Snowstorm of records

A "seasonal" slew of new reviews. I seem to be buying way too many records these days, but I still (barely) manage to find the time to listen to them, so... I guess I'll slow my acquisition rate when I can't handle the input anymore !

One of the most striking records I've discovered these last few months is Roland Kirk's early 60s debut on Atlantic, The Inflated Tear. I was introduced to Kirk through the Derek Trucks cover of his Volunteered Slavery, and a budget pricing on The Inflatable Tear triggered an impulsive purchase. I don't regret it one bit. There's a lot in that record that's reminiscent of the 60s Atlantic production style, but Roland Kirk is something else. One of the things that doesn't quite satisfy me in Coltrane's stuff for example, is that all the wildness is in the harmony of the improvisation, but the sound is mostly polished velvet. That's what Coltrane is rightfully famed for, but it doesn't move me. Kirk's sound is wild, and while he can (and sometimes does) go crazy in the improvisations, it's as much a primal sound as it is an exploratory construction, if you see what I mean. He doesn't strive for perfect accuracy, sometimes the sax quacks, breathes, wails, it's alive with energy. When he plays two or three saxes at the same time he builds powerful harmonies that simply could not be duplicated by multiple instruments and sound profoundly primitive. It's his sound, and it's very very potent. And The Inflatable Tear is one of his most introspective records, I'm told! Anyway, I loved it, from the somber nasal opening of The Black and Crazy Blues to the swinging, dying moans of I'm Glad there is You. The title track, The Inflated Tear, is particularly striking and frightening, with the multiple saxes bellowing over a dark and rumbling accompaniment.

In the wake of this discovery, I purchased Volunteered Slavery which features half a studio album and half a live album. It's indeed much wilder than The Inflated Tear, and the live section in particular is stunning. My preference goes to the title track, which made me realise how much of the rawness of it the Derek Trucks cover has taken out, and the first live track, One Ton, modal, savage and exciting. I also acquired the 1963 Kirk in Copenhagen which is a vibrant live record with a surprising appearance by Sonny Boy Williamson II. I love the inventive Narrow Bolero, and the strange take on Mood Indigo in particular. Kirk in Copenhagen is a little tamer than the live parts of Volunteered Slavery, but it's not to the detriment of the music and both show a different facet of Roland Kirk live. I noticed while preparing this that there was a more complete version of that same gog called Copenhagen Concert. Something tells me I'll be upgrading soon... Finally, I got a hold of Blacknuss, a studio album released ten years later which is a jazz meets R&B thing. That one was kind of dissapointing to me. It's a little too polished, and lacks the madness of the previous era.

When I mentioned my sudden fascination with Kirk to some friends, they recommend that I try some of the bluesier Charles Mingus albums, so I followed their advice and acquired the aptly named Blues & Roots. Another stunning discovery! I guess because of Mingus' association with Big Bands and a kind of revolutionary take on jazz, I expected his music to be highly intellectual, hard to fathom - in other words, not what I enjoy in my jazz. Boy, was I wrong! Not only is Blues & Roots accessible and easy to enjoy, it's also different and conveys a somber mood. There's something earthy about Mingus' music, and Roots are Blues. I was particularly impressed by Moanin', which is driven by a killer barytone riff played by a powerful and raucous Pepper Adams (another guy I'm gonna have to check up. Damn my associative listening! ) Not to be confused with the - also excellent - Art Blakey tune of the same name. Anyway, if I didn't already know it, this confirms my need to explore the 60s Atlantic jazz catalogue in more depth.

Still in the realm of jazz, I'm quite heavily into Gypsy Swing these days, as I mentioned last time in my reviews of Bireli Lagrene's albums. Based on the recommendations of a French jazz magazine, I purchased Gypsy Guitar Masters, a live recording of Romane and Stochelo Rosenberg. Jazzman had included it in their pick of the year 2006 and I sure know why now. It's inventive, varied, masterful, it's all I want in Gipsy Jazz. Romane and Stochelo have different personalities, and therefore their soloing is very distinct, two styles mergeing, really. They're supported by an astonishing Marc-Michel Le Bévillon on double bass, a guy I had never heard of and will follow more closely from now on (see below). The repertoire is a mix of Django standards and faithful yet original compositions (mostly by Romane), including the truly amazing manouche meets flamenco Double Jeu. I think I said of Bireli's Gypsy Project that it was as good as any a place to start a Manouche Swing addiction, well, here's another perfectly valid entry point, enhanced by the energy and pulsion of a live record. The CD comes along with a DVD that features a 50mn documentary on Romane and Stochelo's collaboration plus another 35mn live (sans double-bass). Talk about value for money!

While on the subject of amazing guitar players, I'm very pleased to have been able to discover Scot Ray's solo work thanks to this blog. I knew Scot as the guitar man behing the Gutpuppet project (with chromatic harmonica player Bill Barrett). It turns out that he is a faithful listener of the Rambling Podcast! A few weeks back, he offered to send me his recently released solo record, Rûmi. Truth be told, I was a little weary before listening to it, because the playing and ideas in Gutpuppet are so radical that sometimes I get lost. I was worried that a solo recording of Scot's playing would be even more radical. It turns out that not only was I wrong (it's not radical, just unusual), but I discovered a great record, intense yet soothing, original yet accessible. Scot's guitar playing is a flurry of glissandos, harmonics, odd chords and reminiscences of India without actually sounding Indian for the most part. By using various slides guitars, tunings and approaches, Scot paints a sonic landscape that is very appealing and, despite its sobriety, endearing. Each of the nine pieces on Rûmi is titled after a short verse of the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. I love the opener, there are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground and the meditatively melodic i have escaped by one cup of wine from the frenzy of speech. Rumi is an unusual yet ear-opening experience. If you're still unsure, check Scot's Myspace here and let yourself be drawn into his musical world!

Jazz is multi-faceted and the meeting of a "classic" jazz approach with various ethnic musical traditions has been, in my opnion, a great factor in the emergence of a lot of interesting music. 5-string double-bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons is one of the artists that does that the best, in my opnion, with jazz music inspired by the Spanish folklore and wider Arabic traditions. His album Oriental Bass is one of my desert island records, but I didn't yet own his duet record with accordion player Jean-Louis Martinier, Fuera. Santa saw to it. It will need repeated listening, but my main worry about the record, that it would be too sparse and possibly repetitive is lifted already. Fuera is mostly arranged, with some occasional areas of improvisation. On the whole though, you won't find many repeated chord structures left aside for choruses. And the duet builds a surprisingly ample sound, with Martinier making full use of the possibilities of the accordion, sometimes pulling all the stops, quite litterally, for a near orchestral sound that is much richer and wide than I expected. Garcia-Fons plays mostly with the bow on this record, with his characteristic lyrical style. This also contributes to erase any excessive sparseness. Finally, while Garcia-Fons' influences clearly stem from the Mediterranean, Martinier also fishes for ideas in the ponds of Eastern Europe, which contributes to Fuera's varied, multicultural selection of tunes. A fine record, not to be missed.

While on the subject of double-bass, I purchased another record by a leading bassist, namely Marc-Michel Le Bévillon's Groove Colors. Yes, that same guy I discovered on Gypsy Guitar Masters happens to have released his own record. That may not have been enough to convince me to get hold of it, except Groove Color also features Olivier Ker Ourio on harmonica... So, sue me, I'm weak! Anyway, Groove Color turns out to be a very fine album in its own right, alternating between a modern jazz approach enhanced by a lot of distorted electric guitar and heavy drumming as on Les Jouets, and a mellower sound sometimes reminiscent of Ray Brown as on City Blues. Olivier plays chromatic on three tracks, two of them fine and one of them superb: Les Yeux has a beautiful, Satie-esque melody that doesn't quite fall back on its tonal center. Several tracks, including the latter are on Marc-Michel Le Bévillon's Myspace here.

I purchased two more albums featuring Olivier Ker Ourio as a sideman recently, Sylvain Luc's Joko and Frédéric Monino's Around Jaco. I'm unconvinced by either, for different reasons. The Sylvain Luc is objectly fine and impressive, but it's a little too clean that I doesn't really move me. The compositions are intricate and Luc's guitar playing masterful, but to me it lacks a little grit and feeling. There are a few interesting jazzy covers of pop tunes (Light my Fire, Stepping Out...) but they don't quite stand out on their own, to me. I'll probably need a few more listens to form a definitive opinion, but it hasn't grabbed me, at any rate. The Frédéric Monino I can't seem to get into. For one thing, while I applaud the artistic choice of using accordion as the harmonic backing of the band, the combination of modern and trad sound it results in doesn't really work for me. Also, I'm starting to think I need to hear more Jaco to be able to fully appreciate covers and homages of his compositions. You can form your own opinion on Monino's Myspace here, and there's also a track with Olivier, Punk Jazz, on Olivier's Myspace here.

By now you'll be thinking I listen mostly to jazz these days, but it's not entirely true. I gave a thorough listen to the latest Dirty Dozen Brass Band record What's Going On. The concept of the album is quite unusual since it's a track by track cover of the 1971 Marvin Gaye album of the same name. The original was a social and political statement made in the context of the post-Civil Rights era, the Vietnam war, etc. The DDBB cover is made in the wake of Katrina ravaged America. The message is the same : for the disenfranchised, nothing is changing. While I relate fully to the message, I'm not that impressed by the record. Again, maybe it's my lack of knowledge of the original that makes it hard for me to put the cover in musical context, but it's too pop/R&B to suit my tastes. The DDBB grit is gone from What's Going On and it makes their music all the less powerful. Renowned and less renowned guests take the vocal parts, but not even G Love manages to energise the music.

Also from New Orleans, and a much more exciting discovery is funk-jazz band Garage à Trois. I discovered Garage à Trois because of the presence of 8-string bassitarist Charlie Hunter at the low end, and I managed to get hold of a CD they did as a soundtrack for the (so far unreleased) French movie Outre Mer. The music is all instrumental with a drums, bassitar, tenor sax and vibes line-up, and it's excellent funk. A movie soundtrack is always something particular since it aims mostly at setting a mood, and not all good soundtracks stand on their own as good listening music. Outre Mer meets that challenge head on with energy (The Machine), funky polyrhythms (Outre Mer) and African beats (Etienne). Despite my relative lack of appreciation for vibes, I'm forced to recognise that here Mike Dillon's work contributes greatly to the overall sound. The most impressive musician on that record though has to be drummer Stanton Moore. His drumming is atypical, he handles polyrythmic stuff masterfully and without making it sound flashy. In a way, his drumming reminds me a little of Stewart Copeland's. I understand he has several albums out under his own name, so that's a new avenue of investigation. Saxophonist Skerik had already amazed me on the Bonnaroo videos with Les Claypool, and he was part of my motivation to get this record. His playing here is tame in comparison to what he's been known to do, but it's also tasty, full of swing and growls. Excellent album overall.

Still in the realm of funk is a side-project of funk-jazz trio Soulive called Lettuce. If you know Soulive, Lettuce is like a horn-enhanced Soulive on acid. It's very powerful stuff, exciting, cheerful, and from the opening track of this Live in Tokyo, Nyack, you'll be tapping your feet if you have great control and shaking your ass if, like me, you don't. You can get an idea of what they sound like from the online radio at their webiste. Not all the tracks are hard-hitting though, some of it is more soulful yet still tasteful and never smoochy. R&B bassist Meshell Ndegeocello makes an apperarance, but I failed to identify any specific touch she brought to an already fine band. Still, if you're into Karl Denson's Tiny Universe or similar funky soul outfits, you'll be right at home with Lettuce's Live at Tokyo. Another great find this month, which will porbably prompt me to check out their studio album in the future.

This prompted me to give Soulive a new chance (I've owned their debut album Turn it Out for a while and despite evident qualities and few tracks that really groove, it fails to keep me interested end to end) and I thought added vocalists might be the way to go. I purchased their latest studio release Breakout, featuring Ivan Neville, Reggie Watts and Chakha Khan on vocals, amongst other guests. It's pleasant listening overall, but nothing to write home about. Again, the trio lays down the good grooves but they fail to keep them interesting and it becomes very repetitive very fast. I guess that, despite the talent of the musicians involved, it's just not the thing for me.

Not so with the Rebirth Brass Band. Rebirth is a New Orleans brass band stemming from the same tradition as the Dirty Dozen, but they've joined with the hip hop culture pretty early on and their albums have a meaner, urban feel compared to other New Orleans brass bands. I was introduced to the band through a live album a couple of years back by Bill Barrett and I thought I'd try another live album, the one that had that Parent's Advisory Sticker on it: Hot Venom. Well it's hot, and it's venomous. You Don't Want to Go To War is overtly political and doesn't mince words, Pop that Pussy is extremely graphic. You get the idea. I'm not over familiar with gangtsta rap and/or where urban rap has gotten to these last few years, but the lyrics on this record are way out there. I don't think it's all that serious, but it has a hell of a potential to be offensive. Anyway, the music is groovingly good, very mean sounding too, the grooves are funky, it's exciting stuff. Just be forewarned about the explicit content.

Peter Madcat Ruth sent me the two Triple Play albums a couple of months back. Triple Play is Chris Brubeck on electric bass, bass trombone, piano and vocals, Peter Madcat Ruth on harmonica, jaw harp, percussion, and vocals and Joel Brown on acoustic guitars and vocals. As might be expected, the instrumentation is varied, and the repertoire also, though it's centered on Americana, for lack of a better world : folk music is at the core, with forays into blues, jazz and country. What I like about the band is that it doesn't strive for perfection or in your face virtuosity (although all three participants are very talented musically). Instead, what seems to be the core driver of Triple Play's music is joy. These guys have fun playing together, crafting clever yet accessible songs, and they want to share that joy with an audience.

Paradoxically perhaps, having said that, Triple Play Live is, to me, the weakest of the two records. Part of the reason, I think, is that it's mostly covers. You can hear that it's the kind of repertoire that would be very cool live, but not so exciting on record. The Dave Brubeck covers  (Blues Rondo a la Turk and Take Five) are not adventurous enough in my opinion (in the sense that they focus around the theme, even if it's devilishly hard to play on the harmonica) and the blues covers (Crossroads, How Long) lack grit. Furthermore, the sound take is not quite as good as it should, and the harp expecially sounds tinny. It's still an enjoyable moment of music, but I'm not sure it'll sustain repeated listening.

Watching the World is a much more satisfying experience. It's all originals, written by either of the three musicians or collectively. The lyrics are clever, sometimes funny, sometimes touching. The progressions and arrangements are inventive, so that even when you're in solid blues territory, for example, there's always something to distinguish the tune from any similar tune you may have heard in the past. The choice of instruments brings in a great deal of variety, and the moods and tempos are diverse as well. Finally, Madcat is truly on top of the game on that record, he sounds deep and in control, he doesn't overdo the flashy playing, and his jaw harp playing is at least as impressive and tasteful as his regular harp playing. If you have to choose between the two releases, I'd get that one.

Those who have been reading me for a long time will remember my raving review of Scrapomatic's self-titled debut album. Scrapomatic on stage is a duet of Mike Mattison on vocals and Paul Olsen on guitar and vocals. On their first album, they were backed by a superb louisiana studio band. Their new release, Alligator Love Cry, is much more sparse, with the guitar accompanied by occasional violin or percussions and a few full band tracks with bass and drums. This very sparseness makes it a much rootsier release than the previous one, and although it's still not strictly blues, it's certainly not going to frighten a blues purist away. There are some really cool songs on there, like Louisiana Anna (a bootleg version of which was featured on the very first Rambling Podcast), God Damn Job or Graveside Blues. On the whole, however, it's much less of an original album than Scrapomatic was, which was a little dissapointing to me.

To end on a blue note, I was recently sent Jean-Jacques Milteau's latest live release. If you exclude the limited release of Pacific Blue and an illegal pro-bootleg from the late 90s, this is the first live release of his since the 1996 Live. Live, Hot n' Blue is an amplified full band affair featuring Milteau's usual stage companions (Manu Galvin on guitar, Benoît Sourisse on B3 and the full-throated Demi Evans on vocals) and three blues veterans from the US scene (Felton Crewes on bass, Junior Boy Jones on guitar and vocals and Mark Mack on drums). Ever since he went Miles on us, focusing on zen sparseness and sound purity, JJ has attracted attention from the mainstream public and been despised by part of the French blues scene who felt he had "sold out". This record should, at the very least, reconcile the two: it's raucous, rocking and JJ doesn't shy away from sounding mean and playing fast and furious. The repertoire is mostly constitued of covers, with a lot of variety in the source material, from the beautiful gospel Wade in the Water ruled by Demi's growling voice to classic blues shuffles like Before You Accuse Me, not to mention the jaw-dropping signature instrumental Boogie Mix, an amalgamation of several early Milteau stunners. Despite this very bluesy material, JJ is still himself, deep and soulful, jazzy at times, rootsy at others. He uses more amplification here than I've heard him use in years, and it works great. A superb cruising-on-the-highway record, my only slight frustration being that the excellent Benoît Sourisse never takes a B3 solo !

That's it for now, I could have gone on with the recent acquisitions, but I'm keeping them for a future natural catastrophy !