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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Jazz

Durata: 52:48

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Trama: For all the delight their fans take in parsing their wry and obstinately obscure lyrics, Steely Dan wouldn't command the kind of following they have if they weren't such consummate craftsmen in shaping melodies, layering keyboard and guitar effects and applying sophisticated doses of jazz, funk and soul. On his own albums, of which <i>Morph the Cat</i> is only the third--and the first since 1993's <i>Kamakiriad</i>--the group's sardonic co-mastermind Donald Fagen avails himself to more socially observant and personally revealing themes. But here, too, it's the music's dark shimmer and bumptious grooves that get under your skin, carrying his serious intentions with them. The grandly allusive "Morph," named after what Fagen describes as a "vast, ghostly cat-thing" that hovers in the Manhattan sky (not unlike Woody Allen's catty mother in "New York Stories"), reflects with no loss of irony or oblique meaning on the angst and sense of loss felt in the post-9/11 world. There are visions of death--including his own--and political oppression. There's a comic romantic encounter with a female airport security guard and a reverent faceoff with the ghost of Ray Charles, whose essence is nailed: "Well, you bring some church but you leave no doubt/As to what kind of love you love to shout about." Even when Fagen's hipster sensibility flirts with preciousness, the music is so richly, radiantly alive, the collective power of the songs can't be denied. <i>--Lloyd Sachs</i>

Genere: Rock

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Trama: Donald Fagen's 1982 solo debut extends the sleek, smart pop craft of his work with Steely Dan into the realm of the concept album, taking the Dan's penchant for intricate plotting, evocative narrative voices, and allusive imagery to the logical next step. Fagen's connective thread is futurist nostalgia for the "New Frontier" as anticipated from the prosperous vantage point of late-'50s America. He romanticizes a brave new world of technology in the sultry diorama of "I.G.Y.," celebrating the coming glories of the Atomic Age. He then filters that view through his own suburban adolescence--a would-be seduction in a fallout shelter, the siren song of a graveyard-shift jazz DJ, a not-quite-hard-boiled <I>noir</I> adventure ("The Goodbye Look") that borrows its title from an early '60s Ross MacDonald mystery. Song for song, the set's a stunner and stands apart from Steely Dan thanks to a unique, poignant romanticism embodied in Fagen's yearning "Maxine" and a creamy update of Dion & the Belmonts' "Ruby Baby." <i>--Sam Sutherland</i>

Genere: Rock

Durata: 38:49

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Genere: Folk

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Trama: Fairport isn't Fairport without both Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny, which is why this is the best place for a beginner to tap into this amazing band. Other compilations such as "Meet on the Ledge" include too much of their less-productive years (which by the standards of most other groups would be considered fertile). It's a coin toss as to whether their best album is "Unhalfbricking" or "Liege and Leif." I prefer the latter because I'm a folkie, but if you're into rock you might like the former (or you just like it for its great title). But those two albums alone don't give you enough of an introduction to Fairport, because you miss many great tunes like "Just A Roll." You would think that, because what made them so special at the time was their unique blend of British folk and rock, that they wouldn't age well as that genre has been done to death. You would think wrong.

Genere: Rock

Durata: 40:54

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Genere: Rock

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Genere: R&B

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Trama: With neo-soul not all that neo these days, Ricky Fanté foregoes the genre's reliance on Philadelphia and blaxploitation markers. Instead, on his full-length debut, Rewind, the singer pays homage to '60s touchstones like Otis Redding. The result is sometimes less gritty than might be hoped for, but at the very least, Fanté's voice--at times a ringer for a past revivalist, Terence Trent D'Arby--makes the disc a worthy listen. At his best, Fanté tackles more than the expected; too few artists have dealt with realities like domestic violence (and September 11) as he does on the straightforward "Why." Such moments make for harbingers of greater reach to come. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Blues

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Genere: Jazz

Durata: 44:21

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: The complete 1958 Modern Art session! Two rare complete 1958 dates by bandleaders Anthony Ortega and Teddy Charles featuring Art Farmer, Benny Golson and Bill Evans. Includes nine bonus tracks. 20-bit digitally remastered. Lonehill Records. 2004.

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 1:13:43

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Genere: Folk

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: This set is about as good as it gets. Most of it is Ella with Duke's band, and as you'd expect everything is A1. The arrangements are stellar, the solists complement Ella to perfection. The opening reeds on "I got it bad" make my hair stand on end every time. There is also some beautiful small group stuff, notably with Ben Webster and Stuff Smith, which also swings like hell. (Squatty Roo, Cottontail ...) Finally you get a lot of outtakes of Chelsea Bridge ... OK, it's filler stuff to some, but some of us find it interesting to hear how Duke would fine tune the sound of the band as he went along ...The packaging sucks (those irritating cardboard sleeves where you can't get the bloody CD's out properly) ... but hey ... jewel cases are cheap ...

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Only Frank Sinatra has put his indelible stamp on as many pages of the American Popular Songbook as Ella Fitzgerald. But while Sinatra specialized in mood-themed albums (his composer-based collections were compiled from material already released), Fitzgerald's ambitious songbooks devoted themselves to one great songwriter after another: Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and so on. The two-volume Rodgers and Hart project ranks with the best, and if Buddy Bergman's arrangements are a bit sweeter than his Cole Porter settings, or Nelson Riddle's Gershwin treatments, they suit the material just fine. And what a wide range of material it is (with original verses intact!), intermingling novelty show tunes ("Give it Back to the Indians," "Johnny One Note"), sophisticated standards ("Manhattan," "Blue Moon," "The Lady Is a Tramp"), and lush ballads ("Isn't it Romantic," "It Never Entered My Mind"). But for my money, the most exquisite thing Fitzgerald ever recorded is her seven-minute "Bewitched" (a.k.a. "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered") on Vol. 2, casting a spell of hushed reverie that makes time stand still. <I>--Jim Emerson</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Only Frank Sinatra has put his indelible stamp on as many pages of the American Popular Songbook as Ella Fitzgerald. But while Sinatra specialized in mood-themed albums (his composer-based collections were compiled from material already released), Fitzgerald's ambitious songbooks devoted themselves to one great songwriter after another: Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and so on. The two-volume Rodgers and Hart project ranks with the best, and if Buddy Bergman's arrangements are a bit sweeter than his Cole Porter settings, or Nelson Riddle's Gershwin treatments, they suit the material just fine. And what a wide range of material it is (with original verses intact!), intermingling novelty show tunes ("Give it Back to the Indians," "Johnny One Note"), sophisticated standards ("Manhattan," "Blue Moon," "The Lady is a Tramp"), and lush ballads ("Isn't it Romantic," "It Never Entered My Mind"). But for my money, the most exquisite thing Fitzgerald ever recorded is her seven-minute "Bewitched" (a.k.a. "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered") on Vol. 2, casting a spell of hushed reverie that makes time stand still. <I>--Jim Emerson</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: It'd be hard to imagine a happier wish than the one this jazz vocal legend wishes her listeners on this urbane-yet-homey collection of holiday favorites. The First Lady of Song recorded these tunes in 1960, at the peak of her interpretive powers. As such, she puts her singular stamp on everything from a sultry vamp like "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" to the sweet and cozy "The Christmas Song." Even potentially shopworn standards like "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" sound fresher when they're coming from Ella Fitzgerald. <i>--David Sprague</i>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Long considered a jewel in Verve Records' very impressive crown, Fitzgerald's songbook collections of various composers--a series that was started by the success of this set--are all wonderful, but her natural wit and intelligence was at its most perfect with Cole Porter's erudite, urbane songs. While not as scat-oriented as her small group outings, these Porter sets offer her most realized pop performances. Also, the gold remastering does a fine job of bringing out the nuances in the arrangements, making this a treasure for the serious collector and the casual listener alike. A true American music gem. <I>--Skip Heller</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Country

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Trama: Though probably of zero interest to anyone not already a fan, this set definitely has its virtues. The now-legendary Lubbock group lasted less than a year and played about a dozen gigs while releasing one barely distributed album before Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock split up to pursue solo careers. Yet their recent reunion spurned enough interest to force to the surface this rather drab recording of an Austin show. What's most apparent is that this was Jimmie Dale's band--Ely gets minimal leads, Hancock none--and perhaps rightly so. Gilmore turns in a stirring cowboy rendition of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me," for one. And as that title indicates, this was an eclectic band for its era; they were into songs, period, and they went all over the musical map (folk, honky-tonk, country blues, Cajun, modern singer-songwriter) for 'em. The fact that they hardly cut any of these on their studio album or subsequent solo efforts makes this a bonanza for their already established following. <I>--John Morthland</I>

Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: Former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader Fogerty's first album since 1986's broodingly flat <I>Eye of the Zombie</I>, '97's <I>Blue Moon Swamp</I> finds him returning to the roots-rock ways of his old CCR glory days. Deceptively relaxed in the Creedence manner, this collection seeks to evoke the mood and tone of Southern swamp blues, with generally successful results. Highlighted by rockabilly-tinged tunes like "Southern Streamline" and "Hot Rod Heart," the album's clear standout track is "One Hundred and Ten in the Shade," on which Fogerty, ably backed by gospel vocal group legends the Fairfield Four, uncannily reconstructs the sound of Southern field hollers. <i>--Billy Altman</i>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: Bonus DVD

Ben Folds Live</I> is a stellar exception to the rule that live albums are contractually obliged stocking fillers. Folds is at his best on stage with only a grand piano for company. He is a compelling showman who's blessed with an unforced charm that complements the anger and melancholy that informs most of his songs: the self-lacerating "Army" loses nothing by having a hall of people bellowing the saxophone and trumpet parts as Folds conducts them. The material here spans Folds' work with the three-piece Ben Folds Five as well as 2001's excellent solo debut. The readings of "Fred Jones," "The Luckiest," and "Brick" display an immediacy and intimacy that transcend the recorded versions. A couple of worthwhile curiosities--a minor chord rearrangement of "Song for the Dumped" and a faithful, affecting version of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" round out the offerings. This is an impeccable document of a superior performer at work. <I>--Andrew Mueller</I>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: In 1976, Steve Forbert came to New York from Jimmie Rodgers's hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, with a harmonica, an acoustic guitar and a guitar case of terrific songs. His debut album, "Alive on Arrival," was released in '78, and Forbert has been trying to live up to its tremendous promise ever since. He finally fulfilled his talent with <I>Mission of the Crossroad Palms</I>," the best album of his career. His first recording in three years (and only his third in 13), it preserves the breezy charm of his early work while stripping it of all its callow glibness. Instead of puffing up the importance of his subject matter, Forbert is more likely to deflate it. Forbert, once tagged "the new Dylan," now more closely resembles John Prine in these bouncy country folk tunes and in such down-to-earth aphorisms as "It Is What It Is (And That's All)."<P> Forbert works best in folk rock arrangements which sketch out the harmonies and rhythms with a minimalism which matches his wispy voice. E Street Band alumnus Garry Tallent--who also produced Forbert's second-best album, 1988's "Streets of This Town"--gives the singer just the lean support he needs. But mostly the album works because it harvests Forbert's best-ever crop of songs: the ironic reflections of a retired railroad worker, "It Sure Was Better Back Then"; a hooky shuffle about relighting an old flame, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune Again"; and the Gothic imagery of the apology ballad, "Oh, To Be Back with You." <i>--Geoffrey Himes</i>

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Country

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Genere: R&B

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Genere: R&B

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Genere: R&B

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Genere: R&B

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Genere: R&B

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Genere: R&B

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Trama: Considering her immense contributions to American popular music over the past four decades, the Queen of Soul could be forgiven for coasting a bit. That's why it's such a pleasure to see her turning in such impassioned performances on this set of contemporary urban R&B numbers, her strongest and more consistent effort in several years. The poignant title-song teams Aretha with the Fugees' Lauryn Hill (who also produced), while Sean "Puffy" Combs produced and cowrote the percolating "Never Leave You Again." Elsewhere, the album matches the star with state-of-the-art producers Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri, Daryl Simmons, and Narada Michael Walden, while Franklin wrote and produced the torchy tour de force "The Woman" herself, which closes the album on an emotional high note. <I>--Scott Schinder</I>

Genere: R&B

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Trama: "You will remember my name," Aretha wryly announces at the end of this album's title cut. "I'm the one who beat you at your game". Such expressions of glee frequently break through <i>Who's Zoomin' Who?</i>'s mid-1980s gloss; the combination of the two made the disc her biggest critical and commercial success of the decade. Beyond the smash "Freeway of Love", there is also an update of "Sweet Bitter Love", a ballad from her early years on Columbia, and a rocking collaboration with Eurythmics, "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", that she completely takes over. --<i>Rickey Wright</i>

Genere: R&B/Gospel

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Stevie Wonder is the Gershwin of our era, and jazz musicians have been performing his tunes for years. His harmonically complex compositions are an improviser's dream. Here, the deliciously feline vocalist Nnenna Freelon interprets some well-known and lesser-known Wonder songs with excellent taste and mature ingenuity. She does not radically alter Wonder's harmonies, but her ebullient phrasing and changes of tempo and mood extend and elaborate Wonder's music into interesting and inventive directions. Supported by a good combo featuring Dave Samuels on vibraphone and marimba, bassist Gerald Beasley, and guitarist Chuck Loeb, Freelon and her cohorts add some Brazilian tinges, light funk, and straight-ahead and jazz-fusion contours to compositions such as "Overjoyed," "My Cherie Amour," and "Superstition." As this loving tribute shows, Freelon does not merely sing a lyric--she embraces it. That rare ability puts her far ahead of the pack and does the music of Stevie Wonder justice. <I>--Eugene Holley Jr.</I>

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 76:28

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Bill Frisell is a gentle giant of modern guitar, pure in his jazz-influenced mission to uncover and reinvent American music across a disparate styles. At once unmistakable for the fluid, elastic sound of his instrument and restless in his pilgrimage across often widely varied sources, Frisell can find the lyrical gold beneath pop, rock, and classical sources--devling into Madonna, Aaron Copeland, and John Hiatt with equal success. Nashville finds Frisell exploring the kindred small group dynamics and string-bending aesthetics of country and bluegrass in the company of a shrewdly-chosen players including members of Alison Krauss' esteemed Union Station band, virtuoso dobro player Jerry Douglas, and vocalist Robin Holcomb, who confers an earthy beauty to the set's three vocals culled from Neil Young ("One of These Days"), Hazel Dickens ("Will Jesus Wash the Bloodstains from Your Hands"), and Skeeter Davis's country crossover, "The End of the World." Keening lyricism, soul-deep emotions, and the kinship of wonderful musicians communicating across putative stylistic borders make Nashville a stunning achievement. <I>--Sam Sutherland</I>

Genere: Contemporary Jazz

Durata: 45:41

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Trama: Perhaps because his personal life so sabotaged his career, Frizzell has not always gotten his due as a country stylist. Yet he was one of the music's true originals, with a bottomless arsenal of slurs, slides, swoops, tears, moans, modulations, vibrato, glissando, and more. This covers the first two phases of his career, as an early-'50s honky-tonker and as a '60s Nashville Sound singer, with the emphasis rightly on the former. With 18 tracks, from "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" to "Saginaw, Michigan," it's the best single-CD sampler on the market. <I>--John Morthland</I>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Jazz

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