Category Archives: Reviews

The Cool Water of Redemption

Album artwork by Bianca Sanchez.

Album artwork by Bianca Sanchez.

Gabrielle Jackson, Lotus, the EP (All Bad Records)
A Review

Had singer/songwriter Gabrielle Jackson’s
debut recording, Lotus, the EP (All Bad Records), come to me over the transom or via a publicist, the chances are that it would not have found a spot anywhere near the top of the “Listen” pile. No doubt the press release would have gushed about her youth (she was 19 when she recorded this; she’s now 20), her beautiful voice, and the unique circumstances of the recording process. (The album was recorded at Warehouse 508, Albuquerque’s Youth Art and Entertainment Center.) The release would also likely have played on the hardships this young woman has faced—poverty, domestic violence, and homelessness, just for starters. None of this would have moved me to push the album higher up the pile—just the opposite.

Lucky for me, I did not find Jackson’s album in my mailbox. Instead, I heard it for the first time a couple of weeks ago on Brandon Kennedy’s Freeform radio show on KUNM. Thanks, Brandon. Thank you very much. Continue reading →

Overturned Expectations

Shadowbox coverRob Reich, Shadowbox (BAG Records)
A Review

Like a good cut fastball that seems headed for the heart of the plate but changes course at the last millisecond, accordionist/pianist Rob Reich’s music doesn’t always end up where you expect it to. It dips and slides and curves out of one genre and into another—that is, when you can identify a genre. On Shadowbox (BAG Records), recorded live,
direct-to-tape at John Vanderslice’s Tiny
Telephone studio in San Francisco, Reich
assembles a crew adept at confounding expectations, including Todd Sickafoose on bass (and coproducer with Reich), Eric Garland on drums, Ben Goldberg on clarinet, and Ila Cantor on
guitar. With that lineup, you expect high-minded playfulness, virtuosity, and a seat-of-the-pants thrill, and that expectation is fulfilled. Continue reading →

Omar Sosa Opens a Window—Again

AF_OMAR SOSA_ILE_FINAL2Omar Sosa Quarteto AfroCubano, Ilé (Otá Records)
A Review

Personal memory and ancestral memory are the hinges on which the window of Omar Sosa’s latest recording, Ilé (Otá Records), swings open. The word Ilé, which comes from the Lucumí tradition of Cuba, means home or earth, and the home that Sosa references is located where the personal and ancestral
intersect: Memories of a childhood in
Camagüey, Cuba, where two of his Quarteto AfroCubano bandmates, Ernesto Simpson (drums, vocal, kalimba) and Leandro Saint-Hill (alto and soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet, vocal) also grew up. Memories of his mother, who passed away just days after the recording was finished, after losing her own memory in a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. Memories of Africa, the homeland of the quartet’s other member, Childo Tomas (bass, kalimba, vocal), and Spain, where Sosa now resides—two lands whose
people and cultures flooded Cuba and mixed for centuries. Continue reading →

Bébé La La Finds Their Balance on High Wire

Bébé La La: Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan.

Bébé La La: Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan.

The French-Canadian idiom “bébé la la” refers to foolish behavior, but the singing/songwriting duo that call themselves Bébé La La—Maryse Lapierre (vocals, accordion, harmonium) and
Alicia Ultan (vocals, guitar, viola) are anything but. Fun, high-spirited, and occasionally giggly for sure, but never foolish, as their debut album, High Wire, clearly demonstrates.

Beautifully produced by John Wall and Bébé La La, and recorded and engineered by Wall at his Wall of Sound Studio, the tunes on High Wire face down a variety of difficult situations—from
income inequality on the political front to trying love affairs on the personal front—on the strength of mesmeric harmonies and a spunky equilibrium. Bébé La La will be celebrating the release of High Wire with a performance this Saturday at Las Amapolas Event Center. Continue reading →

Myra Melford, Snowy Egret: A Trip Away from the Ordinary

Myra-Melford-Snowy-Egret-Cover-Art-300x270Myra Melford, Snowy Egret
(Enja/Yellowbird)
A Review

When I first heard that pianist/composer Myra Melford was working on a project whose inspiration was the Memory of Fire trilogy by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, the blood rushed to my ears in anticipation of what I would hear. A masterwork of profound scholarship and imagination, Memory of Fire presents a highly refracted history of the Americas in short, vivid entries drawn from indigenous myths and memories and from written accounts by those who found their way to the New World and stayed—a hemispheric diary that stretches from pre-Columbian civilizations into the 20th century. Inspired by the trilogy, Melford created a multimedia piece, Language of Dreams, that illuminates Galeano’s words with music, video, dance, and recitation. The 10 tracks on Snowy Egret (Enja/Yellowbird) present an instrumental version of most of that music, with the same stunning band assembled for the original project—Ron Miles (trumpet), Liberty Ellman (guitar), Stomu Takeishi (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums). Pulling from a musical palette that includes East Indian, African, European, and Latin and Northern American influences, the wizard Melford has created an exceptional work whose scholarship and imagination are worthy of the book that inspired it. Continue reading →