09/02/08
GO MEDIA
LUCIA PULIDO/Waning Moon: Hey, gringos, time to open the ears once again as we get a taste of Columbian music. Not like Brazilian or Mexican, Columbian music has a flavor all it’s own. Even though Pulido professes to give this a New York vibe, it feels authentic without sounding like restaurant or vacation music or having that indigenous “Guantanemara” thing going on. At times quiet, at times rousing, this isn’t fake folk music for whitey, it’s a dandy opening look at some cool new stuff that it’s fun to be exposed to. A tasty side trip into some new musical regions.
1042 (Adventure Music)
HEAD’S UP
TAKE 6/The Standard: Hey Microsoft haters, if you want to catch them sleeping, notice that when you rip this to your MP3 player, what downloads is that this is a religious album. Wrong. This acapella crew has a religious toned track or two, but by and large, it’s a throw back to the times of street corner symphonies with some revisionist history mixed in. Look, if you have enough on the ball to close the Obama convention backing up Stevie Wonder and you sound this good, cast aside the nit picking. This is Take 6’s take on an oldies/classic songbag session. Adding in various mash ups and duets, it’s a pretty nifty, out of the ordinary adult pop package. You pretty much know the tracks well, even if Marvin Gaye isn’t usually thought of in the same classic songbag breath as Cole Porter (breath of fresh air, perhaps?). In the pocket through out, it’s a wonderfully good time from star to finish.
3142
TAJ MAHAL/Maestro: 40 years in, he’s a long way from “Goin’ Fishin” and he’s acting like more of a blues shouter than we remember. With a bunch of acolytes coming around to give a helping hand as well as tip the cap to their master, it’s a critic proof set that fans will either like or not even though the real fans are sure to like it. No matter how you call it, 40 years in and still sounding vital is quite the achievement.
3164
PALMETTO
JAVON JACKSON/Once Upon a Melody: The sax man steps back and takes us on a tour of his back pages as he not only remembers the fun he had coming up with Art Blakey but he tips the cap to the original Ramsey Lewis Trio, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner and other corner stones of modern jazz that haven’t had the record company push over the years to enshrine them in the Mt. Rushmore of jazz even though they are no less worthy despite only have a mass hit or two. This is one of those delightful from the heart sets that rises and falls on the spirit of the player behind it all. This one has the spirit. For a saxy good time, the blowing here is everything you could ask for. Hot stuff.
TELARC BLUES
JIMMY THACKERY and the Drivers/Inside Tracks: You know him, you love him as a blues guitarist but he’s following the muse that takes him to the place where it’s all guitar. With just two cats behind him, this trio jams like a much bigger crew while giving Thackery full center stage to strut his stuff honed over 30 years at whacking that ax. The kind of high octane stuff that hard core guitar fans really dig, he’s not quite shredding but this is as close as a geezer can come without having to change his meds in the process. For the rocker in AARP members everywhere.
83683
Volume 31/Number 307
September 2, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
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Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record