Gault And Millau 2021

Encore is a new album produced from previously unheard archival recordings by the legendary Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence, made in 1965 at the height of his career. Spence’s radically innovative guitar style transformed elements of Bahamian traditional music into adventurous, joyful improvisations and influenced players worldwide. His powerful singing stemmed directly from the rhyming tradition created by Bahamian sponge fishermen early in the 20th century. The music is punctuated by Spence’s unique, sometimes otherworldly vocalizations including humming, short bursts of lyrics, and near-scat singing. Some of the recordings include singing by Spence’s sister Edith Pinder and her family members Raymond and Geneva Pinder. Producer Peter K. Siegel captured these performances at Spence’s only New York concert, at the performer’s cottage in Nassau, Bahamas, and at Siegel’s apartment in Manhattan.

For many years Evan Parker, one of the greatest post-Coltrane saxophonists, has played a monthly gig at the London club The Vortex. These gigs in part illustrate Evan’s close ties with the fragile ecosystem of clubs that support the jazz world; the small venues that allow an intimate and powerful connection between the artist and audience that is at the heart of jazz creativity. Evan called these events his ‘jazz’ gigs, the knowing hyphenation an indication of the problematic use of the J word, an acceptance of the Vortex as a ‘jazz’ club, and a nod to his origins in jazz history. I took a friend there one time and it seemed to me that the trio’s performance (Evan, John Edwards and the great and sadly departed Tony Marsh) came close to seeing Coltrane or Ayler playing at the 5 Spot or one of the other legendary New York venues.

Named after the tour from which the performances were taken, "Music Is Our Friend" is an official bootleg featuring all of King Crimson's final performance in North America at Washington in September, 2021. This 2CD set is completed with four pieces from the first concert of the tour's second leg in Albany. Taken together, these tracks represent both a beginning and an end of a tour that took place despite almost insurmountable issues. Originally scheduled for 2020, postponed for a full year because of the pandemic, the tour began July in Florida as the latest Covid wave hit and the band moved across the country in a tour bus bubble. Following a two-week break due to scheduling conflicts, they returned to the road again, with the Zappa Band appearing nightly before Crimson.

Following 2016's lauded When Patsy Cline Was Crazy… And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues, Warwick unleashes his fifth solo album. Titled When Life Was Hard And Fast, it was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Keith Nelson (ex-Buckcherry), who also co-wrote the majority of the songs on the record with Warwick. Growing up in northern Ireland on a diet of Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Motörhead, and the Ramones, Ricky Warwick started performing with New Model Army in the late '80s before helping to form U.K. punk band the Almighty in 1988. After a lengthy stint with several successful records in the '80s and '90s, the group disbanded in 2001. Shortly thereafter, Warwick teamed up with Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott to record and produce his solo debut, Tattoos & Alibis, in early 2003 for the Sanctuary imprint.

Cyan was the formed by Magenta’s Robert Reed back in 1983. Three albums were released in the early 1990s before Robert formed the award winning band Magenta. 2021 will see the reformation of a new Cyan line up along side Robert, including Peter Jones (Camel/Tiger Moth Tales) on vocals, Luke Machin (The Tangent/Maschine) on guitar, and Dan Nelson (Godsticks/Magenta) on bass. The new album is a complete re-working of the original Cyan album "For King And Country" (1993). Songs have been extended and completely re-imagined, re-written with the new line-up.

With her band Heart, Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Within that history-making career, You and Me represents something special, as it is Nancy Wilson's very first solo studio album. The title track 'You and Me,' as with several of the songs on the album, reunites Wilson with longtime collaborator Sue Ennis, who co-wrote many of Heart's classics with Nancy, and sister Ann. 'You and Me' highlights the intimate feel of the album. Nancy's singing is forward in the mix, her voice is spare, and the minimal production makes it feel like she's right there in the same room with you. Like all the legendary music she's created with Heart, 'You and Me' is an emotional, intimate conversation between a musician and an audience.