Antonio Sanchez - Migration 2007

Drummer Antonio Sanchéz's debut recording as a leader is an impressive outing. An alum of both Berklee and the New England Conservatory of Music jazz studies programs, the percussionist has appeared on CDs by Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Avishai Cohen and Miguel Zenón. He leads a core quartet including bassist Scott Colley plus saxophonists Chris Potter and David Sanchez, withMetheny and Chick Corea as special guests on selected tracks. The leader's four originals hold one's interest, especially his percolating "Challenge Within" and the alternately tense and freewheeling "Greedy Silence." Sanchéz dominates the delightful off-kilter arrangement of Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge," playing freely against the twin tenor saxes, while Miles Davis' "Solar" is an unusual guitar/drum duet with Metheny. Corea contributed the infectious Latin-flavored opener "One for Antonio," a trio number with Colley that showcases each of the musicians. The quartet is joined by Metheny for the guitarist's hypnotic Latin ballad "Arena (Sand)." AMG.

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Colin Cooper Project - From The Vaults 2014

Until his death in 2008 from cancer, British singer and musician Colin Cooper had enjoyed a lengthy and rewarding career. Enamored of music from an early age, Cooper first taught himself harmonica before moving on to clarinet, saxophone, and guitar – multi-instrumental skills that would serve him well down the road. His first band of note was the early-1960s outfit Colin Cooper's Climax Jazz Band, but it was with the mid-60s mod band the Hipster Image, and its Alan Price-produced single "Can't Let Her Go" b/w "Make Her Mine," that Cooper got his first taste of fame. The blues remained Cooper's first love, and he would push the band back towards its blues roots throughout the late 1980s and well into the new millennium, releasing albums like 1994's Blues From The Attic and 2003's Big Blues (The Songs of Willie Dixon) to great response. During this same period, Cooper showed his loyalty to the blues by recording a number of blues and roots-rock covers in his home studio, songs that he'd crafted to perfection with impromptu performances on his steel Dobro guitar at local pubs. Although they were never performed with commercial release in mind, the best of these homespun demos have been collected under the Colin Cooper Project banner and recently released on CD as From The Vaults.

From The Vaults kicks off with Taj Mahal's "Cake Walk Into Town," the song provided a spry, up-tempo performance, Cooper's jaunty vocals approximating Mahal's original funky drawl, his lively guitar-picking providing a sparse, but engaging framework for the song. Cooper's deep voice is perfectly suited to the material, and late-period Climax Blues Band guitarist Lester Hunt adds some elegant electric guitar as a fine counterpoint to Cooper's acoustic, Piedmont blues-flavored Dobro. A reading of Robert Johnson's "Rambling On My Mind" is closer in spirit to Eric Clapton's laidback cover than to the blues legend's Delta-dirty original, an upbeat arrangement replete with finger-picked strings and a walking rhythm capturing the restless spirit of Johnson's lyrical intent nonetheless.

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Hank Jones Meets Cheick-Tidiane Seck and the Mandinkas - Sarala 1995

This must surely be one of the most unusual items in Hank Jones' catalog. Few people would probably associate Jones -- one of the finest pianists that jazz has ever known, and a man who has played with everyone from Charlie Parker to Tony Williams -- with contemporary Afro-pop; yet this album is an infectiously grooving example of just that, featuring the remarkably versatile pianist alongside a stellar cast of musicians from the West African nation of Mali. At first glance, the Malian pop music that is featured on this cross-cultural outing would seem to be light-years from the kind of harmonically sophisticated jazz that Jones has played throughout most of his long and distinguished career. The chord changes that ordinarily undergird Jones' elegantly constructed solos are conspicuously absent from Malian music, which derives much of its unique flavor from the complex rhythmic interplay between electric guitars, keyboards, and traditional African instruments. Nonetheless, Jones plays this material as if he were born to it. His solos, while brief, beautifully straddle the line between his own personal style and the equally distinctive sound of his Malian bandmates; and his lines mesh perfectly with the mesmerizing rhythmic accompaniment provided by the rest of the ensemble. And quite an ensemble it is; some of the biggest names in Malian pop are featured on this album under the direction of leader Cheick-Tidiane Seck, and traditional instruments like the n'goni lute and balafon xylophone are given plenty of solo space. In addition, every track features a traditional Malian praise-song delivered by a powerful lead vocalist and a full complement of backup singers. An unlikely partnership, perhaps, but one that yields extraordinary results. AMG.

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16 Horsepower - Low Estate 1998

Sixteen Horsepower's second full-length album, Low Estate, finds them at the peak of their powers, moving their hypnotic, rustic country-rock into neo-gothic territory. Producer John Parish helps the group reach its potential, accentuating the darkness and mystery inherent in its music. There are still a few weak moments on the record, but overall, Low Estate is an impressive leap forward for Sixteen Horsepower, an album that clearly separates the band from its alt-country contemporaries. AMG.

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Ekoostik Hookah - Dubbabuddah 1994

Since 1991, the celebratory jam sounds of Columbus, OH's Ekoostik Hookah has made them one of the finest Midwestern bands to emerge from the neo-hippie scene of the 1990s. Starting off performing at local open mic nights, frontman/keyboardist Dave Katz, guitarist Steve Sweney, bassist Cliff Starbuck, and guitarist/vocalist John Mullins decided that a career in music would be financially trying yet enriching because they had a special passion for it all. The group was instantly noticed at a local party, later gaining studio time to record their debut, Under Full Sail, in 1991. In 1993, drummer Eric Lanese joined the group, percussionist John Polansky joined in 1995, and singer/songwriter Ed McGee completed the Ekoostik Hookah lineup the next year.
Throughout the '90s, Ekoostik Hookah trudged throughout the U.S., playing to countless shows while molding their grassroots/jazz/blues organic sounds. A second album, which was titled Dubbabuddah (1994), focused more on the band's lengthy jams and sonic grooves, yet the 1996 release of the band's live album Ekoostik Hookah was more of an accurate depiction of their relentless rock & roll impeccability, the growl of performing in front of an audience, and the power they had as a live band. It's their laid-back nature, the mellow atmospheric body encased in each song, that makes Ekoostik Hookah as desirable as they already are. Studio efforts are obviously a different set for the group, but it's the down-home good time that cuts the hook every time. A third LP, Where the Fields Grow Green, was issued in 1998 and another live double disc,Sharp in the Flats, followed a year later. AMG.

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Buke and Gase - General Dome 2013

Very few bands are capable of completely encapsulating their sound with their writing credits quite likeBuke and Gase, who open the liner notes of General Dome, their second full-length outing, with the statement that "all songs improvised, organized, written, discussed, performed, discarded, recorded, and produced by Buke and Gase." This statement of purpose really captures the deconstructed and subsequently reconstructed nature of the band's lurching sound, which melds a host of fractured homemade instruments with the voice of Arone Dyer, whose vocals feel like warm honey flowing through the carefully arranged chaos created by the Brooklyn band. While it would be easy to go on endlessly about the myriad musical touchstones they pull into their work, what's really important is that their work...well...works. The way Buke and Gase pull together no wave's sense of texture with dance-punk's ear for rhythm is impressive enough, but the cohesion and approachability of General Domeare really what make the album. Buke and Gase have found a way to push melodic boundaries without sacrificing listenability, creating an album that offers a challenge to those willing to dive into its layered sound while providing a satisfyingly rhythmic experience for the casual listener to get lost in. That isn't to say that they've watered down their sound since 2010's Riposte, but more that they've achieved a more refined sense of balance, knowing exactly where and when to push the limits while still keeping the sound grounded enough that the listener is able to get lost in the song rather than the concept. AMG.

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Castanets - Texas Rose, The Thaw & The Beasts 2009

San Diego's Castanets borrow from country, folk, and experimental rock and turn them into a sound that's equally moody and inspiring. The band, which features a revolving cast of supportive musicians (including members from Pinback, Rocket from the Crypt, and Tristeza), centers on singer/songwriter Raymond Raposa, who explored the U.S. for four years via Greyhound bus after testing out of high school at age 15. This searching, traveling nature extends to his music, which he initially released as a series of CD-Rs. However, the Asthmatic Kitty label stepped in and released his first widely available album, Cathedral -- the bulk of which was recorded in a cabin in Northern California's woodlands -- in fall 2004. A year later, Raposa and company returned with First Light's Freeze. A period of acute depression followed, during whichRaposa was mugged outside of his home in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. In the Vines, Castanets' third release, was completed weeks after the mugging; appropriately dark (but earnest nevertheless), the album was released in October 2007. Recorded in three short weeks in a Nevada desert motel room (alone), the sparse and atmospheric City of Refuge arrived in 2008, followed by Texas Rose, the Thaw and the Beasts in 2009. In 2012, Raposa released Raymond Byron and the White Freighter on Asthmatic Kitty, and while technically a new band, it featured many of the same musicians associated withRaposa's Castanets recordings. Released in 2014, Decimation Blues found Raposa in a more experimental and varied territory than most of his other albums, dabbling with electronics and expanded instrumentation in the framework of his husky-throated Americana. AMG.

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Built To Spill - Keep It Like a Secret 1999

Perhaps realizing that their time on a major label was likely limited, Built to Spill made a gutsy choice for Keep It Like a Secret, their second album for Warner Brothers. They embraced the sounds of a big studio and focused their sound without sacrificing their fractured indie rock aesthetic. In a sense, this is Built to Spill's pop album: every song is direct and clean, without the long, cerebral jamming that characterized their earlier albums. That's not to say that the album is compromised -- the songwriting may be streamlined, but Doug Martsch now packs all of his twists, turns, and detours into dense, three-minute blasts. This approach, combined with the shiny sonic textures, makes Keep It Like a Secret the most immediate and, yes, accessible Built to Spill record, but they steadfastly open their music up and breathe the way, say, Pavement did on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Brighten the Corners. Built to Spill still demand that listener meet them on their own terms -- these just happen to be the easiest terms to understand in their catalog. AMG.

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B Fachada - B Fachada 2009

An interesting album from a portuguese musician, it's a mixed of several music styles which digs both in the traditional and new rock/pop. Written by B Fachada except "responso" which is adapted from the priest sources (Vilar de Perdiz).
B Fachada played the guitars, pianos, the Rhodes, the hormones, the little piano, melodic synths and touched the bass drums, snare drums the, dishes, reco-reco, water bottles and percussion in general, played bass, scheduled a box of rhythms and sang leading voices and choirs. Tiago Sousa played the piano on "lack of love" and "your bad luck" and the hormones in the "responsorial" and "time to sing." Joao Viana (kindly provided by dixie gang) played the trumpet from "the beautiful Helena." Recommended.

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Dream Connaisseur - Smooth Sailing 2013

Done through a close knit of friends, this album was recorded in practice spaces and bed rooms to bring you a full length album made from passion not by big business. Special thanks to our friend, our producer David Mcdonald he put his blood and sweat into this as much as the band.
These songs reflect our journey from adolescence to adulthood telling stories of change, love, and the ups and downs of chasing our dream to be related to the soul.

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Hermeto Pascoal - Cérebro Magnético 1980

A self-taught musician, Hermeto Pascoal ascended from his humble upcountry origins to an international acknowledgment still unfair to his musical stature. Developing his ears from an early age at his grandfather's blacksmith shop, Pascoal used to pick up pieces of iron and hit them, trying to create music (not to emulate the harmonics of his father's eight-bass button accordion, as has been spread). This led to an unusual approach to music, where the tones themselves give a stronger conducting motif than chord connection, scales, or modes. His understanding of music as a vital force, emanating organically from everything in Earth, is reminiscent of Kepler's music of the spheres and conducted to eccentric performances and recordings with pigs, kettles, and anything at hand. He has also developed the Sound of the Aura concept, in which music is developed out of people's speech, traffic noise, and out of every possible source of sound. That didn't impede him from conquering the admiration of world-class musicians such as Miles Davis, for whom he recorded as instrumentalist and composer. John McLaughlin, Duke Pearson, Gil Evans, Berlin Symphony, Copenhagen Symphony, and many others played and recorded his compositions. He also recorded with Ron Carter, Alphonso Johnson, Tom Jobim, Cal Tjader, and several others. As a sideman, he recorded with Brazilians Aquilo del Nisso, Luiz Avellar, Maria Bethânia, Fagner, Galo Preto, Eduardo Gudin,Joyce, Edu Lobo, Elis Regina (including a live concert recorded at the Montreux Jazz Fest), Walter Santos, Mauro Senise, Robertinho Silva, Sivuca, Marcio Montarroyos, Taiguara, Sebastião Tapajós, and Geraldo Vandré, to name a few. Down Beat's Howard Mandel, wrote about him "as pan-global a leader as Sun Ra and as surefooted an individualist as Rahsaan Roland Kirk."
His father used to animate parties with an eight-bass button accordion. Beginning to play at local parties at 11, in three months' time, Pascoal advanced so much that he took his father's place because he became ashamed to play together with him. In 1950, his family moved to the capital Recife PE, and he debuted at radio stations in that city and around. In 1958, he moved to Rio, working with the Regional de Pernambuco do Pandeiro, Fafá Lemos Group, and Orquestra do Copinha. In 1961, he moved to São Paulo, playing in several nightclubs there. Already playing brass and wood instruments, he formed the group Som Quatro with Papudinho (trumpet), Dilsom (drums), and Azeitona (contrabaixo). With Sivuca, he had an accordion trio called O Mundo em Chamas. In 1964, he began a fertile association with Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, joining his Sambrasa Trio (which also had Humberto Clayber on the double bass). His first recording was accompanying singer Walter Santos' LP Caminho in 1965, soon following the historical album No Fino da Bossa, Vol. 3, on which he backed Elis Regina on one track. The album was recorded in 1966 but was issued in 1994. Moreira was then in a band called Trio Novo which had guitarist Heraldo do Monte and bassist Teo de Barros; Pascoal joined them the next year and the group changed its name to Quarteto Novo. The first proponents of a Northeastern sound based on baião mixed with jazz improvisations, the group would be highly influential despite having recorded just one album, Quarteto Novo (Odeon, 1967). The album had Pascoal's first recorded composition, "O Ovo." In October of that year, the group accompanied Edu Lobo on "Ponteio" (Lobo/Capinam), the winning composition at TV Record's III FMPB (III Brazilian Popular Music Festival). In 1968, Pascoaltoured France. In 1970, he was invited by Miles Davis to record with him on the live album Live Evil. Davis also selected three of Pascoal's compositions for that album: "Little Church," "Nem Um Talvez," and "Selim." In fact, he selected 11 songs of Pascoal's material, but Pascoal wanted to release his solo album and let go only those two. As Miles had a habit of taking credit for tunes written by his groups' members, both were erroneously published under his name. Pascoal credits that to producer's tactics, not to Miles'. Pascoal's first solo LP, Hermeto (Cobblestone), was recorded in 1971 in New York and was produced by Ron Carter and Flora Purim. In that same year he, and Carter recorded another LP, with Pascoal's "O Gaio da Roseira," awarded as one of the best of the year by English critics.
In 1973, he toured through the U.S. and Mexico, recording in Brazil A Música Livre de Hermeto. By the Association of Critics of São Paulo (APCA), he was awarded as Best Soloist and, in the next year, Best Arranger. He toured the U.S. again in 1974 and had his song "Porco na Festa" awarded as Best Arrangement at the Globo Network's Festival Abertura. Recorded in 1976 with Sérgio Mendes and Brazil '77, he recording two more albums for Mendes in that period. His LP, Slaves Mass, released in 1977, also had Carter. In 1978, he recorded Zabumbê-Bum-Á. Since then, he has recorded 12 solo albums. His live performance at the 1979 Montreux Jazz Festival was recorded on a double LP and released through Warner: Hermeto Pascoal ao Vivo. In 1996, he was awarded with the Prêmio Sharp as Best Arranger for the Duo Fel CD Kids of Brazil. In the same year, he received the Prêmio Ary Barroso. His recordings as a sideman add to over 79 albums. In April 2000, Pascoal toured again through the U.S. and the Boston Globe, in a recent review of one of his American performances, commented: "With equal parts virtuosity and eccentricity, Pascoal's sextet gave the rare example of a band that actually earned its standing ovation." AMG.

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New Grass Revival - Hold to a Dream 1987

The band who originated the term "newgrass" continued their progressive bluegrass stylings on Hold to a Dream. As their work grew, the band explored new textures and instrumentation, including the use of fretless bass on Bela Fleck's jazz-inspired "Metric Lips" and the sea shanty roll of Pat Flynn's "I'll Take Tomorrow." Lead singer John Cowan is expressive but still relatively restrained (compared to some of his other recordings), and the interplay between Fleck's banjo and Sam Bush's fiddle or mandolin really sparks. While this album drifts closer to their contemporary country side than their bluegrass roots, it certainly makes for an entertaining listen. AMG.

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