One has an experience that is challenging, frightening, thrilling. On Manto and Madrigals, one can hear musical lines that evoke mathematics more than melody and the unlikely appearance of folk music and the classical swell of strings. Beneath the work of Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius is the timeless revelation that there may be nothing more demanding, and more terrifying, than freedom, and nothing more necessary.
Category: Music reviews
Exploring Mood: Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian, Live at Birdland
In what is the body of the piece, the piano and double-bass offer what might be a fleeting semblance of the song’s original melody, and the saxophone’s now robust playing is less easy to mistake—its singing more recognizable. That is what I hear: is that what is there?
Daughter of the Blues: Shemekia Copeland, Deluxe Edition
Shemekia Copeland, who has performed with B.B. King, Koko Taylor, and Buddy Guy, has been welcomed by critics and the blues audience in clubs and at festivals, and has appeared on television and in film. Alligator Records’ Deluxe Edition of Shemekia Copeland’s work allows a more attentive listen for those who know her work less well: the anthology contains sixteen songs taken from her albums.
African Griots of Joy: Mamadou Diabate and his Courage; and the Owiny Sigoma Band, featuring Joseph Nyamungu
Instrumental music can be beautiful, have meaning, and bring joy. In Mamadou Diabate’s “Humanity,” written out of concern for the troubles of the world, there is drama, though no words are used. The tones are drawn out, and the great weights of the notes achieve emphasis and suspense.
Weird Enough to be Symbolic: The album 100 Lovers by DeVotchKa
It is easy to be lost in the world and lost to it—brilliance and love can move one beyond easy paths, as can ignorance or hate, but art provides a map, a beacon. It can be a shock to youth to realize that some people do not care if the maps exist—or worse, enjoy shooting out the lights. It can be a shock to the old too. Those who care about a certain kind of civilization must be vigilant.
Permanent Culture: Zuill Bailey and Awadagin Pratt, Brahms Works for Cello and Piano
Zuill Bailey studied at the Peabody Conservatory and Juilliard; and early in his career Bailey was a featured participant in the American premiere of Miklos Theodorakis’ “Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra” and Bailey performed Beethoven’s cello sonatas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Zuill Bailey, known for both his charismatic personality and expert technique, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and with symphony orchestras in Chicago, San Francisco, and other American cities, as well as abroad—including in China, England, France, Israel, Jordan, Russia, and Spain.
A Light Left On: Imprint by the Julia Hulsmann Trio
It is not hard to imagine the atmosphere in a room, a conversation, in “A Light Left On.” I find myself asking whether artists invest significant warmth in music as it is often lacking, when it matters, in the world.
Life was Bent, and I was Twisted: The King of In Between by Garland Jeffreys
It is very liberating to hear someone say something that sounds tough and wise; and in “Til John Lee Hooker Calls Me,” a blues-rock rave-up with intense singing, Jeffrey celebrates the musical heroes who have come and gone, such as James Brown, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Sinatra, Nat Cole, and John Lee Hooker.
Of Necessity, The Human Claim: John Legend and The Roots, Wake Up!
John Legend is asking music to be real; asking music to be a bridge to reality; asking music to interrogate reality. I respect that. I admire work that expresses, preserves, and celebrates experience; and work that articulates values and virtues: work that embodies complete thoughts and uses poetic resources, whether the work is domestic or international. I know something about country and city life, of how children recreate the cruelty and ignorance they see in their parents, and the difficulty of professors and employers seeing themselves in a young African-American man.
Social Awareness and Spiritual Consciousness, Precious and Proud: The Essential Earth, Wind and Fire
By Daniel Garrett Earth, Wind and Fire, The Essential Earth, Wind and Fire Compilation produced by Leo Sacks and Maurice White Sony, 2002 “Don’t hesitate ’cause the world seems cold. Stay young at heart…” —Earth, Wind and Fire, “That’s the…