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the tale. This is not your grandfather’s Gil. Gone are the alternating militant jazz and soothing Fender Rhodes. In their place are ghostly industrial tracks provided by alternative rock producer Richard Russell (also owner of XL Records). Over those tracks, Brother Gil drops one the most blood-curdling spoken word blues albums ever committed to CD. I’m talking hair-raising sung covers of Robert Johnson’s “Me and The Devil” and Bobby Blue Bland’s “I’ll Take Care of You,” arresting poems such as “Where Did the Night Go,” “The Crutch” and particularly “Running.” The only relief comes at the opening and closing bookends “On Coming From a Broken Home” on which he shares his love for the women in his life; his mother and grandmother. Though the project clocks in at just over a half hour, it wipes you out like a 3-CD set of Cecil Taylor would. For maximum effect, I dare you to listen to it alone…in the dark.
BY A. SCOTT GALLOWAY Urban Network Music Editor
Seawind REUNION (Seawind Jazz)
Growing up, it was so inspiring to discover a band of amazing musicians embracing Christian themes of faith and brotherhood and turning these sentiments into some of the funkiest and hottest soul-jazz-pop music imaginable. With so much talent in the band – from leader drummer Bob Wilson and lead singer Pauline Wilson to master horn arranger/brass man Jerry Hey and keyboardist/saxophonist/composer Larry Williams, it was sadly inevitable that they would not stay together for long. This pioneering 7piece band formed in Hawaii got four amazing albums onto the market from 1976-1981 before calling it quits. Last month, I was thrilled to find out that not only are the group’s dynamic first two albums available on CD (Seawind and Window of a Child, originally recorded for CTI), but 6 of the 7 members also recorded a wonderful new CD titled Reunion their first full release in 20 years! Appropriately, it contains both new songs plus new arrangements of past gems such as “He Loves You” (f/ special guest and fan Al Jarreau), “The Devil is a Liar,” “Follow Your Road” and “Free.” I am thrilled to report that the new music continues the compositional depth and emotional commitment of the classics that came before. Highlights include the funky bass-driven groove “You’re My Everything,” an instrumental tribute to the great Wayne Shorter (titled “Wayne”) and the gorgeous “Sunshadow.” Only officially released in Japan for now, the CD is nonetheless available to all via the Website www.seawindjazz.com. Be looking for my interview with the reunited soul soothers soon on our Website.
Alex Bugnon GOING HOME (Xela)
For two decades, Swiss-born keyboardist Alex Bugnon has been a romantic yet energetic force on the contemporary jazz scene - in possession of chameleonic skills befitting him as a straight ahead jazz piano leader and as a soul sideman. On his new album Going Home, he boldly explores that music – his first love – more explicitly than ever before. From originals inspired by his early idols Horace Silver and Ahmad Jamal to covers of old favorites from WAR’s “The World is a Ghetto” and Herbie Hancock’s “Oliloqui Valley,” to an adaptation of “Nothra Dona di Maortse” (a song he discovered at his father’s funeral), the 8-song project taps deep roots from multiple plains. “Going Home represents me returning to what I really love to do…which is to play as hard as I possibly can,” he states. Joining him for this careerredefining project are old friends Poogie Bell on drums and Victor Bailey on bass, among others. This is the best album of Bugnon’s catalog, thus far, and the first on his own Xela Records imprint. Support this!
Gil Scott-Heron
Cindy Blackman
I’M NEW HERE
ANOTHER LIFETIME
(XL)
(4Q)
Drummer Cindy Blackman has had an enviable career as a touring musician with rocker Lenny Kravitz, as a side woman for many jazz artists and as a leader in her own right for albums that have stretched from straight ahead jazz to forward thinking contemporary projects such as her previous double-disc Music for the New Millennium. Her latest CD finds her paying tribute to the most influential musician of her lifetime, Tony Williams. Williams, who died unnecessarily at 51 due to health facility neglect, was a drummer of galvanizing power and ceaselessly searching musical ambition. Miles Davis praised him for pushing any musician he played with to their highest potential. Blackman’s reverence is palpable on Another Lifetime, on which she reexamines many of the pieces he created in his pioneering and chameleonic jazz-rock fusion unit band The Tony Williams Lifetime. It takes guts to even attempt covering this music – the originals of which literally crackle with electricity and the rawness of freshly chiseled granite. This recording is a little too polished in places, but Blackman never ceases to bring the fire to the proceedings, representing her mentor to the fullest. She made some interesting choices, particularly as it came to including (or not) the lyrics on classics such as “Beyond Games” and “There Comes a Time.” But she plumbs Tony’s singular gift for funk in her original spoken word piece “40 years of Innovation,” flies free in a sax/drums duet with Joe Lovano on “Love Song” (from Tony’s avant garde ‘60s Blue Note period) and especially on the third of three versions of “Vashkar” titled “The Alternate Dimension Theory” where she and the band stretch into the outer limits. I imagine Tony smiling down after hearing this one and offhandedly remarking, “Yeah…sharing.” Musicians include Mike Stern, Vernon Reid, Doug Carn, Carlton Holmes, Benny Rietveld, David Santos…and Patrice Rushen on a majestic “Wildlife.”
Gil Scott-Heron scared me half to death the first time I heard I’m New Here, the word shaman’s first work in 15 years. As I listened long past the witching hour…under cover of darkness…alone, this work literally sounded like what it is - a once powerful black man that’s been to Hell and back and lived to tell
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Patrice Rushen
MASTERS OF AMERICAN MUSIC
SHOUT IT OUT
(Medici Arts)
(Soul Brothers)
The acclaimed television series has released four of it finest jazz related programs on DVD in limited edition digitally re-mastered editions that are a must or connoisseurs’ libraries. We’re talking Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and a fourth disc titled “The Story of Jazz” that polls a plethora of greats – many now deceased including Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Illinois Jacquet, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine and many more. Seeing these timeless artists profiled and sharing their side of the jazz story in such a first class presentation is priceless.
U.K. based Soul Brothers Records is to be commended for bringing to CD for the first time Patrice Rushen’s third and funkiest Prestige Records CD, Shout it Out (1976) onto the market. The remastering is full and pristine, and the 8 tracks within bowl you over with deep, deep, DEEP funk…and taste. Heavily contributing to the funk factor are drummer James Gadson, former Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Al McKay (check out The Hump”), percussionist Bill Summers, and then-Chuck Mangione bassist Charles Meeks (“Shout it Out,” “Roll with the Punches” and “Let There Be Funk”). The single from the album was the tamer, uplifting “Let Your Heart Be Free” and Quiet Storm radio got much drive time mileage out of the lovely “Stepping Stones” (composed by Charles Mims) and the exquisite “Yolon” (composed by L.A. unified school district music program savior Reggie Andrews). Throughout, Patrice is a wonder – singing, playin’, groovin’, composin’ and laying the foundation for breakthroughs ahead such as “Look Up,” “Haven’t You Heard” and, eventually, “Forget Me Nots.” All that funk…started here.
Hiromi A PLACE TO BE (Telarc)
Following her escalating work in the jazz fusion realm and the acoustic trio project she participated in with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, Hiromi returns to solo piano with this impressive CD. The lady’s piano dexterity and versatility matched with her penchant for compositional forms that stretch from Phillip Glass (“BQE”) to Chick Corea (“Sicilian Blue”) reveal much about the crazy classical, jazz hybrid that bursts forth from the creative nooks of her cranium. Put this on and prepare for your head to swim in a place where brilliance meets beauty.
Maysa A WOMAN IN LOVE (Shanachie)
Singer Maysa Leak has left indelible footprints behind her as a guest of Stevie Wonder, as a co-member of Incognito and as a solo artist. But she has never created a full CD statement quite as powerful as this one. From sexy samba of the opener “Am I Wrong (For Lovin’ You),” a pendulum swing duet with Will Downing titled “Love Theory” and a slick surprisingly contemporary take on Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” to a lovely rendering of Michel Legrand & The Bergman’s “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” the percolating title track and a lovely version of the Michael Jackson chestnut “The Lady in My Life” from a woman’s p.o.v., it’s one of those perennial collections for which all the stars aligned and everything came together just right. Perfectly balanced between choice covers such as “Willow Weep For Me” and “I Put a Spell on You” to a spicy new original titled “Honey Bee,” this is indeed a woman in love with her craft…and that makes it Maysa to the third power.
Whitney Houston WHITNEY HOUSTON: DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Legacy/Arista)
Just call it a Whitney fan’s wet dream (like her standing in the ocean on the back cover). This dual CD and DVD presentation offers the original hit-laden 10-song album plus great dance remixes of “Thinking About You” and “Someone for Me” (which should have been a U.S. single) and a live rendition of “Greatest Love of All.” The 41-minute DVD gives us four music videos including “You Give Good Love,” “Saving All My Love For You” and “How Will I Know,” plus her 1983 TV debut on “The Merv Griffin Show” singing “Home” and the Arista 10th Ann. Party live version of “I Am Changing.” Deluxe booklet includes lots of photos and a Q&A with Svengali Clive Davis, but it would have been nice to hear reflections from others involved with the album such as Jermaine Jackson, Raymond Jones and Kashif.
Corinne Bailey Rae THE SEA (Capitol)
With the sudden tragic death of her husband, it is not surprising that Ms. Rae’s sophomore album is largely a way for her to mend and to say goodbye. What is surprising is how much light there is instead of darkness. Songs like “Feels Like the First Time” recall the joy he brought while he was here while the beautiful “I Would Like to Call it Beauty” and “Diving For Hearts” find her weaving her pain into reflective poetry. This project is a deeper step inward for the singer/songwriter who came out of nowhere a few years back with a billowy debut. The Sea marks a giant step onward and upward.
© THE URBAN NETWORK
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