William Brownlee

December 11, 2022

The Top Kansas City Albums of 2022

William Brownlee

December 11, 2022

The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2022

1. Joyce DiDonato- Eden

Concert review.

2. Bobby Watson- Back Home in Kansas City

Review.

3. Hermon Mehari- Asmara

Review.

4. Steve Cardenas- Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley

Review.

5. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be

6. Adam Larson Trio- With Love, From Chicago

Review.

7. Mister Water Wet- Significant Soil

8. Kevin Morby- This Is a Photograph

9. Blackstarkids- Cyberkiss

Concert review.

10. Making Movies- Xopa

11. LeVelle- My Journey Continues

Review.

12. Krista Kopper and Evan Verploegh- For the Trees

Review.

12. Matt McBane and Sandbox Percussion- Bathymetry

13. Daniel Velasco and Ellen Sommer- Flauta Andina - 20th Century Andean Music for Flute and Piano

15. Huerco S.- Plonk

16. Arnold Young and the Roughtet- Fear Is the Mind Killer

Review.

17. Mister Water Wet- Top Natural Drum

18. Rod Fleeman Trio- Saturday Afternoon: Live at Green Lady Lounge

19. Matt Villinger’s All Night Trio- All Faded

Review.

20. Dutch Newman- This Too Shall Pass, Pt. 2

21. Poor Bishop Hooper- Psalm 119

22. Katy Guillen & The Drive- Another One Gained

23. Isaac Cates & Ordained- Amazed

24. The Creepy Jingles- Take Me at My Wordplay

25. The Greeting Committee- Dandelion

The Top 10 Kansas City EPs of 2022

1. Adam Larson Trio- With Love, From Kansas City

Review.

2. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton- The Stardust Sessions

3. Jackoffs- Prime Specimen

Review.

4. Flora- Emerald City

5. Stik Figa and Conductor Williams- Valley of Dry Bones

6. Eddie Moore- Intuition

Review.

7. Atticus vonHolten- A Highway Tore Through Me

8. Blob Castle and Daniel Lima- Contempoétnico

9. Piss Kinks- A Tisket, A Tasket

10. Jake Wesley Rogers- Love

Links to previous annual surveys begin here.

William Brownlee

November 28, 2021

Concert Review: Oleta Adams with Isaac Cates & Ordained at Old Mission United Methodist Church

William Brownlee

November 28, 2021

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

One of my uncles died on Black Friday. Adding insult to grievous injury, news of the Omicron variant spread global panic, the stock market responded accordingly and my injured foot ached something awful. I was less than enthused about the prospect of spending Friday night in a church.

Yet ten minutes into the sublime collaboration of Oleta Adams and Isaac Cates & Ordained, wild gesticulations, involuntary shouts and uninhibited dances broke out- and that was just my response. Other congregants among the audience of about 400 at the fundraising event for the Lupus Foundation of America shared my passion for the sanctified music.

Several members of Ordained possess voices as glorious as Adams’. The fervency they invested into the sacred, secular and seasonal songs was infectious. Cates’ splashy solo piano segment heightened the devout intensity. I left church refreshed, inspired and hopeful. But my foot still hurt.