Ottmar Liebert's popular Nouveau Flamenco sound has never paid strict homage to the history of Spanish guitar; rather, it has combined tradition with modern pop influences to create an accessible style that successfully bridges new age, jazz, and worldbeat. Paris born, Toronto bred Jesse Cook draws from the same ancient rhythms, but takes even more aggressive liberties with the form. So much so, in fact, that he labels the back sleeve of his new Narada Equinox disc, Gravity, with a colorful explanation of his unique hybrid: "Gravity Is Rumba Flamenco World Beat Jazz Pop."…
Be warned – this is an album that will grow on you very quickly. Jesse Cook is a Canadian flamenco guitarist who took the world fusion route at some point, basing his playing against a wonderful mix and match of percussion, synthesizers and samplers…
“There are many borders in our lives. Some are built by others, some we create for ourselves. Whenever I have ventured beyond the borders in my life, I have been the better for it. Beauty, humanity, artistry, joy, wisdom, and of course love…these things don’t stop at some line on a page. If music is the universal language, maybe there is something it can teach us?”…Jesse Cook Following on the heels of One World’s critical and commercial success, Jesse Cook is ready to launch his new album Beyond Borders. This is the most sonically diverse and distinctive disc in Jesse Cook’s vast and varied catalogue. This catalogue has earned Jesse 11 Juno nominations and one Juno win for 2000’s Free Fall. Beyond Borders is an in depth musical journey exploring the exotic boundaries of World Music.
It's obvious from the greasy opening blues vibe in "Exodus of Venus," the title track of Elizabeth Cook's first album in six years, that something is very different. Produced by guitarist Dexter Green, this set is heavier, darker, and harder than anything she's released before. Its 11 songs are performed by a crack band that includes bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Matt Chamberlain, keyboardist Ralph Lofton, and lap steel guitarist Jesse Aycock…
Limited Edition, career spanning 6CD box set from the American musician, songwriter and singer who has spent a lifetime writing and recording songs as well as playing live with some of rock's biggest names. Featuring vocals from Sammy Hagar, Kevin Cronin, Robin McAuley, Patty Smyth, Adrian Gurvitz, John Waite, Richard Black and many more. Jesse Harms is an American musician and songwriter. He has worked with Sammy Hagar, David Lee Roth, Eddie Money, REO Speedwagon, Bad English, Guitar Shorty, Patty Smyth, and McAuley Schenker Group. Born in Massachusetts and raised in Berkeley, California, Jesse began playing the piano at 8 years old and studied classical music until he was 15. His first band Rags featured a young Pat Thrall and Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger)…
On Blues Is a Feeling, the late guitarist-vocalist Jesse Thomas delivers straightforward, rural-sounding blues in an intimate, drumless session from 1992 with pianist Jodie Christian and second guitarist John Primer. Thomas was 81 years old at the time of this recording, just three years before his death. And though his voice sounds somewhat frail here-and probably would’ve been overwhelmed by the sound of drums-Primer and Christian provide light, elegant accompaniment that puts Thomas’ soft yet expressive vocals in the foreground. And Thomas proves to be a humorous storyteller on tunes like “Married Woman Blues,” “She Throwed Me Clothes Outdoor” and “Santa Claus.”
Oh, My Girl, the second album by singer/songwriter Jesse Sykes and her band the Sweet Hereafter – led by Phil Wandscher – picks up where her debut, Reckless Burning, left off. Songs are played at cough-syrup tempo, production is sparse, instrumentation equally so, offering just enough of a frame for the melody and lyrics to hang themselves on, and everything, absolutely everything, is underplayed. There is plenty of dynamic tension, but little to no dynamic range. Yes, this is a good thing. Sykes' ghostly voice, which hovers about her words more than inhabits them, has enough old-world folkiness, raw – if intentionally muted – willingness, and lonesome country pain in it to carry off these tunes with authority. Produced, mixed and engineered by multi-instrumentalist Tucker Martine, Oh, My Girl is full of slow, dipping passion, moody expressionism and poetic smarts to make it stand out in a sensual, narcotic way from the rest of the gothic alterna-twang pack. And one more thing: Sykes has more emotion in the grain of her halting, cracking voice than a whole army of Margo Timmins'es – so let the comparisons stop now, please.