Peace

When Terry Callier returned to the music scene as an active participant in 1998, after 20 years in self-imposed exile, he jumped headlong into the recording and touring process. His first two recordings, the fine Timepeace and the less-than-satisfying LifeTime, both had songs worthy of anything Callier ever wrote during the 1960s or 1970s. The live album, Alive on Mr. Bongo from 2001, is a testament to that. But finding a producer who could properly illustrate the vast subtleties in Callier's work, which effortlessly blurs the boundaries between jazz, pop, soul, and poetry, proved difficult in the studio. On Speak Your Peace, Callier has found the perfect working mates in Jean-Paul Maunick and Marc Mac (from 4Hero), two men who understand that his work is more about nuance than statement, sense impression than solid image, poetry than prose. Callier's glorious voice and wonderfully fluid acoustic guitar are front and center in the mixes of both men.

Carmen Cuesta - Loeb set the pace for her album "Peace Of Mind" by working together with such top studio musicians as Chuck Loeb, Will Lee, Wolfgang Haffner and Bob James. Icing on the cake for her brand of "sophisticated pop" are the solos delivered by such jazz stars as Toots Thielemans, Bill Evans and Till Bronner. Alongside a number of her own compositions in a relaxed, atmospheric vein, jewels like the heart-rendering title song "Peace Of Mind", the catchy "Paralelo" or the romantic ballad "Bells", there are two cover versions in particular that stand out on the list of tracks.