Bill Frisell Band - Where In The World 1991

Bill Frisell has long been recognized as possessing one of the most unique voices in jazz guitar. On Where in the World?, he is joined by his frequent compatriots Joey Baron and Kermit Driscoll, as well as cellist Hank Roberts, for ten compositions that catch Frisell right on the cusp of his earlier days and his later, more melody-driven, work. As expected, the supporting cast is excellent, with Joey Baron especially making notable contributions. His solo on "Child at Heart" is a perfect analog to the spirit of Frisell's music, pairing the completely expected with the completely unexpected. A pervading sense of melancholy and unrest runs through Where in the World?, creating tension even when the music is at its quietest. Some of this music is downright spooky. "Unsung Heroes," for example, opens with an ominous drum groove from Baron before introducing a wailing theme doubled by Roberts and Frisell over a twisted, almost bluesy, bass ostinato. This tendency to pair beautiful melodies with dense, introspective harmony works better on Where in the World? than anywhere else in Frisell's extremely strong catalog. As for the guitarist's own playing, it is as beautiful as always. He floats ethereal melodies seemingly with the same ease (and, more importantly, from the same coherent musical mindset) as he lets loose feedback-drenched wails. One of the high points of '90s jazz guitar, Where in the World? is essential for fans of modern jazz. AMG. listen here

Carmen Souza - Protegid 2010

It's tempting to compare any female Cape Verdean singer to the godmother of the island's indigenous morna music, Cesaria Evora, but that would be unfair to a vocalist as gifted, and as singular, as Carmen Souza. For starters, although she is of Cape Verdean heritage, Souza was born in Lisbon and now resides in London. Her music, while incorporating traditional Cape Verdean elements, nods equally, if not more, to American jazz, Afro-Latin rhythms, European and Arabic melodic influences, and more. Singing in a Portuguese-based Creole, Souza -- whose longtime collaborator, producer/co-writer/chief instrumentalist Theo Pas'cal is again along for the ride on this third album by the songstress -- expands her internationalist approach by inviting musicians from numerous countries to add their colorings to the mix, the result being a hybrid that owes to all and none of its components at any given time. Souza's voice is a remarkably lithe instrument, sensual, percussive, soulful, and capable of exploring multiple moods within a given line of a given track. On "Tentê Midj," which compares life to a delectable sauce that must constantly be stirred, Souza flits from kitten-like coyness to tigress tough, traversing octaves and toying with the musicians (particularly accordionist João Frade) like a piece of yarn. Pas'cal's bass work throughout the album drives the rhythms that Souza easily rides atop, finding unexpected nuances where others might resort to the rote. On "Afri Ká," a land alternately described as joy, a red sunset, paradise, and saborsabi, Souza's own joy is palpable as she glides and swings her way through its funky dance beat and festive melody. Sometimes simplicity trumps the more complex arrangements, offering another side of the Souza-Pas'cal team: "Mara Marga," the album's closing piece, is an elegiac ballad that utilizes double bass, acoustic piano, oud and voice to state its case, and the title track (which translates to "Protected") likewise keeps the instrumentation sparse but serves up an intoxicatingly rhythmic feast. One sure highlight is Souza's cover of Horace Silver's signature tune "Song for My Father." Silver, an American jazzman of Cape Verdean extraction, is an inspiration to Souza, who plays the Fender Rhodes on her interpretation, as well as supplying the vocal. Here Souza deliberately departs from the song's familiar theme, yet another indication that she is her own woman, inspired by many but indebted to none. AMG. listen here

Paul Adams - Flute Meditations For Dreaming Clouds 2005

Flute Meditations For Dreaming Clouds is a Native American inspired album that focuses on the beautiful, haunting, and meditative tonality of the instrument. Many flutes from some of the nations most celebrated instrument makers were used for both solo and choral renditions of original songs by Paul Adams. The main focus is to use this music as a way to sooth, calm, and be kind to ones self. AMG. listen here

Béla Fleck and The Flecktones - Three Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 1993

Those who have enjoyed earlier Béla Fleck & the Flecktones recordings will not be disappointed with Three Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Flecktones have stuck with the formula that made their previous records successful: complex, tight grooves wrapped in a very musical, user-friendly package. The Flecktones still suffer from the departure of keyboardist/chromatic harmonica player Howard Levy, who provided the band with needed additional musical colors and textures. Guest appearances by Bruce Hornsby (no vocals) and Branford Marsalis help fill this void. As always, the musicianship is excellent, and all players involved have ample space with which to display their virtuosity. AMG. listen here

The Dave Clark Five - A Session With 1964

The group's debut LP did well in England but, as was the custom in the early days of the British Invasion, it had to be finessed into the United States. For the Dave Clark Five's U.S. debut, Epic Records wisely decided to combine the band's British singles and B-sides onto what became the Glad All Over album, delivering one of the label's biggest selling long-players up to that time. With that success behind them, and the public eager for more, the label then released A Session With The Dave Clark Five virtually intact in America, but titled Return!. As the group's first venture in making an LP, it's not as strong as their later efforts, though it does show off their range around the sound that would make them international stars. The lack of the presence of a hit single, however, leaves it weaker than most of the group's American-released LPs. AMG. listen here

Danilo Perez - Providencia 2010

Pianist and composer Danilo Pérez has forged a wide path for himself and his music throughout his career to date. Born in 1966 in Panama, Pérez, who relocated to New York City, began playing piano at age three. His father was a bandleader and vocalist, and by the time he was ten, he was studying at the National Conservatory in Panama. After college in Panama, where he studied electronics, Pérez moved to the U.S. to study at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He later transferred to the Berklee College of Music, and while finishing up his major in jazz composition there, he had the opportunity to perform with the likes of trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Claudio Roditi, as well as vocalese veteran Jon Hendricks. Pérez has since toured or recorded with a who's who in the worlds of traditional and contemporary jazz: Wayne Shorter, Steve Lacy, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Wynton Marsalis, Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, and Joe Lovano, among others.

Pérez's first big break came when he was asked to join Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra (he was the youngest member), and he worked with the orchestra from 1989 until Gillespie's passing in 1992. His tenure with Gillespie's band brought him recognition, as Gillespie's album Live at the Royal Festival Hall (for the Enja label) won a Grammy. In 1994, Pérez recorded with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval for the latter's Grammy-winning album Danzon.

After nearly ten years accompanying other great jazz musicians, by 1993 Pérez switched his focus to leading his own bands, and he released two excellent recordings in 1993 and 1994, Danilo Perez and The Journey, both for the RCA/Novus label. Down Beat magazine hailed The Journey as one of the best albums of the '90s. In 1995, Wynton Marsalis asked Pérez to join his band, and later that year he performed with the Panamanian Symphony Orchestra, which showcased an orchestral version of The Journey. In 1996 and 1998, he released two albums for the Impulse! label, PanaMonk, and Central Avenue. He earned his first Grammy nomination for Central Avenue, which was produced by legendary jazz producer and GRP label chairman Tommy LiPuma. That album is made up of mostly originals, but he and his band do interpret two classics in their own way, the ballad "Lush Life" and John Coltrane's "Impressions," both of which take on a fresh sound. With four albums under his belt by the late '90s, Pérez's place in the new generation of jazz musicians was firmly ensconced. All this recognition led to his joining the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2002. Pérez's eclectic keyboard stylings are showcased on Shorter's albums Alegría and Footprints Live!, both for Verve Records.

Pérez subsequently began serving as a goodwill cultural ambassador of Panama for UNICEF, and as one of the co-founders of the Panama Jazz Festival. He also serves with the faculty of the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since the release of Central Avenue in 1998, Pérez has released a number of other albums under his own name, including Motherland, ...Til Then, in 2000 and 2003, respectively, for Verve, and Live at the Jazz Showcase, in 2005 for ArtistShare. On all three albums he's accompanied by longtime sidemen bassist Ben Street and drummer/percussionist Adam Cruz, and with the two Verve releases, by a bevy of top names in jazz, including vocalists Claudia Acuña, Lizz Wright, and Richard Bona, violinist Regina Carter, and bassist John Patitucci. On 2008’s Across the Crystal Sea, Pérez and his group, including bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and percussionist Luis Quintero, are accompanied by Claus Ogerman’s string arrangements, and 2010’s Providencia found Pérez -- inspired by fatherhood -- exploring themes related to creating a healthy and viable future for the children of today. AMG. listen here

Kora Jazz Trio - Part 2 2005

With the release of the first 3 records of the Kora Jazz Trio, critics spoke of a «delicious alchemy», of «world jazz», «a miracle of freshness».
A warm welcome for a unique musical fusion that seemed so natural. The meeting of the Mandinka tradition and the freedom of Jazz. The association between the Kora, West African percussion and Afro American swing. The dialogue between the griot and the blue note.
In the land of the palaver tree, all is matter of dialogue. The Kora Jazz Trio is the proof of that : meeting between jazzmen and old wise men, between tradition and improvisation. And mostly dialogue between the kora and the piano, two instruments so close - both rhythmic and solist - but separated by an ocean.
Two cousins that were separated too early, each on a continent : the Kora in the streets of West Africa, the piano in the dark clubs of Western cities. Today, they meet again with the Kora Jazz Trio's 4th ALBUM, and have many things to tell us. listen here

Christian Scott - Rewind That 2006

Christian Scott is the nephew of veteran alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and like his uncle, a native of New Orleans. He shows promise as a soloist, but none of his compositions and arrangements on his debut recording as a leader is particularly memorable. His heavy reliance on hip-hop and R&B influences rather than jazz results in a sameness that proves distracting from his solos. Zaccai Curtis' Fender Rhodes is pretty much relegated to providing backgrounds, while Luquis Curtis' dull bass vamps and the annoying, predictable drum lines demanded of Thomas Pridgen undermine the playing of Scott and tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III. Even guest appearances by Harrison on several tracks, including a surprisingly bland treatment of Miles Davis' "So What," simply miss the mark. Skip this disappointing release. AMG. listen here

Alexis Korner - Juvenile Delinquent 1984

Without Alexis Korner, there still might have been a British blues scene in the early 1960s, but chances are that it would have been very different from the one that spawned the Rolling Stones, nurtured the early talents of Eric Clapton, and made it possible for figures such as John Mayall to reach an audience. Born of mixed Turkish/Greek/Austrian descent, Korner spent the first decade of his life in France, Switzerland, and North Africa, and arrived in London in May of 1940, just in time for the German blitz, during which Korner discovered American blues. One of the most vivid memories of his teen years was listening to a record of bluesman Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid. "From then on," he recalled in an interview, "all I wanted to do was play the blues."

After the war, Korner started playing piano and then guitar, and in 1947 he tried playing electric blues, but didn't like the sound of the pick-ups that were then in use, and returned to acoustic playing. In 1949, he joined Chris Barber's Jazz Band and in 1952 he became part of the much larger Ken Colyer Jazz Group, which had merged with Barber's band. Among those whom Korner crossed paths with during this era was Cyril Davies, a guitarist and harmonica player. The two found their interests in American blues completely complementary, and in 1954 they began making the rounds of the jazz clubs as an electric blues duo. They started the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, where, in addition to their own performances, Korner and Davies brought visiting American bluesmen to listen and play. Very soon they were attracting blues enthusiasts from all over England.

Korner and Davies made their first record in 1957, and in early 1962, they formed Blues Incorporated, a "supergroup" (for its time) consisting of the best players on the early-'60s British blues scene. Korner (guitar, vocals), Davies (harmonica, vocals), Ken Scott (piano), and Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone) formed the core, with a revolving membership featuring Charlie Watts or Graham Burbridge on drums, Spike Heatley or Jack Bruce on bass, and a rotating coterie of guest vocalists including Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, and Art Wood (older brother of Ron Wood). Most London jazz clubs were closed to them, so in March of 1962 they opened their own club, which quickly began attracting large crowds of young enthusiasts, among them Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones, all of whom participated at some point with the group's performances; others included Ian Stewart, Steve Marriott, Paul Jones, and Manfred Mann. In May of 1962, Blues Incorporated was invited to a regular residency at London's Marquee Club, where the crowds grew even bigger and more enthusiastic. John Mayall later credited Blues Incorporated with giving him the inspiration to form his own Bluesbreakers group.

Record producers began to take notice, and in June of 1962 producer Jack Good arranged to record a live performance by the band. The resulting record, R&B from the Marquee, the first full-length album ever made by a British blues band, was released in November of 1962. The album consisted of largely of American standards, especially Willie Dixon numbers, rounded out with a few originals. At virtually the same time that Blues Incorporated's debut was going into stores, Cyril Davies left the group over Korner's decision to add horns to their sound. Korner soldiered on, but the explosion of British rock in 1963, and the wave of blues-based rock bands that followed, including the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds undercut any chance he had for commercial success. His more studied brand of blues was left stranded in a commercial backwater -- there were still regular gigs and recordings, but no chart hits, and not much recognition. While his one-time acolytes the Rolling Stones and the Cream made the front pages of music magazines all over the world, Korner was relegated to the blues pages of England's music papers, and, though not yet 40, to the role of "elder statesman."

For a time, Korner hosted Five O'Clock Club, a children's television show that introduced a whole new generation of British youth to American blues and jazz. He also wrote about blues for the music papers, and was a detractor of the flashy, psychedelic, and commercialized blues-rock of the late '60s, which he resented for its focus on extended solos and its fixation on Chicago blues. He continued recording as well, cutting a never-completed album with future Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant in early 1968. Korner's performing career in England was limited, but he could always play to large audiences in Europe, especially in Scandinavia, and there were always new Korner records coming out. It was while touring Scandinavia that he first hooked up with vocalist Peter Thorup, who became Korner's collaborator over the next several years in the band New Church. After his dismissal from the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones considered joining New Church; Korner, however, rejected the idea, because he didn't want his new band to be caught up in any controversy. In 1972, he became peripherally involved in the breakup of another band, inheriting the services of Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, and Ian Wallace when they quit King Crimson.

It was during the '70s that Korner had his only major hit, as leader (with Peter Thorup) of the 25-member big-band ensemble CCS. Their version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" charted in England, and led to a tour and television appearances. In response, Korner released Bootleg Him, a retrospective compiled from tapes in his personal collection, including recordings with Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts. Korner played on the "supersession" album B.B. King in London, and cut his own, similar album, Get Off My Cloud, with Keith Richards, Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins, and members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band. When Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones in 1975, Korner was mentioned as a possible replacement, but the spot eventually went to Ron Wood. In 1978, for Korner's 50th birthday, an all-star concert was held featuring Eric Clapton, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, and Zoot Money, which was later released as a video.

In 1981, Korner formed the last and greatest "supergroup" of his career, Rocket 88, featuring himself on guitar, Jack Bruce on upright bass, Ian Stewart on piano, and Charlie Watts on drums, backed by trombonists and saxmen, and one or two additional keyboard players. They toured Europe and recorded several gigs, the highlights of which were included on a self-titled album released by Atlantic Records. In contrast to the many blues-rock fusion records with which Korner had been associated, Rocket 88 mixed blues with boogie-woogie jazz, the group's repertory consisting largely of songs written by W. C. Handy and Pete Johnson.

After a well-received appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival in the early '80s, there were rumors afterward that he intended to become more active musically, but his health was in decline by this time. A chain smoker all of his life, Korner died of lung cancer at the beginning of 1984. AMG. listen here

Ray Lema - Medecine 1985

Lema first became involved in music playing church organ for five years. By the time he entered college, he was already playing keyboard in Kinshasa clubs for artists like Kalle, Abeti, M'pongo Love, and Tabu Ley. He worked with the Ballet du Zaire and from 1974 to 1978 toured the country studying folklore. He won a Rockefeller grant for study in the U.S. in 1979. Lema's grounding in folklore and choreography, as well as music, helped him break through in the '80s and maintain a reputation as a soukous musician not content to be pigeonholed in that style. He recently signed with the international label Mango. AMG. listen here

Kevin Coyne - Millionaires And Teddy Bears 1979

Kevin Coyne's seventh studio solo album, and his second in less than a year (following the itchy Dynamite Daze) was very much recorded in the shadow of recent developments in the new wave field. Heavily atmospheric but brutally sparse, it contains some of Coyne's most discomforting latter-day work, beginning with the brief ambience-and-chant rail of the opening "People," which bleeds directly into "Having a Party"; truly one of the most caustic numbers in his entire catalog. A savage indictment of the music industry (the album's title is lifted from its lyric), "Having a Party" places our hero at a record company soiree, discussing his future career with the label bigwigs, and finding himself backed into such a corner that, when asked which of the myriad gold discs on the wall is his, "I had to confess I hadn't got one...." (As an intriguing aside, live recordings of the song from the following year find it taking on even greater weight, as Coyne inserts the recent death of one of his Virgin Records labelmates into the lyric -- "you have to be rough and tough and tough and rough if you want to be a pop star -- like Sid Vicious"). Such bleakness is, of course, readily dispelled as the album moves on. "I'll Go Too" (simultaneously issued as a 45) packs a breezy arrangement and as compelling a chorus as any previous Coyne classic, while "Pretty Park" has a lascivious snarl and a barrelhouse boom that echoes the mighty "Eastbourne Ladies." Elsewhere, the so-tender "Marigold," the bombastic "Let Me Be With You," and the heartbreaking "Wendy's Dream" are all vital additions to the Coyne repertoire, and though it's true that Side One of the album is considerably stronger than Side Two, still Millionaires & Teddy Bears rates high in any poll of Coyne's finest records. AMG. listen here

New Directions - New Directions 1999

Greg Osby's Banned in New York is probably his magnum opus so far, but there is a lot more ore here to mine.  Tonight I have been listening to Channel Three, a trio album with Matt Brewer on bass and Jeff Watts on percussion.  I hadn't heard it until now.  It is majestic.  Joe Henderson's State of the Tenor comes to mind.  I am playing the first cut, an Ornette Coleman composition entitled 'Mob Job'. 

To reconnect to the Jason Moran/Greg Osby theme, I have also been listening to New Directions.  This remarkable recording has Osby on alto, Mark Shim on tenor, Moran on Piano, Stefon Harris on vibes, Tarus Mateen on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums.  If you are looking for an imaginative and superbly crafted version of jazz hits, have I got an album for you mon frere.  I am playing 'Theme from Blowup', a well known Herbie Hancock composition.  It's very Hancock, except for being completely different.  Get the album.  You'll love their interpretation of Lee Morgan's 'Sidewinder'. 

Finally, I have a couple cuts from Osby's Inner Circle.  Osby, Moran, Harris, and Mateen again, with Eric Harland on drums.  Every note is surprising.  I am playing 'Equalatogram' and 'All Neon Like'.  The first features a marvelous interplay between Harris and Moran.  The second is soulful and delicate.  listen here

Ratcat - Blind Love 1991

Ratcat became the first Australian alternative, guitar-driven band to crack the big time locally during the early '90s.

Beginning with singer/guitarist Simon Day and bassist Victor Levi's garage band Danger Mouse, Ratcat's following in Sydney grew thanks to several live performances among the skate-punk scene. In December 1987, the band released their eponymous debut mini-LP on the Waterfront label. Their debut full-length album, The Nightmare, followed in 1989 and led to a deal with the rooArt label. They contributed the single "You Get Me By" to the label's various-artists compilation Youngblood II.

But it was The Tingles EP, released in November 1990, that gave the band their biggest success. It raced to number one on the Australian national charts, as did the catchy single "Don't Go Now." The album, Blind Love, released in July 1991, also went to number one nationally. The band then opened for INXS' X tour as well as performed their own concerts. AMG. listen here

Maureen Tucker - Life in Exile After Abdication 1989

When the Velvet Underground was America's most admired avant-garde rock band, it was easy to imagine solo success for principal songwriter Lou Reed and enigmatic Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, but no one could have predicted that some of the best solo recordings from a former member of this seminal band would come from drummer Maureen (Moe) Tucker. After the demise of the Velvets, Tucker lived in relative obscurity in Douglas, GA, raising her children and working for minimum wage at a Wal-Mart -- salient points that form the thematic basis of her solo career. No longer strictly a drummer, Tucker switched to guitar, and with the help of a new generation of avant-rock players (Half Japanese's Jad and David Fair, Daniel Johnston, Sonic Youth) and longtime pals (Lou Reed), began recording terse, guitar-driven songs about single motherhood, working hard for minimum wage, and hating the corporatization of rock & roll. These were proud, pissed-off songs that found a home on the wonderfully idiosyncratic indie label 50 Skidillion Watts, principally owned by Velvets fan Penn Jillette (of the comedy/magic duo Penn and Teller), who gave Tucker a regular outlet for her music. Occasionally, Tucker has had to return to the underpaying world of nine-to-five to supplement her rock & roll income, but as she released more records, her popularity in alternative rock circles has grown (especially in Europe) to the point where she can make a living as a full-time musician. Good news indeed. AMG. listen here

Minnie Riperton - Adventures In Paradise 1975

Adventures in Paradise, the follow-up to Perfect Angel -- an album featuring Minnie Riperton's biggest hit, much assistance from Stevie Wonder, and several of his associates, as well as an iconic outer sleeve -- tends to be viewed as a flop, at least by those who disregard Minnie as a novelty one-hit wonder. If the album is a flop on principle because none of its three singles was as big as "Lovin' You," or because Stevie was no longer around, so be it, but it's borderline classic by any other measure. The key collaborators here, outside of Minnie's songwriting husband Richard Rudolph, include keyboardist Joe Sample, guitarist Larry Carlton, saxophonist Tom Scott, and harpist Dorothy Ashby. Hardly poor substitutes. Most importantly, the album's three central songs were co-written with Leon Ware, who had come up with the Jackson 5's "I Wanna Be Where You Are" and was on the brink of writing what would become the entirety of Marvin Gaye's I Want You, along with his own excellent Musical Massage. Each of the Riperton/Rudolph/Ware songs ooze playful sensuality, desire, and lust -- especially "Inside My Love" (a Top 30 R&B single), a swooning slow jam filled with double entendres. If it weren't for the supremely seductive innocence in Minnie's voice, the words would likely fall flat in their directness ("You can see inside me/Will you come inside me?/Do you wanna ride inside my love?") The opener, "Baby, This Love I Have," is even more heated, with Minnie's frustrated yearning wrapped around a lithe arrangement. (It's gentle six-note guitar-and-bass intro would later resurface in A Tribe Called Quest's "Check the Rhime.") The songs written by Minnie and Rudolph alone match up well with the best of Perfect Angel, and they're deceptively eclectic, mixing and matching soul and rock with touches of country and adult pop. The album was tailor made for the kind of '70s radio format that would not balk at spinning Boz Scaggs, LTD, and Fleetwood Mac back-to-back-to-back. But, for whatever reason (poor promotion, closed minds), it did not do nearly as well as it deserved. AMG. listen here