Recording News

One Track Mind: Ethan Keller "Fallen Idol" (2010)

Source: Something Else!
August 20, 2010

By Pico “All eyes on the judges, who tabulate the score..." So where are we on this whole American Idol saga, anyway? I heard that Simon Cowell and Ellen Degeneres had vacated their judges' chairs (this was the first I've heard of Degeneres even being on the show). And Kara DioGuardi was fired. Just the other day Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler reportedly agreed to fill in one spot, while Jennifer Lopez is supposedly making outrageous demands to fill in the ...

Continue Reading...

Eric Clapton: Clapton

Source: JamBase
August 20, 2010

STEVE WINWOOD, WYNTON MARSALIS, DEREK TRUCKS, ALLEN TOUSSAINT GUEST Guitar icon and three time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Eric Clapton announced today that he will release his 19th solo studio album on September 28, 2010 simply titled Clapton. Co-produced by guitarist and long-time collaborator Doyle Bramhall II, the album features an all star cast of musical collaborations starting with the legendary JJ Cale, drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Willie Weeks, and keyboardist Walt Richmond and the sessions later ...

Continue Reading...

Bud Shank and the Sax Section

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 20, 2010

Whenever a jazz artist is packaged on an album as joining, meeting or leading a “sax section," I'm instantly hooked. In every case, the result is exciting, since no one in his right mind would be paired with a sax section unless the results and collective talent were sterling. Examples of this approach that come to mind include Al Cohn and the Sax Section (1956), Coleman Hawkins Meets the Saxophone Section (1958) and That's Right: Nat Adderley and the Big ...

Continue Reading...

Amphora Records To Release Alma Afrobeat Ensemble's "Toubab Soul"

Source: Buzzword PR
August 19, 2010

Amphora Records To Release Alma Afrobeat Ensemble's Toubab Soul on Wednesday, December 1, 2010: Nine-Piece Barcelona Band To Release Full-length CD Stateside

Amphora Records will release Toubab Soul, the first full-length studio recording by Barcelona's Alma Afrobeat Ensemble, on Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Providing a healthy dose of original, spirited Afrobeat, Toubab Soul pulsates continuously from the hip-hop inflected opening tune “Taskmaster," which features Ugandan MC Krukid, to the Afro-psychedelia of the closing track, a cover of Wallias Band's “Muziqawi ...

Continue Reading...

The Return of the King: King Sunny Ade Releases First Studio Album in Ten Years

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.
August 19, 2010

The Return of the King: The Traffic-Stopping, Hip-Shaking Wisdom of King Sunny Ade is Back on Baba Mo Tunde, His First Studio Album in a Decade King Sunny Ade is global groove royalty whose six-hour sets and butt-shaking beats are notorious from his native Nigeria to Nashville and Nagasaki. And now the master is back with Baba Mo Tunde (IndigeDisc; September 28, 2010), his first studio album in ten years, a pristine recording and double CD set that captures a ...

Continue Reading...

Steve Turre - Delicious and Delightful (2010)

Source: Something Else!
August 19, 2010

By Mark Saleski Odd instruments in jazz: pedal steel guitar, theremin, the Samchillian (You'll have to trust me on this one. Its “formal" name is the “Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeepeee." Don't believe me? Look it up), the harmonica, the human voice (if you're Shooby Taylor or Mike Patton), the saw blade. Some of these instruments are not “odd" so much as they are rare. If you look at the total number of jazz recordings out there, the percentage of ...

Continue Reading...

One Track Mind: Sun Ra, "It's After the End of the World" (1972)

Source: Something Else!
August 19, 2010

By Mark Saleski Like mystery novels, poetry, or any other form of art, music has a lot of uses. We're sad and pull out those old Son House records. Happy? How about some Speaking In Tongues-era Talking Heads? Is romance in the air? Perhaps some Diana Krall? Naughty? I'd go for Cassandra Wilson. Some people put on music as background noise, something that might keep a person company while being mostly ignored. Personally, I've never done this (in fact, I ...

Continue Reading...

Stephen Gauci/ Kris Davis/ Michael Bisio - SKM (Clean Feed)

Source: Master of a Small House
August 19, 2010

Operating under the ostensible leadership of saxophonist Stephen Gauci, but still very much an ensemble affair, versatility factors prominently on this straightforward trio set. Gauci and bassist Michael Bisio are well-established colleagues, their associations formed in the last decade on a number of projects for CIMP. Canadian pianist Kris Davis moves in similar circles having worked with New York notables like Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey. Their rapport manifests right away, stressing spontaneity rather than any predictable path with their ...

Continue Reading...