Hal Cannon
Hal Cannon: Hal Cannon (2011)
Hal Cannon is best known as the founding director of the annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. He has been collecting songs and stories from the people of the American West for the past three decades. This self-titled CD is his debut recording as a solo artist, and it was one of my favorite recordings of 2011. Read my full review of Hal Cannon and listen to the album streaming on RootsWorld magazine.
John McCutcheon
John McCutcheon – This Land: Woody Guthrie’s America (2011)
July 14th, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birth. While there will undoubtedly be a number of musical tributes leading up to that day, This Land: Woody Guthrie’s America from John McCutcheon will stand out. Read my full review of This Land, watch a video of “Pretty Boy Floyd,” and listen to more music on RootsWorld.
Nikki Matheson
Nikki Matheson: Invisible Angel (2011)
Nikki Matheson was born in Canada, and worked as a professional musician in New York City and France before returning recently to Vermont. By drawing on those experiences to write her own songs and adding traditional songs from Ireland, France, and the US, Matheson has created an appealing collection of songs. Read my full review of Invisible Angel in RootsWorld.
Here’s a video featuring the song “Patchwork.”
Jane Ira Bloom
Jane Ira Bloom: Wingwalker (2010)
My first encounter with Jane Ira Bloom was through an article in Saxophone Journal in 1985. I was intrigued back then by her use of multiple microphones in performance and recording. I still like the effects she creates with microphones. I also love her compositional skill and her dedication to the soprano saxophone.
It’s rare to see saxophonists play only the soprano. More often it’s a secondary horn for someone who plays primarily the tenor sax or the alto. Bloom has concentrated her playing on the soprano, and I both appreciate that dedication and really enjoy the sound she gets from this difficult instrument.
The compositions on Wingwalker are really good and cover a range of styles. Groove reigns on “Life on Cloud 8″ and “Rooftops Speak Dreams.” “Live Sports” is plain old funky, while “Adjusting to Midnight” is a very nice ballad.
The band she has put together here is very good: Mark Helias on bass, Bobby Previte on drums, and Dawn Clement on piano. I especially like Previte’s work on “Wingwalker,” a ballad of sorts with a melody that takes interesting turns. Previte keeps the tune precarious with just barely enough support, exactly what I feel wingwalkers must experience. On other tunes, Helias and Clement work together very well to lay down solid grooves. And Helias’s solo on the opening tune “Her Exacting Light” is perfect.
My favorite tune here, one I often find myself humming, is ”Freud’s Convertible.” It has a great melody built on a blues harmonic platform, and it also swings hard while moving freely through time signatures. Bloom also uses her multiple microphone recording techniques. Then in the middle the band moves into a whole new world with funky Latin percussion, hard-grooving bass, and snippets of saxophone. It all works together really well and shows off Bloom’s composing and arranging skills as well as the playing of each band member in both solo and ensemble passages.
Wingwalker ends with the lone standard, Lerner and Loewe’s “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Bloom dismisses the rest of the band and plays solo soprano for a beautiful and sweet close to this wonderful record.
Here’s a video of “Freud’s Convertible” done as live as a trio.
A big thank you goes out to Jason Crane, host of the incredible podcast The Jazz Session, for sending me this CD. Here’s Jason’s interview with Jane Ira Bloom.
Marcus Shelby Orchestra
Marcus Shelby Orchestra: Soul of the Movement (2011)
The subtitle of this record from the Marcus Shelby Orchestra is “Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” Dr. King personifies the Civil Rights Movement for many of us, representing courage and a belief in a better nation. This new album consists primarily of the anthems from Dr. King’s era along with some inspiring original compositions which together demonstrate the soul of this movement, the soul of this man.
The record begins with “There Is a Balm in Gilead” followed by “Amen,” both traditional spirituals with moving vocals provided by Faye Carole, Kenny Washington, and Jeannine Anderson. “We Shall Overcome,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and “Take My Hand Precious Lord” are also covered here. The gospel parts of this album are very well done with some exceptional arrangements by Shelby and solid vocal work.
I am even more deeply moved by the originals. “Emmett Till (Bobo)” is an homage to the 14-year old African-American who was murdered in Mississippi after speaking to a white woman. The instrumental piece is dark and sparse featuring an emotional saxophone soloist with muted brass adding to the brooding atmosphere.
“Trouble on the Bus (Freedom Rides),” another original instrumental, is about Rosa Parks and other Freedom Riders of all races who challenged the segregation laws by riding buses and sitting where they chose. The piece begins with brass emulating traffic on a busy street. Then Shelby’s bass starts a solid groove followed soon by a flute-led bluesy melody. There’s a lot of dissonance behind the soloists, suggesting the violence, beatings, and imprisonment often faced by these non-violent protesters.
Shelby also offers a beautifully orchestrated version of “Fables of Faubus,” the famous composition by Charles Mingus. Orval Faubus was the governor of Arkansas who ordered the National Guard to stop nine black students from attending Little Rock High School. I hear the reeds offering up a cartoonish cadence for the governor while the brass demonstrate the strength of those courageous teenagers. The piece honors both the spirit of Mingus and the power of the Little Rock Nine.
The highlight of the record is the 11-minute piece “Birmingham (Project C).” Birmingham was the city where Dr. King was jailed for his involvement in a non-violent protest against segregation. Slow, jagged piano lines begin the piece, mingled with freeform percussion work which turns into a piano-driven melody punctuated by bluesy, angular horn lines. Odd time signatures and off-kilter rhythms give way to a melancholy trumpet solo and some pensive baritone saxophone work.
Marcus Shelby has presented us with a great record that expresses musically the heart and soul, the pain and heartbreak, the courage and strength of the Civil Rights Movement. 50 years later, Shelby reminds us that the people, the voices, the songs, and the cause still matter.
Here’s a label-produced video featuring clips from many of the songs on the record. It’s heavy on the gospel numbers, but also feature some stellar solos by saxophonists Gabe Eaton and Howard Wiley.
Wylie & The Wild West
Wylie & The Wild West: Raven On The Wind (2011)
Wylie Gustafson comes from my part of the world. He raises cattle and horses (including a horse named “Captain Beefheart”) on ranches in Eastern Washington and Montana. While he has appeared on the cover of Western Horseman magazine, I know him less for his ranching and more for his music. He writes songs about modern cowboy life and about living in the American West. Plus, I’m familiar with a lot of the places he sings about – Almota, Odessa, Dusty. His brand new record is Raven On The Wind.
The first song, “Punchy,” sets the tone for this record. Great kick from the drums, surf guitar riffs, snaking lead guitar, and snarling vocal from Wylie intertwine just right. Lyrics about riatas and quarter horses and dallying and cow dogs suggest the Old West, but the sound is all about now.
Much of Wylie’s earlier work mined the musical styles of the American West including plenty of Western swing, Bakersfield sound, a bit of rockabilly, and some fantastic yodeling. Wylie is, after all, the guy who wrote and performed the famous Yahoo! yodel. Those influences are still here, but this record has a stronger rock component which works really well with Wylie’s voice. Plus there’s some polka. And flamenco. The band moves convincingly through these various styles, and that in and of itself is a characteristic of the West. As Wylie wrote in the liner notes:
I still hang out with some of the toughest ranahans in cowboydom. When I peek into their CD collection, I am always amazed: Jimmy Reed, CCR, Simon and Garfunkel, AC/DC, Bob Marley, the Stones. It’s an ever-eclectic mix of sounds and soul. To me, that is what the West is all about. Out here, to be an individual is the highest calling.
Another highlight of this record is “The Maestro” about a woman who embodies the spirit of the West, of individualism, of eclecticism; I want to call this a love song, but it’s certainly not a sweetness-and-light kind of love. It’s a great blend of both come hither and run away, all set to a musical metaphor.
I haven’t begun to cover everything good about this record. I could go on about the Rolling Stones cover, lyrics contributions by the great cowboy poet Paul Zarzyski, and the wonderful use of the jaw harp.
Wylie has captured the spirit of the West that I know and love. Give his record a spin, and you might understand more about the folks who choose to live out here.
Sound clips are available on Wylie’s website. And just for fun, here are a couple videos of Wylie from a few years back. One is his band playing “Ol Montan” and the other is Wylie teaching folks how to yodel at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
Randy Weston
Randy Weston and His African Rhythms Sextet: The Storyteller (2010)
Now in his 80s and with some 40 records under his name, Randy Weston shows no sign of backing down in his quest for African rhythm. His African Rhythms Sextet features TK Blue on reeds and Lewis Nash on drums. My full review of The Storyteller is on RootsWorld.
Here’s a video of the sextet with special guests Obo Addy and Kwaku Martin Obeng.
James Shipp
James Shipp’s Nós Novo: Strange Sweethearts in America (2009)
This US quartet creates an interesting mixture of Irish Brazilian jazz. My review is on RootsWorld.
An Dóchas
An Dóchas: Rise (2009)
I got the opportunity to see this band live in 2009, just before this record was released. They hail from the US, from Spokane, Washington, and they don’t let that stop them from playing satisfying and crowd-pleasing Irish music. My review is on RootsWorld.
Eilen Jewell
Eilen Jewell: Butcher Holler – A Tribute to Loretta Lynn (2010)
Eilen Jewell has put out four records of her own songs, and this time around she switched to covering songs by Loretta Lynn, a shift that works quite well for Jewell and her band.
Much has been written about Loretta Lynn and the influence she had on music on the 1960s. Part of what I really like about this collection is that Jewell doesn’t try to reinterpret Lynn. Jewell, having been born and raised in my home state of Idaho, doesn’t have the drawl that Loretta Lynn has. But Jewell’s approach to these songs is straightforward. Almost all of these songs were written by Lynn, mostly stories of relationships, of love and heartbreak and breaking up and fighting and more loving. Jewell doesn’t turn them into historical kitsch and she also doesn’t try to make them mean more than they really mean.
The backing band is great. A supportive trio of electric guitar, upright bass, and drums is all that is needed to put energy and drive behind Jewell’s fine vocals.
Nothing on this record is especially new, but every song here is well done, and I keep coming back to them again and again.
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