Carl Hancock Rux - Rux Revue 1999

 

Move over Gil Scott-Heron and Michael Franti, there's another poet on the loose and he's got a mind to speak out: enter lauded New York writer, the deep-voiced Carl Hancock Rux and his recording debut. Rux wastes no time cutting to the chase on the first track "Intro To (r)Evolution," while conjuring the spirit of the aforementioned musicians. His backing band is a dream roster who threaten to overshadow his message: Money Mark on keyboards, Joey Waronker on drums, and the legendary Carol Kaye on bass, among others. They twist and turn the jazz, folk, hip-hop, and rock rhythms inside out, helping to complete Rux's thoughtful commentaries on ghetto life and his place as a black male in the (art) world. In the end, Rux's soul power, delivered from various points of view wins out, proving difficult to ignore. AMG.

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Big John Wrencher - Maxwell Street Alley Blues 1982

 

While most blues albums bear romantic-sounding titles like the one used here, this is the real deal. Wrencher's one-armed amplified harp playing is perfectly supported by the lone guitar of Little Buddy Scott and the bar-bones basic drumming of Playboy Vinson. Listing titles is superfluous, since the feel and the ambience is the important thing. But blues albums seldom capture that elusive quality the way it is here, and that's the secret of its charm. Superlative in every regard, this is a great album by a very under-recorded artist. AMG.

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Carmen Sandim - Play-Doh 2019

Pianist Carmen Sandim's sophomore album, 2019's Play Doh, is a harmonically dense and artful production borne of several years of difficult life circumstances. The Brazilian-born/Boulder, Colorado-based performer and teacher had initially intended to finish the album soon after her 2011 debut, Brand New. However, in the years following, she gave birth to her children, went through a break-up, and found herself having to balance teaching, performing, and being a single mother. She eventually began pulling all-nighters to finish writing the charts for Play Doh, a choice that no doubt led to some tired days, but ultimately resulted in an album rich with themes of openness and fluidity; one that feels directly connected to her transformative experiences. Helping her achieve this fresh quality is longtime friend, producer Art Lande, who again helmed the sessions as he did on Brand New. Also coming along are Kneebody trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist/clarinetist Bruce Williamson, trombonist Alex Heitlinger, guitarist Khabu Doug Young, bassist Bill McCrossen, and drummer Dru Heller. Together, Sandim and her group play with a searching, forward-thinking quality that balances kinetic group arrangements with adventurous soloing. The title track perhaps best expresses Sandim's aesthetic here, as she draws inspiration from the classic modeling clay (one of her children's favorite activities) as well as a three-note mantra they sing while molding shapes. The result is a roiling, tumultuous track marked by a fiery solo from Endsley. Elsewhere, "Aruru, Juju" is a dusky and angular piece with Latin undertones, while "Undergrowth" draws on '70s jazz-rock fusion as it's continually punctuated by Young's woozy electric guitar lines. Sandim also draws upon her classical training on "Isaura," a yearning ballad dedicated to her grandmother and featuring a delicate clarinet solo by Williamson. Conversely, the pianist offers the breezy, Dave Brubeck-esque "Waiting for Art" and closes with the similarly luminous, bossa nova-tinged "Free Wilbie." AMG.
 

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Cold Chisel - East 1980

 

Cold Chisel's following had been steadily building for a number of years when their third -- and slickest to date -- album, East, broke them through to a wider audience in 1980. More commercial without compromising on the rawness of their roots, the band hit pay dirt with a clutch of songs it seemed everybody could get into. The virtuosity of the Chisel's musical abilities still comes through on songs that were, nevertheless, compact enough to be radio-ready. The up-tempo loner anthem "Standing on the Outside," the enchanting ballad and breakthrough single "Choirgirl," and the tongue-in-cheek "Ita" all had the hooks to land a singalong audience. On "Star Hotel," the sonic fury of the chorus captures the essence of the subject matter: a wild street battle between angry pub patrons and police that took place in the city of Newcastle, Australia, in September 1979. And the customary, all-out rockers are here, as well: "Rising Sun" (singer Jimmy Barnes' love-lost song about his Asian girlfriend) and the rousing closer "My Turn to Cry." As always, the rhythm section gymnastics of drummer Steven Prestwich and bassist Phil Small provide an alternately swift and delicate undercurrent for Ian Moss' guitar heroics, Don Walker's exuberant piano playing, and Barnes' banshee wails. Walker still holds down the job of head songwriter, but the duties are more shared on this album: five of the 12 tracks were written by the other members of the band with Barnes penning two and Prestwich, Small, and Moss one each. The album peaked at number two on the Australian national charts and even broke into the Billboard 200. With East, Cold Chisel signaled that they had moved on up without selling out. The glory days had come at last. AMG.

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Yazz Ahmed - Polyhymnia 2019

 

Polyhymnia is the third full-length from British-Bahraini trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Yazz Ahmed. Her remarkable meld of post-bop jazz, Arabic folk traditions, and electronic sound design has brought her to a prominent and influential place on London's vibrant jazz scene. Like 2017's La Saboteuse, the album is adorned with a stunning six-panel sleeve design by Sophie Bass. The music here is an extended suite-like work commissioned by Tomorrow's Warriors in 2015. It was performed by members of the Nu Civilisation Orchestra in a concert at the Women of the World Festival on International Women's Day. The album is titled for the name of its inspiration: ancient Greece's muse of poetry, music, and dance. Each of the work's six compositions is inspired (and often named for) women of historical and cultural import: film director Haifaa Al-Mansour, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, activist Ruby Bridges, saxophonist and bandleader Barbara Thompson, female education advocate Malala Yousafza, and, of course, the suffragettes of the early 20th century. This music conveys an extended message of empowerment that is not without struggle. It is performed by a large ensemble of more than 30 musicians and singers playing in varying groups; they include members of Ahmed's band, Hafla, and favorite players on the London scene.

The recorded version of Polyhymnia has been expanded considerably from its live version. Ahmed added elements such as her newly designed quarter-tone flugelhorn that expands the possibilities of the Western scale toward the "blue notes" of Arabic modal music. All of these pieces are extended; none is shorter than eight-and-a-half minutes. Opener "Lahan al-Mansour" (Melody of Al-Mansour) is dedicated to Saudi Arabia's first female film director. It has a minor modal intro played in layers of overdubbed flugelhorn framed by hand percussion, elliptical Rhodes piano, guitars, bass, drums, violin, and swirling saxophones. Composed lines and improvisations are intertwined in Ahmed's arrangement. In "Ruby Bridges," loping post-bop framed by flugelhorn and guitar meet a funky, pulsing bass line, swinging drums, and expansive, polytonal reeds and brass. "2857" (for Rosa Parks) is introduced by a bluesy Middle Eastern bass line and drum kit. Ahmed leads the horn section in a tune where gospel, folk, classical, and jazz intersect. Closer "Barbara" (for Barbara Thompson) juxtaposes contrapuntal statements on bass clarinet, multi-tracked alto saxophone, flugelhorn, and electric guitar with boisterous brass, strings, vibes, drums, percussion, and Rhodes. Avant and modern jazz meet pop and classical music in sections that range from propulsive, dynamic, and knotty to blissed-out and nearly pastoral, delivered in gloriously upbeat tones, myriad textures, and brilliant colors. Evidenced by Polyhymnia's ambitious scope and flawlessly executed meld of compositions, charts, and focused improvisation, Ahmed and her work no longer belong strictly to London, but to jazz the world over. AMG.

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