Letectvi + Kosmonautika 1994 03

As the title implies, this is very much a swing set. Pianist Dick Hyman (a master of all pre-bop styles) has little difficulty emulating Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum and Count Basie (among others) plus his own style in an octet also featuring trumpeter Joe Wilder, trombonist Urbie Green, altoist-clarinetist Phil Bodner, baritonist Joe Temperley, rhythm guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Butch Miles and (on three tunes) altoist Frank Wess. The opening and closing numbers are ad-lib blues both titled "From the Age of Swing"; sandwiched in between are ten swing-era standards plus a couple of obscure Duke Ellington items. Among the highlights are "Topsy," "Them There Eyes," "Rose Room" and "Mean to Me." No real surprises occur, but mainstream fans should like this swinging set.

Recorded live in October 16, 1993 by Max Federhofer at Donaueschinger Musiktage, Germany. Virtuoso saxophonist with his band moving effortlessly between jazz, improvisation, contemporary music and the avante-garde.

This is the stuff guitar heroes are made of. Henderson doles out everything from straight-up rock & roll to slow, nasty blues and twangy country on this album. The quality and clarity of the sound on this recording serve to enhance and complement Henderson's in-you-face guitar style too. The opening track "Hit the Bricks" is fairly weak, and there are a few others that don't necessarily light any fires (the title track and "Love Somebody"), but the rest of the CD smokes. The seven instrumentals include Henderson's favorite Link Wray song "Rawhide," and a twangy, two-part version of Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser." The Ventures medley is a true delight (he breaks out the whammy bar a bit). "Brandon's Song" features some double-lead guitar and sounds like something you might hear from Clapton.

This is a well produced disc with a sharp rhythm section accented by horns on almost every track and sweet backup vocals from the ladies that contrast nicely with Blues Boy's gravelly voice. His vocals are one of the highlights of the album, he often sounds remarkably like B.B. King. The lyrics are on the humorous side, and the opening track "I'm gonna marry my mother-in-law" is quite racy.

Sometimes conviction, charm and humor can be as important as performing proficiency. While there's little in the playing or singing of guitarist Dave Specter or vocalist/harmonica player Tad Robinson that you haven't heard before, they so obviously enjoy what they're doing and communicate it so well that you eventually overlook their familiar material and become engrossed in their performances. This disc has a gritty, rough-edged sound often missing from modern blues dates. The menu ranges from jazzy tunes to lowdown wailers, soul-tinged pieces, and uptempo instrumentals.

The sturdiness of the blues tradition will support any band with decent chops and good instincts and make it sound good, but only the rarest bands overcome the weight of that same tradition to make music original enough for greatness. The Dallas quartet Mike Morgan & the Crawl is the perfect example of a bar band that serves the blues legacy honorably without ever adding much to it. Ain't Worried No More includes 9 songs by guitarist Morgan among its 13 tracks, but these represent a reshuffling of old materials rather than anything personal enough to be forever associated with its composer. Morgan, who wears a pirate patch over his right eye, is not a singer; he leaves that to his longtime partner and harmonica soloist Lee McBee, whose gruff and soulful baritone never distracts from the band's groove…

All King Crimson fans should know about David Cross, as he was once the violinist and keyboardist in the band in the early 70's. He played on many of the classic King Crimson albums such as "Lark's Tongue in Aspic", "Starless and Bible Black" and "Red". On this solo album from 1994 you can hear many reminiscences to King Crimson. David's electric violin is always in the forefront of the music without being dominating: swirling, floating and sometimes it hits you right in the face. Five tracks are studio recordings, and four are recorded live at Flöz Club, Berlin, October 1993. When you're buying a David Cross album you'll never get disappointed. This album is as highly recommended as any other David Cross release is.

Widespread Panic's fourth album features tighter, more song-oriented writing. The searing guitar of the opening tune, "Little Kin," introduces a grittier album than the previous year's Everyday. After touring with the first two H.O.R.D.E. tours in 1992 and 1993, the band's popularity was growing. Their rousing version of Bloodkin's heartbreak tune "Can't Get High" earned them radio play…

Formed by Tokyo acid jazz maven Gonzalez Suzuki, Soul Bossa Trio recorded several albums of refreshing, exploratory jazz with a debt to fusion and Brazilian jazz but a sparkling sense of interplay often lacking in their club-centered contemporaries. Suzuki was originally a member of Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys, Japanese jazz-pop favorites during the '80s.