In the interest of getting the word out on several albums, here are three short reviews for your reading pleasure. Continue reading
OCT. 17 CONCERT BENEFITS ERIC LARSEN ENDOWMENT AT UNM
Growing up in Penang, Malaysia, in the ’60s, singer/songwriter Jimmy Fong encountered
popular Western music on the radio, thanks to a nearby Australian air base and a steady flow of Americans on R&R from Vietnam. The songs of one artist, in particular, captured Fong’s ear: John Denver.
Fong’s fascination with this native New Mexican (Roswell; December 31, 1943) put him on a
musical path that has made him a popular entertainer in Australia, where he now lives, and the Far East. That path led to a meeting with his idol when Denver toured through Malaysia, and it is bringing him to Albuquerque, where he will share his story in a multimedia concert titled “My Time with John Denver,” backed by the award-winning local band Breaking Blue. Proceeds from the event, sponsored by ListenABQ and the New Mexico Music Awards, will benefit the Eric Larsen Endowment at UNM, which offers scholarships to students who have declared music or the recorded arts as their major. Continue reading
Myra Melford at the piano. Photo by Michael Wilson.
Pianist/composer and Guggenheim fellow Myra Melford’s latest instrumental project, Snowy Egret (Enja/Yellowbird) (reviewed here), was inspired by the late Eduardo Galeano’s Memory of Fire trilogy. In response to the Uruguayan author’s masterpiece, Melford created a multimedia piece, Language of Dreams, which she then distilled into 10 instrumental tracks, featuring Ron Miles (trumpet), Liberty Ellman (guitar), Stomu Takeishi (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums). This week, she is bringing that top-drawer collection of musicians to the Outpost, and I had the
opportunity to speak with her about the music and related topics. She has a ready laugh and a rushing need to answer questions fully and completely—in an almost girlish speaking voice that, like her music, carries a permanent sense of wonder. Continue reading
Louie Belogenis’s Blue Buddha, Blue
Buddha (Tzadik Records)
A Review
On Blue Buddha (Tzadik Records), Louie
Belogenis, the free-blowing Buddhist
saxophonist, teams up with Dave Douglas, the shape-shifting trumpeter, to embark on a what is billed as a sort of spiritual ceremony,
supported by the luminous, effects-driven electric bass of Bill Laswell and the spacious, clean, intense drumming of Tyshawn Sorey. Continue reading
Baracutanga, Importados
A Review
You don’t need to know a cumbia from a
festejo from a candombe to dig Importados, the first full-length album from Albuquerque’s rhythm wizards, Baracutanga. A seven-piece band whose members come from as far north as Kansas and as far south as Bolivia, Baracutanga mixes South American rhythms in innovative ways, making unusual rhythmic combinations that might also include Middle Eastern and Cuban forms. They incorporate folkloric instruments, such as the quena, an Andean flute, and top it off with modern North American harmonies and instruments—electric guitar, vibes—to create a unique and highly danceable fusion.
The album’s sheer musicality might come as a surprise to those who know the band only as a high-energy live act that fills the dance floor. Yes, you can play the album at high volume and dance till you drop, but you can also settle back in your easy chair and appreciate the
craftsmanship of the writing and arranging, the attention to detail, and the sonic textures. Recorded in four different studios in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Cadiz, Spain, the album
features more than 50 instruments and 25 musical styles, and just about every one of those
instruments and styles finds just the right place. Continue reading