Bear Proof, the new release from bassist/composer Todd Sickafoose and my first encounter with his work, offers a chamber music adventure in an exhilarating jazz setting, featuring eight exceptional, genre-fluid musicians and a deep, articulate, and arresting compositional voice.
Award-winning ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, linguist, documentarian, sound artist and ecologist, musician, and UNM professor Steven Feld encountered Por Por (pronounced paaw paaw), Ghana’s honk horn music, 20-some years ago and has continued to work with the musicians, documenting this unique genre. The exclusive players of this squeeze-bulb klaxon horn music are the drivers in the La branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (La is a district of Accra). In his most recent effort on their behalf, Feld combines them with the Texas Horns, a preeminent U.S. soul, blues, and roots trio. The result is an astonishingly strange and familiar hybrid.
I’ve fallen behind in my listening and reviewing, so to catch up a bit, here are four short reviews of ear-worthy releases from reedman Michael Blake’s septet, bass soloist Brandon Lopez, pianist Jean-Michel Pilc’s trio, and the duo of altoist Pierrick Pédron and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Happy listening, to one and all.
Three new releases from Sexmob, Lily Guarneros Maase, and the Ralph Alessi Quartet offer wildly different but equally captivating musical experiences.
“Our sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thought,” said Percy Bysshe Shelley. In support of that sentiment, I offer exhibit one: The Price We Pay for Love, the new release from vocalist Julie Christensen, coproduced with bassist Terry Burns, who also contributes string arrangements and orchestral programming.
