hermon mehari
Album review: Diverse - Our Journey
If you’re looking for a Thelonious Monk reincarnate jazz style, you’ve found it in Diverse’s Our Journey.
Hermon Mehari’s raw trumpet, Ryan Lee’s toe-tapping drums, and Ben Leifer’s soulful bass all create a groovy, vibrant experience. This album is a serene soundscape of honest-to-roots swing jazz, while incorporating a soulful Kansas City 18th and Vine roots heritage. It’s a technical collection and in some ways experimental. Also on the album are pianist Tony Tixier (from Paris) and alto saxophonist Logan Richardson. It was recorded by Andre Charlier in Paris, mixed by Brendan McReynolds, and mastered by Mike Nolte. Our Journey is a follow up to Diverse’s first self-titled album released in 2009.
Take a breath and listen to this wise and prophetic classical jazz journey. It’s like walking into true legendary jazz at The Blue Room or Green Lady Lounge, a more recently opened downtown hot spot. So while you’re at home cleaning the dishes, playing with the cat and relaxing, take the dazzling ride and listen to this album. Let it take you. It begs to be seen live. Before you know it, you’ll be sitting at the back of the Foundation catching a whiff of Kansas City tradition.
Because I wanted to get a sense of how the album was recorded, I asked McReynolds what direction Mehari gave him when mixing the album. According to McReynolds, his motivation was “to just mix it like it was a jazz club in Kansas City. Very intimate and very tight. It’s like walking into a place you have never been before and feeling comfortable.”
Whether it’s the time signature changes and beautiful technical work, or the sometimes wildly manic nature of jazz itself, each track is an imminent adventure. “Motherland” is a spirit awakening exploration. It’s a night dressed to the nines at a martini bar probably, having the time of my life, or maybe a night spent writing by the light of the moon. The final track on the album, “Rest in Peace,” offers a unique two-stick lassoing of the beat and melancholic trumpet. A funky groovy bass line bathes the soul with a warm dance to permeate the senses.
Our Journey is a testament to Kansas City’s rich jazz and blues culture and connects with a wide range of audiences. Choose your own journey with this album. It is a must listen.
--Chris Wenske
You can catch Diverse at The Riot Room on Thursday, September 4. Reach will be DJing the first set, followed by Diverse, and then New Orleans duo Hildegard, led by Cliff Hines. Doors open at 7:00.
Album review: John Velghe & the Prodigal Sons - Organ Donor Blues
(Photos by J. Winn and Todd Zimmer)
The beautiful thing about art is that each person’s perception is valid. The artist certainly had a message he or she was trying to convey to us. We might even get that message, but it is colored, tarnished, and brightened by our own experiences. The relationship between musician and listener is the exchange of these experiences and perceptions and, boy, do John Velghe and the Prodigal Sons have some experiences to offer to us with Organ Donor Blues.
The first single, “Beaten By Pretenders,” has received heavy play on 90.9 The Bridge and features Alejandro Escovedo. Mike Alexander’s vaulting guitar weaves through Velghe and Escovedo’s vocals. There is a pleading in Escovedo’s voice that belies the “Oh, oh, oh,” of the chorus. “They can bring the wolf, but we don’t have to let them in”; a sad song in a happy key.
“You made some mistakes in your own hometown,” Velghe peels out the opening lines of “Don’t Understand Your Hometown” following insistent horns played by Hermon Mehari, Mike Walker, and Sam Hughes. Listeners, at least the fallible among us, are immediately connected.
The hits keep coming. Each song on this record reaches right into you and delicately and incessantly demands your attention. And you happily give it. Matt Anderson’s resolute beat and Chris Wagner’s bass line welcome you to “Gold Guitar.” Growling guitars press right into your sternum as Velghe laments the position of the modern musician: “It’s like the songs, never made a sound.” After I shared this song with Jon Dee Graham, whom Velghe mentions by name in it, Graham commented, “Can I get these lyrics engraved on my headstone?”
“Set It Fire” sounds like what I imagine the Beach Boys would have put out if they were an Americana band. Tight harmonies and a melody that will have you bobbing along without intending to, Kirsten Paludan and Velghe’s voices twist around each other and join together to make this a track you return to over and over.
There are records we meet and immediately become part of our lives. We listen to them through our forever. This is one of those records.
--Angela Lupton
Organ Donor Blues will be officially released on Tuesday, June 24, but is now available at Bandcamp on pre-order and for digital download. Stay tuned for info on the band’s upcoming shows.