Jazz Articles

Various Artists: Putumayo Presents Jazz Christmas

by Jim Trageser
December 14, 2021

The Putumayo World Music compilations have achieved an enviable brand status with their wide-ranging stylistic variety and the distinctively cheerful covers by artist Lisa Gonzalez. The latest entry, Putumayo Presents Jazz Christmas joins previous entrants Putumayo Presents New Orleans Christmas (2007) and Putumayo Presents A Jazz & Blues Christmas (2008) in offering collections of holiday-themed entrants in a jazz vein. As with all of its jazz releases, Putumayo founder and curator Dan Storper's taste in jazz ...

Various Artists: New Orleans Mambo: Cuba to NOLA

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 20, 2021

The distance between New Orleans (Louisiana, USA) and Havana (Cuba) is almost exactly 670 miles, about a two-hour flight. But it takes only one listen to Putumayo Records' anthology New Orleans Mambo: Cuba to NOLA to bridge the distance between the two. With such a wide and colorful net to cast, assembling this collection must have been a lot of fun. This includes the companion booklet, which contextualizes the cross- cultural dance between New Orleans and Cuba by ...

Various Artists: Putumayo Presents: Ska Around the World

by Jim Trageser
October 20, 2018

For casual fans and newcomers to the music of Jamaica (a growing number, given the popularity of the BBC / France 2 TV mystery series Death in Paradise and its Jamaican-infused soundtrack), the definitions of ska vs. reggae are likely too obscure to worry about. Much as only hardcore jazz fans worry about drilling into the differences between cool and bop, those who simply love the sun-drenched rhythms of all the postwar popular styles of Jamaica are content to listen ...

Various Artists: Putumayo Presents: South Africa

by Jerry D'Souza
January 1, 2011

The music of South Africa is a collage of fascinating rhythms, woven from ethnic folklore and the musical heritage of the early settlers. In that mix are kwaita, kwela and mbaqanqa, as well as gospel and township jive with reggae, jazz and rap making later inroads. The spectrum is wide and the impact heady, as evidenced on the well-compiled Putmayo Presents: South Africa. The album jumps up and shouts right from the first track. The Soul Brothers band, ...

Various: Latin Party

by Jerry D'Souza
October 1, 2010

The appeal of Latin music can be witnessed in the inroads it has made, not only into other genres, but also into different cultures. Testimony comes on this recording. Besides South American countries like Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, the performers are drawn from the UK, France and the USA who assimilate the rhythms and come up with several interesting idioms.The music certainly has a party atmosphere and it gets right off the bat with “Big Apple Boogaloo." The ...

Various Artists: Latin Party

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
September 7, 2010

The redoubtable Putumayo programmers have already released ¡Baila! A Latin Dance Mix (2006), ¡Salsa! (2009) and Afro-Latin Party (2005), as well as nationally-themed but party-ready collections from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Are they perhaps scraping the bottom of the Latin party barrel with Latin Party? Ah, that would be to mistake the inexhaustible profundity of that barrel.As it is, Latin Party conveys a convincing party message. It also conveys an interesting ...

Various: Rhythm & Blues

by Jerry D'Souza
March 1, 2010

Putumayo World Music has gone across a wide spectrum in picking songs for its look at Rhythm & Blues. The American presence is strongly manifested, but artists from England, including a band that has a singer from Panama, show the wide influence of the music. Vintage singers strut their stuff and new acolytes blend styles while the impact of R&B is undeniable. Fame may have eluded some and others flitter on the fringes of history, nevertheless they all poured their ...

Various Artists: Jazz Around The World

by Raul d'Gama Rose
December 3, 2009

Putumayo World Music is a unique record label. It is a label of “various artists" projects, but what sets it apart from other labels that produce compilations of music is that Putumayo compilations are well off even the road less travelled. First of all, the label compiles not so much songs by artists, but music that provides a glimpse of a cultural ethos. Secondly, Putumayo has designed the “musical-cultural" encounters to be almost like a meaningful huddle ...

Various: New Orleans Brass

by Jerry D'Souza
December 6, 2007

Marching bands are an integral part of New Orleans. Where would a parade be without one, or for that matter a funeral? No matter what the role is, they bring in a special magic and joy.

Music evolves as it imbibes and imbues other genres. Marching bands were no exception, as they pulled in different sounds including rhythm and blues and funk as well as gospel, which served them well. This sampler dovetails on the heritage and the ...

Various Artists: New Orleans Christmas

by Ernest Barteldes
December 11, 2006

With so much holiday music appearing on the shelves at this time of year, it's refreshing when an album can actually surprise you instead of giving up the same old usual boring caroling. What you get instead from the one is an earnest, honest glimpse of what Christmas in New Orleans might be like. The disc opens with a right-down-to-business ragtime version of “Santa Claus is Coming To Town, which features Big Al Carson with Lars Edegran ...