Alison Balsam

In 2007, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss released Raising Sand, one of the most acclaimed albums of the 21st Century. It was an unlikely, mesmerizing pairing of one of rock’s greatest frontmen with one of country music’s finest and most honored artists, produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett. Now, after 14 years, they return with Raise the Roof, a dozen songs from a range of traditions and styles that extend this remarkable collaboration in new and thrilling directions.

“This album has been an utter joy to make. The concept of this project began decades ago, when I decided that Copland’s Quiet City was a work that everyone needed to hear – especially so as Copland reveals the scene so brilliantly via the solo trumpet and cor. There is a true melancholy in this work that only a certain type of trumpet playing can achieve, and across the collection on the album I’ve tried to show that through the unique lens of the trumpet, the wonderful bridge and mutual respect between the classical composers and arrangers, and the jazz greats can be seen. For many of us, the sentiment behind Quiet City is pertinent at the moment, as we emerge from the loneliness of the pandemic and into another chapter of darkness in today’s turbulent world.”

What seems to be an unlikely pairing of former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss is actually one of the most effortless-sounding duos in modern popular music. The bridge seems to be producer T-Bone Burnett and the band assembled for this outing: drummer Jay Bellerose (who seems to be the session drummer in demand these days), upright bassist Dennis Crouch, guitarists Marc Ribot and Burnett, with Greg Leisz playing steel here and there, and a number of other guest appearances. Krauss, a monster fiddle player, only does so on two songs here. The proceedings are, predictably, very laid-back. Burnett has only known one speed these last ten years, and so the material chosen by the three is mostly very subdued…

Balsom explains in her booklet note that EMI gave her considerable freedom in choosing her programme for the disc and thereby lays my only real reservation. The objective (a daunting one as Balsom readily admits) was to seek out new material although what we get is a slightly uncomfortable blend of one vast original composition in the Eben, that whilst well coupled with the shorter Tomasi work seems rather ill at ease with the likes of Shenandoah and George Thalben-Ball’s well-known organ Elegy. It may be that Balsom was conscious of not duplicating works with Håkan Hardenberger’s release of music for the same combination that appeared on BIS earlier this year (also reviewed by the writer) although in fact it is only the Tomasi that is common to both discs.

When you possess a great pop voice, it's inevitable that you'll someday make a pop album, and Alison Krauss has finally made hers. Instead of bidding for radio airplay with the extravagant, extroverted pop of Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, or Celine Dion, Krauss has crafted an intimate, understated chamber-pop album reminiscent of Joni Mitchell's Blue or Rosanne Cash's Interiors.

Fred Hess - In The Grotto (2007) {Alison SR 114}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 336 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Alison / FHMusic | SR 114
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Saxophone

Fred Hess is one of those artists who managed to carve out their own style and characteristic voice within jazz. His albums are carefully composed but keep the lightness and freedom of free jazz. The compositions themselves are always creative, with lots of twists and turns, tempo changes, rhythm changes, new themes coming in, moods shifting, and it's hard not be kept captivated by what's going on : you get surprises and new vistas after every new bend in the road. Hess is also totally underrated as a musician : his sax playing is very rich and varied.

Fred Hess - Single Moment (2008) {Alison SR 115}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 346 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Alison / FHMusic | SR 115
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Saxophone

Tenor saxophonist Fred Hess blew off on a free tangent in 2002 with Exposed (CIMP Records), employing an Ornette Coleman style quartet containing two horns, bass and drums. He followed up on that approach with three excellent Tapestry Records discs, Extended Family (2003), The Long and Short of It (2004), and Crossed Paths (2005), with the latter pair cementing the Ken Filiano (bass), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Matt Wilson (drums) line-up that has carried over to Hess' more recent quintet albums, How 'Bout Now (Tapestry, 2006) and In the Grotto (Alison Records, 2007).