Recording News

Barber Meets Cole Porter on His Own Terms

Source: All About Jazz
September 16, 2008

At this late date, as the 20th Century recedes ever more quickly into the past, can anyone have anything significant to add to the work of America's most suavely literate songwriter, Cole Porter? Can anyone hope to find subtext in Porter's lyrics that Frank Sinatra didn't unearth decades ago? Can anyone dare to bring half as much sensuousness of sound to Porter's insinuating melodies as Ella Fitzgerald once did? Apparently yes, though one hastens to note that the Chicago singer-pianist ...

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Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh

Source: JamBase
September 16, 2008

By: Dennis Cook

Almost courtly in its sumptuous lusciousness, this pairing of Ghost's Batoh and Espvall, cellest for the Espers, is graceful, lovely and timeless. The pair meet meets at a still point where experimental acoustic music, chamber orchestrations and international folk blend into a multilingual melange. The duo adapts traditional Swedish and Finnish tunes, medieval music and their own instrumental improvisations to create that rare thing - a completely unique new sound. Bird whistles, hammer dulcimer, dustings of electric ...

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Bob Brookmeyer, 1978

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 16, 2008

Following a brief Rifftides review of the CD reissue of two of Bob Brookmeyer's 1954 quartet recordings, Bill Kirchner wrote to recommend Back Again. It is a Brookmeyer quintet album that I didn't know existed. I acquired it quickly and have been listening to it with interest and pleasure over the past two or three weeks.

Back Again has the valve trombonist in 1978 with cornetist Thad Jones, pianist Jimmy Rowles, bassist George Mraz and drummer Mel Lewis. Jones and ...

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New 'Green' Song by Platinum Band Firefall Gaining Worldwide Attention and Acclaim

Source: Glass Onyon PR - Keith James
September 16, 2008

Denver, CO - “WALK MORE SOFTLY" is the dynamic new single from 1970s hit-makers FIREFALL, an environmental 'green' song with a humble message of 'treating each other better' and 'taking much better care of our fragile planet' is resonating with everyone who hears the song. It will be internationally debuted on SIRIUS Satellite Radio on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 on “SIRIUS 7 - Totally 70s." This timely song connects with people young and old on musical and rhythmic levels, and ...

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Sonny Rollins: Exit the Dragon

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 16, 2008

The scourge of heroin addiction among jazz musicians of the 1940s and 1950s is central to dozens of stories, novels, poems, plays and movies, most of them dreadful, overwrought cliches. Bad art aside, the monkey on the backs of musicians was real. It rode many of them to their graves. Unhorseing the habit required triumphing over more than the punishing chemical consequences of withdrawal. It meant also withstanding social pressure to conform in tight little communities of addicts whose lives ...

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Toubab Krewe Fall Tour/Album

Source: JamBase
September 16, 2008

2008 NYE RUN CAPTURED ON SECOND ALBUM

Toubab w/ Gellert & John Paul Jones Toubab Krewe kicked off an extensive fall tour this week as they prepare to release their sophomore album, Live at the Orange Peel. The new album captures their outstanding 2008 New Year's run at the Orange Peel in their hometown of Asheville, NC.

“We've been developing our material live, as we tour, so recording our second album on stage was a natural way for us to ...

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Sacred Harp Music Explored

Source: JamBase
September 16, 2008

SPIRITUAL TRADITION EXPLORED IN NEW DOCUMENTARY AND SOUNDTRACK

Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp is the first feature documentary about Sacred Harp singing, a haunting form of a cappella, shape note hymn singing with deep roots in the American South. Shape note singing has survived over 200 years tucked away from notice in the rural deep south, where in old country churches, singers break open The Sacred Harp, a 160 year old shape note ...

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Grammy-Nominated Keyboard Legend Jeff Lorber Set to Make Peak Records Debut

Source: On Target Media Group
September 15, 2008

Jeff Lorber is set to make his Peak Records debut with Heard That on September 30th. Heard That is highlighted by the first single, a swinging, bluesy-brass twist on Amy Winehouse’s Grammy winning “Rehab.” Lorber called upon his famous friends during the recording of Heard That; collaborating with the likes of Rex Rideout, trumpet great Rick Braun and Peak label mate and sax icon Gerald Albright. Since the late ‘80s advent of the New Adult Contemporary format, Jeff Lorber has ...

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