Ship Gregory Votolato

Michael Gregory Jackson's first recording as a leader has been reissued on CD from the ESP-Disk group, and it's a vivid reminder of how melodically charged his music is from a more subtle perspective. With Jackson primarily on acoustic guitar, the memorable melody lines he stretches to full Zen-like lengths are perfectly clear, yet evoke his individualism with little doubt.

One of the best-known and widely respected Jamaican performers of all time, Gregory Isaacs was a true Kingston rude boy whose blend of hard-hitting roots and sweet romantic reggae captured the hearts and minds of fans over a period spanning more than two decades.

Gregory Porter's sophomore effort confirms the talent that was so apparent on his debut. He's developed greater technique and subtlety in his impressive singing. The '70s soul is still quite apparent in his voice, with shades of Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers, but he's also the vocal heir to Nat King Cole. He's becoming a major talent, not just as a singer but also as a composer, with a unique, elliptical style, both for melodies and lyrics, which is quite evident when held up against the covers here. Porter is also acutely aware of dynamics, able to move smoothly from the softness of "Imitation of Life" to the almost atonality of the raucous "Bling Bling," which also features some excellent scat singing. His own material isn't immediately memorable, but insinuates itself into the brain after a few hearings, sophisticated and often beautiful.

Modern audiences sometimes associate musicmaking from the Romantic era with extreme rubato, impetuousness of spirit, and a calculated disregard for the fidelity of the text. Although this certainly existed, these characteristics were by no means universally employed. In fact, many Romantic musicians strove to achieve clarity in their performances. “Toujours clair, I have heard him (Guilmant) exclaim a hundred times…” his student Charles Galloway reported in The Etude magazine in January 1921.