CD Music
Will Scruggs Jazz Fellowship: "Song of Simeon: A Christmas Journey"
December 2012
One of the Best Jazz Holiday Albums Ever
Self released
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Jazz albums of holiday music are usually an improvised mishmash of secular tunes, with one or two religious ones thrown in. Song of Simeon is something entirely different -- a cohesive album that tells the story of Christ's birth using familiar carols and songs while giving them new jazz rags to wear.
Dallas Wind Symphony; Jerry Junkin, Conductor: "Horns for the Holidays"
December 2012
Reference Recordings Makes a Holiday CD for Audiophiles
Reference Recordings RR-126
Format: HDCD
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During the month of December, just about every high-school band in the land will play a holiday concert. Many college organizations will follow suit. But recordings of seasonal music by concert bands and wind ensembles are extremely rare. For the life of me, I can't even think of one off the top of my head.
Jacqui Sutton: "Notes from the Frontier: A Musical Journey"
November 2012
Let Me Introduce You to Frontier Jazz
Toy Blue Typewriter TBTP002
Format: CD
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The beginning of Jacqui Sutton's second album starts with disjointed cello chords as other instruments join in with jagged attacks. What is this, the beginning of some newly discovered work by Béla Bartók? Then Jacqui's voice, rich as honey and smooth as silk, enters with the familiar tones of "Summertime," and suddenly we're in Gershwinland, even though the dissonant staccato notes persist underneath the familiar tune.
Barluath: "Source"
October 2012
An Auspicious Debut Album from Scotland
Nimbus Alliance NI6206
Format: CD
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Barluath is a Scottish folk band composed largely of students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, located in Glasgow. Through an arrangement with Nimbus Records, the Conservatoire has been releasing recordings of its virtuoso wind ensemble and compositions by some of its student composers. This is the Conservatoire's first disc of a pop nature, and it's a total success.
Letizia Gambi: "Introducing Letizia Gambi"
September 2012
Neapolitan Songstress in a Strong Debut Album
Jando Music 2012
Format: CD
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Arriving with a heavy-hitting roster of class-A musicians as backup, Introducing Letizia Gambi has hit US shelves with almost no fanfare. And that's a shame, because you shouldn't miss hearing this auspicious debut. Letizia Gambi is a young Italian singer who was born Neapolitan but grew up partly in northern Italy. Her style is rooted in Neapolitan music, but she's eclectic, making musical excursions into jazz, pop, Björk, even Prince. She studied musical theater in England and has sung in West Side Story, and she earned a master's degree at Milan's International Jazz Academy.
Fiona Apple: "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do"
June 2012
Fiona's Back and Discordant As Ever
Clean Slate/Epic 197863
Format: CD
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Fiona Apple's long-awaited fourth album is many things, but conventional isn't one of them. A thoroughly original work, The Idler Wheel . . . is unfiltered and raw in all the right ways. From start to finish, Apple unabashedly unleashes herself on listeners with a characteristic frankness, reflecting heavily on past romances and her deep-seated insecurities. It would have been easy for such subject matter to be rendered in a trite, angst-ridden manner, but Apple's tenuously rich falsetto allows the music to take on a multifaceted feel, with "Left Alone" teetering between moments of confidence, frustration, mania, and resignation.
The quality of the performance would be for naught if the production's craftsmanship weren't equally accomplished. Instrumental accompaniment is usually sparse, letting Apple's vocals remain the focus of the listener's attention, and the fleeting moments of harmony and lack of consistent musical meter only further this aim. There's no sense that Pro Tools has over-processed the proceedings with too many digital filters, as the entire soundstage is often utilized to great effect, with easily discernible instrument character and spacing.
More an evolution than a departure from her past releases, this outing offers nuances and maturity that warrant several passes. It's unlikely that a single song off of The Idler Wheel . . . will become a hit single, but taken in aggregate, the collection is worthy of serious consideration.
The CD by itself comes in off-white, heavy-stock paper packaging that seems more vintage than brand new. The liner notes are rich with Apple's hand-written lyrics and stylized illustrations. While I partook in the CD alone, there are two other, more expansive releases of The Idler Wheel . . . The first is a 180gm LP that also comes with an MP3 version, and the second is a CD/DVD box set that includes a fold-out album poster and a DVD featuring footage of five live performances from the 2012 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.
Be sure to listen to: While many of the tracks are noteworthy, the propulsive quality of "Hot Knife" (track 10) makes it a rhythmic, toe-tapping good time. Its fun, playful tone is something of a reprieve from the rest of the album's more melancholic feeling, and a fittingly more upbeat conclusion to what is arguably Apple's best album yet.
. . . Hans Wetzel
hansw@soundstagenetwork.com
Susie Arioli: "All the Way"
June 2012
Warm and Welcome Collection of Standard Ballads
Jazzheads JH 1192
Format: CD
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One introductory guitar chord and Susie Arioli gets right to "My Funny Valentine," everyone's favorite jazz tune, and nails every romantic note of it. It's an attention-getting intro to one of the best albums of pop and jazz standards that I've heard in nearly a decade. Sets like these used to be commonplace from the likes of Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney, but it’s been some time since I heard a CD like this. The album is totally enjoyable from beginning to end and put together without a single misstep. Arioli and her band come across like pros.
Arioli is not a fussy singer; she is an exacting one, who miraculously makes her precision seem effortless and spontaneous. There's little fiddling around with the melody -- no scat, no potentially embarrassing hijinks, and no hysteria. She just knows the songs inside out and sings them with her lovely, warm alto and diction that makes every word important and understandable. That last part is of particular interest to me, as I seldom hear it. Arioli caps off a word with a delicate but precisely placed final consonant that gives everyone a full measure of the vowel before it. It is absolutely not any distortion of the rhythm, which is rock solid; it’s something more subtle, mysterious, and rare.
Her choices of material, which include "Time on My Hands," "All the Way," "Here's That Rainy Day," "There’s a Lull in My Life," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "When Your Lover Has Gone," and "Time After Time" are unabashedly retro ballads that have been recorded dozens of times. Guitarist Jordan Officer did the arrangements, as he has for all of Arioli's albums, and he plays some memorable interludes. Other great sidemen hold forth too, such as François Stevenson on vibes, Carmeron Wallis on sax, and Jérôme Dupuis-Cloutier on trumpet. Montreal is Arioli's home base, and the city's Spectra Musique partially funded the album.
The recording is warm and spacious, but I could have used a little more transparency and a better-focused bass line. The bass sound is balanced properly, but you can't always hear that initial attack of the string that holds down the rhythm section. Other than that, this set is as near perfect as can be. Arioli has won awards in Canada and France, and it's about time others knew about her. She's well worth the attention.
Be sure to listen to: Track 3, "Here's to the Losers," uses an entire saxophone section (three tenors and a baritone) in addition to the guitar, drums, and bass, and it has a simply delicious retro feel to it. "When Your Lover Has Gone" utilizes the same forces, while other songs use smaller yet equally effective combinations.
. . . Rad Bennett
radb@soundstagenetwork.com
Georg Breinschmid: "Fire"
March 2012
Breathtaking Virtuoso Playing from Brein’s Café
Preiser Records PR 91203
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The word that best describes Georg Breinschmid's music making is virtuosic. When you start casting around for other descriptives, there are so many musical styles in his work that no one word gives an accurate picture. Before playing the music he does now, Breinschmid played bass with classical orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, and he has brought some of his classical training to his new ventures. Jazz is the umbrella, and tumbling out from beneath it are elements of polka, waltz, musette, Wienerlied, czárdás, and samba.
Only a real virtuoso could pull this off so successfully, and Breinschmid makes his acoustic bass produce sounds I never thought possible. He tosses off rapid passages with the aplomb of a diva nailing a coloratura aria. He is working with two groups on this disc: one is Brein’s Café, a trio with Frantisek Janoska on piano and brother Roman Janoska on violin; the other is a duo with singer and trumpet player Thomas Gansch. Breinschmid can be really funny as in "Jazz-Gstanzln," a song about a waiter wanting to play jazz: "I slice sausages up into decograms every day there and wistfully think about Chet Baker." If you speak German, you'll probably find these vocals even funnier. Translations are provided for the lyrics but not for all the spoken intros.
No translation is needed for the virtuoso instrumental pieces like "Schnörtzenbrekker" and "Nóta/Csárdás." The latter has Roman Janoska fiddling like a fiend bent on breaking every speed record in the book. And you know, I think he does. There are mellow moments, too, such as "Sweetie," written, the notes tell us, for Breinschmid's girlfriend.
The recordings are exceptionally clean and well balanced, especially when you consider that most of them were made on location and live. Give this virtuosic and zany disc a listen. Oh, it also comes with a four-track bonus disc, so in keeping with the artist's sense of humor, the spine lists it as 1 1/2 CDs. The thank-you notes credit Thomas Edison for "great lighting."
Be sure to listen to: Track 6, "jaBISTdudenndeppat," which tackles some pretty crazy time signatures like 25/16 and 15/8, contains a crazed reference to Beethoven's 9th Symphony like you've never heard it. Irreverent? Maybe. Effective? Most definitely!
. . . Rad Bennett
radb@soundstagenetwork.com
Hiroe Sekine: "After the Rainfall"
February 2012
Upbeat Jazz from Hiroe Sekine
Sekai Music
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It often seems to be feast or famine when I'm looking for a music title to review. Lately it's been feast -- January was a bumper month for female jazz vocalist CDs of high quality. Tania Maria, Lorraine Feather, Joanna Weinberg, Catherine Russell, and Sara Gazarek all released dynamite discs of distinction. I chose Hiroe Sekine's After the Rainfall for this week's release because it's also a four-star offering, but it arrived with far less fanfare than the others and I feared it would be overlooked.
Sekine was born in Japan and studied at music schools there and in Fullerton, California (Fullerton College). After the Rainfall is her second album, a colorful, gossamer collection that caresses the ear in a beguiling, laid-back manner. Some might dismiss Sekine's music as "soft jazz" or "easy listening," but that would be selling it short. As pianist, singer, composer, and arranger, Sekine may lean toward the easily listenable hook or variation, but that doesn't mean there's no talent or inventiveness in her work. Subtle music is often more difficult to perform than something flashy.
The CD opens with Sekine's own composition, "Song of the Owl," which begins with a rhythmic figure on the piano. You'll be immediately struck by the instrument's rich, natural sound, and from that point on you'll have no doubt that this will be an album with above-average sonics. As shimmering struck cymbals, solid yet not overly aggressive bass, and warm and rich guitar join in, setting the stage for Bob Sheppard's saxophone solo and Sekine's wordless vocal, the set quickly develops into an audiophile's delight. Continuing the dreamlike mood, Sekine encores with the title song and then, with no temerity or imitation, launches into the Lennon-McCartney classic "In My Life," in which she duos with Arnold McCuller. It's a romantic rethinking of a timeless song that resonates with sincerity and beauty.
After a playful, good-natured romp with Chick Corea's "Windows," Sekine turns to "Aqui Ó" and then Jobim’s "Inútil Paisagem." In the latter two, Sekine calls to mind early Astrud Gilberto with her childlike, pure, and simple delivery augmented by Sheppard's flute, which darts in and out of the melodies, adding radiant filigree.
After two more of her own songs, Sekine closes the disc with Thelonious Monk's "Evidence," giving evidence that she can conjure serious jazz virtuosity when needed. Overall, this CD is upbeat if often gentle, and the recorded sound, produced by Russell Ferrante -- a producer and keyboardist for award-winning albums by the Yellowjackets -- is exemplary. It would be a shame if you missed it.
Be sure to listen to: The title song opens with piano, with guitar entering in such a way that it seems like an extension of the keyboard. Subtle percussion soon arrives, along with wordless soprano from Sekine. It's dreamlike in the best sense, with a crisply recorded guitar solo finally dispelling the mist.
. . . Rad Bennett
radb@soundstagenetwork.com
Jamie Ousley: "A Sea of Voices"
January 2012
Spiritual Jazz for an Environmental Mission
Tie Records TIE 1276
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Every once in a while, though not nearly often enough, I hear a disc that quietly asks me to stop the whirling gears in my brain and just sit still and listen. A Sea of Voices proved to be that kind of disc, one that went beyond mere music to become a spiritual experience. I wasn't surprised, then, to find out that Jamie Ousley has been playing many jazz concerts in churches, reviving a tradition of past years, and that his disc is produced not for profit but to raise funds for the Sunshine State Interfaith Power and Light organization, which has an environmental mission to "mobilize faith communities in Florida to care for creation."
Ousley has played double bass with such well known artists as George Shearing, Benny Golson, James Moody, Eddie Gomez, and Randy Brecker and is professor of jazz bass at Florida International University in Miami, touring nationally with his trio (Joe Davidian on piano and Austin McMahon on drums). For this special recording, he's added vocalist Nanami Morikawa, percussionist Carlomagno Araya, and pianist Gabriel Saientz to the mix. The group recorded A Sea of Voices mostly in Boston, with some sessions and mixing in Florida.
The most incredible spiritual track on this CD is "Shenandoah," one of my all-time favorite traditional songs. I must have heard dozens of versions, but I'll always go out of my way to hear another one. This take, which contains just Ousley's bass and Morikawa's voice, is simple yet profound in its intimate approach. The bass starts a gentle, undulating ostinato; then the voice enters with wordless comments. Morikawa gently sings the first two verses in a lovely pure soprano, and Ousley takes the melody for the third, playing in the high, often unused, register of the bass. They then combine in close harmony for the final verse.
The sound throughout the CD is very consistent, even though they recorded some of the pieces at different locations. There's also good balance among bass, piano, and drums. I felt that the sound needed just a touch more presence, but it certainly sounds agreeable and acceptable the way it is.
The overall theme of the album is water, which Ousley celebrates with several compelling numbers including "Hymn of the Tides," "Loving Beauty," and "Holy Water." Along the way you'll find pianist Davidian's arrangements of Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and Coldplay's "Swallowed in the Sea." Ousley probably has the right idea in playing churches, because while his subtle jazz would fit in a club, clinking glassware and background conversations would diminish its effect. It's not music for the car; it's music for a quiet listening room, and for the soul.
Be sure to listen to: You might have been led to believe, as I was, that "Rocky Top" is a bluegrass-country song (my favorite version thus far has been by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), but on track 5 Ousley and his fellow musicians might thoroughly convince you that the song has jazz roots.
. . . Rad Bennett
radb@soundstagenetwork.com
