ukvibe

Originally on the Fantasy label and dating from 1955 and before, this generously timed CD typifies the laid back sound that came to be known as West coast jazz. If the categorisation was something of an over-simplification (Chet Baker could play as hot as anyone on the East coast when he wanted to and proved it on record with the likes of Art Blakey while Ornette Coleman was a fiery Texan tenorist steeped in the blues. By contrast Bill Evans was an East coaster with a West coast style elegance), it nonetheless conveyed a classic era in jazz history and vibes player Red Norvo is invariably overlooked since he was an accomplished musician who straddled different stylistic developments from swing to cool school. In fact Norvo had, earlier in his career, played with the Paul Whiteman band and then with Woody Herman’s first herd so he was well versed by the mid-1950s when he had become a respected leader himself. Save for two originals, the music contained within represents the very best of the great American songbook which merely serves as a backdrop to the improvisational playing. Norvo is very ably assisted in this endeavour by guitarist Tal Farlow who had been part of the Red Norvo trio since 1950 when Charles Mingus had been the bassist. On these sessions, however, Red Mitchell had taken over bass duties and as a trio the three musicians function wonderfully well. The laid back renditions of ‘Let’s fall in love’ and ‘That old black magic’ impress, but best of all is the swinging take on ‘Ole devil moon’ which sounds as though it was an integral part of a Jacques Tati film soundtrack. Utterly timeless in character. The original sleeve notes by Jazz Casuals presenter Ralph Gleason are reproduced in full and are predictably crammed with informative details. Full marks equally to American Jazz Classics for enclosing a lengthy interview from 1968 with Red Norvo which helps greatly to illuminate his lengthy career.  Tim Stenhouse

Tenor saxophonist Houston Person is a musician with a soulful and warm delivery in the lineage of the great Gene Ammons, and on this relaxed, swinging set of largely standard-based bop and blues-inspired numbers. He is backed by a top rhythm section that alternates between guitar and additional brass accompaniment and features Ray Drummond on bass, Louis Nash on drums and John di Martino on piano. Person excels on the slower pieces such as the charming ballad ‘Closer to you’, the Burt Bacharach and Hal David pop standard. This is a different sound from Person’s heyday as a regular sideman and leader for the Prestige and subsequently Muse labels when he performed on soul-jazz classics of the calibre of Charles Earland’s ‘Black talk’ and his very own ‘Houston Express’. The sound has over time become more refined and indeed straight ahead in approach, but the soulful touches are as evident now as they were some forty years ago. Quite simply Houston Person belongs to a generation of saxophonists who are increasingly thin on the ground and his continued recording career is in itself a triumph.  Tim Stenhouse

Vocalese giants Lambert, Hendricks and Ross enjoyed only the briefest of spells together as a trio, but made an indelible mark on the history of jazz with their highly innovative vocal improvisations of then contemporary instrumental jazz classics. This very generously timed CD groups together two of their classic albums. The first, ‘Sing a song of Basie’, features members of Count Basie’ band, though not in their entirety, and of the two is the more conservative in approach. John Hendricks lyrics are always witty and right on the ball with ‘Avenue C’ and ‘Everyday I have the blues’ being the stand out tracks of a consistently high performance album. The trio offer versatility with an essentially small group setting that features a quartet plus guitar, the one and only Freddie Green. Things hot up considerably on the second album, ‘Sing along with Basie, which this time features the Basie band at the time in full with vocalist Joe Williams added on some numbers. A plethora of classic renditions followed and these include ‘Goin’ to Chicago Blues’, ‘Lil’ darlin’ and ‘Jumpin’ at the woodside’ all being major league vocalese tunes that have easily stood the test of time. A twenty page booklet complete with song lyrics and indicating individual singer contributions is extremely useful and, as an added bonus, there are three additional cuts of live recordings of which Horace Silver’s ‘Doodlin’ and ‘Everyday I have the blues’ stand out. This current set is a fine accompaniment to the Columbia/Sony 2 CD set ‘The hottest group in jazz’ which is an accurate summation of where the trio were at the time and their influence on countless generations to come which individually included the likes of Oscar Brown, Eddie Jefferson, and collectively and most obviously Manhattan Transfer.  Tim Stenhouse

BBC Radio 3 and its regular World Routes programme have long championed sounds from throughout the globe that cannot normally be heard on commercially available CDs and, in some cases, music that is intended for a local audience with few, if any commercial considerations in mind. Hence the raison d’être for this sumptuously compiled double CD spanning the years 2004-2011 that explores relatively unknown artists as far afield as Azerbaijan, Cape Verde and Madagascar. There are indeed some wonderful discoveries to be made and these include the glorious harp playing of one Carlos Orozco. It is criminal that Venezuelan traditional music is not more widely available in the UK and which goes beyond salsa (excellent though Venezuelan salsa frequently is) so the inclusion of this style of music is particularly welcome. Likewise the duet between Justin Vali and Paddy Bush showcasing roots music from Madagascar on ‘Veloma’ was a most pleasant find for this writer. Cape Verde is best known for the great Cesaria Evora and more recently the new star on the block Mayra Andrade, but harbours other less famous musicians of significant note and two are to be found here. Singer Michel has an interesting talkover delivery that works well with a highly melodic instrumental accompaniment while Tito Paris offers uplifting rhythms on ‘Mar Azul’.

The Indian subcontinent is worthy of a compilation in its own right, but on this pan-global introduction deservedly receives four musical offerings. Of these the North Indian classical khyal vocal style was an especially enjoyable listen featuring a winning combination of vocals, tabla and harmonium on ‘Bandishi thumri in Raga Desh’ by the Misra Brothers. Moving into the Middle East, the music of Syria is rarely if ever highlighted internationally, even less so in the current political climate, and thus the rootsy duo of Khyam Allami and Taoufik Meerkhan on the imperious sounding qanun (a plucked zither) and the contemplative oud (a Middle Eastern string instrument of which there are some renowned virtuoso practitioners) offers a brief insight into the country’s rich cultural tradition. Neighbouring Turkey also merits greater attention with some wonderful music available on the ney and saz horn instruments and the contribution by Cengiz Ozkan will hopefully lead to more forays into Turkish folk music.

Simply put, the World Routes team under the expert leadership of musicologist Lucy Duran have gone directly to the source and recorded with the best available equipment and this significantly enhances the listener’s enjoyment. Extensive inner sleeve notes explain both the musicians and their individual styles while some lovely photography work captures the essence of the roots tradition in the aforementioned countries. Factor in some downright rootsy grooves from Brazil, Jordan, Peru and Ugandu, and there is something for all musical tastes here. Not everything is essential listening, but a good deal is and this will in turn lead to new discoveries and, with a bit of searching, to hopefully the odd purchase of new sounds that do surface on CD and other formats.

One might quibble about the absence of music from certain key nations in Latin America with as rich and diverse tradition such as Argentina, Columbia and Mexico to mention but three, but that is to miss the point of the compilation. It was never designed, nor could ever possibly achieve comprehensive status. Rather it serves as a bridge to better appreciating musical styles that have to a large extent been ignored by the world music industry (Brazil, India and Mali being the major exceptions) and judged on that criteria alone, this is an ideal foot in the door for even the most seasoned of world roots aficionados.  Tim Stenhouse

Barcelona based collective Orquesta Arab de Barcelona typify the diverse sounds of a twenty-first century cosmopolitan European metropolis and in some respects they are simliar in approach to say the Orchestre Barbès in Paris. However, in the case of the former the musical cross-fertilisation encompasses Moroccan gnawa, flamenco and jazz instrumentation while participants are made up of Catalan, Spanish and North African components. This helps explain why the inner sleeve notes include lyrics that have been translated into Arabic, Catalan, English and Spanish no less. The fusion works best as on the heady melodic mix of Moroccan rhythms allied to flamenco handclaps on ‘Somnis d’Orient’ (’Last dreams’) and there is indeed a surprise in store in ‘Tango de la amurgura’ (’Bitterness tango’) since it is not in fact a bona fide tango at all, but rather a compelling flamenco-inspired number. On the bright, uplifting opener ‘Magrebia’ Moroccan gnawa and funk-tinged jazz of the Weather Report variety come together to good effect with bass and keyboards prominent. An interesting release that successfully explores the commonality of musical roots on either side of the Mediterranean.  Tim Stenhouse

Lulu Gainsbourg is the son of legendary French singer and agent provocateur extraordinaire Serge Gainsbourg and the former has kept a relatively low profile until now in his mid-twenties. A recently well publicised live concert in Paris which was broadcast live on French national radio during last November served as the curtain raiser to the album which was released shortly afterwards and this is very much a tribute to the music of his father spanning the early jazz-inspired period through to the mid-1970s, taking in myriad pop and rock sounds. In order to accurately convey the changes in style that Gainsbourg senior underwent, Lulu has brought on board an array of guest musicians and singers, French and North American, with the odd surprise inclusion from the English-speaking world and this works extremely well, particularly for the earlier period. Lulu plays more of a supportive than lead role as a pianist and occasional singer of modest vocal range and ambitions. In this respect he is more of a singer-songwriter in a similar relation to Julian Lennon. There is always going to be the overwhelming legacy of his father to contend with and, perhaps, inevitably Lulu will be judged ultimately on his ability to write his own songs. Be that as it may, Lulu performs creditibly well on the opener, a bossa nova take on ‘L’Eau à la bouche’ with whispering vocals and nice shifts in tempo. This is an obvious candidate for a single. Guests includes Rufus Wainwright who impresses on one of Serge’s most melodic songs ‘Je se venu te dire que je m’en vais’. Close friends Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis combine on a homage of sorts to the recently re-issued masterpiece ‘Melody Nelson’ with one of the main cuts ‘Ballade de Melody Nelson’ while Lulu pairs up with actress/singer Scarlett Johansson on the seminal ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. While neither of these songs meets the dizzy heights of the original, they are perfectly fine in their own right and may serve the useful purpose of attracting a new, younger audience to the extensive Serge back catalogue. Where the album scores best is actually on the earlier period and there are two excellent instrumental jazz interpretations of ‘Inotxocated man’ and ‘Black trombone’ by a mouth-watering line up of Gil Goldstein on piano, James Genus on upright bass, Terri Lynne Carrington on drums and Serge’s 1980s saxophonist Stan Harrison (from the ‘Love on the Beat’ album onwards). A whole album of material from the jazz period by this quartet would make a welcome addition to the Serge tribute brigade. A few songs do not really come off and both Iggy Pop singing ‘Initials B.B.’ and Shane Mc Gowan’s interpretation of ‘Sous le soleil exactement’ are best ignored. However, they do at least indicate how Serge Gainsbourg’s music has permeated the English-speaking rock world. World music flavours abound on Richard Bona’s take on ‘La Javanaise’ and there is a radical reworking of the reggae tune ‘Fresh news from the stars’ with a delicate piano (Lulu) and cello (Dave Eggar) duet which suggests that Lulu may just have a successful life of his own as a musician and one that is distinct from that of his father. That would surely have made Serge happy.  Tim Stenhouse