If you haven’t figured it out by now, here it is spelled out for you: any release of an obscure vocalist on the Fresh Sound label from Spain is going to impress you, and make you wonder why you’ve never…
Month: August 2014
SISTERS, SISTERS…Rosemary Clooney: The Rosemary Clooney CBS Radio Recordings 1955-61
Here’s a honey of a collection by one of the overlooked female jazz singers. Rosemary Clooney will forever be remembered as the wiser sister in White Christmas, but she also had a run as one of the best vocalists later…
Karikatura: Eyes Wide
The sextet Karikatura consists of Ryan Acquoatta/voc, Dima Kay/g, Eric Legaspi/b, Morgan Greenstreet/dr, Joe Wilson/sax and Ric Becker/tb as they glide and sizzle through third world sounds. Sweaty saxes permeate pieces such as the cumbia “Eyes Wide” while an Easter…
Itamar Borochov Quartet: Outset
Trumpeter Itamar Borochov creates a pianoless quartet with Hagai Amir/as, Avri Borochov/b and Aviv Cohen/dr on this collection of free floating originals. most of the songs are between 8-13 minutes, so there’s lots of room for the horns to spread…
THIS IS BOSSA NOVA 101…Various Artists…BRAZIL! The Birth of Bossa Nova
It’s releases like this that make me thank God that the World Cup wasn’t being held in Germany this year. In celebration of the famed Cup being played in Brazil, a ton of labels are releasing Brazil and Bossa music-this one…
VOCAL HARMONY HEAVEN: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons: The Classic Albums Box Set, Selected Solo Works, Sounds of a Jersey Boy-The Music of Bob Gaudio
I’m sure you’ve either a) heard of or seen the musical play Jersey Boys b) heard of or seen the movie The Jersey Boys or c) heard music by the wonderful 60s-70s vocal group The Four Seasons, lead by Frankie…
DO YOU KNOW THIS HALL OF FAMER? Nils Lofgren: Face The Music
Of all the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, possibly the least appreciated is singer/songwriter Nils Lofgren, of whom this 9 cd/1 dvd retrospective spotlights. Unjustly overlooked as one of this eras strongest songwriters, Lofgren has had…
Budapest Festival Orchestra: Anton Bruckner- Symphony No. 7
Every now and then we like to diversify our portfolio and see what the other parts of town look like. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) tends to be overlooked these days, as the composer he’s most often linked with, Gustav Mahler, is…
Michael Ammann: Work 2010/11
Subtitled “Manipulated Instant Auditives,” this is a collection of pieces ranging from 3-6 minutes of “acoustic art.” What that means is that Michael Ammann uses his voice in various phonetic and electronic permutation in the attempt to mix time and…
Bobby Rush@Hollywood Park Casino 08.09.14
At 82 and change, Bobby Rush is one of the last great Chicago Blues singers around, and (believe it or not) because of living a clean life of no booze or drugs (are you SURE he’s a blues musician?!?) he’s…