Nearly Tricky

"Vertical lift-off" was how broadcaster NDR described Jin Jim’s rise on the German jazz scene. These words are justified, if one considers the relatively short backstory which now culminates in their ACT debut album “Weiße Schatten” (White Shadows).

During a period of three years, Craig David transitioned from aspiring songwriter and DJ to major U.K. pop star. When his meringue-smooth, garage-tinged R&B single “Fill Me In” reached the top of the U.K. chart during the summer of 2000, the singer, only 19 years old at the time, became the youngest British male solo artist to achieve the feat. Not only that, but he also achieved mainstream U.S. acceptance and platinum sales in 18 additional countries. Though he did not sustain that level of popularity, David released solid modern R&B albums every few years and also took a look to the past with a reverent set of Motown covers.

It is easy to understand why Chausson’s Concert is not as regular a feature of concert programmes as, say, Franck’s Violin Sonata. After all, a work for piano, violin and string quartet must surely have an instrumental imbalance. How can Chausson occupy all three violin parts for nearly forty minutes? In short, he does not. Nor does he try. Much of the Concert is essentially a sonata for violin and piano with an accompanying, though essential, string quartet. Chausson’s refusal to involve the quartet at every juncture merely to justify the players’ fees results in a signally well-balanced late Romantic work. When the quartet does feature on an equal footing, the effect is all the more telling. The fingerprints of Franck can be detected readily throughout the Concert, but in this and the Piano Quartet, Chausson’s individuality overcomes his teacher’s influence. Indeed, there are premonitions of Debussy, Ravel and even Shostakovich. Tangibly the product of live performances, these accounts traverse the gamut of emotions, bristling with energy, lyricism and conviction, and ensuring that this disc will never gather much dust.

Mark Soskin - One Hopeful Day (2007) {Kind Of Blue Records ‎KOB 10019}
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© 2007 Recording Arts SA / Kind Of Blue Records ‎| KOB 10019
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

Mark Soskin has built an impressive discography as a sideman, though he hasn't been recorded nearly enough as a leader since his arrival on the jazz scene. Nearly 20 years after his first record date of his own, the veteran pianist assembled a top-shelf band with tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Bill Stewart for this studio date, which like most of his recordings is for a non-U.S. label.

The Cabo Verdean popular music genre of funaná is one that, up until a few years ago, had little representation in the wider global marketplace, and it’s easy to understand why. Outlawed by the Portuguese colonial government in the 1950s as too proud an expression of identity, it emerged into the local mainstream only in the 1990s, where it served as a sonic symbol of political activism during Cabo Verde’s shift to a multi-party government. In more recent years, popular sounds of the island nation have featured in several new releases – Analog Africa’s Space Echo and Legend of Funaná, Ostinato’s Synthesize the Soul – with funaná occasionally the focus.

Although he had been a major tenor saxophonist in the studios for nearly 20 years and was quite popular for his work with the Brecker Brothers, this MCA/Impulse set was Michael Brecker's first as a leader. Playing in a quintet with guitarist Pat Metheny, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Jack DeJohnette, Brecker performs three of his originals, two by producer Don Grolnick, and Mike Stern's "Choices." The music in general is straight-ahead but far from predictable; the tricky material really challenges the musicians and Michael Brecker is in consistently brilliant form, constantly stretching himself.