Adam Yauch: The Beastie Boys' MCA remembered on YouTube

With news still settling around the death of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, known to fans as MCA, the shock and remorse is spreading like a firestorm around Twitter and Facebook. Given that the Beastie Boys' "License to Ill" was a starter hip-hop record for a whole generation, legions of people who were young and alive in 1986 have a conversion story.

For me it was stomping around a suburban California neighborhood as a high school freshman with friends in the middle of the night, screaming about there being "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" (though none of us had much of an idea precisely where that was). It didn't matter, the Beastie Boys made it cool, goofy and just a little dangerous. The dangerous part -- at least in the early days -- was MCA, whose guttural voice and bad-guy leather-jacket persona gave the group some gravitas. He also helped establish the Beasties Boys' on-screen look by directing many of the group's videos.

Here we take a look at the group's progression via its music video presence. Not all of these are Yauch's, of course, but we get a good feel for a group developing deep sophistication and understanding  its role as pop culture avatars.

PHOTOS: Adam Yauch |1964 - 2012

'American Idol' lost a winning voice in Heejun Han

Hopefully the young'uns weren't watching "American Idol" Thursday night. The show sent the wrong message to today's youth: Have a little personality, and you're out.

"American Idol" voters last night sent home Heejun Han, whose genuine goofball image made him a downright rebel on the Fox series. This is a show, after all, that criticized homey rocker Phillip Phillips for having the audacity to ignore Tommy Hilfiger's advice and wear gray on the telecast.

So Han, who last week ran around the stage shouting Billy Joel's "My Life," a performance in which he seemed to forget the need to not be out of breath while singing, likely didn't have much longer to stick around. This sadly brings us one week closer to a battle of the bland between Phillips and Colton Dixon. In such a world, Han's class clown appeal definitely will be missed, especially since he was actually a good singer. 

This week Han stepped up his game and proved he wasn't the "American Idol" equivalent of  a propeller beanie hat. In covering the Donny Hathaway take on Leon Russell’s "A Song for You," Han delivered one of the week's most unique performances, his careful phrasing meticulous and intimate. It worked because Han under-sings -- a quiver or a scratch make an appearance but never dominate. The jokester showed he had a vulnerable side. 

INTERACTIVE | 'Idol' vs. 'The Voice': Who's the best?

My colleague Chris Barton agreed. On this week's score card looking at performances on "American Idol" and "The Voice," Barton wrote: "warmly sincere without sounding mawkish, Han was so hellbent on being taken seriously that he covered Donny Hathaway, one of the most tragic stories in soul. Mission accomplished." And Barton is our jazz critic, so he is by default smarter than me. 

"American Idol" tracker Amy Reiter said Han going home was definitely a loss. Who, she wondered, "will mouth the words on the teleprompter over Ryan Seacrest's shoulder now? Who will crack Jimmy Iovine's face into a reluctant smile with a confounding quip? Who will give the camera a sly look whenever he hugs an attractive female contestant or guest mentor?"

Album review: Esperanza Spalding's 'Radio Music Society'

No matter how you felt about Esperanza Spalding’s 2011 Grammy win — and if you’re still genuinely disappointed, it’s time for a long look in the mirror — there’s no questioning her willingness to live up to it. Conceived as a companion to her breakthrough “Chamber Music Society,” Spalding’s follow-up melds airtight jazz with pop, funk and soul with such disarming assurance that it could be shipped with an introduction from the bassist-composer reading, “Now that I have your attention...”

Also released in a deluxe edition with sumptuously filmed videos for 11 of its 12 songs, “Radio Music Society” primarily delivers the sort of upbeat head-bobbers celebrated in opener “Radio Song,” a quaint, lilting valentine to musical discovery anchored by Spalding’s nimble vocal and rubbery electric bass line. Like the soulful sway of lead single “Black Gold,” it manages to aim for those who might not ordinarily listen to jazz while keeping the music firmly in its bones. Saxophone great Joe Lovano guests on a percolating cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Can’t Help It,” and 71-year-old drummer Billy Hart turns up on the swooning, big band-accented “Hold on Me.” Two tracks co-produced by Q-Tip merge with the record’s breezy, jazz-funk bounce seamlessly, including “City of Roses,” a Banana Republic-commissioned valentine to her Portland home that’s about as idyllic and tourism-friendly as it sounds.

Sometimes Spalding’s ambitions get the better of her, as with the moody but meandering social commentary “Vague Suspicions.” Her interpretation of Wayne Shorter’s “Endangered Species” strains with such knotty, fusion-shaded complexity that there’s little room left to breathe. Still, there’s no arguing with Spalding’s talent for disregarding expectations while spinning her influences into something new. Where she looks next is anybody’s guess, but it’ll be fascinating to hear.

RELATED:

Album review: Vijay Iyer Trio's 'Accelerando'

Album review: Robert Glasper Experiment's 'Black Radio'

Esperanza Spalding gets her 'Grammy moment' at the Oscars

-- Chris Barton

Album review: Vijay Iyer Trio's 'Accelerando'

What happens when a jazz piano trio releases a dance record in 2012? Before any seizure-inducing thoughts of a Swizz Beatz-produced take on "Body and Soul" come to life, listen to pianist Vijay Iyer's modern vision of jazz's body-moving roots. A head-bobbing step forward for a trio that topped year-end lists with 2009's "Historicity," "Accelerando" is a rambunctious yet nimble celebration of the groove that turns as much on the fulcrum of drummer Marcus Gilmore and bassist Stephan Crump as it does on Iyer’s restlessly inventive piano.

After setting the album’s tone with the rhythmic rush of "Optimism" and its rumbling lead-in, "Bode," a stuttering beat from Gilmore anchors a dive into '70s funk with a cover of Heatwave’s "The Star of a Story," which sharpens the original’s sultry creep with an anthemic piano lead from Iyer. After covering M.I.A. on "Historicity," Iyer ventures deeper into indie music’s territory with a blown-out take on Flying Lotus' "Mmmhmm." Expanding on the original's atmospheric, minute-long gesture drawing, the trio conjures the spirit of Stephen Ellison's cosmic beat alchemy with Crump's sawing bass groove and a pillowy locomotive beat from Gilmore, whose grandfather is jazz drumming great Roy Haynes.

Slightly more conventional source material such as Herbie Nichols and Duke Ellington flex the trio's ability to swing inside jazz's firmament, and bent originals such as the pulsating "Actions Speak" and the knotted-up avalanche of the title track keep the album's propulsive spirit intact. The fitful drum machine at the song's intro may be a red herring, but Iyer's commitment to forward motion certainly isn't.

RELATED:

Album review: Jenny Scheinman's 'Mischief & Mayhem'

Album review: Robert Glasper Experiment's 'Black Radio'

Jazz review: Ben Goldberg's Orphic Machine at the Blue Whale

-- Chris Barton

"Accelerando"
Vijay Iyer Trio
ACT Music
Four stars (out of four)

Can Danger Mouse make Norah Jones cool?

After sweeping the Grammys with an Adele-like force in 2003, Norah Jones hasn't exactly had a disappointing career. But after three subsequent albums that showed signs of Jones stretching beyond the jazz-dusted nocturnal vibe that made "Come Away With Me" such a breakout hit, there's a nagging sense that we know what to expect from her.

Even with the occasional assistance of Okkervil River's Will Sheff and current indie darling Ryan Adams, her 2009 record "The Fall" was still, ultimately, a pretty typical Norah Jones record with low-key yet polished songs framing her gently sanded voice. Even her recent album with her side project the Little Willies earlier this year just felt like a more direct acknowledgement of the country elements that always hovered at the edges of Jones' music.

Co-written and produced by Brian Burton (a.k.a. Danger Mouse), Jones' upcoming album "Little Broken Hearts" could be the artistic left turn she needed. Jones' appearances on Danger Mouse's spaghetti western-informed 2011 album "Rome" added an element of danger to Jones' typically sultry vocals, and "Little Broken Hearts" seems intent on carrying that idea forward with a cover image cribbed from Russ Meyer's "Mudhoney."

The first single, "Happy Pills," came online Tuesday, and Burton's fingerprints aren't hard to see. Backed by a clockwork guitar pulse and heavy-footed drums that could be a half-speed outtake from the Broken Bells sessions, Jones sings with a mix of sass and yearning about getting over the wrong man with a classic R&B refrain of "Please just let me go now." Taken with a pinched, distant chorus of "nah, nah, nah," the song may not entirely put to rest the unfortunate "Snore-ah" Jones nickname among some circles, but it's a promising start.

Listen after the jump.

Esperanza Spalding gets her 'Grammy moment' at the Oscars

As exhibited by the montage of actors swooning about how much they love movies, the Academy Awards aren't known for their subtlety. And yet, during Sunday night's "In Memoriam" segment, which in the past has been televised as a grief-by-applause-meter tribute, the academy put together a genuinely affecting moment thanks to a delicate performance of "What a Wonderful World" by last year's Grammy winner for new artist, Esperanza Spalding.

While a few Twitter commenters couldn't help noticing that yet again Spalding -- and by implication, jazz -- was confined to background music (a reference to the Grammys' puzzling decision to only let her perform at the 2011 telecast as part of a high school ensemble while Neil Portnow and "Glee's" Matthew Morrison spoke), this was another high-profile moment when the singer-bassist had an opportunity to shine, and she seized it with an understated grace.

With her Grammy follow-up album "Radio Music Society" due next month, this performance served as an elegant reminder of her talents -- as far afield from a Louis Armstrong ballad as they may venture outside Oscar's orbit.

PHOTOS: Red carpet arrivals | Quotes | Winners | Best & Worst

Listen to Spalding's Academy Award performance backed by the Southern California Children's Chorus in a YouTube stream after the jump, and ask again if the Grammys really should've honored Justin Bieber.

72 Hours: Wilco, Secret Chiefs 3 and more

The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's top concerts, including Wilco, Lucinda Williams, the Secret Chiefs 3 and more.

Friday

• Wilco @ the Los Angeles Theatre. At an early, pivitol Wilco show back in 1996, the band played a Fourth of July concert in Chicago's Grant Park with Paul Westerberg. Wilco, of course, was the opening act, and before the band launched into the country-tinged rock of "I Must Be High," Tweedy self-deprecatingly leveled with the audience: "I hope ya'all like . . .," Tweedy said, describing his band with a word unfit for print.

Fifteen years and a few wholesale lineup changes later, Wilco is a much different band, but the attitude, one born out of an anything-goes, punk-rock idealism, is the same. Tweedy's band is one dedicated to constantly exploring the ever-changing limitations of its members, and the new album, "The Whole Love," reflects all the extremes a Wilco live show, of which this is the third and final in L.A. this week, will entail. "Art of Almost" is brazen in its experimental aggression, opening with a mix of digital thunder and Krautrock steadiness, and then exploding a surprisingly funky groove into a full-on guitar assault. Meanwhile, "One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)," unfolds like a daydream, a 12-minute ballad dedicated to subtle tweaks and instrumental precision. The Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S Broadway. The show is sold out, and tickets on the secondary market are selling for around $200. 

• Lucinda Williams @ UCLA's Royce Hall. Though Williams has become puzzlingly easy to take for granted after so many years of sharply rough-and-tumble, confessional songcraft, the singer's 2011 album "Blessed" finds her unique voice sounding as strong as ever with an organ-flecked mix of country-rock and back-of-the-barroom blues. Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles (On the campus of UCLA.) The show is sold out. Tickets on the secondary market range from $63 to about $130.

PHOTOS: Weekend Top 10: King of Pop meets Cirque and more

• Secret Chiefs 3 @ the El Rey. Ostensibly led by one of Mike Patton's former cohorts in the reliably unhinged Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3 traffics in a sort of genre-blind musical mystery not often seen these days. For upward of 10 years, Trey Spruance has been delivering a curious hybird that twists up Arabian music, heavy-bassed electronica, Ennio Morricone-informed soundscapes and, for good measure, serrated-edged surf rock.

Joined by such jazz-steeped such as Ches Smith, Shahzad Ismaily, Eyvind Kang and Matt Chamberlain, Spruance's deeply twisted music (sample song title: "The Left Hand of Nothingness") can be tough to describe, but is never less than fascinating, and reliably unlike anything else. With Dengue Fever. El Rey Theater, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Tickets are $20, not including surcharges.

Album Review: Charlie Haden and Hank Jones' 'Come Sunday'

There’s something about bassist Charlie Haden’s woodsy tone that just sounds thick with history. Dark yet warm as the echoes that would fill the sort of rural chapel roughly sketched on the album’s cover, Haden’s latest outing reunites him with the late jazz piano legend Hank Jones in a collection of compact yet lushly rendered hymns and spirituals, many of which are linked with the civil rights movement.

Recorded shortly before Jones’ death in 2010 at 91 years old, “Come Sunday” is a sequel to the duo’s 1995 recording “Steal Away,” which also explored the vintage gospel and Americana close to both musicians’ hearts. Though in the past Haden has explored more avant-garde orbits with Ornette Coleman and his own Liberation Music Orchestra, both he and Jones treat these melodies with a deceptively spare reverence, allowing the songs room to breathe with their original sentiment while coloring them with a lovingly inventive elegance that takes the music somewhere new.

72 Hours: New Year's weekend edition

The should-be-weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's top concerts.

Friday

• Matthew Sweet @ the Echoplex. Long an unashamed devotee of pure power pop buoyed by winning harmonies and gluey hooks, Sweet celebrates the 20th anniversary of his landmark album "Girlfriend" with a full-length performance. Once that drum solo kicks in during Sweet's addictive title track, there will be little doubt that this was an album worth celebrating. Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles. Tickets are $20, not including surcharges. — Chris Barton

• Kreayshawn @ The Observatory. Her Internet-driven hit "Gucci Gucci" seemed to generate as many music journalism "think pieces" as it did YouTube views (a young white girl rapping about identity-via-branding is like catnip in rock critic circles). Yet with her major label debut for Columbia on the horizon, it remains to be seen whether the playfully sarcastic, tech-savy youngster has a career or a novelty hit. Get a hint here. The Observatory, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. Fri. Tickets are $22.50, not including surcharges. — Todd Martens

72 Hours: High Places, Still Corners among weekend's top gigs

The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's top concerts.

Friday

• High Places @ the Smell. Since relocating to L.A. from Brooklyn a few years back, the duo of Rob Barber and Mary Pearson have remained relatively anonymous on the local scene. Their third album, "Original Colors" should raise the pair's profile. Released on Chicago's Thrill Jockey, this is electro art-rock that transcends the hotel lobby feel of much of the genre. Credit animated, tech-savvy beats and ghostly vocals that layer the digital landscapes with unexpected counter-melodies, be it the ping-pong atmospheres of "Morning Ritual" or the trippy, drifting out of orbit feel of "Sophia." The Smell, 247 S. Main Street. Admission is $8.