Plastic Sax

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.

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.