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Ry Cooder: My Name is Buddy
by John Kelman
Veteran multi-instrumentalist/musical archivist Ry Cooder follows up his concept album Chavez Ravine (Nonesuch, 2005) with another narrative, My Name is Buddy. This time, with a similarly large cast of players, he suggests joining “...Buddy the Cat, Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad as they journey through time and space in the days of labor, big bosses, farm failures, strikes, company cops, sundown towns, hobos, and trains...the America of yesteryear." What makes My Name is Buddy so compelling is how so ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Good Dog, Happy Man
by Douglas Payne
Every note Bill Frisell plays--or suggests--offers an impressionistic soundtrack of the American vernacular. It is jazz only in the way improvisation is a reflection of sensibilities. But Frisell's music is really not just jazz. It swings over a wide swath of American musical forms: jazz, rock, grunge, blues, country, folk, bluegrass, even commercial orchestration. Call it a sort of “sound Americana": peculiar, individual and unusually compelling. Good Dog Happy Man ideally documents another set of Frisell's colorful, commanding ...
Continue ReadingRy Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer & Ruben Gonzalez: Buena Vista Social Club
by David Corrigan
Ry Cooder brings his unique guitar skills to the vibrant heart of Cuba - Havana. This album is endowed with a beautiful grace and vitality that reflects the huge talent these musicians are blessed with in abundance. Decades of musical experience combine to form a collection of songs that fill the heart with pleasure and caress the ear. It deserves to, and will, cross the boundaries of musical tastes, appealing to people not normally attracted to Cuban music. Only a ...
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