Jazz Articles

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela: Rejoice

by Chris May
June 12, 2020

"Unfinished" is the kindest word to describe this album, recorded in 2010 and left on the shelf until its release was prompted after Hugh Masekela passed in 2018. It should have stayed on the shelf. The album consists of eight tracks of noodling by Masekela, accompanied by autopilot timekeeping from Tony Allen, who passed a few weeks after the album was finally released in spring 2020. Masekela and Allen had recorded the tracks unaccompanied and on the ...

Rubén González: Introducing...Rubén González

by James Nadal
June 16, 2017

When Cuban piano master Rubén González was brought out of self-imposed retirement, at age seventy seven, in 1996, for a recording by the Afro Cuban All Stars, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, he had not played in over ten years, and did not even own a piano. After hearing González on those sessions, producer/guitarist Ry Cooder invited him to appear on the Buena Vista Social Club recordings that same year. The rest, is history. Seizing upon the creative ...

Orchestra Baobab: Tribute to Ndouga Dieng

by Geno Thackara
May 10, 2017

There's no rule for pinpointing the exact spot where a group goes from group to institution. If you have to ask whether a certain name has reached that point, that probably means the answer is no--but if we're talking about a widely loved ensemble with a 47-year history, it should be a good bet that they've made it and then some. The Orchestra Baobab may have been inactive for one stretch of time since forming in 1970, but nobody will ...

Ali Farka Toure with Ry Cooder: Talking Timbuktu

by Nenad Georgievski
May 22, 2016

These days the genre of desert blues boasts one of the most vibrant music movements around the world. The bands and musicians that are part of this genre come from an area that is spread across Western Africa that stretches from Mali to Libya gathering people of various ethnic groups. Artists such as Tinariwen, Terakaft, Boubakar Traore, Tamikrest, Bombino, Habib Koite, Vieux Farka Toure, Amadou and Miriam, to name but a few, can be seen and heard touring the world, ...

Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer

by Nenad Georgievski
April 24, 2016

BVSC presents Ibrahim Ferrer is the second album from the series of records by artists who participated in the legendary Buena Vista Social Club sessions, an album which exploded around the world and is now the most succesful release in the world music genre. Apart from achieving enormous success and critical acclaim, the Buena Vista Social Club has managed to introduce Cuban music to the rest of the world and give this music faces and names that people can identify ...

Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer & Ruben Gonzalez: Buena Vista Social Club

by Nenad Georgievski
March 19, 2016

One of the criteria for testing whether an album is a classic or not is to see its endurance and lasting appeal long after it was made rather than its immediate impact. When it comes to the Buena Vista Social Club album it not only made its impact soon after it was released, surpassing record sales projections, but almost 20 years ahead it still delights listeners, and most importantly it is still the best-selling recording in the “world music" genre ...

Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate: Ali and Toumani

by Nenad Georgievski
January 31, 2010

Profound knowledge of African music is not a must to enjoy Ali and Toumani. This recording is the second collaboration between two legendary Malian artists, the now-deceased Ali Farka Touré and master kora player Toumani Diabaté. Ali Farka Touré has always been a truly exceptional and original guitarist and even in his death he remains the symbol of African guitar, as he was the first to introduce desert blues to the world. Diabaté is the world's foremost kora player and ...

Buena Vista Social Club At Carnegie Hall

by Nenad Georgievski
November 30, 2008

Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall World Circuit 2008

There is an old joke about a young man walking the streets of New York City with a violin case under his arm. After failing to find the address he's looking for, he stops and asks the first person he sees for directions. “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" he inquires. Without blinking an eye, the other man replies, ...

Ibrahim Ferrer: Mi Sueno

by Nenad Georgievski
May 11, 2007

Very few people can boast the strange, unexpected and fortuitous resurrection of their careers that singer Ibrahim Ferrer has had. Literally pulled out of retirement, Ferrer gave the new millennia a taste of old Cuban music. The success of Buena Vista Social Club (Nonesuch, 1997), and the global popularity that the musicians involved gained, gave the world a group of musicians that can be identified with Cuban music. The story itself is now the stuff of legend, and one of ...

Cheikh Lo: Lamp Fall

by Nenad Georgievski
April 17, 2006

Lamp Fall redefines the meaning of fusion as Cheikh Lo breathes new life into the genre, seamlesly mixing and blending various influences and sounds from around the globe to create his own style. This approach makes his music a perfect fit for so-called world music, since he has spiritually and sonically fused many kinds of global music here. Lamp Fall is the first solo album in five years from one of Senegal's most treasured artists. Like all ...