As I type this post I'm moving a few more files out to Google Docs to share out. Gotta pick up the pace - only 10 days to go until Christmas!
This is just a quick non-Christmas post about some of the tremendous musicians I've seen here in Kansas City in the past five weeks. I'm not sure who all is on my musical bucket list, but these three artists were, and I jumped at the chance to see them perform here.
First, back on November 8th, Regina Spektor performed here at the Midland Theatre . The first time I heard one of Regina's songs I was very "meh" about it. Then about a year later, I re-listened again and loved it. I don't know what sort of funk I was in the first time, but I've come to recognize her originality and artisty as a singer/songwriter/pianist. She's an emerging star with a very strong fan base. It was a great show.
Then, a mere 9 days later, I saw Bruce Springsteen perform at the Sprint Center. It was my first Springsteen concert. 3 1/2 hours of energy, grit, and power. Damn, man, it was good. Just might take the top spot on my life list (Glenn Tilbrook solo is currently #1, but I may re-eval).
Then last night (12/14) I saw the Anat Cohen Quartet here at the Folly Theatre. I love jazz, and I *really* love Anat Cohen's work. I bought tickets to her show the minute they went on sale. Anat is an astounding clarinetist in a jazz world dominated by sax. She puts so much feeling into her performance - wow. The quartet's performance of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was especially poignant and moving as she related the band's sadness about the incident in Newtowne. Anat is amazing.
Ok - just a brief aside.... back to Christmas music shortly...
Great! I love clarinet, and have been recently bemoaning how hard it is to find great clarinet players. Most sax players don't play clarinet anymore....
ReplyDeleteAnat plays a mean sax too. She played soprano sax on a couple tunes and tenor on one, but clarinet is her primary instrument. In a pre-show chat with the audience she said that one issue with clarinet is that it takes more ampification than a sax, and some people do it wrong, making it sound bad. So, fewer musicians play it. But she's brilliant on clarinet. Check out her last few albums on Amazon.
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