Madeleine Peyroux: Standing On The Rooftop (Emarcy)
The singer continues to mix increasingly strong original writing into her recordings, but here we also get some old classics covered.
She opens with the Beatles’ Martha My Dear, which shows off her peerless ability to laze behind the beat (though not taking quite the jaw-dropping risks with phrasing that she does in concert), and also includes personal interpretations of Bob Dylan’s I Threw It All Away and Robert Johnson’s Love In Vain. For many, that last named will be a reminder of the Stones’ version, and there is another Stones’ connection on this disc: Bill Wyman is credited as co-writer of two songs. Other co-writers of the richly mood-varied originals include the superb Brooklyn violinist/singer and Bill Frisell collaborator, Jenny Scheinman.
Another charming, laid-back and gorgeously sung and played disc (producer is Craig Street) from the classiest of the jazz-linked, best-selling younger singers.
Linley Hamilton: Taylor Made (Lyte Records)
The Belfast-based trumpeter acknowledges the considerable contribution of pianist Johnny Taylor in the title of his album. Taylor’s playing and help with the arrangements, the grooves of bassist Dan Bodwell and drummer Dominic Mullan, and especially the distinctive breathy, sometimes almost trombone-like tone and fluency of the leader make this a jolly enjoyable hour.
The tunes are all from other sources, some from the great American songbook (Without A Song, This Can’t Be Love), some more modern jazz classics (Kenny Garrett’s Happy People and Woody Shaw’s Rosewood) and some from more poppy sources (Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow and Paul Simon’s Have A Good Time).
Hamilton’s warm, Woody (Shaw) sound suits ballads like My Heart’s Desire very well (Taylor brings a nice Ramsey Lewis soul-jazz greasiness to his fills on this tune), but he can push hard at speed, too, as he does on This Can’t Be Love and Without A Song. He never loses sight of melodic playing, whatever the pace.
Hamilton has paid his dues in the bands of Van Morrison and Paul Brady, has his own show on BBC Radio Ulster and is currently studying for a PhD in jazz. Now he has a good. solid CD release to add to his CV.
The New Gary Burton Quartet: Common Ground (Mack Avenue)
The four-mallet vibraharpist has always shown an ear for a young guitarist with potential. After all, Burton band alumni include Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Kurt Rosenwinkel. But his earliest guitar signing has to be the teenage Julian Lage.
After a spell away working on his own material as leader, and while Burton was reuniting with Chick Corea to explore once again the duo material they developed on their ECM album Crystal Silence, Lage is now back in the band, alongside Scott Colley on bass and Antonio Sanchez on drums.
It’s a classy programme of band originals, plus some from previous band pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, one tune by Keith Jarrett and the Rodgers and Hart classic, My Funny Valentine. And the playing is classy, too. The interlinking of all four instruments is fascinating, and even when one of them is soloing, one never feels they are stepping out from the quartet, merely leading the mood for a while.
Burton has always had this lovely countryish (though not country & western), wide open spaces feel to his music, and Lage, Colley and Sanchez understand that fully. It was there in his recordings of 40 years ago, that jazz meets the rolling wheat fields feel. I think it was what prompted Metheny to take the route he did. And I’m pleased Burton has stayed true to it.
Miles Davis: Tutu (Warner Jazz)
A reissue of the Miles Davis album – or should that be the Marcus Miller album? – which was the 1986 first release on Davis’s new record company, after his near life-time stay with Columbia. All those who liked it then will like it now, even while reflecting that the sound and style hasn’t travelled all that well. It’s lush and rounded but the production sound and Miller’s influence so strong that it seems now rather too rooted in the ’80s.
But there are still some great grooves and great tunes here, and Davis will always sound timeless, no matter what surrounds him. The sound has been remastered, too, which is good as I suspect earlier CD versions fell foul of that late ’80s straight from LP to CD mix that always made the latter sound rather harsh.
To celebrate the re-release, and marking what would have been Davis’s 85th birthday, there is a second disc in this posh cardboard package, containing a previously unreleased live performance from the Nice Festival in July 1986. No Miller on this, with a band that includes Bob Berg on saxophone, Robben Ford on guitar, and Robert Irving and Adam Holzman on synths, but some of the music is from Tutu.
Thorough cover notes from Ashley Kahn and those gorgeous Irving Penn photographs complete the package.
Huntsville: For Flowers, Cars And Merry Wars (Hubro)
The Norwegian trio made two interesting albums for the Rune Grammofon label, but this is probably their most compelling yet, as they move even further into a kind of Americana trance territory. Interestingly, they were in this area long before Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket moved into town.
Ivar Grydeland plays stringed things of all kinds, guitar, banjo, pedal steel, whatever; Tonny Kluften plays all kinds of basses, electric, double, bass pedals, etc; Ingar Zach plays all kinds of hit things, from sarangi box to tabla machine to percussion. What they never sound like is a guitar trio.
The highlight of the album is the nearly 19 minute title track. It flows from mood to mood, coming and going with something of a Necks momentum, though with more chopping and changing. Hanne Hukkelberg is a guest and adds cool, slightly disconcerting vocals.
The other major track, Ear/Eye Connector, is an even more minimalist, electronic sound picture with a mesmerising rhythm that resembles a particularly unhappy fridge motor.
This recording has also been released on limited edition white vinyl. Look at www.hubromusic.com for more information.
Eddie Mendenhall: Cosine Meets Tangent (Miles High Records)
The pianist leader has written nearly all the songs, and their strong character, full of never quite obvious harmonic moves, and plenty of rhythmic push and pull, gives this disc and the band a strong character.
Mendenhall is a composerly, rooted and fairly low-key improviser, while vibes player Mark Sherman provides the sparks and flashes above. Drummer Akira Tana and bassist John Schifflett keep things tight.
Schiffllett articulates his solo on Spring Waltz beautifully, and vibes and piano weave in and out of each other in the bossa-tinged Rain Hike, while the title track has Mendenhall breaking out with a solo full of bounce and flair.
