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Recording

Down-Home Funk and Hard Bop on Native Soul's "Soul Step"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
July 29, 2011

A soulful way is what the Native Soul quartet brings to the table. Their second release Soul Step (Talking Drum 2010) gives the listener a generous 70 minutes of originals and standards that cover a kind of updated approach to the funk (in the Horace Silver sense) and late hard bop current as part of the scene in the late '60s-early '70s. In there too is a little of the electricity of the earthy forms of fusion from that time ...

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Recording

Terry Wollman’s inspiring new single "Mandela"

Source: Terry Wollman
July 30, 2011

LOS ANGELE'S—Guitarist and producer Terry Wollman brings forth his new album “Buddha's Ear." The first single, “Mandela," featuring Mindi Abair and Keb' Mo' is the #1 Most Added on Billboard's Smooth Jazz chart. Terry Wollman returns to the Jazz music airwaves with “Mandela," an inspiring new single from the album “Buddha's Ear." It is already getting major attention from Jazz radio formats as being the #1 Most Added on Billboard's Smooth Jazz chart, Groove Jazz and SmoothJazz.com airplay charts. Terry ...

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Recording

BANN - As You Like (Indie Europe/Zoom, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 30, 2011

This is a collaborative unit consisting of Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone, Oz Noy on guitar, Jay Anderson on bass and Adam Nussbaum on drums. The combine to make an interesting mix of electric and acoustic sounds, clearly based in post-bop jazz, but incorporating elements of fusion and electronic music as well. Opening with the standard “All the Things You Are," the performance features up-tempo saxophone with electronic flourishes. Blake's tenor has a potent force and is accompanied by lengthy, ...

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Recording

One Track Mind: Paul McCartney and Wings, "Live and Let Die" (1973)

Source: Something Else!
July 30, 2011

By Tom Johnson Let's look beyond the goofy flutes and whatnot—and the oddly aggressive nature of the song, because it's just so out of character for the nice man. Paul McCartney screwed up “Live And Let Die" in a huge way in my book because of a horrible grammar mistake. It's no wonder the song's so angry, he's mad he wrote such a half-baked line. You know the line, I know you do: “But in this ever-changing world in which ...

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Recording

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - How I Go (2011)

Source: Something Else!
July 30, 2011

By Fred Phillips For a guy that once told me in an interview that he couldn't seem to make everyone happy with his mix of blues and rock, Kenny Wayne Shepherd has done pretty well for himself. Coming out of the gate as a 16-year-old kid schooled in the Stevie Ray Vaughan style of blues on his 1995 debut Ledbetter Heights, Shepherd met with mixed feelings in the blues community. There was no doubt that he had the chops, but ...

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Recording

More Road Music

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
July 30, 2011

Over the past month I've traveled twice to Iowa City, for the annual jazz festival and then for my dad's 90th birthday. I took along plenty of music, most of it brand new. Sure helps to have some modern sounds to break up the monotony of cornfields, although some familiar voices are always welcome when road construction and other annoyances threaten the otherwise welcome escape from daily reality. New and Notable Daniel Bennett, Peace and Stability Among Bears. The title ...

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Recording

Archie Shepp - For Losers/Kwanza (Impulse! 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 29, 2011

Archie Shepp started his career as a new thing firebrand, an acolyte of John Coltrane and a fierce advocate for civil rights. By the time these sessions were recorded in the late 60's and early 70's, Shepp had changed—developing a funky style of R&B tinged jazz that wasn't exactly fusion, but definitely showed an awareness of what people like James Brown and Sly Stone were up to. The first album on this 2-fer, is the rare disc For Losers, and ...

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Recording

Billy Bang Quintet Featuring Frank Lowe - Above and Beyond (2007)

Source: Something Else!
July 29, 2011

By Mark Saleski It can be a tough thing to witness an aging musician head toward (or past) the point of no return. For me, the worst example was Miles. Sure he played that concert with Quincy at Montreux but the power behind the man with the horn just wasn't there. There are counterexamples out there. Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar was a stunner. Frank Lowe's final recording with violinist Billy Bang is right there as well. What makes Above and ...

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