|
|||
DUSTY GROOVE (www.dustygroove.com)
JORGE BEN/Jorge Ben 1969: You could compare Ben to Van Morrison. Both have had long, fulfilling careers that were groundbreaking and meandered around the lot as well. This early career set finds Ben in his “Astral Weeks phase. A soul samba set that finds influences of funk and psychedelic and mixed in as well, with this album Ben turned South American music as on its head as Jobim did a decade earlier. Today you could call it a wonderful world beat classic but back in its original day it was nothing less than an ear opening masterpiece. One of Brazilian music’s true originals, if you haven’t come across better new musical travels yet, what better time to go right back to the beginning and discover the legend when it was at ground zero.
3014
GO MEDIA
CURTIS HAYWOOD: Well-traveled saxman jumps into the smooth jazz arena and shows he knows his stuff quite nicely. A nice solid dose of contemporary biz jazz, Haywood puts all the right moves in all the right places to fit right into the genre. While not trying to be a set that breaks new ground it does succeed in its efforts to be a warm, friendly session and it’s nice to have around when some decompression is called for. Smart, reliable playing throughout
12 (Smooth Sounds)
WATERBUG
CHUCK BRODSKY/Two Sets: What a difference it makes when you don’t have to deal with the hype. Back in the day, they almost killed Springsteen right out of the box by hailing him as the new Dylan. It might’ve taken a while for him to get here but Brodsky is more the new Dylan than anyone we’ve heard. A populist troubadour in the Woody Guthrie/early Dylan, this guy will simply knock you out if you’re looking for that organic singer-songwriter thing. Simply a font of great songwriting, Brodsky is certainly someone you want to get to know if you consider yourself a fan of Americana but wish a lot of the songwriting had that certain something extra. This is the kind of cat that could bring folk music back from “Mighty Wind” type satire. If only Starbucks have had the sense to feature this when they were working the music beat.
84
JONATHAN BYRD/Law and the Lonesome: A few years ago a big bunch of stuff was reissued from the Tradition catalog, much of the material was 50 years old or more and with the exception of some of it’s certainly sounding like a product of it’s time, most of it sounded remarkably fresh. Byrd makes the kind of music that sounds like it could have fit in with the Tradition catalog or certainly be a spiritual descendent of it. Densely written folk tunes with a bit of an art music feel behind them, these songs will clearly be enjoyed by anyone that ever enjoyed a folk singer that really knew how to work a coffeehouse. This is the kind of set that forges under the radar legends
85
MARK DVORAK/What a Wonderful World: Dvorak reaches into his back pages for set of kid songs that might not have started out that way but have certainly ended up that way over time. Whether borrowing from Jethro Burns and Steve Goodman, hokum, old timey songs, actual kid songs or whatever, Dvorak, an amiable folkie, does a bang up job on a set that’s certainly family friendly and fun to play for kids of all ages. Very much a tasty treat that can be enjoyed by anyone that’s not too hip for the room.
86
Volume 31/Number 273
July 30, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Good to see your passing reference to Steve Goodman. He often doesn’t get his due. You kindly reviewed my 800-page biography, “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” on June 22, 2007. Amazingly, the book’s first printing sold out in just eight months, all 5,000 copies, and a second printing of 5,000 is available now. The second printing includes hundreds of little updates and additions, including 30 more photos for a total of 575. It just won a 2008 IPPY (Independent Publishers Association) silver medal for biography: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1231. To order a second-printing copy, see the “online store” page of my site. Just trying to spread word about the book. Feel free to do the same!
Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958
(206) 935-7515
(206) 484-8008
ceals@comcast.net
http://www.clayeals.com
Comment by Clay Eals — August 3, 2008 @ 10:05 pm