Kings of Leon: Modern rock royalty Books on Tape, Vol 2 - Standard Edition
MARK HUMPHREY/AP PHOTO
Genetically intertwined Tennessee rockers Kings of Leon have now amassed enough money that, for purposes of their latest album, “WALLS,” they moved all their wives and children to Los Angeles. Then the band members — Jared, Caleb, Matthew and Nathan Followill — quickly hauled butt to Amsterdam at top speed to record amidst the legal hookers and hash! Not really. They indeed recorded in L.A., with families in tow and producer Markus Dravs leading the way, because the Followills are older and wiser now. The shenanigans of the past are distant memories, and, with “WALLS,” they continue to evolve their sound in a direction that reminds me most of, believe it or not, The Killers if they’d been listening to The Fixx. That’s very cool.
There are a lot of pretty great songs on “WALLS” including “Reverend,” “Waste a Moment,” “Conversation Piece,” “Find Me” and “Over.” See Kings of Leon Saturday in the Mohegan Sun Arena. On a recording, this is the best the band’s ever sounded, and I’m betting it will translate to live performance. Kings of Leon, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mohegan Sun Arena; with Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats; $39-$79; 1-800745-3000.
Craig Hartley
I’d like to ask jazz pianist Craig Hartley how he decided which tunes to cover on his 2016 “Books on Tape, Vol. 2” CD. It’s not particularly unusual for a jazz musician to interpret existing material, after all — it’s part of the tradition to explore standards and established works. But in 2012, Hartley blew minds throughout the jazz community with his “Books on Tape, Vol. 1” album, which focused on original and remarkable compositions that confidently and happily referenced the spider-fingered mathematics of Monk, the heartfelt poignancy of Bill Evans and the soaring melodic fancy of Keith Jarrett. To follow that with dizzyingly great interpretations is a bold and cool idea. Plus, what Hartley and his band do with material by Paul McCartney, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Evans, Miles Davis, Bach and John Lennon — sometimes intertwining material — is simply amazing. It might seem an odd selection of material, but, in fact, it’s a brilliantly conceptualized and performed collection.