Jesse Cook Tempest (1995) [repost]

Be warned – this is an album that will grow on you very quickly. Jesse Cook is a Canadian flamenco guitarist who took the world fusion route at some point, basing his playing against a wonderful mix and match of percussion, synthesizers and samplers…

Ottmar Liebert's popular Nouveau Flamenco sound has never paid strict homage to the history of Spanish guitar; rather, it has combined tradition with modern pop influences to create an accessible style that successfully bridges new age, jazz, and worldbeat. Paris born, Toronto bred Jesse Cook draws from the same ancient rhythms, but takes even more aggressive liberties with the form. So much so, in fact, that he labels the back sleeve of his new Narada Equinox disc, Gravity, with a colorful explanation of his unique hybrid: "Gravity Is Rumba Flamenco World Beat Jazz Pop."…

Veteran producer Ralph Bass produced this collection back in 1977 for a blues album series that never materialized; Delmark finally brought it to domestic light recently. Solid, unpretentious package that shows both Clearwater's West Side-styled southpaw guitar sound and his Chuck Berry-oriented capacity for rocking the house.

For all of his many attributes, one thing Frank Zappa most certainly was not is commercial. Presumably, the title of this collection is ironic. Strictly Commercial: The Best of Frank Zappa is a compilation not of the composer's hits – he only broke the Top 40 on one occasion, with "Valley Girl" – but rather, a collection of his best-known material, from "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" to "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace." Zappa's albums often function as individual works, but this disc offers an intelligent selection of songs, serving as an introduction to the maverick musician.

Venja brings together the extremes of musical tradition. The computer technology of the high-tech era together with the soft timbre of classically trained female singers. The two are finely balanced. When anyone accuses the creators of electronic music that their sounds are subdued and bizarre, Venja can teach them the error of their ways. Even though this musician considers himself to be a synthesizer purist. Venja lives in the eastern part of Belgium and has an education into digital technologies and so he build his first instruments himself. The millions of sounds which he can entice out of these instruments fascinate him and fill him with enthusiasm. This is the raw material for his “sound painting” much simular to the paint which painters place on their palettes. “Combining sounds in the right way, i.e. using them in the right context and breathing live into them, this is what puts the harmony into my music”, he says.

Venja brings together the extremes of musical tradition. The computer technology of the high-tech era together with the soft timbre of classically trained female singers. The two are finely balanced. When anyone accuses the creators of electronic music that their sounds are subdued and bizarre, Venja can teach them the error of their ways. Even though this musician considers himself to be a synthesizer purist. Venja lives in the eastern part of Belgium and has an education into digital technologies and so he build his first instruments himself. The millions of sounds which he can entice out of these instruments fascinate him and fill him with enthusiasm. This is the raw material for his “sound painting” much simular to the paint which painters place on their palettes. “Combining sounds in the right way, i.e. using them in the right context and breathing live into them, this is what puts the harmony into my music”, he says.

Venja brings together the extremes of musical tradition. The computer technology of the high-tech era together with the soft timbre of classically trained female singers. The two are finely balanced. When anyone accuses the creators of electronic music that their sounds are subdued and bizarre, Venja can teach them the error of their ways. Even though this musician considers himself to be a synthesizer purist. Venja lives in the eastern part of Belgium and has an education into digital technologies and so he build his first instruments himself. The millions of sounds which he can entice out of these instruments fascinate him and fill him with enthusiasm. This is the raw material for his “sound painting” much simular to the paint which painters place on their palettes. “Combining sounds in the right way, i.e. using them in the right context and breathing live into them, this is what puts the harmony into my music”, he says.

For his debut on the MoJazz label, the ancient vibraphonist Lionel Hampton was featured with several groups, some more suitable than others. Keyboardist Patrice Rushen largely ruins a funky rendition of "Flying Home" and several of the other songs (the inspid "Jazz Me" and Chaka Khan's feature on "Gossamer Wings") are little more than throwaways. Better is Hampton's collaboration with Tito Puente's band on "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" and his original "Mojazz" even if Grover Washington, Jr., sounds as if he is on automatic pilot on "Another Part of Me."

Damn! marked Jimmy Smith's return to the Verve label after an absence of 20-plus years (he originally recorded for the label from 1963 to 1972), and paired with a group of young and sympathetic jazz players that includes Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton on trumpet and Ron Blake and Mark Tuner on sax, he sounds invigorated here, striding across the Hammond B-3 keys with definite energy. The whole album, start to finish, works a wonderful groove, but versions here of James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" are particularly strong. Smith was arguably at his best in stripped-down trios, and his work for Blue Note between 1956 and 1960 will always be the quality reference point for his extensive canon, but Damn! is right up there with his best work, full of a joyous energy, and it sparked a resurgence of sorts for Smith.

A Place to Call Home is the first solo album by Joey Tempest, the vocalist in the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was released on 20 April 1995 and presented a different sound compared to Europe. "I needed a change from the Europe sound," Tempest said in an interview, "I wanted to prove myself as a singer/songwriter for sure, but for me it was more of a journey to learn about making music. I went to see a lot of new young artists .. got into stuff like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan." Europe guitarist John Norum made a guest appearance on the song "Right to Respect". Japan import features one bonus track for a total of 13.