The Best Jazz Albums of 2023 (So Far)

I love sifting through mid-year music lists. The surveys provide a chance to catch up on overlooked music. Rather than create a genre-agnostic list or compiling my usual best-of Kansas City tabulation, I’ve elected to do my part to address the scarcity of mid-year jazz lists. I graded 70 of the more than 200 new jazz and jazz-leaning albums I’ve heard in 2023 as very good or better. A ranking of my 25 favorite titles follows.

1. Jason Moran- From the Dancehall to the Battlefield

2. Aja Monet- When the Poems Do What They Do

3. Tilo Weber- Tesserae

4. Orrin Evans- The Red Door

5. Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi- Our Daily Bread

6. Christian McBride’s New Jawn- Prime

7. Henry Threadgill- The Other One

8. Ingrid Laubrock- The Last Quiet Place

9. Cécile McLorin Salvant- Mélusine

10. The Art Ensemble of Chicago- The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

11. Laura Schuler Quartet- Sueños Paralelos

12. Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy- Day

13. London Brew- London Brew

14. The Necks- Travel

15. James Brandon Lewis- Eye of I

16. Mike Dillon and Punkadelick- Inflorescence

17. Brandee Younger- Brand New Life

18. Mette Henriette- Drifting

19. Alexander Hawkins- Carnival Celestial

20. Enzo Carniel, Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon- No(w) Beauty

21. Fred Hersch and Esperanza Spalding- Alive at the Village Vanguard

22. Wadada Leo Smith- Fire Illuminations

23. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City

24. Jeremy Pelt- The Art of Intimacy Vol. 2: His Muse

25. Sebastian Rochford- A Short Diary

Festival Review: Boulevardia 2023

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I recently suggested in a piece for KCUR that Boulevardia is “Kansas City’s biggest multigenre music festival.”  Music, not beer, is my priority, and much of Boulevardia’s programming isn’t to my taste.

Yet I found plenty to enjoy at Boulevard Brewing Company’s two-day festival.  The sound, lighting and layout were superlative.  Thoughtful details like free yard games and a small army of volunteers produced a cheerful atmosphere.

The scheduling on five stages forced difficult choices- I missed another chance to see Post Sex Nachos- but I’m very pleased with my experience.  I caught at least 15 minutes of more than two dozen sets. Here’s a ranking of my ten* favorite performances.

1. Cimafunk

Nonplussed by Cimafunk’s recordings, I harbored low expectations for the band. What a stunning surprise!  Every member of the Afro-Cuban artist’s electrifying ensemble possessed as much charisma as their leader.  Cimafunk is the best show band I’ve encountered this millennium.

2. Steddy P

I’ve known the man who raps as Steddy P for 15 years.  Just as our relationship has had its ups and downs, his set at Boulevardia was a study in extremes.  The creative entertainer overcame sound issues to win over everyone present.

3. Big Freedia

Nice for what!  My face still hurts from broadly smiling throughout Big Freedia’s over-the-top spectacle.

4. The Salvation Choir

The Salvation Choir, my favorite band in Kansas City, were relatively subdued.

5. Peter Schlamb’s Electric Tinks

Peter Shlamb, arguably Kansas City’s most exciting musician, was joined by saxophonist Matt Otto, keyboardist Matt Villinger and drummer Ryan J. Lee. 

6. The Beths

The Beths were the festival’s primary draw for many of my friends and associates.  The New Zealand band’s straightforward indie-rock isn’t my thing, but the quartet’s endearingly goofy banter won me over.

7. Kat King

The fizzy indie-pop of Kansas City’s Kat King is radio-ready.

8. The Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra

Pablo Sanhueza’s Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra thrived in direct sunlight.

9. Katy Guillen & The Drive

Katy Guillen & The Drive’s roots-rock exemplifies the Boulevardia aesthetic.

10. Grand Marquis

I’ve been taking Kansas City’s Grand Marquis for granted. The longstanding bar band plays hearty jump blues with heaping helpings of Dixieland and vintage soul on the side.

*Where’s Jason Isbell?  Isbell is the equal of John Mellencamp, Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen in their primes. Yet unwilling to tear myself away from Cimafunk’s set, I didn’t secure a spot at the front for Friday’s headliner.  Even after pushing my way into the middle of the throng, I couldn’t escape the intolerable bellowing of people flush with ignorant oil.  Frustrated, I headed home thirty minutes into Isbell’s set.

Concert Review: Nickel Creek at Muriel Kauffman Theatre

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Nickel Creek didn’t make much of an impression when I heard the progressive bluegrass band perform in 2001.  Twenty-two years later, I witnessed Nickel Creek for just the second time at Muriel Kauffman Theatre on June 13.  I was astounded.

While I’d taken in individual appearances by Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins in various configurations during the intervening years, discovering the band had matured into a live powerhouse was a wonderful surprise.

Following Gaby Moreno’s engaging solo set, Nickel Creek offered a thorough career survey.  Supplemented by bassist Jeff Picker, Thile and the Watkins siblings showcased their innovations.

The technical mastery of the quartet was underscored by the best sound field I’ve encountered in the occasionally tinny opera hall.  More significantly, the skepticism I had for Nickel Creek’s increasingly knotty songcraft evaporated.

Seated amid a cluster of superfans in a comped seat amid the capacity audience of 1,800 prior to the show, I tried not to roll my eyes at the anticipatory euphoria.  It turns out the devotion was deserved.  I’m looking forward to my third Nickel Creek concert in 2045.

Album Review: Aja Monet- When the Poems Do What They Do

I realized I was irrevocably attached to When the Poems Do What They Do as I snapped my fingers to a line I ordinarily would have considered irredeemably cringey.

On “For Sonia,” a track at the midpoint of the 83-minute album, Aja Monet recalls “when I first showed up to the community organizing meeting I uttered the word ‘poetry’ and their faces sunk with confusion.”

My face is illuminated with elation.  Partly because the self-described “surrealist blues poet” collaborates with elite musicians on When the Poems Do What They Do, I’m invested in each of Monet’s lines.

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, the trumpeter formerly known as Christian Scott, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Marcus Gilmore transform an otherwise dicey proposition into consequential art.

Album Review: Jason Moran- From the Dancehall to the Battlefield

Jason Moran aggravated me when he released From the Dancehall to the Battlefield on January 1.  Issuing what at the moment seemed like 2023’s album of the year on New Year’s Day took much of the suspense out of the artistic horse race.

Inspired in part by the life and music of James Reese Europe, Moran refreshes the music made by the groundbreaking bandleader more than a century ago.  Respectful but forward-thinking, he filters pre-jazz “syncopated” music through the subsequent innovations of Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Albert Ayler, Randy Weston and Henry Threadgill.

I heard an entirely different version of the American music of World War I on Wednesday, June 7.  Frederick Hodges’ 50-minute "Music Will Win the War" fascinating presentation at the National World War I Museum and Memorial focused on the sound of Tin Pan Alley.

Yes, that’s me lurking in the back during the second half of the concert.  I was driven from my seat by a man with an ominous cough.  I hope I don’t miss an opportunity to catch a performance of From the Dancehall to the Battlefield before succumbing to whatever I may have picked up at the museum.

Album Review: Henry Threadgill- The Other One

My relationship with the music of Henry Threadgill was initiated by mild trauma.  I worked as a clerk at Penny Lane Records in the 1980s.  The late LeRoi Johnson, then a prominent Kansas City personality, was my manager.  He made me the store’s jazz buyer.

Elation turned to anguish when LeRoi took to scolding me about unsold inventory.  Because it was alphabetically exposed at the beginning of the jazz section, an unsold copy of Air Mail, the 1981 album by Threadgill’s band Air, was often used as the opening salvo of LeRoi’s tongue-lashings.

Partly to make my numbers look better and also because I was very curious about its contents, I bought the store’s copy of Threadgill’s 1987 album Easily Slip Into Another World without having heard a note.  I’ve been chasing that high ever since.

Easily Slip Into Another World taught me highbrow art and party music aren’t mutually exclusive.  I wouldn’t have known what to make of The Other One, Threadgill’s difficult new album, forty years ago.  Yet in 2023, the confluence of dense chamber music and recondite jazz is my sweet spot.

Stompin' in KC

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I attended three incredible but woefully attended performances by Kansas City musicians on January 4.  After wishing someone would shine a brighter light on the best music being made in Kansas City, I realized that someone was me.  I elected to return to KCUR.  Here’s my audio feature about Mike Dillon, one of the artists I heard that fateful night five months ago.  And here are my June concert recommendations for KCUR.  While I’m at it, I should mention my wildly unpopular Kansas City jazz blog Plastic Sax.

May 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer of Glyndbourne’s production of Don Giovanni by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of May

1. Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy- Day

Bumpy ride.

2. Billy Woods and Kenny Segal- Maps

The right direction.

3. Shirley Collins- Archangel Hill

Time out of mind.

4. Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi- Our Daily Bread

Holy communion.

5. Roomful of Teeth- Rough Magic

My review.

6. Atmosphere- So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously

Atmosphere finally made a good record.

7. Kassa Overall- Animals

Pigs on the wing.

8. Béla Fleck- As We Speak

With Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer and Rakesh Chaurasia.

9. Slowspin- Talisman

Hounds of love.

10. Rod Fleeman- Saturday Afternoon Live at Green Lady Lounge, Vol. 2

My review.

Top Ten Songs of May

1. Megan Maroney- “Kansas Anymore”

Getting out of Dodge.

2. Kevin Morby- “Going to Prom”

Time the revelator.

3. That Mexican OT featuring Paul Wall and Drodi- "Johnny Dang"

Ice.

4. Paris Texas- "Bullet Man"

Who shot ya?

5. SleazyWorld Go with Polo G- “Off the Court”

Trust the process.

6. Peso Pluma- "Bye"

I say hello.

7. Speakers Corner Quartet featuring Kae Tempest- "Geronimo Blues"

Stump speech.

8. Sparks- "Gee, That Was Fun"

Au revoir.

9. $uicideboy$- “Realism vs Idealism”

No limit.

10. Lil’ Keke- "Motion"

OG.

Top Ten Performances of May

1. Tim Bernardes at Mississippi Studios

My review.

2. Yujia Shen at Diastole Scholars Center

My review.

3. Off!, Upchuck and Weaponize Chomsky at recordBar

My Instagram clips are here, here and here.

4. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Michael Hurley at Aladdin Theater

My review.

5. Hot Chip and Cadence Weapon at Wonder Ballroom

My Instagram clips are here and here.

6. Janet Jackson and Ludacris at T-Mobile Center

My Instagram image.

7. Stone & Sue at the Portland Farmers Market

My Instagram clip.

8. Rod Fleeman Trio at Green Lady Lounge

My Instagram clip.

9. Drew Williams Quartet at Westport Coffee House

My review.

10. Luke Tarter at Portland International Airport

Elton John melodies unnerved me amid flight delays.

The previous monthly survey is here.

Album Review: Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra- Space Is the Place (Music From the Original Soundtrack)

Last night I told the leader of a gypsy jazz band that I sometimes wonder why I listen to anything but Django Reinhardt.  Twelve hours later, I’m considering dedicating the remainder of my life to the music of Sun Ra.  Basking in a new expanded reissue of the soundtrack to the 1974 film about “the other worlds they have not told you of” further enhances my appreciation of the iconoclast.  Heavy and hilarious, Space Is the Place is a touchstone for much of my favorite contemporary music made by the likes of Alter Destiny, Moor Mother and Kassa Overall.

Album Review: Seth Andrew Davis- Fondue Shube

If the best works of art necessitate a reconsideration of commonplace elements of everyday life, Seth Andrew Davis’ new album Fondue Shube is resoundingly profound.  The Kansas City musician describes the release as “Brutalist Maximalist Noise.”  It took me several sessions to consume all 74 minutes of the pernicious album.  The aftereffect of the deliberately disagreeable clamor is startling.  The mechanical whir of a fan in my bedroom is suddenly musical.  I now seek patterns in the thrum of a neighbor’s air conditioning unit.  The dull roar of passing airplanes are transformed into songs with melodies.  Fondue Shube may not go down easily, but it’s efficacious medicine.