Tony Bennett's latter-day albums tend to have themes, and this one has two, as indicated by its double-barreled title: It is both a duets album and a blues album. The duet partners include ten singers who range from his recent touring partners Diana Krall and k.d. lang to fellow veterans Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Kay Starr, and younger, but still mature pop stars Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, and Billy Joel. All sound happy to be sharing a mic with Bennett. Not surprisingly, the singer's conception of the blues does not extend to the Mississippi Delta or the South Side of Chicago; rather, he is interested in the blues as filtered through the sound of the Swing Era, particularly from around Kansas City, and as interpreted by Tin Pan Alley and show tunes…
Live in Amsterdam is the first live album by Candy Dulfer and contains prior hits such as "Sax-a-go-go," "Lily Was Here" and "Dance 'till You Bop," and new songs such as "Synchrodestiny." The album features David A. Stewart, Hans Dulfer and Angie Stone as special guests. The album peaked at #27 in the Dutch album charts.
Old School is Koko Taylor's first new album in seven years, and after a series of health issues that sidelined her for a while, it could be viewed as a comeback of sorts, but if so, there aren't any signs of rust here. She still belts out her trademark Chicago blues like she always has, sidestepping any 21st century recording tricks for a straightforward set that wouldn't sound out of place next to her classic Chess sides from the early '60s. It's also encouraging that she wrote nearly half the tunes here, while turning in solid covers of a pair of Willie Dixon songs ("Don't Go No Further" and "Young Fashioned Ways"), one by Magic Sam ("All Your Love") and a scorching performance of Lizzie Lawler's classic "Black Rat" that rivals Big Mama Thornton's version.
Guitarist Marty Friedman surprised the metal and guitar community with the release of his fine new age-influenced Scenes. On that release, he proved that he wasn't just another shredder, but rather an intelligent and sensitive player with strong compositional skills. With Introduction, Friedman continues to build on this formula, but with more maturity and musical diversity. Themes are not just introduced and abandoned in favor of gratuitous technical noodling, rather the compositions are thoughtfully explored and brought to a natural conclusion. Tracks such as "Arrival" and "Bittersweet" both contain beautiful melodies that would fit perfectly on a movie soundtrack. In fact, the compositions on this session are so good that Mr. Friedman could easily put down his guitar in favor of a pen, as it is his gift of composition that differentiates him from his peers. An unexpected masterpiece in a genre that could use more releases such as this.
Robin has a very simple reason for his new solo record, after 17 years there is so much material that inspired and excited him, he thought it was about time to release at least a small amount of it. All who love his unmistakable voice are yearning to finally hear the new album. The new longplay 'Magnet' has been produced in Los Angeles and London. Robin chose Deacon to produce (well known for his success with K-Ci & JoJo, Mary J. Blige, Keith Sweat and Hinda Hicks). The record contains tracks written by Robin, Barry and Maurice, as well as other songwriters favored by Robin. Influenced by soul music, Robin decided to combine this with the magnificent lyrics and lush melodies which are his trademark. On the new album you will find all these elements in abundance plus some old tracks, which have been updated.
John Mellencamp has been in need of a thorough, career-spanning compilation for a while, and Island/UTV's 2004 release Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits finally fills that gap. His previous hits collection, 1997's The Best That I Could Do, was too short, since he had more hits than could fit on a brief 14-track disc. Words & Music doesn't have the problem of brevity. Spanning 37 songs over two discs, this has nearly all of his charting hits. Radio hits like "Justice and Independence '85" and "Rooty Toot Toot" may be absent, but they're not missed, since all the big hits are here, including "Pink Houses," "Lonely Ol' Night," "Paper in Fire," "Authority Song," "Crumblin' Down," "Small Town," "Hurts So Good," and "Jack & Diane," among many others (including two solid new songs).
Jacintha is a Singaporean jazz singer/torch singer and stage actress who has been well-known in parts of the Asia-Pacific region since the '80s and has been increasing her exposure in North America since the late '90s. Jacintha has never been the type of jazz artist who goes out of her way to be abstract, difficult, or complicated; her work has been quite accessible and easy to absorb, drawing on direct or indirect influences that have included Julie London and Shirley Horn as well as Brazilian star Astrud Gilberto. Jacintha has long been fluent in English. Her visibility in the United States and Canada started to increase in the late '90s, when she began working with producer Ying Tan and started recording for the Los Angeles-based Groove Note label. Jacintha's first Groove Note release, Here's to Ben: A Vocal Tribute to Ben Webster, was recorded in 1999 – and that album marked the first time that a Jacintha album was widely distributed in North America.
Nat "King" Cole's piano trio has been an inspiration for many of today's young lions: from Diana Krall to this talented vocalist-guitarist, John Pizzarelli. Taking his cue from the fleet-fingered dexterity of Cole's guitar ace Oscar Moore, Pizzarelli combines economical licks with wispy, Chet Baker-like vocalism's on this candlelight tribute consisting of Cole-associated songs, accompanied by bassist brother Martin Pizzarelli and pianist Ray Kennedy. The tunes are sung and swung with reverence and rhythm: the easygoing "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," the furious, foot-stomping standard "Indiana," the plaintive ballad "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons," and the devilish and demure, "Don't Let It Go to Your Head." With the toe-tapping original composition "That's Nat," cowritten by Pizzarelli and Kennedy, Nat King Cole's intimate ballads and pre-bebop instrumentals are brought to a new generation with the leader's own tender and terrific talents.
The best jazz groups are made up of kindred spirits, but the rare family band has something more – an intuitive feel for each other that goes beyond words and gestures to a kind of bred-in-the-bone telepathy. The 3 Cohens are that sort of uncommon collective, a trio of siblings – tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen and soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen – whose sense of improvisational interplay is both uncannily fluent and wonderfully, infectiously warm. In Tightrope the group digs deep to explore this connection in an unaccompanied setting. Stellar guests Fred Hersch, Christian McBride and Jonathan Blake individually add their voices to the conversation.
First Base was British hard rock group Babe Ruth's biggest success, both in terms of popular and critical acclaim. This LP defined an interesting junction between hard rock and progressive rock. The two driving forces behind this album were guitarist Alan Shackloc, who wrote most of the material, and vocalist Janita Haan, who came out as the perfect balance between Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. The album contained "The Mexican," the band's classic song which also includes a theme by western soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone ("Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu"). Other highlights include the powerful rock number "Wells Fargo," the sweet-and-sour "Black Dog" (with nice piano work by Dave Punshon), and a surprising rendition of Frank Zappa's "King Kong."