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Music Reviews from Issue 39

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Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Facing Future
Big Boy Record Company BBCD 5901 Reviewed by RP
The Hawaiian giant Israel Kamakawiwo’le possessed a wonderfully soft tenor voice (past tense because Iz died of obesity) and was best known outside of the island for his version of ‘Over The Rainbow’** that can be heard on this album. It backs a certain advert for a deodorant that apparently has the affect of making you irresistible to women. However, while I wouldn’t describe Facing Future as the most musically telling of releases it never descends into unbearable kitsch. Gentle harmonies supported by bass, ukulele and guitars underscore the simple storytelling on tracks like ‘Hawai’i ’78 Introduction’.
The subtle blend of indigenous rhythms and colours occasionally backs surprising cover material in ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Take Me Home Country Road’. For the songs steeped in the tunes of home - ‘Kuhio Bay’, ‘White Sandy Beach’, ‘Panini Pua Kea’ or ‘Henehene Kou ‘Aka’ - Israel gives us the piquant flavouring and salt of a Pacific island life without ever labouring the point. A warm and detailed acoustic picks out both the instruments and Israel’s rich voice with a surprising naturalness, clarity and accuracy of texture one does not usually expect in a mainstream release.
Supplier: Hot Records - www.hotrecords.uk.com

** Webmaster Note: Possibly better known to millions as the music that accompanied Dr Greens death scene for the ER episode filmed in Hawaii "On the Beach" (May 2002) and the closing score on the film "Meet Joe Black".

K D Lang - Hymns of the 49th Parallel
Nonesuch 7559-79847-2 Reviewed by RP
Eleven breathtakingly beautiful covers tenderly sung and sweetly arranged by K.D. Lang celebrate the rich cultural diversity of Canadian song writing. Classic material like ‘Bird On A Wire’, ‘After The Gold Rush’ and ‘Jericho’ which we’ve all heard a million times over as originals are stripped down and rebuilt by Lang’s scoring that includes a ten-piece string section, piano, accordion, acoustic and electric guitars. Applying a gentle rhythmic approach without recourse to intruding percussive instruments heightens the sensuality in this music. While her purposeful vocal treatment may through its intelligence, clarity and emotional persuasiveness have a reverential slant it never spills over into the impotency of impersonation. No one could hope to outdo Leonard, Neil or Joni anyway. So she takes ownership of these songs and those by Jane Siberry (‘The Valley’ and ‘Love Is Everything’) and Ron Sexsmith (‘Fallen’) with an amazing vocal dexterity and an implicit understanding of the possibilities that exist within these powerful lyrical constructs.
Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is a stunning example of the way in which she projects longing and intensity into this music. Rightly too Lang revisits one of her own numbers, ‘Simple’, which we first heard on the album Invincible Summer. This is a much more effective and complex sounding version that makes you review previously held opinions. In fact that goes for all the tracks here.

The Kills - No Wow
Domino Records WIGCD149X Reviewed by MC
Last year, after relentless touring, The Kills had honed their sound to a furious onslaught that shook the foundations of their claustrophobic venues. So it should come as no surprise that their second album is just like their first, only louder and better. This album is, if anything, even sparser than their debut, with the songs even more basic. The songs are built around simple production – two vocals, the simplest drum machine rhythm available and a single guitar. Their skill lies in combining these elements to create complex patterns that repeat and grow. The vocals are still exquisite, with the husky howling of VV still reminiscent of PJ Harvey at her best, combining well with Hotel’s serial-killer whispering. But for me the real front man of The Kills is Hotel’s guitar: this is a sound that Hendrix might have discarded for being too raw, switching rapidly from clipped control to pure abandon. Quite how two people can generate the sheer quantity of sound that The Kills manage is a mystery to me. What is clear is that their recording process filters and distils their songs, stripping them of all extraneous sounds. What remains seems to be half blues and half punk, a thundering wall of sound driven by their anger and passion. No Wow easily matches their debut album, with stronger songs, punchier production and better recording.

Nanci Griffith - Hearts in Mind
New Door Records 986 443-1 Reviewed by RP
Nanci is a demanding mistress. She will not allow us an easy way out, a passive consumption of her songs or those carefully chosen tracks penned by the likes of Le Ann Etheridge, Julie Gold, Ron Davies or Clive Gregson is not on her agenda.
These songs are delivered in a manner that demands our emotional and intellectual engagement. Several, including ‘Heart Of Indochine’ and ‘Old Hanoi’ are strongly informed by her work with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and the Campaign for a Landmine Free World. Another, Julie Gold’s ‘Mountain Of Sorrow’, is an uneasy reflection upon a single day, the 11th of September, that has changed the way we live forever. The delicate quite improbable pastoral language in itself creates quite a dissonance with the surrounding cityscape. This tension ripples through the song craft into her thematic concerns. Aside from the political statements there are the urban country love songs, if that isn’t a contradiction in terms, and a beautifully framed Le Ann Etheridge number ‘Back When Ted Loved Sylvia’ which alludes to the Ted Hughes / Sylvia Plath relationship – his poetry, her novels, their marriage, his unfaithfulness and her suicide.
The production and musicianship throughout is as cultured as ever.

Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
B-Unique BUN093 Reviewed by MC
I was going to start by saying that Kaiser Chiefs seem to be a cross between The Futureheads and The Jam. But then I realised that just a few issues back I said that The Futureheads sounded strangely reminiscent of… The Jam. So I guess what I really want to say is that Kaiser Chiefs sounds like a cross between The Jam and The Jam. That they also bring to mind a whole host of breaking bands such as The Futureheads is indicative of the fact that here is a band that are painfully cool, albeit in a shabby, flatcap fashion.
But whereas The Futureheads make upbeat, bouncy music with undercurrents of paranoia, Kaiser Chiefs wear their discontent on their sleeves. This is an album that scours the dirty streets to pick up tales of everyday life and woe: of bailiffs and police brutality.
Kaiser Chiefs drive their songs along with layers of staccato guitars but give the songs a more retro feel by throwing piano and Hammond organ into the mix. Indeed, there is something of the dancehall about this record that makes it stand out, makes it work when other might have failed. Here is a band that has managed to record their ideas and leave them intact. This is a superb debut album, and it sits very comfortably alongside the current trends in new bands. However, it will be interesting to see if this is a format that the band can grow into, rather than be constricted by it.

Willie Nelson - It Will Always Be
Lost Highway 602498624203 Reviewed by RP
Wonderfully subtle moments poignantly capturing the melancholia of those hard working and hard living rural communities are conveyed with incredible emotional depth through the callused guitar playing hands and inimitable vocal style of the wry and perceptive Willie Nelson. I love his gently flowing opening series of country waltzes in Picture In A Frame, The Way You See Me and a title track that pricks you with its observations on loneliness and love. Attractively sculpted duets with Paula Nelson (‘Be That As It May’), Norah Jones (‘Dreams Come True’) and the beautifully languid Lucinda Williams (‘Overtime’). Crumbling relationships, the pain and those evocative backdrops offer an engaging and sometimes overpowering blend of intense feeling and telling images. Lyrically, such strongly written material from the likes of Kathleen Brennan, Rusty Adams and Sonny Throckmorton and of course those Nelson originals seamlessly fit together presenting a unified front. Willie’s performances of all these songs are just so intuitive and darned dependable that I defy anyone to find a single fault with their execution or his vision. An excellent cast of backing musicians and solid production and engineering values from the James Stroud/Julian King partnership at the Ocean Way, Nashville studios completes another eminently satisfying outing from shotgun Willie.

Xanda Howe - And How
Songphonic 0100 Reviewed by RP
Xanda Howe is a sassy and lovely sounding vocalist whose precise and crystalline delivery gives her singing that attractive blend of the fragile and the vulnerable. Her collaboration with producer Osman Kent for eight of these eleven stylistically varied songs shows that Xanda is comfortable both in the classic singer songwriter role for intelligent compositions like ‘Warm Poison’ and as a pop diva on the techno–pop/disco tracks ‘And How and Knowing Eyes’. Occasionally she somewhat unnecessarily adopts a cute and rather girlish singing style that might be fine for the dance floor, but then proves elsewhere that her voice is so much better than this. A closing unedited, live cover version of the Tom Waits track ‘Time’, instrumentally pared back to little more than a piano for rhythmic support, clears away all the fluff to reveal a vocal sweetness and passion that makes such an unlikely song her own. Inevitably comparisons to Dido will be made but Howe shows with a smart and sensitive trans-cription of the Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem ‘How Do I Love Thee’ that she is a more complex and imaginative performer than her better known peer. This reverent groove, while dripping with sweetness, is given a modern edge through its nicely developed Jimmy Kent rap.
Consequently, Howe’s career and growing maturity as a musician should be well worth following over the coming years.

Nat “King” Cole - Just One Of Those Things
S&P Records S&P-508 Reviewed by RP
Terrific standards, superior Billy May arrangements, impeccably tasteful performances so easy on the ear and so completely disarming that you melt, and that large orchestra jam packed with musicians who really know how to swing these classic tunes to a catch beat are the hallmarks of any Nat “King” Cole album from the 1950s. Just One Of Those Things has it all and, while it might not quite match the vintage Love Is The Thing or The Very Thought Of You releases (which shade it by virtue of the sheer quantity of timeless songs) this is still a superbly executed collection. There are also another three bonus tracks lifted from a later Let’s Face The Music LP which fit snugly alongside an original line up that includes ‘When Your Lover Has Gone’, ‘These Foolish Things’, ‘The Song Is Ended’ and ‘Whose Sorry Now?’ Beautiful ballads - undoubtedly.
Syrupy and soft focused but always harmonious and sentimentally sung by one of the most popular crooners of all time - well, that goes without saying. Oh, and a delicious transfer courtesy of Steve Hoffman that in keeping with this material taken from those original three track masters overflows with richness, warmth, and sensitivity.

The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble - Across The Bridge of Hope
Opus 3 CD 22012 Reviewed by DD
Attracted initially by some beautifully sung and recorded excerpts on an earlier Opus 3 Showcase sampler it was the title track from this set featured in the latest Showcase release (Opus 3 CD 22050) that really did the trick and persuaded me to order a copy.
The title track is a near perfect example of modern choral singing featuring an exquisite treble solo from Alexander Linntott. The set is nicely eclectic, with some delightful instrumental interludes including key-fiddle (a distant relation of the hurdy gurdy) in the second track while truly magical singing in the third number ‘Claviante Brilioso’, evokes a real sense of mystery.
‘Touch’ composed by Anders Astrand of the Global Percussion Network uses a bracing mix of concert bass drum, tom-toms, suspended cymbals, gongs and steel drums which are played with subtlety avoiding the temptation to build to an obvious ear-splitting crescendo, and all the better for it. There’s not a weak track here and each flows seamlessly to the next to deliver a hugely enjoyable musical experience. The recording is of genuine demonstration quality. Recorded in the Church of Nederlulea, Gammelstad, it is spacious, dynamic and entirely convincing drawing you into the music from the very first notes. If you have even the faintest whimsy of interest in choral music this one’s for you.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Tom Curren - Tom Curren
Listone Ltd WESTC 1203 Reviewed by RP
This eponymous album from the ex World Surfing Champion Tom Curren comes straight out of leftfield. But does genius on a board transfer so easily to the demands of a recording studio? Well, I guess it’s congratulations to Hot Records for promoting a reasonably talented and versatile musician – one who is equally comfortable playing both acoustic and electric guitars, as well as singing and composing songs that have a contemporary folk influenced sound. An opening ‘Light Becomes A Fire’ (building with its grungy modern beat) has a cultural immediacy that will appeal to an army of surf fans. Yet at the same time it manages to capture much of Curren’s honesty and reflect on a reclusive side to the man which is in notably stark contrast to the bombastic and extrovert “surf’s up!” musical images surrounding almost every aspect of the people who indulge in this sport. He can and does open out with the up-tempo and rockin’ groove of ‘I Got’. Still, the best tracks have a strong acoustic basis. ‘New Page’ played on nylon-strung guitar and a slight yet intimate closing groove in ‘Thirst’ evoke classic folk sensitivities. This is also an album that reflects Tom’s strong spiritual nature.
Contemplative tracks like ‘Essence’, ‘Ocean Wide’ and ‘Holy Wine’ have large dollops of faith bubbling up from just below the surface.
Supplier: Hot Records - www.hotrecords.uk.com

Bobby Darin - Aces Back to Back
Hyena Records TMF 9324 Reviewed by RP
Bobby Darin was a consummate entertainer who by the time of his death in 1973 (due to a heart condition) had by the age of only thirty-seven reinvented himself over and over again. From Fifties teen idol to rocker, comedian, crooner and as an adept actor, Darin’s iconic talent seemingly knew no bounds. Not only was he one of the great vocal chameleons but a noted composer as well, with songs such as ‘Splish Splash’ and ‘Dream Lover’ to his name. Dream Lover incidentally appears here as a rare studio demo. The variety and sheer versatility of the man can be heard here in tracks like a swinging ‘Beyond The Sea’, the finger clicking ‘Mack the Knife’, a dreamy ‘Moon River’ or that folk/rock classic ‘If I Were A Carpenter’. His voice is enticing and often overflows with rich Sinatra like textures. This collection, which features live cuts, radio broadcasts and studio recordings gives us a small taste of his genius but the variable recordings do not do him justice. Unlimited ability deserves better. The bonus DVD features songs from his early 1970s television variety series and raw black and white documentary footage that has not been aired before.
Supplier: Hot Records - www.hotrecords.uk.com

Cathy Davey - Something Ilk
Regal 7243 5 71309 2 9 Reviewed by RP
Eleanor McEvoy’s partner Mick O’Gorman pointed me in the direction of the Irish-born singer songwriter Cathy Davey and her solo fourteen-track debut Something Ilk. She has created a stubborn and sharp-tongued rock groove that makes the most of a surprising and quite unusual voice. Her edginess is rooted in abrasive lyrics-words dissecting those unpalatable realities of a confidence sapping relationship in ‘Hammerhead’ or offering us the dismissive wisdom of ‘Yak Yak’. Sometimes the language flows in a disguised but poisonous draught, one that invites you to drink deeply, sometimes through attractively light and almost girlish vocal flourishes. A song like the seedy ‘Swing It’ leaves you in little doubt as to its thematic origins when Cathy hits you with a bitterly reproachful line such as “Didn’t you share me with every breed of monkey that sniffed about your feet”. An uncomfortable and daring pattern develops here and on ‘Go Make It’, ‘Trade Secret’, ‘About Time’ and ‘Cold Man’s Nightmare’, songs where she is not afraid to show how our human frailties have created jagged fissures in a relationship. The positive note is found in the assertive way in which her women ultimately resolve these issues. Cathy may not yet be the finished article but her attitude and versatility (she plays guitar, keyboards and a variety of percussive instruments as well as sings) deserves our attention.

Ginny Hawker - Letters From My Father
Rounder Records 82161-0491-2 Reviewed by RP
Letters From My Father is an authentic and heartfelt blend of bluegrass, old-time, gospel and honky-tonk rural pickings where Ginny Hawker’s lead vocals powerfully endorse those country laments which have shaped our perception of that dusty southern farmland belt. An admirably sparse and uncomplicated acoustic allows traditional songs like ‘My Warfare Will Soon Be Over’ and ‘The Palace Grand’ to breath and Tim O’Brien’s mandolin and Dirk Powell’s fiddle have a natural raw loveliness about them because of it. Hawker has lived with this music all her life and knows so well its intimate, subtle and most affecting nuances. She makes a bluegrass song such as ‘Silver Tongue And Gold Plated Lies’ and honest numbers ‘I’ll Not Be A Stranger’ or ‘Undone In Sorrow’ attractively resonate with inner personal meanings. The finger picked guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin really gets under your skin with their carefully weighted and appropriate tonal qualities. These sixteen songs take us on an illuminating journey across the changing faces of those American farming communities and in the process it examines with some candour the hard work, spirituality, loves and loses experienced down through the generations.

Doves - Some Cities
Heavenly Recordings HVNLP 50 Reviewed by MC
In a lot of ways this album seems less immediate than their last two records. I might even say, with some degree of trepidation, not quite as brilliant.
But I think that perhaps misses the point of Doves, and the direction they have chosen. This album is not about re-invention, nor about re-vitalisation. Doves chose, a long time ago, to forego dance for something more solid, more substantial. It will take more than the various fires that removed their previous incarnation, Sub-Sub, to wipe Doves from the records. So what have Doves done with this, their (traditionally “difficult”) third album? They have produced a natural extension of their last two. I said last time that to reproduce a modern classic, creating another perfect record is no mean feat. To do it again, what must that take?
Some Cities is darker than their last two albums; there’s no self affirming ‘Pounding’ or ‘Here comes the summer’. Instead this record offers a choice of bleak reality or serene acceptance. This album may not have the punch of many others, but it certainly isn’t lacking in most other respects. One thing strikes me every time I listen to it; that so many of the songs already sound familiar, already register as classics. This is an album which will slowly insinuate itself on your consciousness, and earn its place next to the hi-fi.

Maria Solheim - Frail
KKV fxcd 278 Reviewed by RP
Fragile is a lyrical, quite spiritual and emotionally intelligent album that delves deeply into matters of the head and heart. It explores with some delicacy the vulnerability of a woman who has experienced broken promises, humiliation, unrequited love and acute loss. These themes, wrapped within an ambient and acoustic blanket, rarely stray too far from the folk/pop roots heard on Maria’s earlier recordings. Her vocals, while prominently miked, are less expansive and more breathless than before. If anything this heightens the feelings of confusion, hesitation and loss of self esteem heard on ‘Kissing Me’ or that agonising ache of rejection in the cold imagery of ‘The Snow Has Killed’, ‘Too Many Days’, ‘Take My Heart Away’ and ‘Mr. Iceman’. She also explores the hurt of a family blighted by a terminal hereditary disease - ‘Pain’ and looks at the unhealthy, self absorbed and introspective gestures of ‘Restless Girl’ in which a woman helplessly wallows in her own pity, addicted to the anger and fear within her. This is a track whose lyrics are underscored by the cut, thrust and tempo of a modern folk blues groove. The powerful production, it’s crystal clear and articulate sound, opens out these insights to yet further close examination.
Supplier: Hot Records - www.hotrecords.uk.com

Idlewild - warnings/promises
Parlophone 560 7752 Reviewed by MC
With this, their fifth album, Idlewild seem to have become the old men of indie, tempering their punk roots and creating a more thoughtful record.
In fact, it seems as if Idlewild have become the new Teenage Fanclub – this, I must explain, is meant as the highest of compliments. With warnings/promises seems to come an acceptance of who the band have become: Idlewild were never your usual punk outfit, but now their music seems at one with their personalities. Some serious changes in their line-up have undoubtedly helped this process along, but these have not so much radically changed the structure of the band, as formalised the situation that has existed since their second album. So what does all this leave us with? Well, warnings/promises is every bit as good as any previous Idlewild album. All the components that made up their music are still here, but now they seem to work together more comfortably.
Underneath it all, the band still hold the ability to burst forth with unrestrained punk energy. There are still plenty of sharp guitars and solid drum lines, but these have been filled out with steel guitar and careful orchestration. warnings / promises was not made for the charts, not a collection of singles padded out with ubiquitous slow album tracks. Idlewild more than equal their Scottish counterparts.

The Jimmy Giuffre 3 - 1961
ECM 849644-1 Reviewed by RSF
Jimmy Giuffre started his playing career with the likes of Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Herman. In the mid ‘50’s he began to carve his own very distinct path culminating in this ground-breaking drummerless trio with pianist/composer Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow. Giuffre stays on clarinet for this set which brings together (along with additional previously unreleased tracks from the same sessions) what were originally two Verve albums recorded a month apart: Thesis and Fusion – and what a fine set they make. Sidestepping both cool jazz and be-bop, this band realises a mellow and more melodic improvisational style with more than a nod to free-jazz.
Dominated by Giuffre’s expressive clarinet this whole set is a textbook of restrained yet daring improvisation. Complemented by superb support from Bley and Swallow and captured in a very natural recording, the group here is at its peak. They would go on to further and less melodic abstraction (culminating in their final album together Free Fall where abstraction was taken to its logical conclusion with keys and tempos dispensed with), but this for me is their finest work. With superb ECM pressings, a sleeve using some great black & white photography from the sessions and with all the quiet beauty contained within these grooves, this is a ‘must own’ for any serious jazz collector.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Brad Ard - Diver Dance
Reviewed by RP
The jazz-fusion canon, with a few notable exceptions like the innovative work of Pat Metheny, can be an insipid and insubstantial genre. For some unexplained reason it is much loved by demonstrators of hi-fi and of course often aired by those well known manufactures of lifts, messieurs Otis and Kone. That said, Brad Ard’s up tempo guitar contributes greatly to a richly textured series of soundscapes found here, as does Fred Simon’s smoothly executed keyboards on seven of Diver Dance’s twelve grooves.
Evocatively and diversely named tracks such as ‘Skittering’, ‘Gas Bag’, ‘Misty Morning Sunrise’ or ‘Flight Of The Hormone’ cannot quite disguise the uniformity of mood and sound. I have rarely heard music with a less military bearing than that played out for ‘A Warrior’s Reception’. However, behind his funky flavoured guitar there is enough energy and colour generated by Ard’s bold and skilful arrangements of horn, tenor sax, bass clarinet, marimba and vibes to sustain the interests of dyed-in-the wool jazz-fusion fans.
Philistines like yours truly will take a little more convincing even though the recording’s clean lines, transparency and etched instrumental detail has much to recommend it.
Supplier: panartist.com

Mindbender - Stringtronic
Vadim Music VAD001CD Reviewed by DD
Here’s a refreshing change to the truckloads of noodling sub-jazz that too often come my way only to sit gathering dust un-reviewed on the gloomier reaches of my shelves. Dating from the early seventies and apparently something of a forgotten classic (and very rare and collectable LP), it’s not an album that’s crossed my path before. It is an odd combination of string quartet, electric harpsichord, a drum kit free rhythm section, electric guitar and bass all put together by the arranger and composer Barry Forgie. This of course could easily have been a long forgotten disaster but it is saved since it has a quirky life of its own: echoes of early seventies film music predominate. The frantic congas, the stabbing strings of the opening title track take you straight back to that time and this mood carries successfully through most of the tracks here from the more lyrical pieces like ‘Mediterranee’ to the standout track ‘Hunted’ with definite echoes of Sergio Leone in its ancestry. The lion’s share of the compositions thankfully go to Forgie since his are by far the strongest, with Mawer, Roger and Nardini sharing a couple of tracks each. With the judicious use of the ‘skip’ button (life is richer without Mawer’s ‘Freedom Road’), this is an unusual and enjoyable set.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Peder af Ugglas - Autumn Shuffle
Opus 3 CD 22042 Reviewed by DD
Having initially learnt keyboards primarily in classical music, Peder moved on to rock and jazz and along the way picked up the electric guitar. This is a refreshingly varied set with Peder’s fluid guitar and keyboards supported primarily by upright bass and percussion, fleshed out across the tracks with a mix of accordion, trombone, bowed saw and even digeridoo.
The anthemic opener ‘Harvest Song’ sees Peder’s blues-y guitar soaring above rock solid bass and drums with accordion adding that essential ‘downhome’ touch. This track alone is enough to secure your attention. ‘Wino’s Dance’ opens with a big fruity trombone (superbly caught in this recording) over crunchy guitar chords before a powerful solo.
The title track sees acoustic guitar and Bo Nordenfelt’s upright bass leading before the slide guitar lays down a wall of sound across the back of the soundstage. Other strong numbers include the blues-y ‘Central South’ featuring a Hammond B3, the all acoustic ‘Passion’, and the raunchy ‘Passing By’ which features just Peder’s slide against Bjorn Hamrin’s harmonica. Perhaps best of all is ‘A Hymn’ recorded in a church with Peder’s slide soaring high above the earth-shaking notes of the church organ.
This is another fine recording from Opus 3: weighty, punchy and with a capacious soundstage.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Jaco Pastorius Big Band - Word Of Mouth Revisted
Heads Up HUSA 9078 Reviewed by RP
Sometimes jazz evolves in unexpected ways transcending genres and establishing a new fan base. Undoubtedly this funky fusion big band sound is superbly well recorded, but in the back of my mind there is a large question mark hanging over it. The old big bands, those led by a Woody Herman or Harry James majored on musicianship, ensemble, brilliantly generous solos and above all compositions and arrangements of the highest standard. They really swing. But there is nothing here to match their ‘Blues In The Night’ or ‘Take The ‘A’ Train’. By comparison Jaco’s big arrangement for ‘Killing Me Softly’ seems speculative and quite limp. Perhaps I’m too much of a big band traditionalist to fully appreciate a track that features so many instrumental vignettes that this strong and tuneful Roberta Flack hit becomes completely diluted and devoid of personality. I’ve listened hard for those enduring qualities that seamlessly traverse the decades but I struggle to find them here in the jazz-fusion canon. Great individual musicianship but this remains an album for the converted.
If I was dipping my toe into the pool then I think I would choose something by Metheny instead. Not one for the faint hearted.

Michel Camilo - Solo
Telarc SACD-63613 Reviewed by DD
Stepping outside his usual trio format this, despite numerous solo recitals is Michel Camilo’s first unaccompanied recording. The set reflects three distinct threads: his beloved Brazilian music (although Camilo was born in the Dominican Republic), jazz-related standards, and his own compositions. The latter despite the quality of the other pieces, are not disgraced in this august company. The opening ‘A Dream’ mixes Cuban and Puerto Rican rhythms and is drenched in atmosphere. ‘Reflections’ the longest piece in the set is based on a guajira rhythm – a Caribbean equivalent of the blues – and rolls gently through most of its nine minutes before building to a stately ‘montuno’ release, a more celebratory feel, at the end of the piece. The more famous numbers are equally sensitively handled with a rollicking version of Gershwin’s ‘Our Love Is Here To Stay’, and for once a fresh reading of Monk’s classic but all-too familiar ‘’Round Midnight’ amongst others.
Of the Brazilian pieces, a delicate, reflective version of Jobim’s ‘Luiza’ stands out although Camilo’s take on ‘Corcovado’ is also fresh. The set closes with his own composition ‘Suntan’, with faint echoes of Keith Jarrett here and none the worse for that.
This recording likes to be played loud where in a good system it will pay dividends giving full weight to this very well recorded and enjoyable set.

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