Nowhere 1997

Murder Ballads brought Nick Cave's morbidity to near-parodic levels, which makes the disarmingly frank and introspective songs of The Boatman's Call all the more startling. A song cycle equally inspired by Cave's failed romantic affairs and religious doubts, The Boatman's Call captures him at his most honest and despairing - while he retains a fascination for gothic, Biblical imagery, it has little of the grand theatricality and self-conscious poetics that made his albums emotionally distant in the past. This time, there's no posturing, either from Cave or the Bad Seeds. The music is direct, yet it has many textures, from blues to jazz, which offer a revealing and sympathetic bed for Cave's best, most affecting songs. The Boatman's Call is one of his finest albums and arguably the masterpiece he has been promising throughout his career.

Paul Desmond - The Complete Paul Desmond RCA Victor Recordings ft. Jim Hall (1997) [5CD BoxSet] {BMG}
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© 1997 BMG / RCA Victor | 09026 68687-2
Jazz / Cool / Saxophone

THE COMPLETE RCA VICTOR RECORDINGS includes the five solo albums Desmond released on RCA's Bluebird imprint in the early 1960s: DESMOND BLUE, TAKE TEN, GLAD TO BE UNHAPPY, BOSSA ANTIGUA and EASY LIVING. Between 1962 and 1964 Paul Desmond , Dave Brubeck's alto saxophonist (and composer of "Take Five"), recorded five remarkable albums for RCA with guitarist Jim Hall. (Listeners might recall that the inimitable Hall also recorded with Sonny Rollins for RCA during the same period.) Luckily, RCA has seen fit to reissue the Desmond-Hall sessions in an attractive 5-CD box. Of these, only the first session, DESMOND BLUE, was arranged for strings. Otherwise it's just Desmond and Hall, a few good bass players and the great MJQ drummer Connie Kay, whom Desmond long revered for his subtle touch.

Virgil Gonsalves and Steve White - Jazz In Hollywood (1954) {Nocturne OJCCD-1889-2 rel 1997}
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© 1954, 1997 Nocturne Records / Fantasy / OJC | OJCCD-1889-2
Jazz / Cool / Bop / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

The two obscure sets reissued on this single CD from Original Jazz Classics were originally released as 10" LPs by the Nocturne label. The first six numbers are West Coast cool jazz by a sextet featuring baritonist Virgil Gonsalves, valve trombonist Bob Enevoldsen, and tenor saxophonist Buddy Wise. These concise renditions of five standards and the obscure "Bounce" find the musicians in excellent form, making the most of each note. The second half of the CD is an unrelated quartet date by the eccentric tenor saxophonist Steve White, who is joined by pianist Jimmie Rowles, bassist Harry Babasin, and drummer Roy Harte; trombonist Herbie Harper is a big asset on "Topsy." White's sound was quite influenced by Lester Young, while his odd singing (heard on "My New Jet Plane") is certainly unique. An interesting if not essential reissue.

London Baroque, one of our best pre-classical ensembles, has chosen an all-Marais programme for its debut on gramophone records. Both works come from a collection published in 1723 containing unusually extended pieces in a style often removed from that of Marais's Pièces de violes. The most elaborate of them is La gamme which, as its name suggests, relies both on the ascending and descending levels of the scale for its invention.

Beyond category or idiom, audacious in its very idea, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter perform a little over an hour of spontaneous improvised duets for grand piano and soprano sax. That's all no synthesizers, no rhythm sections, just wistful, introspective, elevated musings between two erudite old friends that must have made the accountants at PolyGram reach for their Mylanta. Hancock's piano is long on complex harmonies of the most cerebral sort, occasionally breaking out into a few agitated passages of dissonance. His technique in great shape, Shorter responds with long-limbed melodies, darting responses to Hancock's lashings, and occasional painful outcries of emotion.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers famously played 20 nights at the legendary Fillmore venue in San Francisco in 1997. 6 of the shows were professionally recorded and this release features many of the high points of the residency. The small venue allowed the band to vary their sets each night; they included re-arranged and distinctive versions of their hits, deep cuts, and many cover versions – paying tribute to the artists that Tom and the band had been influenced by. The 2CD set includes 33 tracks, 18 of which are covers - 2 hours of music. The triple carton pack includes a 22-page booklet with previously unseen photographs.

Surfing with the Alien belongs to its era like Are You Experienced? belongs to its own – perhaps it doesn't transcend its time the way the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 debut does, but Joe Satriani's 1987 breakthrough can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late '80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred. Certainly, Satriani was unique among his peers in that his playing was so fluid that his technical skills never seemed like showboating – something that was somewhat true of his 1986 debut, Not of This Earth, but on Surfing with the Alien he married this dexterity to a true sense of melodic songcraft, a gift that helped him be that rare thing: a guitar virtuoso who ordinary listeners enjoyed.

This matchup between trumpeters Doc Cheatham (91 at the time) and Nicholas Payton (just 23) is quite logical and delightful. Cheatham, one of the few survivors of the 1920s, was still in remarkably fine form, while Payton (a flexible New Orleans player capable of ranging from Dixieland to Freddie Hubbard) is both respectful and inspiring. With Doc contributing occasional vocals and the settings ranging from a quartet to an octet with clarinetist Jack Maheu and pianist Butch Thompson, the brassmen explore a variety of 1920s and '30s standards, including a couple of obscurities ("Do You Believe in Love at Sight?" and "Maybe"). The interplay between the co-leaders, the many subtle tributes to Louis Armstrong, and the consistent enthusiasm of this swinging set make this a historic success and a very enjoyable outing.