Marooned Five

A handful of Kansas City-affiliated jazz-oriented albums released in recent months received little or no previous attention at Plastic Sax.  This post partly remedies the omissions.

1. Joanna Berkebile- Love Me or Leave Me

What: The vocalist interprets standards.

Recommended if you like: Diana Krall

2. Bill Crain- Bill Crain

What: The veteran saxophonist documents his ongoing vitality. 

Recommended if you like: The Brecker Brothers

3. Sylwester Ostrowski- Jammin' with KC

What: The Polish saxophonist collaborates with area standouts including Bobby Watson.

Recommended if you like: freewheeling jam sessions

4. E.E. Pointer- Dialogues

What: River Cow Orchestra’s leader howls at the moon. 

Recommended if you like: Moondog

5. Rob Scheps- Live at the Churchill School

What: The hard-charging multi-instrumentalist regularly hangs his hat in Kansas City.

Recommended if you like: Phil Woods

Now's the Time: Norman Brown

Norman Brown is one of the most prominent musicians to emerge from the Kansas City area in the past three decades. The guitarist’s velvety rendition of the Earth, Wind & Fire hit “After the Love Has Gone” was released in 1996.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Ben Leifer, Herman Mehari and Logan Richardson are among Tony Tixier’s collaborators on the pianist’s new album I Am Human.

*A virtual performance of “Black in America” created by the Marcus Lewis Big Band for the Jazz Education Network streams at YouTube.

*Max Groove spoke to Joe Dimino.

*Tweet of the Week: DerekM07- I’m rooting for the chiefs just cause all the Jazz documentaries I been watching go Kansas City

*From a press release: Charlie "Bird" Parker's Grafton saxophone, one of Kansas City's most treasured jazz artifacts, will embark on a journey to Lake Buena Vista, Florida today for an extended stay at EPCOT® Theme Park at the Walt Disney World Resort. On Monday, Walt Disney Imagineering unveiled “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure,” a salute to cities across America that had a major impact on jazz music: Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, New York City, and San Juan. And the American Jazz Museum and Mayor Lucas recently offered the crown jewel from the museum's collection to be added to the exhibit… This addition to the exhibit puts a national spotlight on Kansas City and is a huge opportunity for the American Jazz Museum at a critical time. Despite many public challenges throughout the museum's history, a refreshed board and new staff leadership have ushered in a new era of growth and transformation, after just one year with new Executive Director Rashida Phillips at the helm… The Grafton saxophone is scheduled to remain at EPCOT for six months.

Project Pat: Ranking Every Pat Metheny Album

I listened to all but one Pat Metheny album in chronological order last month.  (I couldn’t track down the 1996 soundtrack of Passaggio per il paradiso.)  Beginning with Bright Size Life from 1976 and ending with last year’s From This Place, the process deepened my appreciation of the extraordinary multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader from Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

The time-consuming endeavor was anything but routine.  Very few musicians possess Metheny’s astounding range.  His sonic palette includes straight-ahead swing, avant-garde freakouts, smooth jazz, dauntless jazz-rock, delicate ambiance and aggressive noise.  The Orchestrion is among the bold innovations further distinguishing his inventive genius.

Metheny’s creative restlessness is astounding.  His first 11 albums bear little resemblance to one another.  A reluctance to repeat himself is in keeping with a longstanding embrace of extremes.  He’s best known in popular culture for playing pretty music with delicate sensitivity, but harsh bursts of cacophony remain an integral element of his repertoire.

The albums are sorted into four groups of comparable size based entirely on my personal preferences.  The listing in each set is alphabetical.  My methodology is an easy way out, but for the record, my top Metheny album is the (mostly) straight-ahead trio masterpiece Rejoicing.  The Pat Metheny Group’s (mostly) smooth We Live Here is my least favorite effort.

The rankings reflect my admiration for Metheny’s recent recordings.  It’s entirely possible his best work is yet to come.  Road to the Sun, an album featuring collaborations with the classical guitarist Jason Vieax and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet as well as an interpretation of Arvo Pärt’s “Für Alina,” will be released on March 5.  

Top Tier

Pat Metheny- 80/81 (1980)

Pat Metheny- Bright Size Life (1976)

Pat Metheny- Kin (2014)

Pat Metheny Group- Offramp (1982)

Pat Metheny Group- Pat Metheny Group (1978)

Pat Metheny- Question and Answer (1990)

Pat Metheny- Rejoicing (1984)

Pat Metheny Group- Secret Story (1992)

Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman- Song X (1986)

Pat Metheny- Tap: John Zorn’s Book of Angels, Volume 20 (2013)

Pat Metheny- Tokyo Day Trip (2008) 

Pat Metheny Trio- Live (2000)

Second Tier

Pat Metheny- A Map of the World (1999)

Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays- As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981)

Cuong Vu and Pat Metheny- Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (2016)

Pat Metheny- Day Trip (2008)

Pat Metheny and John Scofield- I Can See Your House from Here (1994)

Jim Hall and Pat Metheny- Jim Hall and Pat Metheny (1999)

Pat Metheny- Orchestrion (2010)

Pat Metheny- The Orchestrion Project (2013)

Pat Metheny Group- Quartet (1996)

Pat Metheny- The Unity Sessions (2016)

Pat Metheny- Watercolors (1977)

Third Tier

Pat Metheny Trio- 99-00 (2000)

Pat Metheny Group- American Garage (1979)

Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden- Beyond the Missouri Sky (1997)

Pat Metheny- From This Place (2020)

Pat Metheny- New Chautauqua (1979)

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau- Quartet (2007)

Pat Metheny Group- The Road to You (1993)

Pat Metheny Group- Travels (1983)

Pat Metheny- Unity Band (2012)

Pat Metheny Group- The Way Up (2005)

Pat Metheny- What’s It All About (2011)

Bottom Tier

Pat Metheny Group- The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Pat Metheny Group- First Circle (1984)

Pat Metheny Group- Imaginary Day (1997)

Pat Metheny Group- Letter From Home (1989)

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau- Metheny/Mehldau (2006)

Pat Metheny- One Quiet Night (2003)

Pat Metheny Group- Speaking of Now (2002)

Pat Metheny Group- Still Life (Talking) (1987)

Pat Metheny and Anna Maria Jopek- Upojenie (2008)

Pat Metheny Group- We Live Here (1995)

Pat Metheny- Zero Tolerance for Silence (1994)

Now's the Time: Charles Williams

The versatile Kansas City pianist Charles Williams interprets “Betcha by Golly, Wow” in the embedded video. He’s assisted by guitarist Rod Fleeman, bassist James Ward and drummer Mike Warren.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Gary Sivils, a trumpeter and bandleader whose integral role in Kansas City’s jazz scene included a mentorship of the teenage Pat Metheny, has died.

*Stan Kessler is teaching a virtual class in jazz appreciation through the auspices of Village Presbyterian Church.

*Tweet of the Week: Marc Myers- Friday at JazzWax, a little-known 3.5-hour documentary on Charlie Parker produced in Norway in 1989 with amazing interviews. Go here

Urban Renewal: The Lost Bobby Watson Album

I consolidated and alphabetized my scattered music collection in an ambitious quarantine project last summer.  The result was satisfying, but I was disappointed by the confounding absence of Urban Renewal amid the Bobby Watson recordings.

The oddest release in Watson’s catalog recently turned up in a misplaced box previously hidden by holiday decorations.  I thought it might be fun to goof on what I’d long considered his sole recorded misstep.  After all, most everything else about Watson is perfect.

Kansas City’s most admirable cultural ambassador, Watson is Plastic Sax’s two-time Person of the Decade.  In addition to being one of the most soulful musicians alive, Watson is among jazz’s great sages.  He’s strikingly handsome to boot.  Watson’s unconditional superiority causes one to sometimes wonder if he’s even human.

That’s why I was eager to revisit the suspect Urban Renewal.  I braced for the worst when I tossed the out-of-print 1995 album into a CD player for the first time in more than 20 years.  What once seemed like a disappointing sellout now sounds… well, pretty darn good.

Victor Lewis’ drums are artificially inflated with hot studio air and the sheen occasionally applied to Rachel Z’s electric keyboards is similarly dated.  But unsurprisingly, Watson is his usual superlative self.  As the photo on the back cover implies, he doesn’t stick to alto saxophone. The protest poetry voiced by Dejáh on “Hi-Tech Trap” remains all-too relevant.  And “If” is one of Watson’s signature heart-rending ballads.

Urban Renewal could be mistaken for a solid David Sanborn album in its slickest moments.  But most of the album confirms Watson’s reputation as one of the most indispensable artists in jazz.  It would seem Watson really is something more elevated than a mere mortal.

Now's the Time: Bob Bowman, Danny Embrey and Brian Steever

I intend to hop on an airplane the first day I feel comfortable resuming post-inoculation life. Should my return flight to Kansas City land in the evening, I’ll drop in at the Green Lady Lounge on my way home. The embedded video captures the sound and atmosphere I so dearly miss.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Entries about jazz musicians including Milt Abel, Charlie Parker and Mary Lou Williams are included in the free new 44-page book Kansas City Black History.

*Robert Castillo chatted with Joe Dimino.

*Tweet of the Week: Clint Ashlock- Listening to this album by @KCTrumpeter on vinyl is the kind of aural refresh I needed today. Just some of the most lyrical, creative improvisations I’ve heard recently, and the storytelling is deep. Thanks for your music, Hermon!

Booster Shots

I’ve been holding out on readers of Plastic Sax.  According to the website of a locally based musician, there are “forty working jazz clubs in the Kansas City area” and the city hosts “twenty jazz festivals a year.”  Transport me to this magical oasis immediately!  Alas, the actual count is much different.

Five “working jazz clubs” operated in the Kansas City area prior to the quarantine twelve months ago.  Several other music-oriented venues in Kansas City featured at least one jazz performance every week.  And about 20 restaurants and cocktail lounges regularly hired solo pianists or small combos to provide background ambience.  Precisely one jazz festival was held in the Kansas City area in 2019.  The Prairie Village Jazz Festival featured six hours of music by locally based artists.

Can the musician’s utopian vision be made a reality?  And if so, how?  The creative initiatives of many Kansas City jazz musicians during the pandemic point to a viable way to dramatically expand the slate of jazz performances.

Upon receiving the vaccine injections, I hope to supplement my patronage of conventional jazz clubs with a rich slate of legally dubious guerrilla showcases by unestablished or artistically rebellious musicians.  It may not consist of 40 working jazz clubs and 20 festivals, but the prospective scenario would represent a healthy form of headway.

Now’s the Time: Mike Dillon

The energetic Kansas City based multi-instrumentalist Mike Dillon is joined by pianist Brian Haas and bassist James Singleton in the embedded video. Additional information about the benefit performance is here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Lonnie McFadden promotes Lonnie’s Reno Club at Kansas City magazine.

*Tweet of the Week: Peter Sokolowski- RIP to the great big-band arranger/composer Sammy Nestico, who wrote many albums for Count Basie and charts for Sinatra and nearly every other singer who can swing.

*From a press release: ...Recently relocating to Kansas City after spending 15 years in New Orleans, (Mike) Dillon and producer Chad Meise would track a trilogy of albums: 'Shoot The Moon,' 'Suitcase Man' and '1918.' In collaboration with his longtime record label Royal Potato Family, they would offer the records exclusively via Bandcamp just days after they were mixed and mastered. In 2021, those albums now receive the full vinyl treatment, as well as complete digital release across all streaming outlets.

Elections Matter

The election cycle didn’t end with Georgia’s pivotal vote on January 5.  The results of The 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll were published nine days later.  While 505 albums were recognized by the 148 participants, more than 300 of those releases received just a single vote.  The vast quantity of new jazz recordings issued every year is staggering.

How did jazz musicians from the Kansas City area fare?  Not great.  Votes from ten critics positioned Pat Metheny’s From This Place at #26.  Bobby Watson’s two albums for Smoke Sessions- Keepin’ It Real and Bird at 100, his 2019 collaboration with Vincent Herring and Gary Bartz- received one vote each, placing the latest editions to the saxophonist’s catalog in the mid-#300s.  No other releases by Kansas City artists were given a nod.

Who are the monsters responsible for these villainous calculations?  Well, my ballot represents a circumspect case of head over heart.  I rated about 75 of the hundreds of new jazz albums I critiqued in 2020 as very good or excellent.  Watson’s Keepin’ It Real- my favorite Kansas City jazz album of last year- is in the middle of that grouping.

I also seriously considered naming Brian Scarborough’s very fine Sunflower Song the top debut album of 2020.  I repeatedly listened to the Kansas City trombonist’s release and Immanuel Wilkins’ Omega back-to-back before reluctantly verifying my preference for Wilkins’ effort.  I’d rather be a truthful dissident than a deceitful flatterer.

Now’s the Time: Steve Cardenas

The subdued nature of Steve Cardenas’ music is almost certainly correlated to his relatively low profile. The guitarist who once called Kansas City home is among the most underappreciated artists in improvised music.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Karrin Allyson participated in Dowbeat’s blindfold test.

*The Missourian reports a piano once owned by John William “Blind” Boone’s was recently discovered.  (Via St. Louis Jazz Notes.)

*Tweet of the Week: American Jazz Museum- We're bringing you another Jazz @ Noon livestream this coming Friday at 12:00 pm! Head to http://americanjazzmuseum.org/support to make a suggested donation of $10. Be sure to mark your calendars and tell your friends about this Kansas City talent who's gracing The Gem Theater stage!

EP Review: Blob Castle- La Tierra Se Está Doblando

Complicated editorial calculations must be made when artists associated with jazz create entirely different forms of music. Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny are among jazz giants who repeatedly veer from the form. The peripatetic Kansas City musician Robert Castillo follows in their footsteps. Among Friends, the nearly two-hour epic Castillo’s band The Sextet released in 2019, was Plastic Sax’s favorite Kansas City jazz album of that year. I feel obliged to expound on Castillo’s new EP La Tierra Se Está Doblando even though it bears only a tangential relationship to jazz. Castillo describes the 22-minute EP he released under the banner of Blob Castle as electronic music. Still, there’s plenty of interest to fans of improvised grooves. The non-jazz tracks are buoyant ear-ticklers. “Inhale the Dust” is compelling nu-jazz in the vein of Nils Petter Molvær. And Castillo’s bass feature “2020” sounds as if the fusion standout Stanley Clarke joined the prog-metal band Tool. Purists of every stripe should avoid it at all costs, but La Tierra Se Está Doblando is the rewarding work of one of Kansas City’s most liberated musical minds.

Now’s the Time: We The People

We The People’s invocation of the United States Constitution and the Kansas City band’s emphasis on social justice makes “Misunderstood” particularly timely at this decisive moment in American history.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Wynton Marsalis will discuss Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rock Chalk Suite project with Derek Kwan of the Lied Center on Thursday, January 7.

*Beau Bledsoe and Joe Dimino chatted about Alaturka’s new live album.

*Tweet of the Week: American Jazz Museum- We’re honored to be closing out 2020 with some joyful news. Kansas City cover band Holes In Socks hosted a livestream benefit for us last night and raised almost $650 for the museum! Thanks to @jackhancock1776& the band for giving us hope and inspiration for 2021

Album Review: Christopher Burnett Quintet- The Standards, Vol. 1

January is a month of new beginnings.  Polite music ill-suited to the turbulent societal and political chaos of four months ago can be properly appreciated with fresh ears.  That’s partly why The Standards, Vol. 1, the new album by the Christopher Burnett Quintet, acts as a restorative balm.

Burnett, one of the most industrious figures on Kansas City’s music scene, treats jazz as refined chamber music in his capacities as a saxophonist, bandleader, educator and record label executive.  His genteel sensibilities are beautifully showcased on The Standards, Vol. 1.

The core band of Burnett, pianist Roger Wilder, bassist Bill McKemy and drummer Clarence Smith perform five standards and one Burnett composition with seasoned reverence.  Even though the quintet and several guest artists maintain a consistently gracious tone, several moments stand out.

An imaginative arrangement breathes new life into “Corcovado.”  Stan Kessler’s shimmering trumpet solo elevates “Dolphin Dance.”  “Freedom Flight,” a sprightly original Burnett composition, features a sterling guitar solo from Charles Gatschet.  Burnett soars throughout.

Burnett’s tactfulness extends the album’s length.  At just 39 minutes, the album leaves the appreciative listener wanting more.  That’s why the Vol. 1 addendum in the album’s title is an early ray of hope in the new year.

Now’s the Time: Michael Pagán

Steady snow transformed Kansas City on New Year’s Day. The locally based pianist Michael Pagán conveys an analogous sense of delight on his interpretation of “Winter Wonderland,” a standout track on his very fine 2012 album Keyboard Christmas.