Reviews
Date = 2 December 2014
Artists = Sara Serpa and André Matos
Genre = Jazz
Title = Primavera
Record company = Inner Circle Music
Review =
Despite recording initially in 2008 and appearing on CDs by the likes of André Matos, Greg Osby, Vardan Ovsepian, and Danilo Perez, Sara Serpa is little known. She performs mostly unfamiliar material, is more concerned with sound than lyrics, and possesses a relatively thin voice. While her music appeals to some adventuresome musicians, listeners open to singing that is both experimental and accessible would also likely find it engaging.
Ran Blake is both a bold musician and a keen listener. Her mentor at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which she received a degree in 2009, he was so attracted to her singing that he recorded two CDs of duets with her, Camera Obscura (2010) and Aurora (2012). (A review of Aurora is available at http://www.musicchartsmagazine.com/sara-serpa-ran-blake-aurora-jazz-album-review-by-benjamin-franklin-v/.) Though Serpa is a significant presence on these releases, Blake dominates: not only did he select most of the material, but he plays piano in his typically idiosyncratic, attention-grabbing manner.
The music on Primavera, which Serpa performs with Portuguese guitarist André Matos, is notably different from that she recorded with Blake. Contrasting the duos may be done easily by listening to their versions of the same song. The tune is Blake and Jeanne Lee’s “Vanguard,” which she sings with Blake on Camera Obscura. Blake’s accompaniment is heavier and more dissonant than Matos’s, though the guitarist’s concluding notes are inharmonious, apparently as dictated by the composition. While much of Serpa’s singing on these recordings is similar, she is more daring with Blake than Matos. For example, when she sings the words (which I cannot understand) immediately before “new reason, feelings of envy and blame” with Blake, her expansive range generates drama, while with Matos her vocal scope with these words is limited and excitement is therefore lacking. Her interaction with Matos, though, seems more natural than her collaboration with Blake. This is not to say that Serpa’s music with one of her associates is superior to that with the other; the sounds are just dissimilar, as one would expect from groups that feature improvisation and different instrumentation.
Of the fourteen selections on Primavera (all but two are under four minutes in length), Serpa sings six wordlessly, five in Portuguese (her native language), and three in English. I find her wordless ones most effective, partly because I am unfamiliar with Portuguese and cannot comprehend some of her words sung in English. Yet her wordless vocalizing is not scat, as commonly understood. Instead, it functions as an instrument, creating both melody and harmony. She sings in harmony with Matos’s guitar, but also with herself through overdubbing, a technique that can easily be discerned on Matos’s “Tempo,” which is played slowly. In a few instances, harmony (and texture) is enhanced by the inclusion of instruments other than guitar, as when guests Leo Genovese and Greg Osby perform on melodica (on Matos’s “Rios”) and soprano saxophone (on Matos’s “Choro”), respectively.
Though the music of Serpa and Matos might not appeal to listeners content with mainstream culture, it probably would reward those who welcome exposure to challenging but not forbidding sounds.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Date = 29 November 2014
Authors = Kyla Titus and Chica Boswell Minnerly=The Boswell Legacy: The Story of the Boswell Sisters of New Orleans and the New Music They Gave to the World
Publisher = Vet Boswell Family Collection
Review =
In the opinion of Will Friedwald, the Boswell Sisters–Martha (1905-1958), Connie (1907-1976), and Helvetia (Vet) (1911-1988)–are “the greatest of all jazz vocal groups” (Jazz Singing: America’s Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond [New York: Scribner’s, 1990], 156). Though designating anything that lacks an objective standard of measure as “the greatest” mainly indicates personal preference, Friedwald, who is as knowledgeable about jazz singers as anyone, gives good reasons for his opinion. He is not alone in valuing the sisters’ music. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the trio ranks with Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross (established in 1957) as “the two greatest jazz vocal groups of all time” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/764573/the-Boswell-Sisters; accessed 30 November 2014). In other words, the Boswells are highly regarded by the cognoscenti. They are also largely unknown by more general music lovers, despite efforts by the Pfister Sisters (who are not siblings) and a few other groups to perpetuate their kind of music, as well as the holding of the Boswell Sisters Centennial Celebration in their hometown of New Orleans in 2007 (when Connie would have turned one hundred) and a weekend celebration sponsored by the Historic New Orleans Collection in October 2014. The second of these tributes was organized by Kyla Titus.
In order to draw attention to the sisters, Titus wrote The Boswell Legacy. Its title page identifies the authors as Titus and Chica Boswell Minnerly. Titus graciously acknowledges Minnerly, her mother and the daughter of Vet Boswell, because in 1989 Minnerly and David W. McCain started writing a text that, after they abandoned it, ultimately evolved into The Boswell Legacy, thanks to Titus’s efforts. McCain wrote the introduction to the book. Minnerly also maintained a Boswell archive, the source of much if not most of the information Titus presents.
Titus’s seemingly authoritative account of the sisters’ lives and careers may be summarized as follows. Because the siblings grew up in the same household and lived and traveled together even when they were most popular, their biographies are similar until the mid 1930s, when the Boswell Sisters disbanded. Musically precocious (as was their brother Clydie, born in 1900, who died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic), they had private music lessons (classical) and, by the late 1910s, performed locally as instrumentalists. Martha played piano; Connie, saxophone and cello; Vet, banjo, guitar, and violin. They discovered syncopation and soon used it in their playing. They might have been susceptible to it because their father, A. C., a former showman, was familiar with black music and could play ragtime piano. Jazz cornetist Emmett Hardy became their friend and inspired them. They attended numerous musical performances, including at the Lyric Theatre, which featured such black singers as Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith, who became major influences, especially on Connie. By the mid 1920s, they added singing to their act; reaction to it caused them to forsake their instruments and become a vocal group, though Martha served as accompanist. They recorded for the initial time when they were nineteen, seventeen, and thirteen, respectively. The Boswell Sisters’s existence was threatened when Martha married in 1925 and gave birth to a son the next year; the crisis was averted when Martha continued practicing with her siblings, she soon divorced her husband, and family members tended to the child. The group toured on the vaudeville circuit, appeared in movies, performed regularly on radio, and recorded frequently. Problems arose in 1930 when Harry Leedy, who was enamored of Connie, succeeded Martha as the sisters’ manager and began promoting Connie more than the Boswell Sisters. Nonetheless, he managed the siblings during their most productive and rewarding years. Their fame was such that they had an audience with President Hoover, twice toured Europe, and made more movies. They broke up soon after a recording session in early 1936. This happened primarily because Connie wanted a solo career (which proved successful), though she attributed the demise to her sisters’ domestic realities. By then, all three women were married: the families lived in Toronto (Martha), rural New York (Vet), and New York City (Connie, who married Leedy). Titus concludes her book by briefly summarizing the siblings’ post-group lives.
Titus clarifies two matters relating to Connie that have not been fully understood: the cause(s) of her paralysis and why the spelling of her given name changed. At age three, she was injured in a wagon accident and later had polio; as a result of these events, but apparently mostly because of the second, her legs were paralyzed, though she lost all ability to walk only after falling from a window at age twenty-two. This infirmity explains why she performed seated. It also accounts for her developing considerable upper-body strength, as may be observed in a photograph of her, around age eight, hanging by one hand from a ledge of the family’s house. (The text is enhanced by many photographs.) Connie quit dotting the “i” in her name in order to save time when signing autographs circa 1942; the spelling therefore appeared to be Connee, by which she became known. The modification was, in a sense, accidental.
Despite the thoroughness of her book, Titus introduces some topics for which she provides insufficient information. For example, she demonstrates that for a long time Connie and Leedy had strong feelings for each other. Because Connie lived with her sisters during this period yet was in frequent professional contact with Leedy, one would like to know the nature of the couple’s personal relationship and how it worked logistically, since she could move about by herself only in a wheelchair. Perhaps Titus does not address the romance because it is not documented. If so, her refusal to speculate is admirable. When writing about a 1955 photograph of the siblings, the author states that by then the lives of Martha and Vet were “isolated and lonely” (8), but does not substantiate the claim, especially about Vet. Further, she mentions “a bitter legal fight over [Martha’s] estate” (180) without providing particulars, such as the issues or parties involved in it.
Though Titus’s prose is adequate, she uses words that do not allow for exception when there are exceptions, as in the constructions “the two sisters went everywhere together” (18) and “she and her mother were constantly at odds” (36). She suffers a lapse such as this: “Jimmy Fazio . . . knew whom they were” (9). She uses clichés, including “the families heard the call of the west” (14) and “his worldly charm” (15). A copy editor would have caught the infelicities, but Titus, who probably paid for the publication of the book, cannot be blamed for not having one: copy editors are expensive. These and other prose shortcomings do not lessen the value of The Boswell Legacy.
Immediately before the epilogue, Titus refers to the gloriousness of the siblings’ creations and asks readers to “listen to the music and see if [they] do not agree” with her assessment of it (186). This is good advice because Titus discusses the music so little that one cannot conclude much about it from her text and therefore cannot comprehend why it was so popular. In only a few instances does she characterize the group’s sound: “in the trio’s arrangements, the sisters always made space for the musicians to play solo spots, with room to do their own thing without interference. They were masters of improvisation—the cornerstone of jazz” (112); “they received hundreds of requests for their arrangements, which, aside from their exceptional timing and voice blend, were central to the ‘Boswell Sound’” (117); and “they were close harmony singers and needed to keep the sound soft and intimate” (120), which is why they used a microphone during live performances. (“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Got the South in My Soul,” and other tunes disprove the author’s statement that all the siblings’ recordings feature instrumental solos.) She notes that the sisters created their arrangements by working backward from the end of a chorus. Observations about their music in quotations from two published sources are more substantial than Titus’s own: in a 1937 number of Billboard, a writer claims that the siblings introduced variations on the first chorus in the second one, a technique many popular singers soon adopted; in an article published in 2008, James Von Schilling focuses on the sisters’ performance of “Crazy People” in the 1932 movie The Big Broadcast, though his commentary is descriptive, not analytical. While the book’s subtitle indicates that Titus will tell “the story of . . . the new music [the siblings] gave to the world,” she does not do so effectively. A few substantial paragraphs or a brief chapter about the quality of the sisters’ music would have been helpful in this regard.
Though Titus specifies improvisation (by the likes of Bunny Berigan, the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, Manny Klein, and Joe Venuti) and close harmony (probably absorbed while growing up in a family that featured barbershop quartet singing by the parents and an aunt and uncle) as hallmarks of the sisters’ music, she overlooks the Boswells’ energy, which helped elevate their creations above the mostly staid popular music of the time. (Among contemporaneous vocal groups, probably only the Mills Brothers came close to the siblings’ inventiveness and musical accomplishment.) Further, the sisters’ music is distinguished by an appealing irregularity of tempos, keys, and accents.
Fortunately, readers interested in the Boswells’ music can easily honor Titus’s request to listen to it by accessing it—and viewing some of the trio’s movie appearances–at youtube.com. There, one special treat is a scratchy recording of “I’m Gonna Cry,” from the sisters’ initial recording session (1925). It is a feature for Connie, whose singing seems derived from blues singers she heard as a youth. She had a large, powerful voice—though less so than Bessie Smith’s, for example–which is evident here as she belts out the song. During a chorus, she sings in the manner of an instrument, with Vet providing harmony. Someone listening to this performance unaware might well think Connie black and confuse her with one of the classic blues singers. One would likely be surprised to learn that at the time of this recording, she was only seventeen.
Though in time the sisters’ singing became less coarse than on “I’m Gonna Cry,” it remained adventuresome and dynamic. Partly because of Connie’s retention of a blues feeling as well as her spontaneity and use of jazz phrasing, the group not only became popular, but influential. The siblings directly inspired the slicker and less improvisational Andrews Sisters, who became possibly even more popular than the Boswells had been. Perhaps most importantly, Ella Fitzgerald admitted to only one musical influence, Connie, who, according to Norman David, “fused the blues nuances of Bessie Smith’s singing and the jazz vocabulary of the genius [Louis] Armstrong to create her own unique style.” He also believes that Fitzgerald learned, from Connie, how to meld “the jazz idiom with popular music” (The Ella Fitzgerald Companion [Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004], 40). That is, Connie’s singing with her sisters was the greatest influence on the single most accomplished female jazz and pop singer. Inexplicably, Titus omits Fitzgerald from her text, though she mentions her on the back cover, where she states, without comment, that Fitzgerald “consistently credited Connie Boswell as her main influence.”
In sum, Titus has written a valuable book. Because it is based on archival research, it is the most reliable source of information about the sisters’ lives and careers. Though the author largely ignores the nature of the siblings’ music, readers can enjoy and evaluate it by accessing it on-line. Reading her study in conjunction with listening to the music will lead to an understanding of the sisters’ innovations and of why the group was so popular and influential. The recordings of the Boswell Sisters are of lasting value, as is The Boswell Legacy.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Dustin Lynch is no stranger to country music. His number one, self-titled debut album produced three top 40 hits, including “She Cranks My Tractor,” Wild in Your Smile,” and Cowboys and Angels,” which landed in the number two spot for the country newcomer. His sophomore album was released on Sept. 9, and his first single from that album, “Where It’s At (Yep,Yep)” already garnered a number four hit, and reached number one on the U.S. Country Airplay Chart.
There are 15 songs on the new CD. Along with “Where It’s At (Yep,Yep)”, you will get Hell of a Night, To the Sky, Halo, After Party, Mind Reader, Where We Want It, She Wants a Cowboy, Sing it to Me, All Night, Middle of Nowhere, World to Me, What You Wanna Hear, Your Daddy’s Boots and American Prayer.
“She Wants A Cowboy” became my immediate favorite as I listened to the songs. I hope Dustin will consider releasing that one as a single. There was nothing on the album that I didn’t like, and there was nothing on the album that doesn’t fit in with what we are used to hearing Dustin do. This is one artist who really needs to keep doing what he is doing now. It is a sound that not only works for him, but it works for country radio. He is as country as he needs to be for today’s market, and definitely country enough to keep the cowboy hat on.
“Sing It to Me” is another song that is unquestionably ready for the radio. Like “She Wants a Cowboy,” Dustin had a hand in writing “Sing It To Me.” There were some early Dustin Lynch songs that will never be among my favorites, but it seems he has left things like “She Cranks My Tractor” in the past. He’s growing both in his writing, and in his performing skills. He seems to be doing everything right these days.
The album closes out with “Your Daddy’s Boots” and “American Prayer”. They are both slow to mid-tempo, both great stories, both songs that will get you thinking yet, the subject matter in both songs is completely different. Dustin has a great mix on this album. It’s all good country music. “Hell of a Night” and “To the Sky” start the album off in the first and second spot. While these are fast, and you might want to turn the volume up on them, they are still country enough that I don’t think they fall into a ‘rock’ category. For me, that’s a good thing.
“It’s where I am as a person and an artist,” Dustin told Rolling Stone Country. “All the songs on the record are moments I’ve captured and pull down. They were inspired by my excitement for life. So [the album title] Where It’s At sounds pretty perfect”.
You can find out more about Dustin and his music on his web site, dustinlynchmusic.com. And for all the latest country music news, check out countryschatter.com. You can follow Dustin on Twitter @dustinlynch. As always, we invite you to follow Country’s Chatter on Twitter, too. We’re @countryschatter.
Date = 22 July 2014
Artist’s name = Bobby Broom
Genre = Jazz
Title = My Shining Hour
Record company = Origin
Review =
Leader of various recording sessions beginning around 1980, sideman on numerous recording dates headed by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and David Murray, a regular with Sonny Rollins off and on from the early 1980s until a few years ago, and leader of the Deep Blue Organ Trio beginning in 1999, guitarist Bobby Broom has been much in evidence during the last three decades. The music on My Shining Hour indicates why he is a significant presence on the scene.
One might argue, as some have done, that standard tunes—those that constitute what is called the Great American Songbook—have been performed so frequently that they are effete. Broom’s treatment of them on this CD offers convincing evidence for concluding that this is not the case, that standards have endured for a reason: they are rich enough to inspire seemingly endless interpretations. After deciding to record an album of such material and determining the selections, Broom had to consider the mood he wished for him, bassist Dennis Carroll, and drummer Makaya McCraven to establish. Perhaps surprisingly, he risked listener boredom by opting for uniformity, not variety: the overall mood is mellow, with tempos that are seldom rushed. “The Jitterbug Waltz” is the most sprightly performance, though much of “Just One of Those Things” is gritty; “The Heather on the Hill” is a slow ballad. The other selections are in a middle groove. Yet because of Broom’s inventiveness, this music is vital, not dull.
Solos demonstrate Broom’s creativity. Unfailingly appealing, they evolve from the melodies but, with the exception of the guitarist’s playing on “Sweet Georgia Brown,” hardly even allude to them. That is, they are true improvisations because, while retaining the compositions’ harmonies, they are melodically original. I offer a challenge to people who listen to this release: Have someone set a CD player to start a tune at the beginning of a Broom solo and stop the machine when it concludes. While listening to the music, try to identify the composition he is playing. Doing so will not be easy.
Despite the attractiveness of all the selections, “Oh, Lady Be Good” strikes me as particularly noteworthy. Broom plays the seldom heard verse alone and very slowly before his sidemen join him in stating the melody. Then, for two-and-a-half minutes Broom and McCraven participate in four-bar exchanges, sometimes with Broom playing double time. Such interactions can be predictable and tedious, but these are not.
Because of Broom’s leadership of the Deep Blue Organ Trio, which infuses even standards with a blues feeling, listeners might expect My Shining Hour to include strong blues elements, even though not one of the selections is a blues. There are a few such touches, but not many. Mainly, Broom, Carroll, and McCraven treat the compositions respectfully, capturing their moods and letting their natural beauty emerge. Yet what most recommends this CD is Broom’s soloing, which is imaginative and engaging.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Date = 7 July 2014
Artist’s name = Adam Schroeder
Genre = Jazz
Title = Let’s
Record company = Capri
Review =
Relatively new to the scene though clearly accomplished, baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder plays tunes he wrote and relatively obscure compositions by others. This variety is evident on Let’s, his second CD, where he is accompanied by guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton.
A Schroeder original, “The Smulyan Spectacles” refers to baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan. Listeners familiar with his recordings will largely know what to expect from Schroeder: attractive ballads and swingers in the bebop tradition. Two compositions illustrate the scope of Schroeder’s music. A blues, the gritty “A Hawkeye, a Hoosier, & Two Cali Cats” is moderately up tempo. All the musicians solo on this toe-tapping performance. “Contemplation (Intro)” is its antithesis. The shortest selection (1:40) and classical in nature, this baritone saxophone-arco bass duet is played way down tempo, without improvisation. Though the two musicians interpret a score, inventiveness emerges from the appealing, mellow sounds the two deep instruments produce. This is, to me, the prettiest performance on Let’s Go. The title begs a question: If this brief number is the introduction to a larger piece titled “Contemplation,” what is the nature of the rest of it? Is it written for a quartet? An orchestra? Some other configuration? Does it allow for improvisation? If the remainder is as striking as the introduction, I hope Schroeder will record it.
In addition to his creations, Schroeder includes a tune by Stevie Wonder, two standards, and three jazz pieces. Wonder’s “You & I” is a pretty ballad. “Wrap Your Troubles in Deams” and Sam Coslow’s “In the Middle of a Kiss” are the two standards, though the latter is played so rarely that it hardly qualifies as such. I find Thad Jones’s “Let’s” the least rewarding of the compositions by jazz musicians. The other two constitute highlights. Recorded initially on Donald Byrd’s Blue Note album The Cat Walk (1961), with the composer on piano, Duke Pearson’s catchy “Hello Bright Sunflower” is somewhat reminiscent of “Lullaby of Broadway.” It deserves to be better known than it is. Schroeder’s version progresses in fits and starts and has solos by all the musicians. Jeff Hamilton’s brush work is especially impressive. As sprightly as “Hello Bright Sunflower,” Benny Carter’s “Southside Samba” primarily features Schroeder, though Wilson also solos. In performing these three tunes by jazz musicians, Schroeder demonstrates his familiarity with a wide range of jazz recordings and adeptness at identifying neglected ones.
Let’s seemingly offers something for everybody: brisk performances and slow ones, a short classical piece, original compositions, and works by others. Though the music is played in a familiar style, the selections are not well known, with the exceptions of “You & I” and “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.” In sum, this is impressive music by an instrumentalist still early in his career.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Date = 14 August 2014
Artist’s name = Jason Roebke
Genre = Jazz
Title = High/Red/Center
Record company = Delmark
Review =
Though free jazz has existed for over half a century, it remains an acquired taste for many listeners who prefer traditional forms, a reliable beat, attractive harmonies, and hummable melodies. For those who might wish to be introduced to moderately free jazz, I recommend the music of Jason Roebke’s octet, as performed on High/Red/Center. Roebke’s tunes (he wrote them all) combine composition and free improvisation, though where one ends and the other begins is not always obvious. Some are relatively conservative, while others are mainly what might be called out, or at least novel.
Accurately titled, “Slow” is a good starting place. Though composed, it sounds mostly improvised. It begins with miscellaneous, seemingly haphazard squeaks that are possibly the aural equivalent of curlicues on a Miró painting, such as “Antes de Perecer.” Though the squeaks of a few musicians continue throughout the piece, other instrumentalists establish a six-note, riff-like theme over which the curious sounds are played with increasing intensity until the performance subsides into tranquility.
In their apparent randomness, the introductory sounds of “Dirt Cheap” are similar to those of “Slow.” The ones on “Dirt Cheap” are odd, with some resembling gurgling fish, or perhaps someone gargling. At least as surprising as these sounds is what follows them: old-time, slow dance music that hints at the melody of “On the Alamo.” One can imagine a vocalist singing lyrics to it through a megaphone. The beat continues as bass clarinetist Jason Stein solos. As happens on “Slow,” on “Dirt Cheap” the volume increases during the solo; then, it decreases as the group concludes the performance with more dance music. “Dirt Cheap” includes both new and very old music.
Though it has repeated themes (or sound patterns) that are probably composed, the title tune is more adventuresome than “Dirt Cheap.” Over a rhythmic base, it begins with miscellaneous sounds (a Roebke hallmark) that lead to discordant unison playing by the band, à la Sun Ra. Alto saxophonist Greg Ward solos, the band repeats an eight-note phrase, and tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson solos unaccompanied until the band enters behind him, playing sedately. Vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, the leader (on bass), and percussionist Mike Reed interact before being joined by the band. The ensemble concludes this performance abruptly.
Much of the music on this CD is hectic, but some is not. Two selections are melodic, subdued, and lovely. Characterized by pretty harmonies, “Ten Nights” features trombonist Jeb Bishop; Greg Ward is the only soloist on “Shadow,” which has a late-night feeling.
Roebke writes and his group performs ambitious, challenging music that is, nonetheless, accessible. That on High/Red/Center–unpredictable, often cacophonous, and always idiosyncratic–could well serve as a palatable introduction to creative music that is far from mainstream.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
If you have ever read any of my CD reviews, you know that I am a huge fan of traditional country music. I get very excited when out of the crowd of very talented musicians we have in this world, a real country artist emerges. That doesn’t happen often any more. But, it does happen from time to time. When it does, I want to tell you all about it. Today, I found Erich McMann.
Erich’s album, “The Last American Songbook” was quite a surprise. While I still don’t like the direction country music is going, I’ve grown to expect it. It seems that country/pop, country/rock, and country/rap are going to be part of the country music scene whether we old folks like it or not. So, try to imagine the huge smile that came across my face when I popped this great CD into my computer this afternoon.
I couldn’t say it any better than the artist did, so I’m going to share his words with you. “This album is an audio snapshot of America, it’s people, music, and culture. Written in a week, recorded in a day, it explores the diverse sonic landscape of Americana through traditional country, western swing, cowboy, folk, trucker, honky tonk and roots music genres,” Erich McMann wrote.
“Inspired by the sights and sounds encountered on a road trip to America’s Heartland, the songs reflect my personal experience as an artist and an American through this journey,” Erich added.
Erich is from the Midwest, born into a musical family. He began picking the guitar at an early age. He said growing up on a farm in the heartland of America exposed him to country music through cross-over country hits on AM radio, and atching Buck Owens’ on “Hee Haw” every Saturday night on television. It was a girlfriend’s father that introduced him to Hank Williams work, and soon after that, Erich began writing and recording.
The songs you will hear on this album are “The Red White and Blue,” “Redneck Hippie 2012,” “My Heart Pounds (When I See Your Face)”, “Keep Me Loving You,” “Back on the Farm,” “The Ghost of Senior Carmello,” “I don’t Need No Woman (To Tell Me How to Drive),” “The Branson, Mo., Summer Blues,” “The Time Has Come,” and “The Last Song”.
In 2013, the song “Keep Me Loving You” was nominated for “Song of the Year” by the Academy of Western Artists.
There is not a bad song on the album. You won’t want to be doing anything else when you are listening to this music. You will want to listen to every word, and see where he is going with the story. I hear a lot of old country coming out in Erich. It was nice to get that back. I’m certain people from my generation are going to fall in love with this music. I hope some of that will reach our younger fans, too. There is a lot of country music they’ve been missing out on. The music is good, the vocals are good. Erich was born to sing country music.
This album is available for free download, by visiting www.erichmcmann.bandcamp.com, and entering a price of zero. If you are a fan of real country music, I know you will enjoy this album as much as I do.
Erich doesn’t have a web site as yet, but keep reading countryschatter.com, and we’ll put up any news we get about him. If you aren’t following us on Twitter, we’d love to have you. You will find us @countryschatter.
Date = 20 July 2014
Artist’s name = Holly Hofmann
Genre = Jazz
Title = Low Life: The Alto Flute Project
Record company = Capri
Review =
Veteran flautist Holly Hofmann recently participated in two adventuresome recordings. She appears as soloist on Ali Ryerson’s Game Changer, a CD of music performed by a band of flautists (nineteen of them, including guests) plus rhythm section. Hofmann plays C flute on this 2012 release. (A review is available at http://www.musicchartsmagazine.com/ali-ryerson-game-changer-review-by-benjamin-franklin-v-of-music-charts-magazine-tm/.) The other session is one she led. Apparently recorded in 2013 (I say apparently because the CD identifies the recording date as 18 December 2014, which has not yet arrived), Low Life showcases Hofmann with a trio (sometimes a quartet) and playing alto flute exclusively.
Though C flute is her primary instrument, Hofmann has featured alto flute occasionally. The latter has a mellower sound and more limited range than the former. As a result, performances on alto flute typically convey warmth and avoid displays of virtuosity. A complete CD of such music risks causing boredom because of sonic uniformity.
Hofmann attempts to solve this problem in various ways: by playing unison lines with guitarist Anthony Wilson, who appears on four selections and who wrote one of them, “Jack of Hearts”; by soloing only with the accompaniment of pianist Mike Wofford; by letting others solo, especially Wilson and Wofford; by adding a percussive element by having drummer Jeff Hamilton engage in four-bar exchanges with other instrumentalists; and by performing at various tempos, from the slow “The Very Thought of You” (the only standard played here) and her own “Lumière de la Vie” to the middle-groove “Cedar Would,” composed by bassist John Clayton, and the funky “Soul-Leo,” by the late pianist Mulgrew Miller. In other words, she did all she could to add texture to her music.
An interpretation of Pat Metheny’s “Farmer’s Trust” concludes the CD. Hofmann declares that she recorded this piece because her live performances of it moved some listeners to tears. Her lovely and emotional version of it on Low Life makes her claim believable. She states the melody and is the only soloist, though Wilson is much in evidence, both when performing in unison with her and when playing behind her solo.
Hofmann creates appealing music throughout this CD. The question becomes: Should she record another alto flute album? This is up to her and her producer, but I think that unless she can conceive of additional ways to add variety to her performances she might best be advised to feature the instrument on a track or two on subsequent releases and let Low Life stand as her sole but impressive all-alto flute album.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Date = 8 July 2014
Artist Name = Henrik Otto Donner and TUMO
Genre = Jazz
Title = And It Happened
Record Company = TUM Records
Review =
Recorded in Helsinki in 2012, this CD features the compositions of Henrik Otto Donner (1939-2013), a Finn who wrote prolifically in various genres and was a respected trumpeter. Performed by the orchestra TUMO (Donner conducts the strings; Mikko Hassinen leads the other musicians), the pieces on this release primarily create mood, which is frequently tranquil. Occasionally, though, there are emotional outbursts that, when played by the brass, remind me of the shrieking trumpets and trombones of Stan Kenton’s extroverted band. This is especially evident on the title track. The difference between Donner’s and Kenton’s use of blaring sound is that Donner incorporated it for contrast (the wildness near the end of “And It Happened” subsides and the performance concludes with a musical whisper), while Kenton employed it so commonly that its excessiveness came to characterize his group’s sound. Additionally, Donner’s music is modest in the sense that it often serves less as an end unto itself (drawing attention to itself) than as a setting and inspiration for the major soloists, in this case tenor saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen (a collaborator of Donner since the 1960s) and vocalist Johanna Iivanainen.
A fixture on the Finnish jazz scene since the 1950s, Aaltonen is a marvel. Not only does he play masterfully—both sensitively and passionately, as appropriate–but his solos belie his age: at the time of this recording, he was past his mid seventies. I have not heard many soon-to-be octogenarian instrumentalists express such emotional breadth and depth, though this quality of playing would impress if played by someone far younger than Aaltonen. He does justice to Donner’s compositions. For an example of his current work as leader, I recommend To Future Memories (2010), a sextet session issued recently by Finnish TUM.
Though English is not Iivanainen’s first language, the Finn could possibly be mistaken for a native speaker because she shows only the slightest hint of accent. In fact, many singers could learn something valuable from her: the importance of enunciation. When she performs, every syllable is easily understood. Why sing lyrics, which exist to tell a story, if they cannot be fully comprehended, as is too often the case? She communicates a story.
Of the eight selections on this CD, two in particular surprised me: “These Are the Days” and “For Friends and Relatives.” The first is a musical rendering of a poem by Emily Dickinson (my favorite from among her creations), with the words sung by Iivanainen and featuring Aaltonen on alto flute and Kasperi Sarikoski on trombone. As straightforward and attractive as this performance is, I cannot determine if it suggests what I think is the meaning of the poem: the skeptical speaker’s desire to possess an innocence that would permit her to gain salvation by uniting with Christ through Holy Communion. If Donner and the musicians intended not to interpret the poem but merely to make lovely music behind the vocalist, they succeeded. Donner’s first recorded composition (1963) and the jazziest performance on the CD, the second tune surprises because the beginning of its melody (after the few bars of fanfare) seems inspired, to a degree, by the music of Charles Mingus, including a fragment from “Ecclusiastics,” recorded the year before the initial recording of “For Friends and Relatives.” Perhaps Mingus is one of the friends alluded to in the title.
In sum, And It Happened serves as a good introduction to Donner’s writing, Aaltonen’s playing, Iivanainen’s singing, and an aspect of the recent Finnish jazz scene.
Note: Donner wrote the “Close Your Eyes” that is performed on this CD; it is not Bernice Petkere’s popular tune of this title written in the 1930s.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
A lot of people know Lucy Hale from her role as Aria Montgomery in the television series Pretty Little Liars. The actress recently released her first album, “The Road Between”.
The album was produced by Mark Bright and Mike Dailey. There is a song Kacey Musgraves had a hand in writing; a song that Joe Nichols sings on, and even one that Lucy co-wrote. On this album, you will find love songs, break-up songs, songs about life, songs that tell stories, and songs that you can relate to.
Here are the songs, along with the writers, that you will hear on this new album. “You Sound Good To Me,” Ashley Gorley, Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey; “From The Backseat,” Mike Daly, Jimmy Robbins, Nicolle Clawson; “Nervous Girls,” Hillary Lindsey, Tom Douglas, James Slater; “Red Dress,” Todd Sherman Clark, Jessica Lee Mitchell; “Goodbye Gone,” J.T. Harding, Melissa Peirce, Andy Dodd; “Kiss Me,” Mike Daly, Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley, Lindy Robbins; “Road Between,” Melissa Peirce, Mike Daly; “Lie A Little Better,” Melissa Peirce, Mike Daly, Chris DeStefano; “That’s What I Call Crazy,” Ashley Gorley, Chris DeStefano, Kacey Musgraves; “Love Tonight,” Lucie Silvas, Jeremy Spillman, Jonathan Ian Green; and, “Just Another Song,” Mike Daly, Lucy Hale, Catt Gravitt.
I’m not going to give you a ‘track-by-track’ review of all 11 songs. But there are a few I want to talk about. “From the Backseat” is one of my favorites. Not the melody, or the tempo, but the story. It tells you that you can really learn a lot watching how people treat each other. The song talks about how the people in the front seat could see the road ahead better than the ones in the backseat could; the front seat passengers could touch dials and controls. But, from her spot in the backseat, she learned about how much they loved each other. And, how they showed each other that love.
Joe Nichols joins Lucy on the song, “Red Dress”. This is a love song, but seems to be more about looking back at the things a couple is remembering in their relationship. Even though it’s obvious they are still a couple, and this isn’t about one of them walking out on the other one, it’s still more about remembering than about what is going on right now. It’s up-tempo, it’s catchy, it’s a fun song.
“Just Another Song” is the last one on the CD. It is one that Lucy co-wrote. I don’t know how much input she had, but it made me wonder why that was the only one she co-wrote. It’s a good song, much different than the others on the album. It’s a slow, sad, song about ending a relationship. It isn’t a sassy, fun, break-up song, like you will hear with “Goodbye Gone”. In that one, you hear not only about breaking up, but about the freedom you have after the breakup happens.
The title track, “Road Between” Is my very favorite on the entire album. It’s about life. It’s about where we’ve been, where we’re going, and what’s in between. The bad parts, the good parts, the breaking down, the writing my story, winning, losing, from the start to the end, still learning what’s in between. I love this one. Melissa Peirce and Mike Daily seem to have taken everything that everyone of us goes through in life and put it in one song.
One song that seems to be about every woman out there is “Nervous Girls”. All women have different problems, different thoughts, different dreams, different ideas – but by the time you get to the end of the song, you realize that we really aren’t that different at all. The lyrics are thought provoking. While this isn’t a song I expect to hear on the radio, it is a good addition to the album.
You can keep up with Lucy by visiting her web site, www.lucyhale.com, and follow her on Twitter @lucyhale. For all your country music news, visit www.countryschatter.com. You will find us on Twitter @countryschatter.