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HARMONIA MUNDI
FRETWORK/Birds on Fire: Harmonia Mundi has done it again. They have come out with another gem recording, this time “Birds on Fire”, Jewish music for viols, well played by the group Fretwork. Lupo and Bassano were Jewish composers of the middle ages. Their music has much of pre-baroque period plus middle eastern overtones and Jewish prayers. The insert, written by David Pinto was perceptive and informative and the period paintings shown were suburb. An overall grand package for those looking for something off the beaten track with an awful lot on the ball.
JAZZ PROMO SERVICES
BRAZILIAN TRIO/Forests: Ah, a great Brazilian take on the classic jazz trio format. A transplanted bunch of hard workers tilling the fields of the Big Apple serve up a lovely cross pollinated date that’s sure to hit a nerve with jazzbos and samba fans. It’s unembellished but it doesn’t need bells and whistles to make it’s point with anything other than great playing. In general, the piano trio has a fine history and this adds a great new leg to the format’s legacy. Check it out.
200806 (Zoho)
MILES HIGH
BENNETT PASTER & GREGORY RYAN/Grupo Yanqui Rides Again: It’s the revenge of NAFTA as whitey plays Latin jazz and does it with the kind of funk and feel that would make this highly recommended on the splash page of Dusty Grooves. Simply a fun Afro-Cuban romp that finds the crew turning in hot solos, steaming through hot jams and simply letting the steam from the melting pot that is New York rise in the spirit of fun throughout. Edgy, heady stuff that never quite wanders off the page even as it thinks outside the box, contemporary, urban jazz fans are sure to use this in their next fusillade against smooth jazz. Check it out.
8605
PANORAMA/CANDID
SHEILA COOPER/Tales of Love and Longing: Duo records can be a real challenge. There’s a lot out there with good intentions that are awfully pleasant and pleasing but few that make you open your wallet if you don’t have some sense of connection to the material. It’s the attention to detail that gets the money shot, and this set has it in spades. With an opening gambit that finds Cooper covering the Wolf-Herron classic, “I’m a Fool to Want You” that shows she was really playing attention to detail in following the theme for this set, through the rest of the program of aching vocals and sympathetic sax/piano accompaniment, this is more than a well intentioned jazz/cabaret set. One of the standard bearers that will find an audience despite being on a small label, the bar has been raised for this genre. Hot stuff.
4
QRIOUS MUSIC
ANDY MIDDLETON/European Jazz Quartet Live: A white guy doing the jazz ex-patriot thing takes his sax to Europe and blows up a storm on this live date that simmers, cooks and ultimately boils over with killer playing and hot vibes. A real jazzbo to the core, Middleton is clearly a first call sax man that knows his ax inside out but never gets too hip for the room and he tries to chart uncharted territory. A first class, straight up set that jazzbos are sure to love.
109
SUNNYSIDE
LASZLO GARDONY/Dig Deep: It’s one thing to say you were influenced by… but to actually work with Dave Holland, Fathead Newman, John Abercrombie, Randy Brecker and many more gives it a new level of veracity. Gardony has moved into the realm of the greats he has aspired to with this driving set that finds him taking off the gloves and giving the classic jazz piano trio a run for it’s money. A piano man for these times, he marries the future with tradition and sprinkles his own flavor on the proceedings for a killer set that’s sure to impress. This is the place to stop for genre fans looking for something new to blow their ears wide open.
4008
Volume 31/Number 201
May 19, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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