Joe Craven was a longtime member of the David Grisman Quintet, which was how he happened to meet and perform with the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997) who, despite a long and illustrious solo career, was best-known for his brief but seminal collaboration with the legendary Manouche (French Roma, or Gypsy) guitarist, composer […]
Those with only a passing knowledge of Brazilian music probably assume that many of the country’s great artists comes from such major cities as Rio or Sao Paulo, but this is not always the case. Located in the country’s northeastern corner, Pernambuco and its capitol of Recife have spawned such great cutting-edge musicians as […]
Fujiya & Miyagi are not Japanese nor are they a duo, but are in fact a trio of rather cheeky Brits. Keeping with the multi-cultural theme, they also love Neu!-style Krautrock, with its metronome rhythms and cerebral melodies. This second release after 2003’s Electro Karaoke in the Negative Style is filled with sly statements […]
There may be no original Broadway cast recording more iconic than 1970’s Company, with its funky organ sound and Elaine Stritch’s not-quite-there high notes, but the December 2006 Broadway revival makes its own mark. For Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s piece about a single man observing the benefits and follies of marriage, director John […]
As formula-satisfying as most of his soft, soulful contemporary jazz is, Walter Beasley allows himself the luxury of branching out. On Ready for Love, the alto saxophone veteran goes on his first reggae outing, “She Moves Me,” which with its synth trimmings won’t sell any package trips to Jamaica, but still should appeal to […]
Inversations is a great title, and drummer Ari Hoenig lives up to it by turning tunes on their ear, building interesting melodic structures without losing his connection to listeners. Working as he frequently does with the lyrically self-possessed French pianist Jean Michel Pilc and German bassist Johannes Weidenmueller, the Philly native immediately grabs our […]
Testament’s 1955 Bayreuth Festival Götterdämmerung completes their release of that extraordinary Ring cycle. As in the previous operas of the tetralogy, this Götterdämmerung scores on several counts. As part of the first Ring cycle to be recorded in true stereo it has important historical interest. As an example of Joseph Keilberth’s revelatory conducting, it […]
This surprising CD may cause some raised eyebrows from Monteverdi purists, but they are sure to be taken in and convinced by the performances. Emmanuelle Haim is an early-Baroque specialist who believes in a full-bodied approach to the repertoire–no white-voiced, lightly-touching-the-music for her–and she makes it work without ever distorting or going against what […]
Cut from the same cloth as bands like Great Big Sea, Black 47, and the Pogues, the Young Dubliners put some rock ‘n’ roll in their Irish ditties. Here on its sixth album, the L.A.-based band looks back to the old country, mostly reinterpreting some of the Emerald Isle’s greatest songs. Pogues fans will […]
When Concord Music purchased Fantasy Records in 2006, the bulging Stax catalog came along for the ride. Not a bad deal, especially since Stax remains one of the richest and most vital sources of ’60s and ’70s soul, blues, and R&B. The newly reactivated label’s debut release is a lavishly boxed double-disc set of […]
Once an Outlaw, later a Highwayman, now an elder statesman, Willie Nelson joins forces with Merle Haggard and Ray Price (both of whom have recorded duet albums with Nelson) in a celebration of the classic country song. Everything about this is defiantly old school, from the production by veteran Fred Foster and the musical […]
As musical activists in the 1960s civil rights movement, the Staple Singers were powerful voices for equality and change. And more than 40 years after Pops’s daughter Mavis spent a night in a West Memphis, Arkansas, jail at the behest of a racist cop, she still remembers the terror of the experience, as well […]
Loney, Dear is the somewhat confusing nom de pop of Swedish “multi-instrumentalist and audio homecooking expert Emil Svanängen.” His voice is reedy, high-pitched, and strong, so it’s understandably the focal point of these quaint, home-recorded orchestral-pop numbers. Loney, Noir is technically the indie-pop ingénue’s fourth full-length, but as his first three albums were originally […]
With the advent of inexpensive home-recording technology, it makes sense that so many musicians would gravitate towards the one-person-band template. Even still, Aqueduct’s third album seems to arrive alongside a glut of such projects. The former singer and guitarist for the late ’90s modern rock act band Epperley, David Terry’s work not only stands […]
