Rain Delay

I treated a minor setback like a major calamity yesterday. I’d long considered the ticketed performance by Mike Dillon and Brian Haas at Raj Ma Hall on Saturday, May 22, as my proper reintroduction to live music. The outdoor show at the listening-oriented venue featured two favorite musicians. I took it hard when my precious scheme was foiled due to inclement weather. Even though I’m fully vaccinated, I remain irrationally skittish about engaging with large, unmasked crowds. Indoor venues are still uninviting. Besides, interference from inattentive audiences is my pet peeve. The Raj Ma Hall show represented an optimal baby step in a gradual acclimation process. I’m now inclined to take the opposite tack. The Chicago rapper Lil Durk is slated to perform at a notoriously sketchy venue a few miles from my home this week. I just might pull the trigger.

Now’s the Time: Adam Larson

The self-effacing Adam Larson bills himself as “everyone’s favorite jazz ginger.” The gradual lifting of quarantine restrictions should allow the Kansas City based saxophonist to retest the premise.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*A Condé Nast Traveler feature suggests Green Lady Lounge is “arguably the best place to catch live jazz in the city.”

*Nate Nall shared a track from his forthcoming album.

*Joe Dimino interviewed Jim Lower and Tim Reid, Jr.

*Tweet of the Week: American Jazz Museum: JOB ALERT The American Jazz Museum is officially hiring the following positions: Grant Writer (Contract); External Affairs/Membership & Donor Relations Associate (Part-Time); Museum Accountant (Part-Time). More information here.

Album Review: Blob Castle- Music for Art Show

Motivated by my admiration for Blob Castle’s Music for Art Show, I visited the Kansas City Artists Coalition gallery to witness the corresponding art created by Blob Castle mastermind Robert Castillo.  As its title suggests, each of the seven songs on the 26-minute Music for Art Show coincides with a Castillo work displayed in his Variegated exhibition.  Experiencing the correlative music and art simultaneously is instructive, but each component is easily appreciated independently.

My high regard for Castillo’s latest efforts isn’t a surprise.  Among Friends, a sprawling document created by Castillo’s band The Sextet, was Plastic Sax’s top Kansas City album of 2019.   As with Among Friends, Music for Art Show occupies the freewheeling region of jazz galvanized by jam-oriented acts like Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Snarky Puppy, and Medeski Martin and Wood.

Although the sumptuous sound suggests otherwise, Castillo made liberal use of a MIDI keyboard to play and record much of Music for Art Show himself.  Poets provide analogue counterpoint.  The frenetic wordplay of Jeffrey Hasno- a dizzying blend of rapper Aesop Rock and beat icon Allen Ginsberg- sets the tone on the opening track.  Castillo offers a convincing anti-screen screed on “Lost in the Feed.”

The poetry of “Portrait of My Father,” a remarkable track that also features a hompax, is delivered in Mayan. On “Two Lines,” Poet José Faus asks “do you want to be the gatekeeper or the bouncer in the back?” Nevertheless, Castillo rejects binary choices. All are welcome at Castillo’s multidimensional party.

Now's the Time: Guitar Elation

The Plastic Sax-approved ensemble Guitar Elation entertains at Green Lady Lounge every Thursday evening this spring and summer. If I play my cards right, Guitar Elation will be on stage when I elect to once again darken the door of the popular venue in the coming weeks.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Clint Ashlock touted the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s fundraising concert on KCUR’s Up To Date program.

*While many of the artists I nominated for consideration are represented on the final ballot, I voted for only four of the ultimate victors of the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2021 Winners for Jazz Performance and Recordings.  Pat Metheny is the sole Kansas City artist listed.

*Tweet of the Week: Jeff Shirley- Tonight at Green Lady Lounge, Jeff Shirley Organ Trio with Ken Lovern on organ and Brian Steever on drums!! 11pm-2am

Exhibit Review: “Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic” at the American Jazz Museum

Billie Holiday boasted “my mother, she gave me something- it's going to carry me through this world” on “Billie’s Blues,” one of the iconic artist’s signature songs.  The powerful attribute radiates from the 56 images in Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic at the American Jazz Museum.  The museum hosts the traveling exhibit curated by the Smithsonian Institution through August 1.

The proceedings of a reception in the museum’s atrium celebrating the May 8 opening of the exhibit- the fourth of the show’s six tour stops- effectively affirmed Holiday’s ongoing relevance in popular culture.  Backed by the James Ward Band, Rashida Phillips, Executive Director of the museum, Piaget Long and Love, Mae C, (Instagram clip) performed winning renditions of songs associated with Holiday.

Dr. Dina Bennett, Director of Collections & Curatorial Affairs, mentioned Kanye West’s sample of Nina Simone’s version of “Strange Fruit” on his divisive 2013 album Yeezus.  Phillips referenced the new Andra Day vehicle The United States vs. Billie Holiday.  Dantzic’s output while on the payroll of Decca Records in 1957 possesses a similarly timeless quality.  Holiday is seen in strikingly intimate photos at home, in paparazzi-style street shots and in instructive images at the New Jersey nightclub Sugar Hill.

All of the portraits can be easily located online, but seeing the handsomely framed photographs hanging on the walls of the museum’s Changing Gallery offers a vastly superior experience.  Holiday claimed “I ain’t good looking” in “Billie’s Blues.”  It’s not true.  Dantzic’s photos depict a woman who was beautiful inside and out.

Now’s the Time: Bukeka Blakemore, Amber Underwood, Aryana Nemeti and Angela Ward

Vocalist Bukeka Blakemore, flautist Amber Underwood, saxophonist Aryana Nemeti and keyboardist Angela Ward perform jazz and jazz-related music in a four-song set filmed at the Kansas City Museum in the embedded video.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*A television news broadcast reports that streets in the Jazz District will be blocked on weekends this summer.

*Downbeat published a review of Tony Tixier’s I Am Human.  The French pianist’s album features duets with Ben Leifer, Hermon Mehari and Logan Richardson.

*Tweet of the Week: Dr. K Goldschmitt- Something I think about every time I teach History of Jazz is Altman’s Kansas City. He got a group of ridiculously talented musicians in the mid-1990s to meticulously re-enact a style from 60 years prior. Can you imagine this happening in any other genre?

Modern(a) Jazz

I attended my first concert in 14 months on Thursday, April 29.  Three vocalists and a pianist representing the Lyric Opera of Kansas City competed with the yaps of agitated lap dogs, the shouts of playful toddlers and the pings emanating from nearby pickleball courts at the free recital at Meadowbrook Park in Prairie Village.

Two days after my second vaccination jab, the experience left me conflicted.  Maybe I should quash my notorious compulsion to spend several nights every week listening to live music.  I once took pride in attending more than 365 performances every year.  Thursday’s concert indicated I should consider becoming less indiscriminate.

First and most essentially, the somber shadow of the deadly virus continues to loom large.  Even though I claimed I was “ready to rage” on the most recent episode of my podcast, I’m still squeamish every time I enter an enclosed public space.  I’ll need to overcome my fear when I take my first post-quarantine ride on a flying germ tube in a couple weeks.

The pandemic changed me.  After listened to recorded music in optimum conditions for 15 months, I’m less willing to accommodate people who treat music as obtrusive background noise.  Discovering sonic paradises amid serious music enthusiasts at festivals including Cropped Out and Big Ears and at big city nightclubs in recent years, I’ve learned obtrusive audiences aren’t inevitable at performances of improvised music.

That’s why Raj Ma Hall is among the jazz-friendly Kansas City venues I intend to visit first in coming weeks. The outdoor space is an alluring alternative to the region’s established rooms for jazz and unconventional music. Here’s hoping patrons of the grassroots initiative live up to my persnickety standards and fussy sense of decorum.

Now’s the Time: The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra will perform Clint Ashlock’s arrangement of Mary Lou Williams’ “Zodiac Suite” in a virtual concert on Thursday, May 6. The embedded video is an appealing preview of the performance.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The 2021 edition of Prairie Village’s jazz festival is scheduled for September 11.

*The Kansas City Star and KCUR share details about the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s 2021-22 season.

*A report in The Kansas City Star suggests live jazz will be featured at the former Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at 1400 Main Street when B&B Theatres takes over operations at the location. 

*In an account of a new round of bloodshed in the Jazz District, a man employed on the block of the deadly quadruple shooting tells The Kansas City Star “people can’t come out to have a good time at night without fearing a shooting.”

*Anita Dixon and Jakob Wagner will remind participants in a virtual forum of Kansas City’s status as a UNESCO City of Music.

*Tweet of the Week: Regan Porter TV- UPDATE: One person dead, three others injured following a shooting near 19th and Vine. @kcpolicesaid another person showed up to the hospital with a broken leg, possibly received while running away from the gunfire. @fox4kc

Album Review: John Pizzarelli- Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny

I didn’t think I cared for the music made by John Pizzarelli.  I’ve long dismissed the guitarist as an eager-to-please showman.  The stunning Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny forced me to revise my bias.  Not only are Pizzarelli’s unadorned arrangements of thirteen Pat Metheny compositions entirely devoid of ostentation, his interpretations instill an even greater appreciation of the Missouri native.

Praising Metheny’s compositional skill in a livestream on the day of Better Days Ahead’s release, Pizzarelli called the Lee’s Summit native “a modern-day Aaron Copeland.”  The comparison is apt.  Pizzarelli’s ravishingly beautiful and inspiring renditions on seven-string guitar further affirm the assessment.

A discriminating editor, Pizzarelli reduces each song to its melodic essence, no simple task given the complexity of many of the compositions.  Pizzarelli’s ingenious arrangement of the intricate Pat Metheny Group track “Last Train Home” retains the essence of the original without resorting to flash or gimmicks.

Pizzarelli doesn’t limit his reappraisals to familiar favorites like “Last Train Home,” “James” and “Phase Dance.”  The title track of the 2020 album From This Place is among the lesser known selections lovingly spotlighted by Pizzarelli.  Liberated from its original smooth jazz trappings, “Spring Ain’t Here” is given a sorely-needed renovation.

Created in quarantine, Better Days Ahead is an implausible but entirely welcome by-product of the pandemic. The album affirms Metheny’s brilliance and reveals Pizzarelli to be much more than a corny huckster. Not only are better days ahead, Pizzarelli’s profound detour reinforces the notion that happy days are here again.

Now's the Time: Shades of Jade

Shades of Jade’s blend of throwback R&B and contemporary jazz elicited enthusiastic reviews at Plastic Sax several years ago. The Kansas City ensemble imploded soon after the embedded music video for “That One” was released in 2015. The presence of a few mainstays of Kansas City’s music scene enlivens the production.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Two recent Bobby Watson shows in Columbia, Missouri, stream on YouTube.  The saxophonist performed with Roger Wilder at Murray’s.  He also dedicated a virtual concert to children.

*Laura Spencer of KCUR checks in with Mark Lowrey.

*Gerald Dunn represents Kansas City at the 85-minute mark of a video honoring recipients of the Jazz Journalist Association’s Jazz Heroes awards.

*Podcast update: James McGee of the Mutual Musicians Foundation appeared on the Center Cuts podcast.  The man behind Plastic Sax observes the 60th anniversary of Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz album on his In My Headache podcast.

*Tweet of the Week: Charlie Parker KC- Spring into the season with a fresh new look from Bird!  Add this signature Blue Charlie Parker Tie to your wardrobe! GET YOURS TODAY!

*From a press release: Kansas City Area Youth Jazz has announced its 2021 Season Auditions for Fellowships will occur on Sunday, April 25th at BRC Audio Productions, studio A beginning at noon. 2021 Auditions are open to any youth jazz artist in high school or college. In addition to the strategic partnership and alliance with BRC Audio Productions, Kansas City Area Youth Jazz has partnered with The Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts to present its program model.

Opera Review: Pittsburgh Opera’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird

Productions of an opera dedicated to the turbulent life of the jazz icon Charlie Parker have been staged in cities including Atlanta, London, Seattle, Chicago and Madison.  The failure of a Kansas City organization to present “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird” in his hometown in the years since the 2015 premiere of the opera in Philadelphia is a shameful travesty.

Pittsburgh Opera is currently staging the work.  The company offered a livestream of the opera by composer Daniel Schnyder and librettist Bridgette A. Wimberly on Friday, April 16.  It currently streams on YouTube.  Even though a microphone dropped out on the magnificent tenor Martin Bakari for about a third of the production, I’m now able to confirm it’s a civic disgrace the consequential opera has never played in Kansas City.

Schnyder resists the temptation to rely on allusions to Parker’s music.  While George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” is the obvious reference point, I detect influences of other 20th century composers including Alban Berg.  The opera depicts Kansas City as a hostile place for musicians who flaunt societal and cultural norms. The de facto embargo of “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird” in Kansas City suggests little has changed.

Now's the Time: Jerry Hahn

In spite of playing on Paul Simon’s eponymous 1972 album, collaborating with jazz luminaries and releasing a series of impressive albums as a leader, guitarist Jerry Hahn remains relatively unknown. The Nebraska native has lived in the Kansas City area off and on for decades. The embedded video captures Hahn overcoming technical glitches as a member of Gary Burton’s band in 1968.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviews Pittsburgh Opera’s production of “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird.”

*The Kansas City Star reports on art installations in the new airport dedicated to Bennie Moten and Charlie Parker.

*Aarik Danielsen previews a Bobby Watson concert for The Columbia Daily Tribune.

*Tweet of the Week: WQED- Tune in tonight at 7 for a preview of @PittsburghOpera's production of Charlie Parker's Yardbird. You'll hear musical excerpts and interviews with cast members, conductor Antony Walker and stage director Tome Cousin. Listen at 89.3 or stream it online via our website or app.

Album Review: Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari and Nelson Veras- Conversation #1: Condensed

Hermon Mehari fully realizes his enormous potential on the unconventional Conversation #1: Condensed.  The magnificent collaboration between Mehari, Brazilian guitarist Nelson Veras and Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz is the trumpeter’s most consistently impressive outing.

Beginning with the 2009 debut album of his Kansas City band Diverse, Mehari’s extensive discography is sprinkled with glimmers of greatness.  His superlative performance on Conversation #1: Condensed should elevate Mehari into the top tier of living jazz trumpeters.

The playful adventurousness and generous spirit of his partners allows Mehari to shine.  While Arbenz is the leader of the date, Mehari sounds like the first among equals.  His maturation is showcased in his elegant composition "Let's Try This Again". The old-school bop of “Race Face” finds him squarely in his wheelhouse. 

Yet Conversation #1: Condensed (the first of twelve albums Arbenz intends to release in 2021) is far from commonplace.  In spite of his nationality, Veras plays with the unorthodox approach associated with the Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke.  Nor will Arbenz be mistaken for a traditionalist.  The title of the speculative “Vibing with Morton” is almost certainly a reference to the avant-garde classical composer Morton Feldman.

The album closes with an invigorating interpretation of Miles Davis’ “Freedom Jazz Dance.”  Mehari summons the essence of the jazz giant even as he explores new terrain.  Davis subtitled his composition “Evolution of the Groove.”  The sentiment is precisely what Mehari, Arbenz and Veras achieve with their forward-thinking- and reputation-making- work on Conversation #1: Condensed.

Now's the Time: Harold O'Neal

The elegant side of pianist Harold O'Neal is captured in the gorgeous embedded video. Raised in Kansas City, O’Neal is currently based in New York City.