Doug Wamble - Country Libations 2003

When one sees the name Marsalis Music, the question that comes to mind is "Which Marsalis?" Ellis?Wynton? Branford? Delfeayo? Jason? The answer is Branford; saxophonist Branford Marsalis is the founder/owner of Marsalis Music, a Rounder-distributed label that was launched in 2003. Since the '80s, it has been obvious that Branford and Wynton have very different tastes -- Wynton is known for being a jazz snob, whereas Branford is more eclectic and has done his share of guest spots on rock and R&B projects. So it isn't surprising that Marsalis Music is a jazz-friendly label but not a jazz-only label. Country Libations, which Branford produced for his company, isn't the sort of album that a jazz snob would release -- jazz, blues, and gospel are equally important parts of what acoustic guitarist/singer Doug Wamble does on this promising debut album. Wamble certainly isn't an easy artist to categorize or pigeonhole. He's a jazz instrumentalist, but he's also a blues singer -- he's a jazz vocalist, but he also sings African-American gospel. As far as his taste in jazz goes, Wamble doesn't limit himself to one particular era. Parts of Country Libations are mindful of the swing and classic jazz of the '30s, but other parts show an awareness of the modal post-bop that John Coltrane and his colleagues provided in the '60s. Wamble even dabbles in the mildly avant-garde; the instrumental "Dim Tangy Tennessee Twang" hints at Ornette Coleman. Of course, someone this far-reaching and difficult to categorize would terrify a lot of marketing people, so Branford deserves applause for having the guts to sign Wamble. And much to his credit, the expressive Wamble is able to take this CD in different directions without sounding confused or erratic -- he makes everything fit together on this unpredictable yet focused debut. AMG.

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Louise Taylor - Ride 1997

Louise Taylor is a talented singer/songwriter whose openness to new cultures has helped define her purpose and growth as a musician. It's taken her down the paths of American balladry and Celtic storytelling, along the back roads of the blues, into the realm of self-discovery. Storytelling is important to her songs, but she embraces folk, jazz, Celtic music, and blues to expand her avenues of expression. Taylor's songs came from tough wisdom in 2001 after enduring the personal hardships of divorce and her mother's death. Despite these personal setbacks, her songs remained earthy and poetic and full of melodic grace. Travels to Ireland inspired her 2000 CD, Written in Red (Signature), Taylor's fourth album, which blended her bluesy style with the lyrical beauty of traditional Irish storytelling. For Taylor, music was not always an integral part of her life. She hit the road from her home in Brattleboro, VT, at age 15 as an itinerant troubadour unsure of herself, playing songs on the street, but not consciously seeking a career in music. In her youth she was shy, but through the encouragement of her brother and other musicians, she found her way. Finally, in 2000, after three albums, she discovered the confidence and poise to make her an accomplished singer/songwriter on Written in Red, but she's always ready to learn new things. Two other vital factors in her development as a musician came from her association in the late '90s with guitarists Chris Smither and Ray Bonneville. From Smither, she learned more about the emotional expression needed in playing the guitar and from Bonneville she honed a sharp fingerpicking style. Taylor's newfound expression on guitar took her from being primarily a rhythm player to one adept at maneuvering through any number of musical styles and ideas. AMG. Thanks to B.

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Royal Southern Brotherhood - Royal Southern Brotherhood 2012

This blues-roots rock supergroup of sorts features musicians bred, if not always born, in the South. The only real royalty would be singer/songwriter/percussionist Cyril Neville, who shares lead vocals with younger but still established blues-rock journeymen guitarists Mike Zito and Devon Allman. BassistCharlie Wooton from Zydefunk and ex-Derek Trucks drummer Yonrico Scott comprise the solid rhythm section rounding out this quintet. With all this instrumental and vocal firepower, the musical possibilities of mixing Neville's familial, funky New Orleans swamp with Zito's soulful blues andAllman's tougher rock are enticing. While there is plenty to whet your appetite, there is a surprising lack of top-quality songs for these guys to dig into. A few corkers such as the Latin-tinged "Fired Up!" and the rubbery groove of "Moonlight Over the Mississippi," both sung by Neville, and Zito's terrific ballad "Ways About You" show the band can coalesce around a great tune. The problem is there just aren't enough of them. Zito, Neville, and Allman write the bulk of the material in various combinations but tunes such as "Gotta Keep Rockin'" and "Hurts My Heart" are as simplistic as their titles. Going outside to cover the Dead's reggae-tinged "Fire on the Mountain" -- the album's only non-original -- makes sense and it's an inspired performance, especially by the always impressive Neville, whose traditionally gutsy singing is the band's secret weapon. But an aimless Santana-styled closing instrumental jam credited to all the members is filler, something first albums should not have. In concert the three songwriters can fall back on their own catalogs to pick and choose quality tunes, and the sheer instrumental talents of the players carry them through. Yet compositionally, this is a tentative debut that shows tons of promise but feels rushed and not completely baked. Some tough guitar soloing and Jim Gaines' always professional production keeps the sound hot, but with the enormous potential of the members, it's disappointing. Perhaps with some roadwork and more time together the next release will fulfill the Brotherhood's possibilities. AMG.

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Alvin Lee - RX5 (1981)

As with many of the other English beat groups of the '60s,Alvin Lee cut his musical teeth in Hamburg, Germany in a band called the Jaybirds. By 1966, back in England, he had changed the name of his band to Ten Years After and was rapidly becoming a major attraction because of the virtuosity of his solo work. Most Americans first became familiar with Lee through his appearance at Woodstock, although he remained active throughout the decades that followed; among his releases were 1974's In Flight, 1986's Detroit Diesel, and 1996's Live in Vienna. Alvin Lee died on March 6, 2013 due to complications from a routine surgical procedure. AMG.

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Neil Young - Greendale 2004

Prior to its release, Greendale received more attention than any Neil Young album in years, but it wasn't positive. Young hauled out his concept album -- about an extended family in a small town called Greendale, and how they're torn apart by a murder -- to unsuspecting audiences, who by and large were not happy about spending anywhere from 55 to 85 dollars to hear a dense convoluted song cycle, complete with rambling narrative from Young, for the first hour of the show and not hearing many hits in the remainder of the set. Early in the summer of 2003, there was a brief blast of stories about this quasi-scandal, setting the stage for the late-summer release of the album: it got Young some needed press, and announced that unlike his last several albums, Young was actually trying this time around. Frankly, he needed a change. Ever since 1994's Sleeps With Angels -- or, if you're less charitable, 1990'sRagged Glory -- he had been drifting, playing with different groups, never quite mustering up enough energy to assemble a consistent set of songs whenever he headed into the studio. Here, the story and the setting give Young a hook for the record, a common theme that he can rally around, and the album benefits so much from that focus that it doesn't really matter that the story is convoluted beyond comprehension; the plot matters so much that it winds up not mattering at all. Close attention and repeated listens offer few rewards to the careful listener, because Young doesn't really say much of anything here, no matter how elaborately he says it. Learning more about the narrative -- whether it's through the simultaneously released DVD of the Young-directed film Greendale, hearing his rambling on-stage between-song narratives, or reading apparent transcriptions of these ramblings in the liner notes -- illuminates the story slightly, even as declarations like "When I was writing this I had no idea what I was doing, so I was just as surprised as you are" emphasize the suspicion that there's not much meaning in the whole enterprise.
All this doesn't really matter because Greendale works as a record -- it ebbs and flows and it holds together, playing as a unified whole on a level he hasn't approached since Ragged Glory. As Youngsays in the liner notes, these are things "you can't tell by listening to the songs, you have to listen to the instrumentals to get this," and while that is meant to apply to one of the many Crazy Horse-fueled meandering improvs, it really applies to the album as a whole since Greendale connects in its overall picture, not the details. Sometimes, such as the quietly eerie and affecting "Bandit," the songs stand apart from the concept, but usually the lyrics are too devoted to his winding narrative to be their own entities. Then again, Greendale was designed to be an interconnected song cycle, and if the narrative neither works nor signifies much, it nevertheless kept Young focused on the construction of the album, whether it's giving the songs memorable hooks or finding ways to make the signature ramshackle vibe of Crazy Horse sound both fresh and appropriate for this tale. It all adds up to a very good record -- one that is interesting, and one that satisfies musically. It may not be a latter-day masterpiece on the level of Dylan's Love and Theft, but it most surely is a comeback for an artist who seemed permanently adrift at sea. AMG.

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Peter Case - Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John 2007

In 2001, Peter Case produced an all-star tribute album honoring the music of Mississippi John Hurt,Avalon Blues, so with a title like Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, it's not hard to imagine he's chosen to pay homage to another great country blues artist, Sleepy John Estes. As it happens, the album features ten new songs from Case (along with one traditional blues tune, "Get Away Blues"), and the album's blues influences are generally more a matter of approach and attitude rather than the adoption of any strict musical templates, but Case does follow the "less is more" approach of classic blues. Most of the songs feature just Case and his acoustic guitar, and the lyrics often dwell on bad luck and trouble as they manifest themselves in the modern world, from the multi-millionaire jailbird in "Million Dollars Bail" and the knocked-down street people of "Underneath the Stars" to the washed-up boxer of "Palookaville" and the big city malaise of "Ain't Gonna Worry No More" (which concludes with the spectral appearance of Lightnin' Hopkins at a local saloon). Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John suggests the lean musical structures of Case's 1998 album Full Service No Waiting fused with the storytelling sense of 1989's The Man with the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditional Guitar, and the result is one of Case's most satisfying albums in years; as a lyricist, Case hits his targets dead on with these songs, and musically the Spartan arrangements favor the sturdy beauty of his melodies, and when he does bring in an accompanist -- Richard Thompson on "Every 24 Hours," Duane Jarvis on "I'm Gonna Change My Ways," Carlos Guitarlos on "Underneath the Stars" -- he makes their presence count. And if Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John is dominated by the realities of life on the streets in Big City U.S.A., Case also finds some genuine inspiration in the ineffable mysteries of life, and "Every 24 Hours" and "That Soul Twist" bookend this album with an unpretentious beauty and a simple joy in world that changes with every sunrise; this is a splendid album from a truly gifted artist. AMG.

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Midnight Oil - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 (1983)

Midnight Oil were already one of Australia's most popular bands when they made their American debut with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and while some knowledge of the intelligent but physical hard rock of the group's first three albums might have made it a bit easier for U.S. audiences to swallow, 10, 9, 8... was a daunting first listen even for loyal fans. Blending an art rocker's sense of adventure and fondness for odd textures, a hard rocker's muscular force and love of power chords, and a peace punk's passion for an intelligent rant, Midnight Oil bore small resemblance to anyone on 10, 9, 8..., running from the dreamy but ominous "Outside World" and "Maralinga" to the bone-crushing fury of "Only the Strong" and "Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something" while making a number of stops in between. Nick Launay's deliberately eccentric production made the most of the band's dramatically oddball approach (dig that panning! check out that drum sound!), and for an album that so often goes for the purposeful left turn, it's remarkably listenable and catchy, offering up one passionate anthem after another. The band's politics are both well considered and unapologetically upfront throughout, which probably didn't help much with sales in the United States, where dance singles traditionally don't feature the chant "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees," and questioning American foreign policy is uncommon on Top Ten albums (the album stayed on the Aussie charts for over two years, and "Power and the Passion" was a major success on the singles chart). As catchy as the Easybeats, as sweaty and hard-hitting as Rose Tattoo, and lots smarter than either, Midnight Oil were among the finest bands to emerge from Australia during the 1980s, and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 was their first undeniably great album and still ranks with their very best. AMG.

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Steve Gold - Let Your Heart Be Known 2011

An epic journey through the timeless blues of the Mississippi Delta and West African inspired rhythms, merging with the power of positive English lyrics and ancient Sanskrit mantras from the Ganges.
This collection of songs is dedicated to the Wonderful Maestro David Kyle who taught me that "perfection is an ever unending process of always becoming.

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Nicola Conte - Other Directions 2004

For those who became acquainted with Nicola Conte via his Bossa Per Due and Jet Sounds Revisited, Other Directions will come as a real surprise. Along with being a producer and DJ, Conte is a classically trained musician who is a multi-instrumentalist and a very accomplished arranger. His previous work in the acid jazz and electronic bossa movements could not have prepared listeners for this solid jazz and bossa nova set. Working with a tough, top-notch group of Italian jazz players -- the country's jazz scene has a built-in lyricism, whether in the vanguard realm or in the "tradition" that puts most American counterparts to shame in terms of swing -- Conte uses all but his DJ skills to create a musical tapestry that reflects the perfect meld of jazz and bossa that occurred in the early '60s while moving both musics forward with his sophisticated yet soulful and accessible arrangements. Till Bronner guests on "Sea and Sand," the disc's first cut, playing trumpet and singing in his plaintive,Chet Baker-derived style (he's a more proficient singer than his mentor). On "Wanin' Moon," Bembe Segue gets the vocal nod, but it's saxophonist Daniele Scannapieco and flugelhornist Fabrizio Bossowith their exotic yet bluesy solos that take the cake on the tune. The Afro-Brazilian rhythmics on "Nefertiti," (no relation to the Miles Davis tune) drive a wordless vocal and tight horn section that counters the intense polyrhythms as Bosso's trumpet takes the first break, wailing in the middle register with relatively few notes to capture the dark groove perfectly. Pierpaolo Bisogno's vibraphone keeps soloists and percussionists anchored in the groove. "A time for Spring" gently nods toward "Take Five," for its intro, before becoming a shimmering, pop-jazz nugget that combines bossa, cool, and post-bop. Truth be told, there isn't a dud in the bunch. The vibe is relaxed, the music open, even when complex -- check out "Dharma Bums" -- and the execution is precise and full of soulful, airy grooves. Bossa nova is the wheel on which everything turns here, and Conte knows how to shade and color his harmonics with texture and chromatic subtlety. This is a jazz record for folks who don't really like jazz, but jazz fans will be delighted by its many twists and turns, never forsaking vamps or lyricism for rhythm, while making rhythm a central tenet of each composition. This is a winner through and through. It's a shame it was only issued on Blue Note in Europe (the American label is largely clueless and is trying to score pop radio hits these days while issuing the same jazz records over and over). Other Directions is the perfect recording for American fans of fine jazz and bossa nova. It's hip, elegant, graceful, and smart. AMG.

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Ann Rabson with Bob Margolin - Not Alone 2012

Rabson continues to forge her own unique path in the blues world with Not Alone, an album that features the guitar work and vocals of another low-key blues legend, Bob Margolin. It's not exactly an album of duets -- Rabson sings most of the leads and her piano playing is featured throughout -- but it's not entirely a solo effort, either, since Margolin only performs solo on a couple of tracks. What is clear is that both players are having a ball and their energy and good humor are infectious. The album is a delight from start to finish. Except for Margolin's "Let It Go" -- a bluesy rhumba marked by Rabson's rippling piano arpeggios and lyrics delivered in a wry drawl that bring to mind the philosophical ruminations of Mose Allison -- the tunes here are mostly familiar covers. Rabson reinvents the material with her surprising arrangements and on-the-money vocals. "Let's Go Get Stoned," the Ashford & Simpson tune made popular by Ray Charles, gets a downtempo treatment that celebrates excess with a gospel-flavored arrangement. Rabson delivers the Rev. Thomas Dorsey standard "I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song" with a wry approach that manages to sound both spiritual and carnal, especially when she sings: "I can't say one thing and then do another, be a saint by day and a devil under covers." A boogie-woogie cover of Louis Jordan's "Caledonia" features Margolin's smooth, laid-back guitar work supporting Rabson's excellent piano work, while her ragtime reading of Hudson Whitaker's almost obscene "Let's Get Drunk and Truck" is a pure delight. AMG.

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