Soul of Wood

Marc Bolan and T. Rex - Interstellar Soul 1972-1977 (2007) {3CD Set, Edsel Records EDSB 4001}
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© 1972-77, 2007 Edsel Records / Demon Music | EDSB 4001
Rock / Glam Rock / Proto-Punk / Rock & Roll

Brilliant 2007 three CD set that celebrates the life and music of Marc Bolan, released to coincide with the 30th Anniversary of his untimely death at the age of 29. This triple disc set picks up just after the success of his Electric Warrior album when Bolan set up his own label and became the biggest Rock superstar in the UK since the Beatles. Featuring over 90 tracks spanning the years '72 to '77, this box features hits, album tracks, alternate mixes, live versions, demos, radio jingles and so much more. Painstakingly pieced together, Interstellar Soul is a stellar set. The 28 page color book contains full annotation by Mark Paytress, Bolan authority and author of the definitive Marc Bolan biography, as well as many previously unpublished photos by Barry Plummer.

Medeski Martin & Wood - It's A Jungle In Here (1993) {Gramavision GCD 79495}
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© 1993 Gramavision / Rykodisc | GCD 79495
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Electric Jazz / Soul Jazz

A cerebral soul-jazz trio gives up some art and some funk with guest horn players and guitarist Marc Ribot. They call it "Shuck It Up," and rightly so, since they're neither as dissonant nor as ironic as many of their peers playing around downtown New York City. But that doesn't explain why these three don't swing as hard playing Monk, Coltrane, and King Sunny Ade as they do laying down their own earnest grooves and dismantling Bob Marley for mixing up with the Monk. Whether it's insecurity, indifference, or the physical chops they haven't developed to match their minds is for demanding listeners to decide. Or else it's all the same dilemma and will go away with time, just like the band's slow tunes.

It's hard to believe that after more than two decades together playing in all sorts of sonic configurations, Medeski, Martin & Wood haven't released an acoustic trio album since 2000's Tonic. Free Magic remedies that. The set was recorded during their 2007 acoustic tour. There are five tunes in this hour-plus set; four are originals. Chris Wood's "Doppler" (a studio version appeared on 20 [available on iTunes]) commences as a rhythmic improv with Billy Martin playing balafon (an African cousin to the xylophone) with John Medeski on a toy piano and a melodica, and Wood bowing his upright. The pace gradually increases before a rhythmically repetitive motif introduces itself. After vamping on for a minute, the track shifts gears and becomes a jumping, funky, soul-jazz piano trio tune that suggests, in equal parts, the Impulse-era trios of Ahmad Jamal, and Les McCann's and Ramsey Lewis' mid-'60s groove fests.

Marking the 80th birthday of Grace Bumbry in January 2017, this box set celebrates her magnificent career across opera, oratorio and Lieder and soul in a handsome original jackets collection of 8CDs and a DVD of her legendary Carmen.