Hot Trax

Slip another quarter into the jukebox

By Greg Cahill

J. J. Johnson Heroes Verve

A WELCOME RETURN by the former Basie sideman and bop-era trombone great who waxes mostly melodic on this strong outing (accompanied by pianist Renee Rosnes, reedman Don Faulk, bassist Rufus Reid, and drummer Victor Lewis). But listen to him growl and groan on “Thelonious the Onliest,” an angular and dangerous-sounding track inspired by Thelonious Monk. At a mere three minutes and two seconds, it’s the shortest song, but worth the price of admission alone.

Snooky Pryor Shake My Hand Blind Pig

I WOULDN’T GIVE you 10 cents for Blues Traveler and that hyperactive harp player that fronts the band. But I would walk through hell in a gasoline suit to catch this pioneer of the amplified harmonica, a man who understands the true art of saying more with less. Every track on this blues-drenched CD epitomizes the blue-collar grace of postwar Chicago blues. His cover of the Hank Ballard chestnut “Work with Me Annie” simply drips with conviction. Buy one for yourself, and a friend.

Aston “Familyman” Barrett Cobra Style Heartbeat

AS LONGTIME bassist to Bob Marley and the Wailers, Burning Spear, and many other reggae legends, the Familyman delivered a drop-dead bottom that helped define the genre. “Distant Drums” is the kind of laid-back ganga-soaked instrumental dub (Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer contribute special effects) that marked those glorious pre-dance hall days when nobody was making any money at this and the production was profoundly primal.

Abbey Lincoln Wholly Earth Verve

OK, it’s a cliché to say that someone could sing the phone book and make it sound soulful, but with Abbey Lincoln it’s true. Case in point: Who else could take a ditty like “If I Only Had a Brain” and–thanks in no small part to the enchanting vibes playing of the underrated Bobby Hutcherson–transform it into a spellbinding lament utterly devoid of any childishness while playfully wrapping her voice around the melody? With the recent deaths of jazz vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter, Lincoln steps to the forefront as the reigning jazz diva. Hail!

Gary Floyd Backdoor Preacher Man Innerstate

SINGER, SONGWRITER, and guitarist Gary Floyd made a pretty big splash (in cult circles at least) a couple of years ago as the driving force behind the Bay Area-based Sister Double Happiness. Here he mixes a handful of originals with such traditional country and blues as Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and Willie Nelson’s “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.” But Floyd gets down and dirty on the soon-to-be-a-rockabilly classic “A Better Man,” a feverish lament full of woe. Pass the Lord, and praise the bottle, pardner.

Dave Biller and Jeremy Wakefield The Hot Guitars of Biller and Wakefield Hightone

LES PAUL meets Speedy West at a western swing hoedown. Labelmate Big Sandy drops in for a guest appearance, as does San Francisco alt-country heavyweight and co-producer Deke Dickerson. The track “Guitars on Fire” tells the boys’ story, with lots of twangy telecaster helping to make “all that racket from wood and wire.” The lo-fi production is a real charmer. Crank it way up.

Red Garland I Left My Heart … 32 Jazz

DO YOU THINK God loves jazz players? Heaven knows there are some sweet sounds on high if they had the good sense to give the late Red Garland a set of keyboards. This Dallas-born pianist, who worked in Miles Davis’ band from 1955 to 1958, was known as an idiosyncratic stylist whose tinkly right-hand solos were, well, divine. Need proof? Check out the soulful rendition of Percy Mayfield’s classic “Please Send Me Someone to Love,” newly released on this live 1972 date recorded at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco (and featuring Sonoma County bass player Chris Amberger). It’s simply to die for.

From the March 11-17, 1999 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Dis ‘n’ Dat

Hip-hop nation: Members of the Roots boast a new CD and a local concert this weekend.

New CDs by the Roots, Steve Earl, Ricky Skaggs, Built to Spill, Tom Russell

The Roots Things Fall Apart MCA

WITH EX-FUGEE Lauryn Hill’s solo debut CD The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill taking hip-hop’s first Album of the Year award at the Grammies last week, the nod to so-called alternative-rap seems to be at its peak. What is it? The groove connecting alt-rap groups like A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, and Outkast has been called “intellectual rap” in that it favors live instruments over samples, jazzy textures over party funk, and self-reflection over gangster gruffness. On closer view, however, this is a white rationale for enjoying rap–those familiar with hip-hop history know that Dr. Dre pioneered live instruments on The Chronic, that the work of the Geto Boys is loaded with self-evaluation, and that the samples behind many hardcore raps come from ’70s jazz. Alt-rap is a blurry line, and the real deal is still MC and DJ skills. Thus, Philadelphia’s rap/jazz group the Roots is not, as it’s been called, “hip-hop’s best band” so much as the hip-hop band the white press most loves to hype. They acknowledge this on their third disc Things Fall Apart, but that’s about as brave as they get on a work whose title and five different gripping album covers promise something more apocalyptic and compelling. Their live drums, stand-up bass, and keyboards provide some creative sounds–full cymbal crashes on the aptly titled “Ain’t Sayin’ Nuthin’ New,” a simulated Philly-soul sound on “Act Too (the Love of My Life),” drummer ?uestlove actually playing techno’s drum ‘n’ bass rhythm behind the Erykah Badu cameo, a dialogue of vocals and scratches on a hidden track. But the content of the disc is unfocused, the raps are run-of-the-mill boasting that don’t tell stories, and on “Adrenaline” they make a gangsta shoot-’em-up call that alt-rap is supposedly beyond. Early on the disc, lead rapper Black Thought says, “Instead of trying to take you under/ I make you wonder.” I wonder why hip-hop, as profound as it is, has to act intellectual. Still, the Roots are known as a tremendous live act, so save your money on this disc and catch them Saturday, March 6, at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma. –KARL BYRN

Various Artists 32 Gems from 32 Jazz 32 Jazz

UNDER THE CAREFUL guidance of longtime jazz producer Joel Dorn, this much-welcomed New York- based jazz and blues reissue label over the past two years has released discs chock full of rarities and long out-of-print recordings–all at bargain prices. In that time, critics have sung the praises for 32 jazz tracks by post-bop saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Mingus, Les McCann, and many others. This three-CD sampler shows what all the fuss is about–and true to its word, these are indeed 32 bona fide gems from the likes of pianists Horace Silver and Red Garland, reedmen Charlie Rouse and David “Fathead” Newman, soul jazz pioneer Richard “Groove” Holmes, and many more. Not just a great introduction to a great label, but also a sizzling selection of some of the genre’s shining stars. –GREG CAHILL

Built to Spill Keep It Like A Secret Warner

BUILT TO SPILL won’t change the face of rock, but they have changed themselves. The Seattle trio makes effortless emo-core (an outgrowth of indie lo-fi and grunge in which yearning vocal/melodic emotions strain through cascading guitar dynamics) that is trad-rock in its noisy desire to make sense and alt-rock in its sweet insistence that nothing makes sense. They lean to the former here, as they abandon the complex structures that were almost a breakthrough on 1997’s Perfect from Now On. Instead, these songs are linear four-minute bursts, not their previous eight-minute meanderings through chord and tempo changes. This should be a change for the better–more direct structures equaling more direct statements, but Built to Spill now sound less eventful. Still, their new alt-rock normalcy isn’t bad–from out of the whirl and clatter of guitars emerges a smart rhythm section. –K.B.

Steve Earl and the Del McCoury Band The Mountain E Records

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Ancient Tones Skaggs Family/DNA

AT THE START of Nashville renegade Steve Earl’s latest CD, the singer can be heard singing the opening of the “The Mickey Mouse Club” theme song and informing the band that its time to don their hats. It’s a typically self-effacing moment from the newly reformed bad boy of country music–here in a tribute to late Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe–but there’s nothing Mickey Mouse about these sessions. Earl has teamed up for with ex-Monroe sideman Del McCoury and his band–arguably one of the best in the genre–and a guest list that includes Emmylou Harris, Iris Dement, Gillian Welch, and John Hartford for 14 heartfelt interpretations from the heartland. Kinda miss the bad-boy ruminations, but this is one helluva an outing. Meanwhile, country superstar Ricky Skaggs has released the followup to last year’s Grammy-nominated bluegrass album. Ancient Tones is a sweet, soulful front-porch session from one of the best mandolinists and guitarists in a field overgrown with talent. Most of the tunes are by Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. All the pickin’ is seriously fine. High and lonesome? You betcha! –G.C.

Pick of the Week

Tom Russell The Man from God Knows Where Hightone

SINGER/SONGWRITER Tom Russell–a neo-folkie with close ties to ex-Blaster Dave Alvin, Nanci Griffith, and others– plumbs his roots on this concept album tracing the migration of his kinfolk in their search for a new life. This earnest, often compelling song cycle–with guests that include the ubiquitous Iris Dement–follows the paths of his Irish and Norwegian ancestors to what Russell calls “a rawer, more primitive America,” far from the star-spangled suburban wonderland that harbors the modern middle class. “We sing here of the triumph of individuals in the face of isolation, rootlessness, disease, madness, and suicide,” Russell writes in the liner notes, In the face of all that hardship (Russell’s own father, Charlie, a gambler and horse trader, died poor and alone in 1997 in a California nursing home), Russell celebrates survival. And isn’t that what life in America is all about? –G.C.

From the March 4-10, 1999 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.