The Top Jazz Albums of 2021

More than two dozen jazz albums by artists associated with the Kansas City area were released in 2021.  A ranking of my ten favorite titles follows.  For context, I’ve added a list of my top ten jazz albums by artists without immediate connections to Kansas City.

The Top Kansas City Jazz Albums of 2021

1. Pat Metheny- Road to the Sun

Plastic Sax review.

2. Pat Metheny- Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)

Plastic Sax review.

3. Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni- Arc Fiction

Plastic Sax review.

4. Verploegh and Baker- Singles

Plastic Sax review.

5. Steve Million- What I Meant to Say

Plastic Sax review.

6. The Count Basie Orchestra- Live at Birdland

Plastic Sax review.

7. Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari and Nelson Veras- Conversation #1: Condensed

Plastic Sax review.

8. John Armato- The Drummer Loves Ballads

Plastic Sax review.

9. Lucy Wijnands- Sings the David Heckendorn Song Book

10. Blob Castle- Music for Art Show

Plastic Sax review.

The Top Jazz Albums of 2021 by Artists From Elsewhere

1. Irreversible Entanglements- Open the Gates

2. Mathias Eick- When We Leave

3. Pino Palladino and Blake Mills- Notes With Attachments

4. Nala Sinephro- Space 1.8

5. Sons of Kemet- Black to the Future

6. Evan Parker Quartet- All Knavery & Collusion

7. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble- Now

8. Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson- Searching for the Disappeared Hour

9. Artifacts- …And Then There’s This

10. Angel Bat Dawid- Hush Harbor Mixtape Vol. 1: Doxology

Links to similar annual surveys of the past 11 years begin here.

Now’s the Time: The All Night Trio

People look at me as if I’m speaking gibberish every time I say Matt Villinger’s All Night Trio is among my favorite bands in Kansas City.  The limited awareness of the outstanding group is reprehensible.  I’m posting this extended video documentation of the vital collaboration between Villinger, Peter Schlamb and Zach Morrow as a public service.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Last night’s concert featuring students of UMKC’s jazz program streams on YouTube.

*Kansas City Magazine catches up with Eddie Moore.

*Tweet of the Week: American Wild Ensemble- Another Missouri Music at 200 video is out today, and we are very happy to share this collaboration between Marcus Lewis, Glenn North, and @AmWildEnsemble (link)

*From a press release: Kansas City Area Youth Jazz is pleased to announce that the application and audition process for 2022 Youth Jazz Fellowships is now open for submissions.  Kansas City Area Youth Jazz has two ensembles: the Leon Brady Ensemble (LBE) and the Bill Crain Ensemble (BCE)…. Interested candidates should contact (Chris) Burnett with your name, instrument, email address, mobile phone number at director@youthjazz.us.

Concert Review: J.D. Allen, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits at the Blue Room

“We’re going to create ice cream castles in the summer and watch them melt,” J.D. Allen told a transfixed audience of about 50 at the opening of the second set at the Blue Room on Thursday, November 1.  While apt, the saxophonist’s analogy diminished the monumental scale of the act of creation and destruction he undertook with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Wait.  

The eminent trio seemed to construct colossal pyramids before toppling them in competitive games of Jenga.  Their ability to instantaneously switch styles elicited roguish smiles from the musicians and gasps of disbelief from their admirers.  When they turned their attention from post-bop, electronic drones and tender swing to Kansas City-style blues, the trio so dramatically reengineered the form that the present seemed unnervingly altered when they’d concluded.  

A knowledgeable friend suggested the trio intentionally channeled Sonny Rollins’ 1960s edgy collaborations with Don Cherry and Billy Higgins.  A corresponding commitment to the subversion of corny standards suggests he’s right.  In spite of the auspicious precedent, the undeniable genius and stunning creativity of Allen, Revis and Waits were the equal of any practitioners of improvised music on Thursday, living or dead.

Now's the Time: Marcus Lewis

Marcus Lewis performs at Ça Va, a champagne-themed Westport establishment, every Thursday this month. The trombonist will be joined by keyboardist Eddie Moore and drummer Zach Morrow on Thursday, November 11.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Dave Scott and Tim Brewer chatted with Joe Dimino about their past and present endeavors.

*The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center hosts a jazz-themed art exhibition through December 31.

*The author of this blog muses on the shifting landscape for music venues in a report by KCUR’s Laura Spencer.

*Tweet of the Week: John Armato- Veteran music journalist Bill Brownlee calls "The Drummer Loves Ballads" one of the Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2021. Thank you Bill! (link)

Album Review: Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni- Arc Fiction

Released seven months ago, Conversation #1: Condensed was the best recording to date associated with the former Kansas City resident Hermon Mehari.  Yet the estimable album merely foreshadowed the brilliance of the miniature masterpiece Arc Fiction.  Issued by the French collective Mirr in October, the trumpeter’s exquisite duets with pianist Alessandro Lanzoni are superior European chamber jazz.  

Had more reverb been applied, the recording would sound like a laudatory addition to the ECM Records catalog.  If the cover art was splashed with primary colors, Arc Fiction would make for a notable ACT Music release.  The prominent labels would surely be pleased to share Mehari’s artistic breakthrough.  In finding a way to best exploit his fragile sound, Mehari turned a possible weakness into a formidable strength.  The trumpeter’s tone on Arc Fiction express his thoughts and concepts with grace and eloquence.  Lanzoni matches Mehari’s sensitivity.

The duo sets the dynamic tone at the opening of the first track "Savannah".  Lanzoni dices his piano’s innards like an innovative chef while Mehari slips and slides like a child frolicking on ice.  Mehari’s original composition "Dance Cathartic" is so immediately engaging it might be mistaken for  a Chick Corea standard.  Mehari has made valuable music for more than a decade.  With the spartan Arc Fiction and Conversation #1: Condensed, he’s found his true métier.

Now's the Time: Nasheet Waits

Nasheet Waits, one of the world’s most remarkable drummers, will make a rare appearance in Kansas City this month.  He’s slated to appear with the vigorous saxophonist JD Allen and the stellar bassist Eric Revis at the Blue Room on Thursday, November 11.  Tickets are available here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Steve Paul shared footage of Logan Richardson’s recent all-star concert at the Blue Room.

*Clarence Smith received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Central Methodist University.

*KCUR’s Luke Martin reported on Darryl Chamberlain’s A-Flat Youth Orchestra initiative.

*Tweet of the Week: American Jazz Museum- After more than a year and a half, the Blue Room jazz club officially brought back its Monday Night Jam Sessions tonight, and it feels so good! Check out other jams & performances coming soon: (link)

Concert Review: Benjamin Baker, Kevin Cheli, Seth Davis, Jeff Kaiser, Aaron Osborne and Evan Verploegh at Charlotte Street Foundation

That’s not music!  The common objection to experimental noise came to mind during separate performances of manic improvisations presented by the Extemporaneous Music Society at the Charlotte Street Foundation on Wednesday, October 20.  Quadraphonic sound enhanced the maelstrom created by Jeff Kaiser (trumpet, electronics, gadgets), Kevin Cheli (drums, percussion) and Seth Davis (guitar).  A dizzying racket spiraled around the audience of 25 from speakers in four corners of the room.  Kaiser is a stupendously industrious trickster, so I didn’t mind the failure of Cheli and Davis to showcase material from their recently released album as a duo.  My tolerance didn’t extend to the second set.  Aaron Osborne (bass, percussion) made several interesting contributions to a collaboration with Benjamin Baker (saxophone) and Evan Verploegh (drums), but I’d hoped to hear the saxophonist and drummer present music from their outstanding new Singles album.  Missed opportunities aside, the bold caterwauling was music to my ears.

Now's the Time: Robert Hurst

The storied bassist Robert Hurst is part of an all-star band appearing at the Blue Room on Saturday, October 30.  The Kansas City native Logan Richardson leads the auspicious date.  The saxophonist will also be joined by saxophonist Mark Turner and drummer Damion Reid.  Hurst performs with violinist Regina Carter in the embedded video.  Tickets to Saturday’s show are available here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Disney’s touring exhibit “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” will stop at the American Jazz Museum.

*Deluxe editions of Pat Metheny’s Road to the Sun album will be available next month.

*Tweet of the Week: dumb intellectual (scary)- the “Swing” episode from Ken Burns “Jazz” is a great little kansas city history lesson

Concert Review: Pat Metheny, James Francies and Joe Dyson at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall

Pat Metheny told the approximately 1,500 people in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall on Sunday, October 17, that they were risking their lives by attending the concert.  After striking that gloomy note, the iconic guitarist, keyboardist James Francies, drummer Joe Dyson and a scaled down version of Metheny’s robotic Orchestrion performed 130 minutes of incandescently optimistic music.

The dynamic recital presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra covered a satisfying portion of the vast expanse of the Lee’s Summit native’s career.  In addition to grandiose fusion and straight-ahead jazz, the concert touched on pastoral folk, chamber music and honky-tonk harmolodics.

Most of the repertoire was familiar to Metheny fans, but the trio played classic compositions in bold new ways.  The physically imposing Francies stole the show.  Wearing a t-shirt aptly emblazoned with the album cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Francies showed why he’s hailed as one of the leading lights of contemporary improvised music.

Francies flouted the protocols of organ jazz on a couple straight-ahead selections and staggered unsuspecting members of the audience with the sounds of tomorrow on Metheny’s electronica-laced compositions.  Conversely, the unflappable Dyson evoked the tried-and-true style associated with Jimmy Cobb.  

Never an ostentatious guitarist, Metheny’s playing is more elegant than ever.  Watching him lead a groundbreaking group at this stage of his career is as enlightening as it is inspiring.  The Lee’s Summit native’s enduring brilliance makes his nearly decade-long embargo of Kansas City all the more painful.  No performance is worth dying for, but Sunday’s concert in Detroit came close.

Now's the Time: Pink Martini

NPR listeners will flock to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, October 26.  The faux jazz and grandiloquent pop produced by Pink Martini encapsulates the advanced-degree aesthetic of stereotypical Morning Edition enthusiasts.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Coal and Diamonds, an album by Kansas City Kansas Community College’s The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, was released last week.

*Stan Kessler and Bennie Moten were recently inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame

*The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a feature about Robert Boone, the current drummer of The Count Basie Orchestra.

*Tweet of the Week: Tom Jackman- Also in KC, the Green Lady Lounge is an all time great jazz joint. #opentil230

Album Review: Verploegh & Baker- Singles

Singles, the fiery album by the duo of drummer Evan Verploegh and saxophonist Benjamin Baker, is the first release of the record label operated by the Extemporaneous Music Society.  It’s an auspicious opening salvo from the latest initiative of the Kansas City collective.

“Locked Breath,” a two-minute burst of controlled ferocity, opens the album.  The spirit of punk rock propels “Paved Lawn.”  The duo ratchets back the vitriol without losing an iota of intensity on “Again Endangered.”  The funk-infested “Remain in Dark” features righteous honking and pulverizing pummeling.

The 12-minute protest song “Necessity/Excess” doesn’t require vocals to convey a sense of societal indignation.  The closing track “Ode to the Ghosts” possesses the sort of elegantly sensitive chaos associated with free-thinking jazz giants ranging from Charles Mingus to Henry Threadgill.

The potency of Singles shows the praise Plastic Sax has accorded the efforts of musicians associated with the Extemporaneous Music Society in recent months isn’t misplaced.  The formation of EMS Records is another indication that the underground rebellion on Kansas City’s improvised music scene is gaining momentum.

Now's the Time: Bob Bowman

Bob Bowman exhibits his formidable talent in a duo setting with saxophonist Matt Otto in the embedded video.  The venerable bassist performs at Yardley Hall on Sunday, October 17.  Tickets are available here.

Confirmation: Weekly News and Notes

*Joe Dimino filmed portions of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s “Bird Lives” concert.

*A television station noted the opening of Johnnie’s Jazz Bar & Grille in downtown Kansas City.

*The man behind Plastic Sax raves about the latest release by Moor Mother in the new episode of his In My Headache podcast.

*Tweet of the Week: Count Basie Orchestra- Count Basie was a member of Walter Page’s Blue Devils, as well as Bennie Moten’s Orchestra, the band with which Basie first recorded in October 1929.

On the Market

I’ve spent several carefree Friday afternoons at The Market at Meadowbrook this year. The cafe attached to The Inn at Meadowbrook in Prairie Village features live music from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. every Friday. Most of the entertainers in the family-friendly setting perform jazz. Outings by small groups led by Adam Galblum and Jackie Myers have been particularly rewarding. Alas, not every booking is commendable. The efficient staff and excellent food offer consolation when the music is inferior. On those occasions, watching affluent travelers check into the tony hotel is sufficiently entertaining. Although I don’t benefit from the high-dollar transactions, the ingrained sound of a ringing cash register is music to my ears.

Now's the Time: Jaleel Shaw

Jaleel Shaw and three notable bandmates pay tribute to the slain Cleveland youth Tamir Rice in the embedded video. The saxophonist from Philadelphia joins The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Charlie Parker at Helzberg Hall on Friday, October 8.