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Ramsey Lewis: Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey

December 2, 2009 /


RIYL: The Jazz Crusaders, George Duke, Joe Sample

Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis shows no sign of slowing down. Now in his mid-70s, Lewis not only continues to be active in the jazz world, he keeps writing and recording new material along the way. Lewis’ latest, and his debut on Concord Jazz, Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey, is just that – Lewis playing his own material. It’s either tracks he had been previously commissioned to write for ballet or for other artists such as Turtle Island Quartet, or just his own creations to be performed with his trio. And this record, with Ramsey on piano, Larry Gray on bass and Leon Joyce on drums, while simple in instrumentation, is complex in every other way. It’s also the kind of record you might play on a rainy weekend afternoon to forget about all of your troubles, or maybe about everything else you were supposed to get done. Lewis has a way of dynamically creating moods with each piece, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a jazz aficionado or just a weekend jazz warrior (we suspect most of our readers are the latter), you can’t help but appreciate Ramsey Lewis’ music like a fine wine. In fact, uncorking a bottle after putting it on isn’t a bad idea, either. (Concord Jazz 2009)

Ramsey Lewis website

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Jazz

Lyle Lovett: Natural Forces

December 2, 2009 /


RIYL: Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen

In a world where multi-tasking has become the norm, credit Lyle Lovett with stirring up his musical mantra and effortlessly veering from genre to genre while avoiding the stigma of being typecast by any one style in particular. Once categorized solely as a country singer due to his heart-worn sensibilities, Lovett’s allowed big band, pop, gospel and blues to find equal fits in his repertoire, to the point where his current live shows and recent spate of LPs make equal allowance for all.

Lyle_Lovett_01

Natural Forces proves no exception, but while the big band and western swing elements secure their place in the mix (especially as illuminated by the two disparate versions of the saucy put-down titled “Pantry”), resilient ballads and aching laments dominate the proceedings with a focus on tender emotions. Opening the album with the rugged title track, Lovett conveys a weary cowboy narrative with a humbled but determined point of view. The traditional country hoedown “Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel,” the rollickingly autobiographical “It’s Rock and Roll,” and a vampish “Bohemia” provide his customary levity, yet the clouds part only momentarily. “Bayou Song,” “Don’t You Feel It Too” and “Sun and Moon and Stars” find Lovett crooning from a wounded perspective, one that pleas for redemption and perseverance. “The blues just keep coming and drying out your eyes / And don’t you think I feel it too,” he moans, making the hurt seem almost palpable.

Ably assisted by his usual cast of veteran collaborators – drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarist Dean Parks, fiddle player Stuart Duncan, and pianist Matt Rollings, among them – Lovett offers up another example of why he remains among the most knowing contemporary crossover artists of our generation. Flawlessly instinctive, Lovett steers Natural Forces as effortlessly as the title implies. (Lost Highway 2009)

Lyle Lovett MySpace page

Americana, Big Band, CD Reviews, Country, Folk, Rock

Medeski, Martin and Wood: Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set

December 2, 2009 /


RIYL: Fusion jazz, jambands, Bernie Worrell, Galactic

If you are sick of the state of the music business, if you need some new music that sounds truly new, if FM radio bores you to tears and even the blog-rock CDs showing up on every music site’s “best of” list lets you down because it all sounds like half-practiced, overproduced slacker junk played by snotty people you wouldn’t invite to parties at your place…please go and buy this box set. The culmination of the two-year Radiolarians project, The Evolutionary Set is the career pinnacle of MMW, jazz-rocking experimentalists who are neither jazz nor rock, but “avant-groove.” Kind of an thinking-fan’s instrumental Phish, this trio started with an idea in 2007: Write some proto-jams, briefly rehearse them, take them on tour, develop them live, and then record the finished project. It spawned three ridiculously tight, sometimes funky, sometimes rockin’, sometimes ambient-noodling numbers that sound like nothing you’ve heard. It doesn’t hurt that these guys not only have played together almost two decades, but that they’re exceptional players. The box set includes the three Radiolarians albums, a double-vinyl set, a DVD documentary, a remixes disc, and a live album. It’s intelligent jazz, it’s primitive rock. It’s funky stuff. It’s an updated 2009 version of the strangely beautiful Miles Davis period that included the records On The Corner and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. It’s everything indie music’s all about, and while the major labels and commercial radio won’t touch this stuff, you should. (Indirecto Records, 2009)

Medeski Martin and Wood MySpace page

Ambient, Boxed Sets, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Concert CDs, Concert DVDs, Electronica, Funk, Hip Hop, Instrumental, Jazz, Progressive, Rock

Pelican: What We All Come to Need

December 1, 2009 /


RIYL: Isis, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sun O)))

Pelican, by far the most notable instrumental post-metal art rock band named after a waterfowl, left indie-metal label Hydra Head Records last year and joined up with Southern Lord Records, home to such experimental icons as Sun O))) and Earth. So perhaps it’s not coincidental that their first release on the label, What We All Come to Need, is a slight return to more experimental ground. Their 2007 release City of Echoes got some flak for being too “mainstream” due to some slightly more traditional sonic arrangements that were far shorter and more restrained than the epic-length opuses that the band was known for in the past. On What We All Come to Need, the band has seemingly split the difference between the “pop” sound of their last album and the unabridged soundscapes that was their earlier work. While there are no droning 10-to 20-minute epics on What We All Come to Need, most of the tracks hover around the seven-minute mark, giving the listener enough time to get lost in the songs’ dark, melodic world without descending into tedium. That being said, perhaps they cut a bit too much of the fat away. The menacing “The Creeper” and riff-heavy “Glimmer” could benefit from being a little longer, and shorter cuts like “An Inch Above Sand” and “Strung Up From The Sky” never really get a chance to develop. However, tracks like “Ephemeral” show that bigger isn’t always better by pounding its way through your cortex with its thunderous riffs in a scant five-minute running time.

Will the hardcore among the art-metal fans enjoy it? Probably not – it’s still a bit too “traditional” sounding for them. But metal heads who are curious to see what all this “post-metal” talk is about would do good to start with What We All Come to Need, as it’s a perfect bridge between the hardcore droning sludge of groups like Isis and progressive metal such as Mastodon. (Southern Lord Records 2009)

Pelican MySpace Page

Alternative, Ambient, CD Reviews, Instrumental, Metal

Pavement expands reunion tour

December 1, 2009 /

After opening their 2010 reunion tour with dates in Australian and New Zealand, Pavement will spend a month in the U.K. and Europe. The lucky countries include France Italy, Germany, Czech Repbulic, and Ireland.

Here’s how the tour is shaping up:

Pavement 2010 Tour Dates
03/01 – Auckland, NZ @ Auckland Town Hall
03/04 – Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre
03/06 – Victoria, AU @ Golden Plains
03/07 – Adelaide, AU @ Thebarton Theatre
03/08 – Perth, AU @ Metro City
03/10 – Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
03/12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Palace
05/04 – Dublin, IE @ Tripod
05/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland
05/07 – Paris, FR @ Le Zenith
05/08 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
05/10 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/11 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/12 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/13 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/15 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/16 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/18 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
05/19 – Berlin, DE @ Astra
05/20 – Prauge, CZ @ Palac Akropolis
05/21 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
05/22 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
05/24 – Rome, IT @ Atlantico Live
05/25 – Bologna, IT @ Estragon
05/27 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
05/29-31 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
09/21 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/22 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/23 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/24 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage

As of this point, my concert in New York City on September 24 is the last stop on the tour. I really hope it remains that way.

Artists, Concerts, News

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