazz takes a great deal of willpower. It’s a relief, consequently, when musicians directly address the worrisome topic on their recordings.

Marquis Hill’s potent new album Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox contains several spoken word interludes about the common perception of jazz as an irrelevant form of art. The vitality of the music refutes the notion.

Beyond the Jukebox demonstrates several ways in which jazz can be meaningful to broad audiences in 2024. Joined by luminaries including Gerald Clayton, Caroline Davis, Joel Ross and Jeff Parker, the trumpeter bounces between straight-ahead jazz, grown-and-sexy R&B and contemporary jazz informed by hip-hop.  

The important message remains a secret. Liberty Hall was at fifteen percent capacity when Hill performed with Junius Paul and Makaya McCraven in Lawrence, Kansas, nine weeks ago.

August 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Wiener Staatsoper’s production of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of August

1. Ryuichi Sakamoto- Opus
Staring down death.

2. JPEGMAFIA- I Lay Down My Life for You
Sonic sacrifice.

3. Jack White- No Name
He’s back in Wichita.

4. Lux Quartet- Tomorrow Land
Future now.

5. Joana Mallwitz- The Kurt Weill Album
Revelations.

6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Wild God
Zeus.

7. Grigory Sokolov- Purcell and Mozart
Elite recitals.

8. Shelby Lynne- Consequences of the Crown
My review.

9. ​​Thee Marloes- Perak
Little bit o’ soul.

10. Nikka Costa- Dirty Disco
Party like it’s 1999.

Top Ten Songs of August

1. Meshell Ndegeocello- "Travel"
Pack your bags.

2. Yolanda Adams- "Church Doors"
Wide open.

3. A$AP Rocky featuring Jessica Pratt- “Highjack”
I miss the old Kanye.

4. Tank and The Bangas featuring Samara Joy and Robert Glasper- “Remember”
Ribbon in the sky.

5. Jhéne Aiko- “guidance”
That little light of hers.

6. Melt-Banana- “Seeds”
Planted.

7. Gel- "Shame"
Hardcore.

8. Willie Nelson- "Last Leaf"
Holding on.

9. Lainey Wilson- "Keep Up With Jones"
The race is on.

10. Post Malone and Luke Combs- “Missin’ You Like This”
Long gone.

Top Ten Performances of August

1. Nick Shoulders and Chris Acker at Knuckleheads
My Instagram video.

2. Childish Gambino and Willow at the T-Mobile Center
My review.

3. Mike Baggetta with Peter DiStefano at the Ship
My review.

4. Aaron Sizemore, Forest Stewart and Mike Warren at the Music House
My Instagram snapshot.

5. Brian Baggett Trio at Green Lady Lounge
My Instagram video.

6. Síomha at the Kansas City Irish Festival
My Instagram video.

7. Smith and Jessen at Charlotte Street Foundation
My Instagram video.

8. Treanne at 90.9 The Bridge
My Instagram snapshot.

9. Clay Kirkland at Theis Park
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Dan Thomas, Harold O’Neal, Forest Stewart and Zach Morrow at the Blue Room
My Instagram video.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Concert Review: Barry Manilow at the T-Mobile Center

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

There was a time when I wouldn’t have crossed the street to attend a Barry Manilow concert. I’m growing increasingly tolerant as I age. That’s why I jumped on the bargain when I stumbled upon a pair of $15 all-in tickets for the easy listening icon’s concert at the T-Mobile Center.

I feared my life partner would scold me for the impulsive and mildly embarrassing purchase. Instead, she revealed she knew all the words to more than a dozen Manilow songs. Her long-repressed fandom delighted me.

We had more fun reveling in recordings of Manilow’s processed cheese in the days ahead of the August 25 concert than we did at the actual event. The concert started poorly for an audience of about 5,000. An alleged comedian opened the show. He was so disastrously unfunny I suspect he may have been a transgressive performance artist.

Manilow was game throughout his 90-minute set, but his rinky-dink sound system and basic shoebox stage was the weakest presentation for a major star I’ve encountered in years. The threadbare casino setup was wholly inadequate for the vast arena. I would have been furious had I paid more than a total of $30.

Renditions of “Looks Like We Made It,” “Even Now” and “I Made It Through the Rain” deserved better. Acknowledging that his oeuvre is derided as dentist office fare, Manilow joked that “as long as there are teeth, my songs will live forever.” Maybe so, but the abysmal production put Manilow’s songs on life support in Kansas City.

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.