Triumphs, Vol. 1 is a giddy blend of cosmic jazz, Dada absurdism and third stream experimentation. Quietly released in October, the expansive soundfield forged by II-Wands is indebted to Soft Machine, Igor Stravinsky and Sun Ra. Spoken word, otherworldly singing, strings and percussion evoke hallucinatory dreamstates. II-Wands is billed as a “(c)ollection of living composers and new works from the United States.” Contributors to the collective’s often amusing sketches include the notable Kansas City musicians Benjamin Baker and Brant Jester.
Concert Review: Alan Voss Quartet at Swope Park Pavilion
Original image of Alan Voss’ quartet at Swope Park Pavillion by Plastic Sax.
A tricked out red sedan blaring Public Enemy’s “Don’t Believe the Hype” cruised past Swope Park Pavilion during a performance by a quartet led by Alan Voss on Sunday, September 18.
Chuck D’s reference to John Coltrane in the rap anthem caused the sonic intrusion to intensify my blissful state. Few things could be better than hearing vital improvisations on an idyllic day at a spectacular venue.
The faithful rendering of Voss’ Baobab affirmed the reference to Steve Cardenas in my review of the album. Furthermore, I realized that Voss shares Pat Metheny’s melodic sensibility.
As on the 2023 recording, Voss’ vision was expertly facilitated by the multi-generational lineup of saxophonist Benjamin Baker, bassist Forest Stewart and drummer Evan Verploegh.
Sadly, there wasn’t much hype to disbelieve. A stray hound, a few fans, several musicians who had performed earlier and a drug dealer and his clientele heard what Chuck D and I might characterize as def jams.
Concert Review: Eli Wallace at Stray Cat Film Center
Original image by Plastic Sax.
Pity the piano that was delivered to Stray Cat Film Center for a performance by Eli Wallace on Monday, July 24. After enduring a move in extreme heat, the instrument was mercilessly poked and prodded by the Brooklyn based pianist.
Wallace’s 20-minute solo improvisation was as vehemently athletic. The prepared piano attack sounded as if ragtime piano rolls had grown sentient roots and branches after being stored in a dark, wet basement for more than a century. Several people paid $10 to experience the uncommon sounds.
The extraordinary exhibition illuminated only by an exit sign and a red light bulb on the floor was preceded by a brisk improvisation by saxophonist Benjamin Baker, guitarist Seth Davis, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Osborne and drummers Kevin Cheli and Evan Verploegh.
The most transfixing moments transpired when Davis and Cheli joined Wallace. The spell cast by the trio’s considered investigations was broken as the remainder of the ensemble gradually joined the improvisation. The beleaguered piano was buried under a dense heap of noise.
Album Review: Alan Voss Quartet- Baobab
Alan Voss recognizes that louder isn’t better. The Kansas City guitarist plays with subtle restraint on Baobab. Opting for contemplative elegance on a debut album is a bold artistic choice during an era dominated by brash volume. His affinity for quietude makes Voss an artistic descendent of the one-time Kansas City guitarist Steve Cardenas. The impression is enhanced by the contributions of bassist Forest Stewart, a frequent Cardenas collaborator. Baobab also features saxophonist Benjamin Baker and drummer Evan Verploegh. Hearing the two fiery musicians in a subdued context is intriguing. The quartet’s circumspect interaction is the most rewarding element of the serene Baobab.
Plastic Sax's Favorite Performances of 2022
Original image of Bob Bowman and Peter Schlamb by Plastic Sax.
Top Performances by Kansas City Artists
1. Logan Richardson + Blues People at the Ship
2. Adam Larson, Clark Sommers and Dana Hall at Westport Coffee House
3. Black Crack Revue at Westport Coffee House
4. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at recordBar
5. Arnold Young and the RoughTet at the Ship
6. Bob Bowman and Peter Schlamb at Second Presbyterian Church
7. Evan Verplough and Ben Baker at World Culture KC
8. Rod Fleeman at Green Lady Lounge
9. Alter Destiny at Charlotte Street Foundation
10. Drew Williams, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
Top Performances by Artists from Elsewhere
1. Nduduzo Makhathini at the Blue Room
2. Ohma at the Midland theater
3. Livia Nestrovski and Henrique Eisenmann at the 1900 Building
4. High Pulp at recordBar
5. Phillip Greenlief at Bushranger Records
6. Terence Blanchard at Atkins Auditorium
7. Keefe Jackson, Jakob Heinemann and Adam Shead at Black Dolphin
8. Esthesis Quartet at the Blue Room
9. Kind Folk at the Black Box
10. Bill Summers and Forward Back at Dunbar Park
Album Review: Verploegh and Baker- Badger State Games
The cover art of Badger State Games is misleading. The design is an apparent homage to ECM Records, but the new album by drummer Evan Verploegh and saxophonist Ben Baker contains little of the icy composure associated with the European label. Instead, the Kansas City duo rages like a consumptive inferno. Listeners will know if they’re going to love or loathe Badger State Games within ten seconds. The ferocious skronk opening the album will instantly thrill connoisseurs of free jazz and repel all other comers. Perhaps because it’s a live recording, Badger State Games is even more aggressive than Singles, the duo’s thrilling 2021 album. Both albums share a purity of intent. One of the rare music based experiences even more visceral than succumbing to Badger State Games is catching a performance by the duo.
Concert Review: Evan Verploegh and Ben Baker at World Culture KC
Original image by Plastic Sax.
In a satisfying case of delayed gratification, I heard drummer Evan Verploegh and saxophonist Ben Baker perform on the porch of a stately home last week. Released ten months ago, the duo’s Singles was one of the best albums released by Kansas City musicians in 2021. Yet I only managed to catch up with the tandem performing without other accompanists on Sunday, August 7. In spite of the suffocating heat, the urgent rush of free improvisation resembled a perilous downhill slalom. The athletic endeavor lasting about 50 minutes attracted more than a dozen intrepid friends, fans and curious passerby.
Concert Review: Phillip Greenlief, Midwestern and the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Bushranger Records
Original image of Phillip Greenlief by Plastic Sax.
A concert hosted in the basement of a house in northeastern Kansas City on Sunday, July 3, acted as a study in risk/reward theory. A multitude of ill-advised gambles were taken. A high percentage failed, but the payoffs of the sporadic successes were enormous.
The audaciously programmed bill featured three divergent acts. The exploratory saxophonist Phillip Greenlief opened the show with an approximately 25-minute solo excursion. The Californian seemed intent in creating previously unheard sounds.
Following an opening segment in which he sputtered without a mouthpiece, Greenlief used a mouthpiece cap to transform his tenor saxophone into a novel percussive instrument. Groans and shouts heightened the intensity of more familiar wailing in the mode of Albert Ayler in the latter stage of his recital.
The locally based duo Midwestern ratcheted up the rumpus. Categorized by Shuttlecock as “experimental hip-hop,” Midwestern’s frenzied set more closely resembled metallic hyper-pop.
Four representatives of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society- saxophonist Ben Baker, drummer Brandon Cooper, bassist Krista Kopper and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Osborne- strove to equal Midwestern’s manic showing with abrasive free jazz.
A punk rocker proudly sporting bruises inflicted in a mosh pit the previous evening, an intrepid violinist and the euphoric author of Plastic Sax were among the handful of observers who stuck around for an evening-ending jam featuring all of the musicians.
The bonkers saxophone bleating of Midwestern’s R.W was the most surprising component of the anarchic collision of free jazz and electronic turbulence. For connoisseurs of chaos, being tied to the tracks for the sonic equivalent of a proverbial train wreck felt like winning the lottery.
Album Review: Extemporaneous Music Society- EMS Quartet
The Extemporaneous Music Society asks a lot of listeners on its recently released debut album. Not only does the recording clock in at almost two hours, the six selections consist of formidably spiky improvisations. The sounds made by Ben Baker (woodwinds), Seth Andrew Davis (guitars and electronics), Krista Kopper (bass) and Evan Verploegh (drums) are uncompromisingly noisy.
Shifting between interstellar space music, ambient landscapes, craggy free jazz and bracing contemporary classical music, the 26-minute “One” contains several discrete movements. A portion of the 36-minute “Two” resembles a sideways version of last year’s celebrated collaboration between Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders.
Kopper’s analog instrument scrapes against Davis’ electronics on the comparatively concise 11-minute “Four.” As with all of the dense and difficult album, it’s only tangentially related to the conventional notion of Kansas City jazz. EMS Quartet is a robust reminder that the artistic conservatism that’s long stifled regional output can be respectfully disregarded.
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
2. Pat Metheny- Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)
3. Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni- Arc Fiction
4. Verploegh and Baker- Singles
5. Steve Million- What I Meant to Say
6. The Count Basie Orchestra- Live at Birdland
7. Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari and Nelson Veras- Conversation #1: Condensed
8. John Armato- The Drummer Loves Ballads
9. Lucy Wijnands- Sings the David Heckendorn Song Book
10. Blob Castle- Music for Art Show
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.
Concert Review: Benjamin Baker, Kevin Cheli, Seth Davis, Jeff Kaiser, Aaron Osborne and Evan Verploegh at Charlotte Street Foundation
Original image by Plastic Sax.
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.
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.