Money Jungle

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Friends have asked why they didn’t see me at recent concerts by iconic artists including Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Maxwell and Paul Simon. I’m obliged to tell them that global economic instability and sudden non-recurring individual expenses mean I’m not willing to invest in expensive tickets this spring. My low budget doesn’t mean I’m stuck at home. I took in 17 performances in April, the priciest of which put me back a wince-worthy $33.50. Seeking out community events and scouring the calendars of churches with big arts budgets, university conservatories and coffee shops has paid off. See you in church!

"I Hate Jazz"

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

A nurse asked an anesthetist about her trip to New Orleans as I lay in a hospital bed with a tube in my nose and an IV in my arm last week.

“How was Jazz Fest?”
“We had so much fun!”
“Did you listen to a lot of jazz?”
“No. I hate jazz!”
“I hate jazz too!”

My heart broke as the coworkers bonded over their mutual loathing of music I love. Knowing we were within shouting distance of the site of Charlie Parker’s elementary school made me wish I was slated to receive morphine rather than propofol during my minor medical procedure.

I chatted with the otherwise charming anesthetist about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival upon awakening. Her favorite band was billed in the topline of this year’s event. Allowing myself to be upset about the commonplace dismissal of an entire genre would be hypocritical.

Until recently, I’d been indifferent to The Modern Jazz Quartet. Hearing The John Lewis Piano for the first time in April lifted the veil. The music by Martha Argerich, Sviatoslav Richter and András Schiff I’ve mainlined in the past couple years allow me to finally appreciate the classical inclinations of MJQ leader John Lewis.

An approach that previously struck me as precious now seems wonderfully weird on the 1958 recording. The awkward title and dodgy sound correspond with the outlandishly unconventional chamber jazz featuring members of MJQ and an aggressive cricket. My new favorite band is 73 years old.

Album Review: Tucker Wetmore- What Not To

A friend is aghast at my ongoing affection for the music of Morgan Wallen. Not only have I not cancelled Wallen, I continue to listen to the controversial country star for pleasure.

My pal may not know I was raised on country music and that my life partner’s predilections mean I’ve always been familiar with current country radio fare. Another critical factor can’t be easily dismissed: I live in Kansas. I’m liable to hear Wallen every time I step outside.

Tucker Wetmore sounds a lot like Wallen throughout his new album What Not To. The best songs of both men concern the irresistible lure of alcohol and the heartbreak of the women they love. Given it’s the soundtrack of my life, I’m willing to forgive the incessant sonic and lyrical clichés.

I’m the Problem, Morgan Wallen’s fourth album, will be released next month. If it’s as solid as What Not To, it’s going to be a country-themed summer on my Kansas homestead. My friend is always welcome, but he’ll never talk to me again if he catches me singing along with "It Takes One to Break One".

April 2025 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Houston Grand Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of April 2025

1. Sumac and Moor Mother- The Film
End times.

2. Sherelle- With a Vengeance
British footwork.

3. Leif Ove Andsnes and the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir- Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
Sometimes it causes me to tremble.

4. Gerald Clayton- Ones & Twos
My review.

5. Salif Keita- So Kono
Hushed beauty.

6. Black Country, New Road- Forever Howlong
My review.

7. Marilyn Crispell, Thommy Andersson and Michala Østergaard-Nielsen- The Cave
Improvisation worthy of Plato.

8. Willie Nelson- Oh What a Beautiful World
Willie on Rodney.

9. The Mars Volta- Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio
My review.

10. Tucker Wetmore- What Not To
My review.

The Top Three Reissues, Repackagings and Reimaginings of April 2025

1. John Hicks- Steadfast
Forty-year-old solo piano.

2. Sun Ra- Nuits de la Fondation Maeght
The space bop motherlode.

3. Stanley Cowell- Musa: Ancestral Streams
A 1974 classic reemerges.

The Top Ten Songs of April 2025

1. Emma-Jean Thackray- "Thank You for the Day"
Blessings abound.

2. Sault- “L.U.”
Gospel truth.

3. Bon Iver featuring Dijon and Flock of Dimes- "Day One"
We miss the old Kanye.

4. Lorde- "What Was That"
Royal.

5. Carin León, Diego El Cigala and Chanela Clicka- "Te Quiero Y Me Miento"
Intercontinental fusion.

6. Christian Nodal- "Amé"
Love.

7. Mark Morton featuring Nikki Lane- “Down No More”
Straight and narrow.

8. Viagra Boys- "You N33d Me"
Needy.

9. Jane Remover featuring Danny Brown- "Psychoboost"
Hyperpop fantasia.

10. Mekons- "Before the Ice Age"
Warmth.

The Top Ten Performances of April 2025

1. Jake Heggie’s master class at Grant Recital Hall
My review.

2. Joseph Genualdi and Sean Chen at White Recital Hall
My review.

3. Les Arts Florissants with Théotime Langlois de Swarte at the Folly Theater
My Instagram clip.

4. Lauren Auge and Jacob Hofeling at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
My Instagram clip.

5. Electronic Music Midwest Festival at Kansas City Kansas Community College
My Instagram clips: day one and day two.

6. Helen Sung with Bach Aria Soloists at the Folly Theater
My review.

7. Opus 76 at Shawnee Mission South High School
My Instagram clip.

8. The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society’s “3 Expressions of Light and Sound” at Charlotte Street Foundation
My Instagram clip.

9. Bob Bowman at Westport Coffee House
My Instagram clip.

10. Aaron Sizemore, Craig Akin and Taylor Babb at the Music House
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Concert Review: Joseph Genualdi and Sean Chen at White Recital Hall

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

The recent misfortunes affecting all global citizens have been paralleled by personal setbacks in recent weeks. My gloom resulted in an insatiable craving for chamber music.

Seven of the 13 performances I’ve attended so far this month fall into the category. And while I wasn’t interested in tuning into broadcasts from the Coachella festival, I’m currently obsessed with The 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.

I was impelled to claim a front-and-center seat amid an audience of a few dozen at a free faculty recital by pianist Sean Chen and violinist Joseph Genualdi at White Recital Hall on Wednesday, April 23. The UMKC Conservatory professors’ interpretations of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Fauré hit home.

Accompanied by rolling thunder, Genualdi’s take of Bach’s famed chaconne may be the most transcendent thing I’ll hear in 2025. My passion for a piece written more than 300 years ago almost certainly correlates with my malaise.

Album Review: Gerald Clayton- Ones & Twos

Music appreciation has become so effortless that I’m inclined to resent the artists responsible for Ones & Twos. Accessing the gimmick of the new Blue Note Records release required the help of a friend kind enough to create bespoke files for me.

Alluding to the DJ reference in the title of his latest album, Gerald Clayton explains it’s “a record where the A side can be played simultaneously with the B side… you hear two separate pieces at the same time.”

Each side of the twelve-track album is meant to be heard separately and simultaneously. The music in the latter experience is obviously twice as dense as the detached tracks. Remarkably, it succeeds both ways.

The ruse may not have intrigued me had not several of my favorite musicians been involved. Marquis Hill, Elena Pinderhughes, Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott and the brilliant trickster Kassa Overall have created many of the most exciting sounds of the past decade. Ones & Twos is no exception.

Album Review: The Mars Volta- Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio

A Pink Floyd tribute band once practiced across the street from a family member’s home in Portland. Rain or shine, I’d sit outside listening to rehearsals during my frequent visits to Oregon. I developed a previously tenuous affection for Pink Floyd while monitoring the care the musicians put into grandiose pieces like “The Great Gig in the Sky.” My unanticipated admiration for the classic rock band makes The Mars Volta’s new album seem instantly familiar. Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio often sounds like the Mars Volta’s characteristic psychedelic freakouts are filtered through Animals. The album’s arrival amid Lenten temperance makes my endorsement all the more meaningful. The innate conservatism of the classic rock tribe almost certainly negates the crossover appeal of Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio, but this fossil is still watching pigs on the wing.

Masterclass Review: Jake Heggie at Grant Recital Hall

(Original image of YounHee Choi, Laci Olberding and Jake Heggie by There Stands the Glass.)

Most masterclasses in classical music offer valuable insights into the form I’d been unable to glean from recordings and performances. I didn’t learn a single thing about music at Jake Heggie’s free masterclass at Grant Recital Hall on Wednesday, April 9. Yet the famed composer taught me and about thirty students a lot about life. Rather than focusing on conventional subjects such as vocal timbre, Heggie tutored four groupings of UMKC Conservatory students as if he were a life coach. While he’s a prodigious namedropper- he referenced his associations with Julie Andrews, Joyce DiDonato, Patti LuPone, Leontyne Price and Stephen Sondheim- Heggie diligently focused on drawing out the repressed personalities of the students. The counseling seemed to be precisely what the apprentices needed. I know I was a slightly better person at the conclusion of the two-hour session.

Album Review: Black Country, New Road- Forever Howlong

I can’t remember exactly when I began to loathe chamber-rock. I’m inclined to blame it on The Decemberists. The 2011 release of the Portland band’s chart-topping album The King Is Dead seems to coincide with my rejection of precious art-pop. 

Forever Howlong is precisely the sort of intricately-arranged, literary-minded and unapologetically pretentious nonsense I disdain. So why am I infatuated with Black Country, New Road’s new album? Two elements explain my hypocrisy.

Forever Howlong frequently references the art music I currently enjoy. I appreciate the nods to the likes of Alban Berg, Franz Schubert and Kurt Weill. And there’s plenty of the prog that remains my guilty pleasure. The wonkiest aspects of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator echo throughout the album.

Secondly, I experience Forever Howlong’s songs as bits of soundtracks to my favorite British novels by Henry Fielding, Thomas Hardy, Iris Murdoch and Ian McEwan. Still, writing these words makes me queasy. I will likely have repudiated this out-of-character endorsement come December.

Book Review: Brad Mehldau's Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part 1

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My indifference to the personal lives of musicians shields me from the reprehensible behavior of otherwise brilliant artists. In the cloistered realm of jazz, I’m entirely content to remain oblivious to scandalous scuttlebutt. Even though Brad Mehldau is clearly among the most important musicians of our time, I never wondered about his religious and sexual orientations or his political and ethnic affiliations. 

I neither expected nor wanted private confessions in the distressingly explicit 2023 memoir Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part 1. Yet since he was compelled to reveal all, it’s only right that I divulge that several of the incidents Mehldau describes are uncannily similar to traumatic experiences that scarred my formative years.

I’m a few years older than the pianist and my background is less affluent and refined. Even so, I grasped Mehldau’s generational reference points and I share similar degrees of contrition for past misdeeds. While I never succumbed to drug addiction, I too acted as a passive witness to the gradual annihilation of self-destructive friends.

What about music? It’s here too, in an entirely relatable form. Like me, Mehldau was raised on pop music before gradually surrendering to an infatuation with jazz. He attended concerts by the Ramones and the Grateful Dead. With much deliberation he planted his flag in the latter camp of the punk versus prog divide. He’s down with Pat Metheny and Rush.

Mehldau cites intellectual and literary luminaries like Harold Bloom, James Joyce and Thomas Mann as consequential guides in the development of his bildung. Here’s an absurd reduction of the culmination of Formation: Mehldau finally hits upon a conceptual means by which to create meaningful art beyond the usual corny homages to the music of the past.