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DL MEDIA
ALVIN QUEEN/Jammin’ Uptown: Roll it back 20 years to when the cats backing up Queen on this funky, modern jazz date were young lions and unsung. Everyone smoked with a fire and fury that swung hard and could make any Walkman sound like a New York jazz club. Totally revamped from it’s original lp version for this cd debut, the propulsive former child prodigy and his pals were coloring so far outside the nascent smooth jazz margins that you just knew this could only come out on an artist run indie label, even then. The 50s met the 80s head on in this most wonderful of hipster paradises.
9164 (Just a Memory/Justin Time)
JOHN PATTON/Soul Connection: Simply a fun but solid throwback to the great B3/horn dates of the 60s that just spelled party. A funky good time without the James Brown kind of edge to his funky good times, today this reissue sounds like a swinging, upmarket cool set that fills in the spaces when you need something more than background music going in the background. A welcome reissue, this smoking set finds everyone right in the groove, playing soul from the heart. Check it out.
9165 (Just a Memory/Justin Time)
LISA REEDY PROMOTIONS
MARY LOWE/Jazz Diva: A nice match up of big band and jazz singer that loves the old big band songs. With a crew that has lineage back to the real big bands from the original era, this is simply a fun listening date that doesn’t wear it’s oldies on it’s sleeve as some kind of merit badge. Very easily the kind of stuff Sirius could slip into the programming on it’s Sinatra channel to leaven and spice things up without breaking the mood a bit. Classy, fun stuff well worth checking out.
1012 (Smart Arts)
MARK PUCCI MEDIA
BONNIE BRAMLETT/Beautiful: Y’know, it’s been more than 30 years since stuff like “Ladies Choice”, but Bramlett can still rock the cleavage and leopard boots while the remainder of the old Macon and Muscle Shoals gangs can dig out the Icy Hott and still make things icy hot. A relaxed soulful outing that finds Bramlett meditative and laid back with just a few raucous outings to show the fire is still there, this is certainly is for people that remember how it was and have managed to age gracefully after finding the port through the storm. Rather than try to recapture what was, this is a solid representation of how it is now. Well done.
5 (Rockin Camel)
DANNY BROOKS/No Easy Way Out: After a bunch of strong work in his native Canada, Brooks ventures south to find his inner Delta bluesman and deal with his tales of confession and redemption. The latest in his series of sets that take blues to a redemptive spiritual place, Brooks continues to hold his own against heart crushing tides and come out not the worse for the wear. An autobiographical and strong work, this is a must for people into music that not only sounds good but really has something to say.
2 (Rockin Camel)
Volume 31/Number 226
June 13, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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