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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: This subtle, sublime collaboration finds bassist Charlie Haden and guitarist Pat Metheny crafting bejeweled chamber duets that transcend genre. With their shared Missouri lineage as a thematic touchstone, Haden and Metheny forge a lyrical, mostly acoustic style at once intimate and expansive. Both pare their playing to a Zen-like economy, focusing on a purity of tone, clarity of harmony, and counterpoint to achieve a tender lyricism. <P> Metheny's acoustic steel-string and classical guitars predominate, but he also applies discreet overdubs (including some delicate synthesizer and keyboard textures) to sculpt orchestral detail. Haden, as always, is both a generous foil and a deft melodist on his own, moving easily into his instrument's upper register as he twines through Metheny's lines. The set's emotional coherence is particularly satisfying in light of the material, which spans Ennio Morricone ("Cinema Paradiso"), Henry Mancini ("Two for the Road"), Jim Webb ("The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"), and Roy Acuff ("The Precious Jewel") as well as affecting originals by both leaders. And giving the project a sense of closure, while commenting obliquely on the generational dialogue it represents, is the luminous "Spiritual" (composed by Haden's son, Josh), an instrumental prayer that exemplifies the balance of concision and deep emotion at the heart of this exquisite triumph. <I>--Sam Sutherland</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Bassist Charlie Haden reactivated the concept behind his late '60s Liberation Music Orchestra for this 1983 studio project, built around songs from the Spanish Civil War and other 20th century civil conflicts in the Spanish and Portuguese diaspora, including Chile and El Salvador. As arranged by Carla Bley (who, like Haden, also contributes originals), these 12-piece orchestrations showcase virtuoso players (including Dewey Redman, Michael Mantler, Paul Motian, and Jim Pepper)in luminous, restrained settings that capture both the dignity of the sources and the sorrow, anger, and pride elicited by their history. Even without its political subtext, <I>The Ballad of the Fallen</I> is a rich, elegiac marvel of large ensemble jazz. <i>--Sam Sutherland</i>

Genere: Jazz, Religious

Durata: 42:22

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Produttore: Charlie Haden, Ruth Cameron

Trama: Nearly 16 years after issuing Steal Away, bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Hank Jones recorded a second set of spiritual folk songs, cut in 2010, only three months before Jones' passing. Many jazz records have explored spiritual folk music -- Grant Green's beautiful Feelin' the Spirit from 1962 and Cyrus Chestnut's 2006 Spirit are but two bookend examples. Haden and Jones weren't concerned with harmonic and improvisational concepts here. The two jazz musicians also had solid church backgrounds, and were participants in the civil rights struggles of the last century. These sacred folk songs hold shared meaning as well as individual ones that reflect the different sides of the church aisle. With the possible exception of their gorgeous delivery of Antonin Dvorák's title track, which has become a jazz and blues standard, all of these songs have been sung in churches for centuries. There are contrasts between Come Sunday and its predecessor. A large one is technological: digital recording has been vastly improved upon since the 1990s. On Steal Away some of the warmth afforded a duo like this naturally was blunted because any sense of real depth was virtually unable to be captured on tape, reducing the sense of intimacy. On Come Sunday, it looms large; the studio room itself becomes an equal participant in these sessions -- it reflects back everything, from the sounds of piano pedals and fingers on keys to bass strings being pulled and plucked. This is a huge plus; that spaciousness allows the listener to get front-pew close and hear the natural warmth in the playing. In terms of the material there are stark differences, too. Steal Away contained primarily hymns, but there were also other folk songs, from "Danny Boy" to "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." On Come Sunday, the music is purely sacred. It is reverent and restrained (overly in some places, more so than its predecessor). Steal Away swung -- albeit quietly -- throughout. That quality shows up here, but far less so; the readings of these tunes are more literal. On numbers such as "Down by the Riverside," "Deep River," and "Give Me That Old Time Religion," Jones makes room for jazz to enter full front and center, while never straying far from the melody; he lets the blues into the picture, Thomas A. Dorsey style, with pronounced left-hand work in the lower registers. Haden has always been as much a melodist as a timekeeper, something Ornette Coleman understood from the jump, which is why he chose the bassist early on. That quality is showcased on the "Take My Hand Precious Lord," "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," and "Going Home," where he leads the way. When he's following Jones' lead, he walks and bumps in tandem, adding a sense of swing. Ultimately, Come Sunday might have fared a little better by replacing the carols with more hymns, because the former are so staid. But that's a small complaint. At its best, Come Sunday is lovely, elegant, and even stirring.

by Thom Jurek

Genere: Country

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Trama: For a long time, Merle Haggard has been best known for his least-important music--"Okie from Muskogee" and its sequels, "The Fighting Side of Me" and "Are the Good Times Really Over." All three of these patriotic novelty songs are included on this four-CD box set, but they are dwarfed by the riches around them. Songs such as "Running Kind," "If We Make it Through December," and "I Started Loving You Again" eschew sloganeering to draw powerful portraits of working-class folks pulled in one direction by a longing for footloose freedom and in another by economic realities and emotional ties. The catchy directness, the poetic vernacular, and Haggard's baritone purr mark those numbers as examples of country music at its finest. Down Every Road is as crucial as Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings, Hank Williams' Original Singles Collection ... Plus, or Bob Dylan's Biograph. --Geoffrey Himes

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: Jazz

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Trama: 2 CD fan-funded recording from ArtistShare. NY Times critics choice for November 2008!
The first CD is duo with Jim Hall and Bill Frisell and the second CD is a quartet session with Jim, Bill, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron.

Genere: Blues

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Trama: Singer and guitarist Hammond devotes nearly all of <I>Wicked Grin</I> to the songs of Tom Waits. It all started when the pair's wives struck on the idea of having Tom produce John's next album. Hammond and Waits have been firm buddies since 1974 and had already made isolated guest exchanges on each other's albums. Once the sessions got swinging, the idea of the Waits song book being used just happened spontaneously, with Tom and Kathleen Brennan even penning two brand-new ditties. Hammond's cranked-up electric guitar is bolstered by a great band featuring Augie Meyers (keys), Larry Taylor (bass) and Stephen Hodges (drums), with Charlie Musselwhite chipping in some primordial harmonica and Waits himself playing background churn-guitar on most cuts. The subterranean feel they capture is inspired, from the swamp-shufflin', grimy trudge of numbers like "Heartattack & Vine" and "Big Black Mariah", to the exposed fragility of "Buzz Fledderjohn" and "Fannin Street". Hammond's mean-mouthed, raspy holler is perfectly suited to the Waits canon, but old Tom does get to sing out on the traditional gospel clap-along of "I Know I've Been Changed". <I>--Martin Longley</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: On this album, jazz-cabaret singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway pays tribute to her hometown Chicago's best-known musical export, the blues—-though her take is largely devoid of that genre's pared-down grit, instead exploring two of its offshoots: a sophisticated, elusive melancholy and upbeat, horn-heavy swing jazz. Callaway's penchant for the latter is evidenced by the jumping opening track, "Swingin' Away the Blues" and the percolating "Lover Come Back to Me" (on which she integrates her trademark scat singing). A "blue" mood is evoked on, for instance, "Blue Moon" and a not-entirely-convincing take on Sondheim's "No One Is Alone." But Callaway is also among the rare performers in the cabaret scene to write some of her own material, and she obliges here as well, with good results on the humorous "The I'm-Too-White-to-Sing-the-Blues Blues" (on which she emulates brass instruments) and "Hip to Be Happy." <i>--Elisabeth Vincentelli</i>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: On paper, <i>River</i> sounds like a match made in several versions of heaven. Legendary pianist Herbie Hancock re-imagines Joni Mitchell with his hand-picked, star-studded band--including saxophonist Wayne Shorter--in tow. Luminary guests lend vocals to a song apiece: Norah Jones ("Court and Spark"), Tina Turner ("Edith and the Kingpin"), Corinne Bailey Rae ("River"), Luciana Souza ("Amelia"), Leonard Cohen (with an unsettlingly sanguine version of "The Jungle Line"), even Mitchell herself ("Tea Leaf Prophecy"). In the event, though, a few fundamental elements go awry. Hancock plays with almost saccharine understatement throughout, and even Shorter's seminal "Nefertiti" and Duke Ellington's "Solitude" fall into the album's presiding, somnolent surface, though to a lesser degree does the instrumental version of Mitchell's "Sweet Bird." But girding, and in some measure, saving, the proceedings, the lyrics here testify to a subtler wisdom guiding Hancock's set list. The mix includes a continuum from intrepid classics to dusty, fans-only fare, but a distinct reverence for Joni Mitchell the Poet threads them together, and, in the end, this album works best as a sleepy window into one fan's giddy and particular love affair with his source material. Fans of Hancock win out. <i>--Jason Kirk</i>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Pianist and composer Herbie Hancock has had a long and varied career, during which he's enjoyed both creative and commercial success, though seldom at the same time. For many listeners, his creative peak came early, on two stunning Blue Note recordings, "Maiden Voyage" and the less celebrated "Empyrean Isles". Recorded in 1964, "Empyrean Isles" is the earlier of the two and also the most radical. Hancock's quartet features Freddie Hubbard substituting a cornet for his usual trumpet, and getting a more burnished, slightly warmer sound. Without the jazz-typical saxophone present, Hancock's is almost a naked band, and the single horn blurs the lines between the pianist's mood-rich compositions and improvisation. The group uses the increased sense of space for intense collective creation, with Hancock and drummer Tony Williams pressing far beyond their instruments' usual roles and engaging Hubbard in edgy, complex dialogue, while bassist Ron Carter anchors the performances. Hubbard rises to the occasion with brilliance, responding to the stimulus with a fluency of thought and execution--a daring that built on his avant-garde experience with musicians like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Eric Dolphy. From the breezy "Oliloqui Valley" to the funky "Cantaloupe Island" and on to the dissonance of the extended "Egg," this is one of the most significant documents of the Blue Note style that emerged in the mid-'60s. It's music that tests the balance of control and risk, and Hubbard's is also one of the great performances by a trumpeter in modern jazz. "--Stuart Broomer"

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Herbie Hancock's Imagine Project is an unprecedented international recording and film project featuring collaborations between music legend Herbie Hancock and a dozen superstars from every region of the planet. It utilizes the universal language of music to express its central themes of peace and global responsibility. The album combines Herbie s genre defying musical vision with the local musical identities of cultures from around the world.

Herbie's last two efforts, 2008's Grammy Album of the Year River: The Joni Letters sold over 750,000 units worldwide and 2005's Possibilities sold over one million units INTERNATIONALLY.

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: In 2001, Herbie Hancock toured with <I>Directions In Music</I>, an all-star tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and this album captures the band's gig at Massey Hall in Toronto. It's clearly a chance for Hancock to return to the creative source of Davis's great quintet of the mid-60s and he has excellent companions for the journey in Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove.<p> The CD begins with a reprise of Hancock's "Sorcerer", and bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, so crucial a part of Wayne Shorter's <I>Footprints Live!</I>, prove themselves just as important here. Blade is especially inspiring, pressing Hancock and the horns to complex creative dialogue. The synthesis of "So What" and "Impressions," already closely linked tunes, benefits from the input of some fresh creative thinking, while Brecker's long cadenza on "Naima" is an effective invocation of Coltrane's intrepid virtuosity. Over 78 minutes in length, this is energetic, sometimes brilliant music, in many ways resembling Hancock's own classic, <I>Maiden Voyage</I>. --<I>Stuart Broomer</I>

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Genere: Folk

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Genere: Folk

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Despite the title, this disc--simultaneously released with <i>Distractions</i>, a CD by his neo-soul group, RH Factor--is trumpeter Roy Hargrove's first acoustic jazz recording since 2000 release, <i>Moment to Moment</i>. The leader's full-bodied, bravura tones are as bright and bold as ever, edging more into the stylistic atmosphere once occupied by the former trumpet god, Freddie Hubbard. Hargrove is backed by a quintet featuring ex-Jazz Messenger, pianist Ronnie Matthews, bassist Dwayne Burno, drummer Willie Jones IIII, and alto saxophonist/flutist Justin Robinson. They pull no punches on these no-nonsense tunes, like the Latin-tinged title track, and the John Coltrane/Ornette Coleman-coded "Camaraderie." Special guest Slide Hampton makes his elegant trombone presence felt on his soaring tune, "A Day in Vienna," on the waltzy "Salima's Dance," and the standard, "Invitation." So much for the myth that jazz musicians like Hargrove can't play funk and swing at the same time. <i>--Eugene Holley, Jr.</i>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Most jazz-meets-hip-hop collaborations suffer from stiff beats plastered over abstract, high-minded solos. Not so with this collection from the '70s-bred, Texan-born trumpet wunderkind. Sure, he knows the musical language and lineages of Clifford Brown and Miles Davis. But he's also down with contemporaries like D'Angelo, Q-Tip, and homegirl Erykah Badu, who appear on this star-studded CD. Hargrove is backed by an in-the-pocket assemblage of jazz-honed phenoms featuring keyboardist Marc Cary, alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, and flautist Karl Denson. They all put their grooves where their guts are, and the music evokes tinges of Donald Byrd's back-in-the-day waxworks. D'Angelo's down-home delivery lights up Funkadelic's psychedelic slow drag, "I'll Stay," while ebullient Common kicks up the verbal virtuosity on "Common Free Style." The Q-Tip/Erykah Badu cut "Poetry" could be a summer anthem. Throughout this tasty and tasteful project Roy Hargroove's cool and clarion trumpet tones provide the right sonic seasoning for this dancing and delectable disc. <I>--Eugene Holley, Jr.</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: This highly acclaimed 1997 musical meeting between rising American trumpet star, Roy Hargrove, and a collection of Cuban musicians including Chucho Valdes, founder of Irakere, is indeed a fine piece of music making. Given the politics of our times, much was made of the rapprochement between Cuban and American musicians. However, if you approach it expecting to hear something like most contemporary Cuban dance or popular music, you may initially be disappointed. The Cuban influence is subtle rather than blatant; the dominant flavor comes from the jazz tradition. But let it work its magic on you over a few listens and the inner strengths of the two styles become entwined, the sophistication of the vision will transport you to some place where only music, and not politics, matter. These musicians work together like the fingers on your hand. <I>--Jonathan E.</I>

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 1:15:53

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Trama: Roy Hargrove sait tout faire. Reprendre les classiques du Bop avec son Quintet et explorer les frontières du jazz fusion/rnb avec son groupe RH Factor demande déjà un certain talent d'équilibriste. Mais cet album démontre qu'il est un des meilleurs de sa génération.
Il montre une nouvelle facette de son art en dirigeant avec brio un Big Band de 19 musiciens, dans la lignée du grand Dizzy (Gillespie). Il a pu "apprendre le métier" et les standards avec Slide Hampton et James Moody au sein du collectif Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Star Big Band (vu au Blue Note à New York, et qui m'a d'ailleurs fait connaître Roy). Dans Emergence, on retrouve certes quelques standards du jazz (My Funny Valentine, September in the rain), des morceaux de Big Band assez classiques (Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey), mais aussi des rythmes latinos (fabuleux "Mambo for Roy" composé par Chucho Valdes pour Hargrove et repris de son album Habana).
L'album alterne avec brio les titres groovy et les ballades romantiques.

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Since the 1950s, the album <i>Clifford Brown with Strings</i> has set the standard for playing ballads on the trumpet. In the 1980s, Wynton Marsalis's <i>Hot House Flowers</i> was a welcome addition to that ballad tradition. With <I>Moment to Moment</I>, Roy Hargrove sets a soft tone for the 21st century. Backed by alto saxophonist Sherman Irby, pianist Larry Willis, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Willie Jones III, Hargrove's tender trumpet and flÜgelhorn beautifully combine the best of Freddie Hubbard's power and Art Farmer's phrasing. Draped with pillow-soft orchestrations by Hargrove, Willis, Cedar Walton, and Gil Goldstein, the leader sings through his horn with a longing and lyrical melodic touch. Chestnuts like "You Go to My Head," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "How Insensitive," and the title track by Henry Mancini come alive with the same freshness found on Hargrove's newer gems, including Pat Metheny's tearful "Always and Forever" and the trumpeter's own "Natural Wonders." Simply put, this offering from Roy Hargrove is a splendid love letter for a new century. <I>--Eugene Holley Jr.</I>

Genere: Blues

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: Ben Harper makes elegant leaps from reggae to rock to folk to funk and back in his fifth studio album. The rootsy singer-songwriter with the silken tenor isn't merely genuflecting at the altar of his musical heroes, as here he shows more quirky imagination and inventive musicianship than on any of his earlier efforts. That said, "Diamonds on the Inside" is painted with the same brush that Bob Dylan used on "I Shall Be Released," but Harper adds his own Biblical aphorisms to make the song his own. Most of the songs display Harper's growth as a poet, as he ponders the dualities of life and love in tunes like the disturbing "Touch from Your Lust" and the disquietingly lyrical "Amen Omen." Harper is compelled to sing what is in his heart and to do what he can to make the world a better place. Witness the Marley-like "With My Own Two Hands." The only misstep on the whole disc is the overly humid orchestration of "When She Believes." <I>--Jaan Uhelszki</I>

Genere: Gospel

Durata: 38:50

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Trama: Jam Nation hero Ben Harper tones down his lap-slide guitar flash in favor of the holy spirit for this blend of originals and gospel classics, his first full-length album with the historic singing group. They've worked together before, on the Blind Boys' excellent Higher Ground and Spirit of the Century, but here the pairing that Harper has termed "a spiritual soul movement" sounds like an outright tent-revival mission. His fevered wah-wah strutting and sweet high voice take their places in the chorus alongside the raw-throated howl of Blind Boys leader Clarence Fountain and his fellow bass George Scott, who plead for salvation like powerful old lions on "Take My Hand." The group's alto, Jimmy Carter, sails over the funky, hiccupping blues beat put down by Harper's Innocent Criminals on the classic "Satisfied Mind." The best cut may be Harper's "Picture of Jesus," a country-music-informed adventure in old-school church harmonizing with the passionate power to touch souls. --Ted Drozdowski

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 48:01

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Genere: Jazz

Durata: 65:46

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Trama: Tom Harrell is one of those jazz artists who frequently gets labeled a "musician's musician"--that is, one whose playing and writing have a sophisticated "inside" brilliance that may escape the ordinary listener. While some of the trumpeter's albums have failed to resonate with listeners for other reasons, his lyrical invention and harmonic depth are difficult to resist most of the time. <i>Light On</i>, Harrell's first recording in four years, is one of his standout efforts. It eschews the album concepts and ethnic experiments he is fond of in favor of a strong, varied, straight-ahead collection of originals. He and a new cast of players including the formidable, London-born tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and agile young pianist Danny Grissett bask in the sheer tunefulness of "Fountain," ride a Brazilian groove to invigorating effect on "The Gronk," and bring a blunt, propulsive authority to "Va." One of Harrell's great attributes is his refusal to waste notes. What you hear, you get. <i>--Lloyd Sachs</i>

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 1:07:09

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Hailed by Newsweek for his pure melodic genius, Harrell is widely recognized as one of the most creative and uncompromising jazz instrumentalists and composers of our time. He is that rare improviser who never resorts to cliché, a talent who seems to have an unlimited reserve of melodic ideas. On ROMAN NIGHTS, Tom Harrell once again exhibits the talent, creativity and touch of genius which led the New York Times, Jazz Times and Entertainment Weekly to unanimously proclaim him "the premier trumpeter of his generation."

Genere: Jazz

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Trama: Since I was a young man, my voice has taken me to the far corners of the world singing and interpreting songs of love and romance to the many people I have encountered. As the years rolled by, I have been compared favorably to one of the most recognizable singers on the planet, the great Nat King Cole. As I developed as an artist, I have received numerous requests from friends, fans and critics to do a recording that pays tribute to this legendary man. I now feel that my voice and stature as a vocalist can do his memory justice as one of the most beloved talents of the 21st century. So when the Kennedy Center asked my manager if I would be interested in doing a tribute to Nat King Cole for two nights, we both knew that a live recording would be the best way to capture the intimacy of the songs I wanted to sing. This 13 song tribute to Mr. Cole is my most heartfelt recording of date and a culmination of years of love and appreciation to those who were gracious enough to compare me to this remarkable man, Nat King Cole, Long Live the King.

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Blues

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Trama: Like many younger blues artists, guitarist and singer Corey Harris mixes and blends different styles, instead of sticking to just one. What speaks to his considerable skill as a musician is how well it works. On <i>Greens from the Garden</i>, he roves between the Delta and Cajun country, contrasting the solid, slow blues of "Honeysuckle" with the upbeat, waltz-time "Pas Parles." A definite highlight is "Lynch Blues," which features a great guitar intro backed by a drum roll as smooth as water poured on the drumhead. Between songs lurk bits of percussion, snippets of monologue and conversation; this, coupled with the generally upbeat feel of the album, leaves the listener with the impression of a really good party captured on CD. Thanks to the miracle of modern recording technology, we're all invited. <i>--Genevieve Williams</i>

Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Trama: Emmylou Harris has aged more gracefully than any other country artist (with the exception of Willie Nelson). 1993's <I>Cowgirl's Prayer</I> showcases this maturity in a collection of songs that share wisdom, offer forgiveness, make amends, and explore spirituality. As always, Harris's voice is angelic and sad, her phrasing languid and lonesome. Lucinda Williams's "Crescent City" glows with tragic barroom neon while the classic "You Don't Know Me" takes on a deeper meaning, as if sung perhaps to an old friend or a lost relative? And while spoken-word delivery often falls flat, "Jerusalem Tomorrow" tells such a compelling story--and Harris's delivery is so knowing--that it haunts you long after it's over. <I>--Alexandra Russell</I>

Genere: Country

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Trama: Before raising her profile as a solo artist, Emmylou Harris established herself as the harmony queen of contemporary music, from her partnership with Gram Parsons through sessions with the likes of Bob Dylan. <I>Duets</I> showcases her ability to bring out the best in other singers, though its grab-bag selection doesn't necessarily showcase Harris at her best. Released to capitalize on the success of her initial <I>Trio</I> project with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, it compiles her collaborations with a variety of artists from the late Parsons (their riveting rendition of "Love Hurts") to Southern Pacific ("Thing About You," a Tom Petty obscurity) to George Jones ("All Fall Down," an album highlight) to Don Williams (their hit duet of Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You"). From the sublime (Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson) to the irrelevant (John Denver, Earl T. Conley), the collection is more of a marketplace filler than a cohesive artistic statement. <I>--Don McLeese</I>

Genere: Country

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Trama: Compared to her sometime singing partner Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris is not an especially distinctive singer or songwriter. She lacks the raw talent to match the towering high points of Parton's career, but at the same time Harris has managed to avoid the embarrassing lapses that have plagued Parton. Harris has exhibited a deep understanding of what makes the best country music endure and a stubborn refusal to accept anything less. You can comb through her 20 albums and never find an embarrassingly corny novelty number, a shamelessly maudlin weeper, or a less-than-flawless vocal. This box set gathers all her commercial hits, staples of her live shows, prime examples of her every phase, her best collaborations with other artists, and five previously unreleased tracks. --Geoffrey Himes

Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Trama: Consider this, Emmylou Harris's emancipation proclamation--an album that confirms that 1995's adventurously atmospheric <I>Wrecking Ball</I> wasn't an aberration, but a preview of more radical changes to come. Long the godmother of alternative-country's traditionalist wing, Harris here writes songs with Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff, sings a duet with Dave Matthews ("My Antonia") and recruits Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa to provide harmonies on the album's most compelling ballad ("Tragedy"). The production by Malcolm Burn applies sonic treatments of drum machines, shimmering guitars and echoed vocals to a song cycle by Harris that is largely original and deeply personal, filled with dream imagery and evocations of a spiritual quest. While material such as "Michaelangelo" and "Bang the Drum Slowly" suffers from an arty ponderousness, it's doubtful that Harris has ever recorded an album that means more to her than <I>Red Dirt Girl</I>. <I>--Don McLeese</I>

Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Genere: Country

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Trama: Emmylou Harris's formula has been to match a crack crew of left-of-center country players with an assortment of tasteful tunes and head into the studio with a nonintrusive producer. Now and then (most notably the 1980 bluegrass collection <I>Roses in the Snow</I>), she tampers with her basic blueprint and comes up with something exceptional. <i>Wrecking Ball</i> is one of those. Daniel Lanois's radiant production no longer seems as fresh as it did on albums by U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan, but here its hum enfolds Harris like an electric blanket. Lanois's usual recruits, including U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr., and New Orleans regulars Malcolm Burn, Brian Blade, and Daryl Johnson, lay down a solid base for Harris's weary vocals and Lanois's buzzing guitar. At its core, <i>Wrecking Ball</i> seems almost too finely calculated. Hot producer plus sought-after songwriters plus venerated performer frequently totals to deadly bore. Here, however, all that calculation adds up to something. <I>--Steven Stolder</I>

Genere: Country

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Trama: While live recordings can be treasured mementos for those who were present at the show, they're often substandard versions of favorite material. The live <I>At the Ryman</I> avoids this by covering the material of artists who've influenced Harris's music, rather than concentrating on her own hits. From Steve Earle and Bill Monroe to the Everly Brothers and Creedence Clearwater Revival, her choices are solid and sometimes unexpected (Bruce Springsteen). Harris's love of the music--and appreciation for the audience--shines through in these performances. The songs may have been done better elsewhere (most notably by the songwriters) and Emmy's delivery is at times uneven (as with any live performance), but the talented, fun-loving, all-acoustic Nash Ramblers do much to compensate. <I>--Alexandra Russell</I>

Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: World Music

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Blues

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Genere: Pop

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Blues

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Trama: Tore Down House was Scott Henderson's second blues release, and he expands on the musical territory first explored on Dog Party. Henderson brings his harmonically sophisticated approach to bear on a variety of blues-based compositions. Tore Down House opens with hard-hitting funk of Dolomite, which conjures visions of 70's blaxploitation movies. The title track is a colossal blues, melding jazz-level harmonic imagination, Hendrixian scorch, and Thelma Houston's soaring vocals. Meter Maid features a Bo Diddley beat married to crunching guitars. I Hate You starts out as a hilarious parody of 50's love songs, syrupy chord changes and all, before Henderson's metallic solo takes the song into another dimension. Gittar School is an Stevie Ray Vaughn-styled vehicle with silly-but-funny lyrics. Xanax is one of the highlights, pairing Henderson's raw, no-holds-barred guitar with Thelma Houston's intense vocals. Continuum provides a respite before the hard blues-rock assault of You Get Off On Me, the heavy-hitting slow blues Mocha, and the jackhammer funk of Harpoon. The nonsensical lyrics on Tore Down House will be a turnoff to blues purists, but I kind of admire the fact that Henderson didn't try to write typical blues lyrics. The more compelling thing about Tore Down House is Henderson's expansion and re-imagination of blues-rock guitar. A stellar effort.

Genere: Rock

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Trama: <i>Experience Hendrix</i> brings together the major singles with a stack of majestic album tracks and the career-defining live Woodstock version of "The Star Spangled Banner" on a fat 20-tracker. While best used as a sampler to direct new listeners to the immortal <i>Are You Experienced</i>, <i>Electric Ladyland</i>, and so on, the CD (which supplants the short-lived <i>Ultimate Experience</i> collection) does hang together as a listen. Its blend of Hendrix the rocker and Hendrix the underrated soul man is suggestive, painting a picture of a multifaceted genius and transcending its plainly mercenary origins. In the end, its effect--like that of all Hendrix's best records--is to remind us of a Jimi very, very much alive. <i>--Rickey Wright</i>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: Though Joe Henry has recently been busier as a producer (for the Grammy-winning Solomon Burke, a well-received collaboration between Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, and Henry's own collaboration with Loudon Wainwright III), his first recording of his own material in four years reminds that he has few peers among contemporary singer-songwriters. On previous releases, his adventurousness has pulled his music in all sorts of different directions, but focus and cohesion characterize this song cycle--one that suggests that all politics aren't merely local, but deeply personal. From the centerpiece of "Our Song," where Willie Mays laments what the country has become and remembers what it was, Henry crafts a literate, typically inspired song cycle. Stately waltzes, chamber atmospherics, and jazz instrumentation contribute to the cinematic scope of the music, with guitarists Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz and keyboardists Van Dyke Parks and Patrick Warren providing support that leaves the songs plenty of room to breathe. On "You Can't Fail Me Now" and "God Only Knows," it's hard to distinguish poetry from prayer. <i>--Don McLeese</i>

Genere: Rock

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Trama: Seven years after his first album, singer and songwriter Joe Henry finally hit his stride. His second album for Mammoth, released in 1993, appeared at an auspicious time for alternative country's "no depression" resurgence. The Bottle Rockets released their debut, Uncle Tupelo offered their swan song <I>Anodyne</I>, Blue Mountain formed, and growing interest in the Jayhawks' masterpiece <I>Hollywood Town Hall</I> helped build the genre's audience. <I>Kindness of the World</I> clearly belongs in this class. Henry's delivery suggests Dylan's country voice of the late '60s, a nasal but supple twang, and his songwriting--never keener than on the title cut (featuring airy harmony from Victoria Williams) or on the surging, fuzz-guitar driven "Dead to the World"--also pays a debt to that artist. The Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Marc Perlman back Henry, suffusing the whole with rock & roll body and country soul. <I>--Roy Francis Kasten</I>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: After delivering two albums in the classic singer/songwriter mode, this 1993 release found Midwesterner Joe Henry headed for points deeper South, at least spiritually, looking for a modern version of an old Nashville sound. Things kick off in a terrific pop vein with "Good Fortune," which, despite the mandolins in the background, features a wonderful riff hook that wouldn't have sounded out of place alongside Merseybeat classics on '60s AM radio. The Jayhawks act as Henry's backing band on all 11 tracks here, offering a modernist bluegrass tint to most of the CD. "Reckless Child," heavy on the banjo and fiddles, is one of those Civil War-sounding rock ditties--sort of the Band meets Tom Petty, circa <i>Southern Accents</i>--while Tennessee waltzes such as "Last One Out" and "A Friend to You" wouldn't have been out of place, stylistically, on mid-'70s albums by the likes of early Loggins and Messina, Steve Goodman, Jesse Colin Young, or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. But the songs here are probably all better ("Sault Sainte Marie" will delight anyone from Michigan or who has visited the title place), with nary a clunker in the bunch. <I>--Bill Holdship</I>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Folk

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Genere: Jazz

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Genere: Rock

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Trama: Even John Hiatt's most ardent fans weren't ready for this masterpiece to be dropped in their laps in 1987. Hiatt had spent most of the 1970s and 80s playing pick-a-style, bouncing from southern country rock to Elvis Costello redux and back again. With <i>Family</i>, though, he pared away every bit of excess and delivered his best set of songs with the understated, impossibly tasteful backing of Nick Lowe on bass, Ry Cooder on guitar and Jim Keltner on drums. Hiatt's sober, uncompromising examination of his previously drunken life was breathtaking; producing instant classics in "Have a Little Faith in Me" and "Thing Called Love". <i>Family</i> remains a landmark of adult album rock. <i>--Michael Ruby </i>

Genere: Rock

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Genere: Pop

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Trama: Roots and groove mark this teaming of John Hiatt and the North Mississippi Allstars. On <i>Master of Disaster</i>, legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson and his sons Luther and Cody (the Allstars' guitarist and drummer, respectively) team with veteran bassist David Hood to give Hiatt's music a slow simmer rather than the high voltage fans might have expected from the collaboration. Yet the airy, organic interplay of the band provides the perfect complement for Hiatt's songs of folkish simplicity and lyrical grace. With the title track, he addresses the artist's midlife crisis and finds creative renewal in the process, a theme revisited in the country ballad "Old School." There's a ragtime spirit to "Wintertime Blues" and "Back on the Corner," the insistence of a tom-tom's thump on "Love's Not Where We Thought We Left It" and "Find You at Last," a slide guitar that slices and dices through "Ain't Ever Goin' Back." With "When My Love Crosses Over," Hiatt returns to the soulful, soaring romantic balladry that remains a signature specialty, while "Cold River" tells a story that probes the coldest resources of the human heart. The result is his richest and most consistently satisfying release since the late '80s. <i>--Don McLeese</i>