Category Archives: Reviews

Keeper of the Flame

Catherine Russell, Bring It Back (Jazz
Village/harmonia mundi)
A Review

Vocalist Catherine Russell has more than 100 years of American musical history in her voice, and she comes by it honestly. Her
father, Luis Russell, was Louis Armstrong’s bandleader and arranger from 1935 through the early forties, and her mother, Carline Ray, played guitar in the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. As modern as Russell is—after all, she’s backed up everyone from Steely Dan to David Bowie to Rosanne Cash for years—when she sings in front of her band, it’s a history lesson, and never was school so much fun. Continue reading →

JeeZ LaWeeZ: A Wise Foolishness

Jeez LaWeez, Jeez LaWeez (Wiggle Room Records)
A Review

JeeZ LaWeeZ may appear to be a musical group, but in fact, they are a self-professed spiritual path to enlightenment disguised as a hugely talented and outrageously silly trio of musicians—Amy Blackburn (violin, viola,
mandolin, kazoo, vocals), Katie Gill (guitar, ukulele, kazoo, vocals), and Nancy Harvin (harmonica, bass, percussion, vocals). They write memorable tunes and rearrange your favorites from the ’60s through the ’80s in unimaginable ways. (Ever hear “I Got You [I Feel Good]” with the horn section replaced by a kazoo section?)

I first stumbled into a JeeZ LaWeeZ gig in Corrales a couple of years ago, was absolutely charmed, and have been following them ever since. Resplendent in wildly colorful and
mismatched outfits, they look like a little girls’ game of dress-up gone wrong. They’ve built up quite a following in the last couple of years, and after a couple of false starts, they have finally released their eponymously titled debut album. Continue reading →

Ear Curry

Pray for Brain, None of the Above (indie)
A Review

Album cover, with artwork by bassist Christine Nelson.

Fair warning number one: the music on the premiere release from Pray for Brain, featuring Mustafa Stefan Dill (guitars, oud), Christine Nelson (bass), and Jefferson Voorhees (drums, percussion), may induce you to dance naked in the backyard and howl at the moon.

That may also be a good way to describe the genre of music the trio writes and plays.
Arabilly, indofunk, sufisurf, and countryeastern—terms the group has coined in an attempt to convey what they do—don’t quite cover it.

It’s easier to say what it isn’t. It’s not power-trio rock, surf music, or funk. It’s not Sufi devotional music, bhangra, or jazz. It’s not bluegrass, jam band, or flamenco. In fact, as the title says, it’s None of the Above, but it does incorporate
elements from all of the above, sometimes within the same song. It’s an ecstatic dance party perfumed with coriander. Continue reading →

Roaming the Collective Unconscious in Songs Centuries Old

The Wandering Ballad CD Release Party

The repertoire of Johanna Hongell-Darsee and Scott Darsee includes the most popular songs of all time, though few of them have ever appeared on a Billboard chart. Their longevity and their near universal presence around the globe, however, attest to their
appeal. On The Wandering Ballad, available via iTunes, CD Baby, and Amazon, the duo presents ballads that have formed the heart of their last three live productions. Some of the tunes were first written down in the 12th
century, by which time some of them had already traveled halfway around the world, accreting scores of verses from different cultures and attaching local melodies along the way.

The album presents songs in English, French, Finnish, and Swedish, in spare and beautiful arrangements that conjure a medieval atmosphere. Modern and ancient instruments weave the spell, with Hongell-Darsee on vocals, flute, clarinet, härjedalspipa (Scandinavian wooden
whistle) and Darsee on acoustic and electric guitars and bass, with assistance from Christopher A. Carlson on violin and octave violin, Sharon Berman on recorders, and Juan Wijngaard on
hurdy-gurdy. At the CD release party, presented by AMP Concerts at the Outpost this Friday, these artists will be joined by Larry Otis on guitar and saxophone and Tej Bhavsar on sitar.

Continue reading →

iLa Cantor Finds Her Way into the Music

iLa Cantor, Highlights of the Grey (indie)
A Review

iLa Cantor first made her mark as a forward-thinking jazz guitarist/composer who could draw on a variety of styles—from bebop to acid rock to finger-picking folk—to create playful, sometimes thorny compositions that developed in delightfully unexpected ways. In 2011, after a sojourn in northern New Mexico, Cantor released a well-received trio
instrumental album, Creature (Najulda Records), but within a year, she had moved from Brooklyn to Hawaii and begun what
became a two-year hiatus from the music.

“When I came back to music it was with a clearer understanding, and a better sense of myself and what I want to do. I am beyond grateful to have let this process happen, it’s given me courage to let the music become a positive force, rather than an impossible one that I have to defeat and conquer,” she said in a recent email.

In metamorphosis, one life form spins a cocoon, then digests and reconstitutes itself in
another, more dazzling life form. Highlights of the Grey, Cantor’s new album, finds her
transformed into a singer/songwriter who brings potent messages from a deep well of spirit, carried on wavelengths of beauty and mystery.