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Various Artists: Everybody Wants To Be A Cat: Disney Jazz Volume 1
by Larry Taylor
What a discovery; what a great idea. Producer Jason Olaine has taken songs from a number of Disney movies--some rarely recorded by jazz musicians--and made fresh new versions, utilizing some of today's most well-known jazz artists. The performers range from 90 year-old piano legend Dave Brubeck to 17 year-old Canadian vocalist Nikki Yanofsky; established horn players such as trumpeter Roy Hargrove and saxophonist Joshua Redman; and international performers including Israeli-born/US-based guitarist Gilad Hekselman and avant-garde Cuban pianist ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: The Roots of Chicha Volume 2: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru
by Chris M. Slawecki
The modern tradition of cumbia music in Peru goes back to the 1960s. But in the 1970s, cumbia began to be known as “chicha," the name for an alcoholic drink of which the Incas were famously fond, and cumbia and chicha both somehow became associated with the poor and downtrodden living in Peruvian slums--ghetto music. Following up Barbes' 2007 release The Roots of Chicha Volume 1, Volume 2 delivers chicha from Los Destellos' founder and guitarist Enrique Delgado, ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: Jazzvox Presents: In Your Own Backyard
by C. Michael Bailey
Nich Anderson is a Northwest coast jazz vocalist and jazz vocals champion who has been bringing jazz vocal talent to his “house concerts" in Washington State for the past 10 years. Anderson and Origin Records' house presence Bill Anschell have produced a recording documenting some of this talent. The result is a collection of duets and trios, intimate in presentation, overt in the sheer ability of its participants, that well highlight the state of vocal jazz at the opening of ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: KariJazz Presents Yanvablue
by James Nadal
In attempt to assist the Haitian jazz artists after the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, the Karijazz label has released Yanvablue , a double-disc production featuring selections by the best Kreyol Jazz musicians, who cleared and donated the songs, complete with extensive liner notes and musician credits. These musicians remain active, in spite of the ongoing hardship and heartache in their homeland. The first disc opens with tenor saxophonist Buyu Ambroise, who is considered the country's ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: Putumayo Presents: South Africa
by Jerry D'Souza
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, ...
Continue ReadingItalian improvisers break out of Musica Improvvisa box
by Mark Corroto
VariousMusica Improvvisadie Schachtel2010 Sometimes a box set of music becomes a fetish item. One that listeners (or collectors) form an irrational or excessive commitment to because it embodies some sort of magical or spiritual powers. Such may be the case for the 10-CD/DVD set Musica Improvvisa, a collection of improvised music from Italy.The names of the artists heard here will undoubtedly be new to most, as ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: Twenty Centuries of Stony Sleep
by John Kelman
Since releasing its first album, Supersilent's groundbreaking 1--3 (1998), Rune Grammofon has evolved into one of Norway's most consistently intrepid and unfettered labels. With every passing year, it's stylistic purview--largely focusing on Norwegian artists--expands just that extra bit further, with music ranging from the sublime beauty of In the Country's debut, This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat (2005), to the skewed techno-pop of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's 3 (2009). For over twelve years, label head Rune Kristoffersen has ...
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