Blue Jay Way

An impressive and delightfully exhausting 50 tracks capture the spirit of the Beatles' music on this double-CD compilation that imitates The White Album in look, just as the immaculate Boston Does the Beatles double LP from 1988 did…

Never heard of Jay Owens? Doesn't matter. Owens' obscurity is something the somewhat laborious liner notes go to great lengths to establish, as if it were a badge of honor. The key, however, is the music's timeless soulfulness; after a couple of listens, you'll swear you've been listening to it all your life. For the record, Owens has made noise previously as a touring sideman for such greats as Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Aaron Neville, Etta James and Bobby Womack. But on his debut recording, he moves to center stage with the grace and poise of a veteran. What's more, the dude writes all his own songs. A generous thirteen of them are included on this album, originally released in 1993…

Michel Benita, partner of Dewey Redman, Aldo Romano, Marc Ducret, Erik Truffaz and Nils-Petter Molvaer (also norvegian as Eivind Aarset) is acustomed to unsual meetings. Mieko Miyazaki’ Koto and graceful voice, Eivind Aarset’s norvegian guitar, Matthieu Michel’s poetical trumpet, Philippe Garcia’s urban rythms, all organized by a subtil groove, added with electronic compositions of Michel Bentia push us to a unknow place, possible meeting place for all the cultures.