Concert Review: Christian Death, Gene Loves Jezebel and Descartes a Kant at recordBar

Original image of Christian Death’s Maitri and Valor Kand by There Stands the Glass.

I forced myself to choose between appearances by Christian Death and Joe Jackson in Kansas City this week. Christian Death’s general admission show at the recordBar had a compelling underbill and a $35 price tag. A reserved seat at the back of the floor for the British veteran’s concert at the Uptown Theater cost $57.

I settled on small. My decision was validated upon entering recordBar at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 8. Armed with costumes, props and melodies, Descartes a Kant was blowing the minds of earlybirds. The charming Mexican glam-pop band was a wonderful surprise.

Gene Loves Jezebel provided a different form of astonishment. Based on the heavy MTV rotation of “Motion of Love” in the late 1980s, I expected frothy pop. Instead, the band played sleaze-rock in the vein of Guns ‘N Roses. My head rebelled, but my heart submitted to the 50-minute-set.

Attending a Christian Death show in 2026 is as transgressive as visiting at a Hot Topic store in a suburban shopping mall. Deliriously campy and occasionally unintentionally amusing, the current lineup of the seminal goth-rock band entertained about 150 people for ninety minutes.

What do Descartes a Kant, Gene Loves Jezebel and Christian Death have in common? Nothing! The gloriously nonsensical lineup is among the reasons I’m glad to have spent four hours at recordBar crossing Christian Death off my live music bucket list. Joe Jackson will have to wait.

Concert Review: By Storm at the Encore Room

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

A comedic magician drew a capacity audience to the Uptown Theater on Wednesday, June 3. A different form of conjuring took place the same evening at the Encore Room, the Kansas City venue’s secondary stage.

By Storm, the duo of RiTchie and Parker Corey, performed for 150 obsessive fans. I paid $33 to catch the post-Kanye noise-rap duo. The format was tragically different than RiTchie and Corey’s 2018 appearance in the same room.

Operating as Injury Reserve, RiTchie, Corey and Stepa J. Groggs were so fashionable that JPEGMAFIA was the trio’s opening act. Groggs died in 2020. Now working as By Storm, the survivors repeatedly paid tribute to Groggs on Wednesday..

Renditions of melancholy songs from By Storm’s affecting new album My Ghosts Go Ghost paid homage to Groggs. And when RiTchie and Corey left the stage for Groggs’ hauntingly tragic verse on "Knees", my favorite song of 2021, members of the audience respectfully hung their heads in mourning.

The eighty-minute outing wasn’t entirely grim. A party segment anchored by the celebratory "And I Dance" provided a bit of solace. Yet the grim spell cast by the duo felt as morbid as a sawing-a-person-in-half trick gone wrong. Two days later, the gloom continues to haunt me.

Miles To Go

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Numerous posts from copycat social media accounts that appear uninvited in my feeds depict an intrusive interrogator posing a question to passerby: if you were able to listen to the music of a single artist for the remainder of your life, who would you choose? Invariably, people name superstars like Drake and Taylor Swift.

I’d consider William “Count” Basie, John Coltrane, Hilary Hahn, the Isley Brothers, Sviatoslav Richter, Joan Sutherland and Stevie Wonder before deciding on Miles Davis. The determination would be based on factors including genius, variety and quantity.

The latter consideration isn’t an afterthought. Even though the relentless barrage of observances of Davis’ 1926 birth is exhausting, I reluctantly read several such features every week. A recent piece in The New York Times included Erykah Badu’s recollection of her reworking of "Maiysha" from Davis’ 1974 album Get Up With It.

Confession: I’d never listened to the odds-and-sods collection until last week. My favorite Get Up With It track is the 32-minute jam “Calypso Frelimo”. The likelihood that even more brilliant works await discovery amid more than forty years of recordings means I could go weeks on a Davis-only listening diet before once considering turning to the hopelessly played-out Kind of Blue.

May 2026 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Glyndebourne’s production of Gioachino Rossini’s “Il turco in Italia” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of May 2026
1. Alexander Hawkins- No Nation but Imagination
The pianist with Nicole Mitchell, Rhodri Davies, Matthew Wright and Hamid Drake.

2. Jeff Parker and ETAIVtet- Happy Today
My review.

3. Aja Monet- The Color of Rain
Jazz poetry for the 21st century.

4. Gabrielle Cavassa- Diavola
My review.

5. JPEGMAFIA- Experimental Rap
All of the lights.

6. Drake- Habibti, Iceman and Maid of Honour
My review.

7. Yvonne Rogers- The Button Jar
Somewhere between Erik Satie and Bill Evans.

8. Latto- Big Mama
Fruitful.

9. Isaiah Rashad- It’s Been Awful
Same.

10. Chris Potter- Alive With Ghosts Today 
Homage to John Brown.

The Top Three Reimaginings and Live Sets of May 2026
1. Ahmed- Play Monk
Evidence.

2. Laurie Anderson and Sex Mob- Let X=X
Big science.

3. Salem- Red Dragon
Grimy hexes.

The Top Ten Songs of April 2026
1. Seu Jorge and Maria Rita- “Vento De Maio”
The winds of May.

2. Jay Wheeler- "Rubio"
Bad Bunny has reason to be concerned.

3. Joey Quiñones- “Soul Steady Situation”
My new theme song.

4. Silvana Estrada and pablopablo- “Antes De Ti”
Before you.

5. Genesis Owusu featuring Duckworth- "Hellstar"
Mothership connection.

6. Charli xcx- “Rock Music”
Punchline pop.

7. Vince Staples- “Blackberry Marmalade"
All fall down.

8. Stik Figa- “Blac Top Griot”
Ode to Rich Tha Factor.

9. Yazz Ahmed- "Dawn Patrol"
Early light.

10. Duval Timothy, Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau- “ideations on rain”
Cleansing.

The Top Ten Performances of May 2026
1. Isata Kanneh-Mason at the 1900 Building
My review.

2. Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Evgeny Kissin at the Folly Theater
My review.

3. Brian Haas, Zak Pischnotte, Shanté Clair, Seth Andrew Davis, Aaron Osborne and Evan Verploegh at Charlotte Street Foundation
My Instagram snapshots here, here, here and here.

4. Rod Fleeman, Gerald Spaits and Ray DeMarchi at Black Dolphin
My Instagram snapshot.

5. Matt Otto, Adam Schlozman and Joey Panella at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshots here, here and here.

6. Keith Benjamin and Eliza Bickers at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.

7. Stan Kessler, Aaron Sizemore, Forest Stewart and Mike Warren at the Music House
My Instagram clip.

8. Sierra Richardson at Asbury United Methodist Church
My Instagram clip.

9. Joe Cartwright, Steve Rigazzi and Brian Steever at Ted’s Taproom
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Sundog at the Orion Room
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Concert Review: Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Evgeny Kissin at the Folly Theater

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Two of my (former) best friends recently suggested I train artificial intelligence tools to write my blogs. How dare they! AI might be capable of replicating my cadence and tone, but I refuse to believe machines have the capacity to anticipate my emotions, ideas and impulses. Of course, there is one notable exception that justifies the insensitive proposal. I’ve written dozens of interchangeable concert reviews containing the following elements.

• I buy a last-minute, bargain-priced front-row seat for a recital by internationally renowned classical musicians.

• Witnessing the performances at close proximity allows me to scrutinize the technique, tics, attire and even the smells of artists. I’m occasionally able to follow along on musicians’ sheet music.

• I add dubious commentary on the worth of individual compositions.

• While I’ve tried to stifle the impulse in the past year, I regularly call out members of the audience for intrusive noisemaking.

I didn’t ask robots to crank out text about the appearance of violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Evgeny Kissin and cellist Steven Isserlis at the Folly Theater on Thursday, May 28. Nor did I tell machines that I paid $35 (before fees) for a choice seat amid the capacity audience of more than 1,000 to hear works by Solomon Rosowsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Did I like it? Try asking AI.

Album Review: Jeff Parker and ETAIVtet- Happy Today

A musician of my acquaintance recently posted a screed in which he objected to “a clear lack of gender identity” and decried a supposed “global ideology” in jazz. I can only guess at what he meant, but it’s possible the mainstream jazz artist was triggered by the abundance of positive publicity surrounding the release of Happy Today.

The curmudgeon would be justified in suggesting Happy Today doesn’t swing. It grooves. Neither does Happy Today contain direct echoes of Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson or Wynton Marsalis. Instead, it’s in the innovative spirit of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

The disputant may be appalled by the assertion, but the grouping of guitarist Jeff Parker, saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss and drummer Jay Bellerose epitomizes the prevailing sound in improvised music. For fans like me, Happy Today is comfort music. In fact, the funky serenity of Happy Today risks seeming overly familiar.

Vintage jazz provides a different form of solace. I recently took great pleasure in bingeing on the solo recordings of Art Tatum. Yet I was left cold when I attended a performance by a locally based devotee of Tatum earlier this month. Jazz- with or without consideration of “gender identity” and “global ideology”- will never cease evolving.

Albums Review: Drake- Habibti, Iceman and Maid of Honour

Spotify’s twentieth anniversary initiative recently informed me that Kanye West is my “all-time most-streamed artist” at the service. Earl Sweatshirt’s “Burgundy” is my most-streamed song. Rap and hip-hop tracks make up almost half of the “Your All-Time Most Streamed Songs” playlist Spotify generated for me.

Drake and Kendrick Lamar are on the playlist. Because I don’t have the timorous mindset of a fifteen-year-old, I tried to ignore the intrigues of the stars’ notorious rap beef. To reiterate the obvious: the dissolute Canadian pop-rapper Drake is obviously “not like us.”

In fact, lawyers representing the villainous Drake threatened to sue me in 2007. Yet unlike the hordes of malleable fans and critics currently dunking on Drake, I gauge art strictly on quality rather than fleeting fashionability.

The three albums Drake released on May 15- Habibti, Iceman and Maid of Honour- light up the pleasure centers in my brain. While each features the elite production and smooth flow that made him one of the ten most popular artists of the past twenty years, a retro electro-funk orientation makes Maid of Honour my favorite.

Dreadful lines like “why do you save all these shots of your screen? Are you a goalie?” just add to the fun. The vulnerability that invites listeners to laugh at Drake’s faults and weaknesses has always been an integral part of his appeal. Schadenfreude has rarely been more rewarding than on Habibti, Iceman and Maid of Honour.

Concert Review: Isata Kanneh-Mason at the 1900 Building

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My birthday gift to myself was a pair of $50 tickets to a recital by Isata Kanneh-Mason at the 1900 Building on May 15. My date and I showed up forty minutes early to the general admission event to maximize the value of my extravagance.

As at a 2024 concert at Helzberg Hall, we claimed the best seats in the house from which to study the technique of the British phenomenon. She’s almost certainly one of the ten most famous living classical pianists. Approximately 225 attended the performance.

Studying Kanneh-Mason’s spider-like fingers as they scrambled across the Steinway on compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Maurice Ravel and Dobrinka Tabakova dazzled us. While she’s not a particularly demonstrative pianist, the 29-year-old’s fingering was so masterful as to be magical. 

Even from twelve feet away, notes resounded that I didn’t see Kanneh-Mason strike during a reading of Tabakova’s daring "Halo". (My partner later explained that an ingenious use of pedals lay behind the mystery.)

Better still, Kanneh-Mason almost imperceptibly lingered on the dissonance passages of each work. Emphasizing Beethoven’s brutality rather than his melodic sweetness provided me with new insights into the titan. Happy birthday to me.

Album Review: Gabrielle Cavassa- Diavola

My life partner occasionally mocks my musical choices with ridiculous scatting. I suppose much of the mainstream jazz I enjoy sounds corny to people who aren’t in love with the form. Diavola can’t be easily lampooned. 

The choices Gabrielle Cavassa makes on her new album are wonderfully understated. The flawless approach allows her to breathe new life into a pair of Day-Glo relics. Interpretations of Barry Manilow’s “Could It Be Magic” and Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” are of a piece with the reminder of the album’s exquisite torch songs.

Cassava doesn’t deserve all the credit. Several of the world’s best musicians- Joshua Redman, Jeff Parker, Paul Cornish, Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade- accompany the vocalist. Their imaginative playing and Cavassa’ elegance makes goofing on Diavola impossible.

Longhaired Redneck

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My father and I harbored unseemly infatuations with sixteen-year-old Tanya Tucker when her interpretation of  David Allan Coe’s "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" hit #1 in 1974. A few years older than me, the country star was among my first crushes. As for my dad, well, I’d rather not dwell on his fandom during that era.

“You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and “Longhaired Redneck,” Coe’s first two big hits under his own name, were cross-genre radio sensations in the Midwest. My outlaw-crazed father and I set aside our considerable differences in our shared appreciation of Coe’s loopy songs.

Regrettably, my old man incorporated Coe punchlines like "it'll hairlip the pope" into his everyday vernacular. The subsequent decade of Coe hits included the novelty song “Divers Do It Deeper,” the Hank Williams hagiography “The Ride” and the shameless cheese of “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile.” We loved it all, including a lot of sinister sleaze which I’ve since renounced.

Several Coe songs served as musical guideposts for me. For instance, the reference to the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1976’s "Willie, Waylon and Me" was the first time I’d heard of the band. And Coe’s catalog of drinking songs like “D-R-U-N-K,” “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Jack Daniels, If You Please” is on par with that of Merle Haggard and Gary Stewart.

The New York Times’ recent feature about The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters compelled me to begin compiling a list of the most egregious omissions. While Rodney Crowell and Kanye West were at the top of my ranking, Coe held a spot lower on the list until I learned he up and died on April 29.