Jazzis Web Shop News 04/2008

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Another new Israeli album, this time a superb Fusion album:

Israeli bassist / composer Arik Ben Kalifa spent six years in the US studying upright bass with William Bettes and electric bass with Stanley Clarke while playing with local bands. Upon his return to Israel in 2004 Arik formed the Magador quintet with his musical partner, guitarist Guy Ramon and with three young and very talented musicians: Amiram Granot (saxophones & flute), Tomer Mezamer (keyboards) and Stas Zilberman (drums). The band recorded a demo album in 2004 and later this, their debut album, which to me is a major surprise, considering the fact that it is one of the best Fusion albums I’ve heard in a long time. The music, composed mostly by Arik (with a couple of tunes co-composed with Guy) is superbly melodic, incorporating the best Fusion traditions with subtle Middle-Eastern motifs, which is not surprising considering Arik’s cultural legacy - his Moroccan-born father was a traditional oud player. Each of the tunes on the album provides a great melodic basis for the improvisations by the band members and the album offers plenty of excellent solos. Driven by Arik’s pulsating bass lines, the music is full of joy and charm, a real listening pleasure. The sophisticated melodies and the brilliant performances turn this album into something that deserves to be heard and admired, as it is as good, if not better, as any other Fusion album recorded by world’s top players. Hearing stuff like this makes me proud to be an Israeli.

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Massive re-stocking from Sony / BMG – check your Waiting Lists!

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Here is a very nice and almost forgotten but now reissued album by Canterbury hero, Kevin Ayers:

Legendary Canterbury hero Kevin Ayers managed to keep his musical career aflame over the years by releasing splendid albums every now and then but staying away from the limelight. His ability to write well-crafted songs, which sound easy and simple, but are in fact often devilishly clever, earned him admiration and respect among his peers. This album was recorded when Ayers heard the debut album by Fairground Attraction, a short-lived UK Folk-Rock group, which blended many different genres into their music, from Folk and Country to Rock and Jazz, very similar to what Ayers used as his modus operandi. Ayers thought that it would be nice to record an album with the group and after pulling some strings his wish was granted. The cooperation obviously worked very well, as the resulting album is a blast from start to finish. Augmented by some of his regular musical collaborators, like guitarists Mike Oldfield and Ollie Halsall, Ayers presents a great set of his unique songs. A special merit goes to the fantastic Danny Thompson, whose bass playing drives the music and gives it an overall Jazzy feel. It’s great to have this little gem back in circulation and the many Ayers fans will surely rejoice.

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The new Thieves` Kitchen album is back in stock!

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It’s time to return to the British Jazz releases. Following the splendid Vocalion additions I now found quite a few small British labels, which have reissued some of that wonderful stuff from the 1960s & 1970s and I’ll introduce them gradually. Each and every one of these albums is an absolute musical gem.

The short and tragic life of pianist / composer Mike Taylor, an eccentric genius fallen victim to mental illness / drug abuse, which proved self-destructive and led to his death at the age of 29, is surely worthy a script adaptation for a Martin Scorsese movie. Sometimes referred to as “the Syd Barrett of British Jazz”, Taylor had close ties with a relatively small group of musicians, like Graham Bond and the members of his Graham Bond Organization, which included Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker – soon to be founders of Cream. Many people will be surprised to learn that three songs co-written by Ginger and Mike appear on Cream’s “Wheels Of Fire” album (“Pressed Rat And Warthog”, “Those Were The Days” and “Passing The Time”). Another one of his superb songs – “Jumping Off The Sun” – was recorded by Colosseum and appears on several of their albums. Although known intimately by very few people at the time, the legend lives on and periodically the flame of interest is rekindled among the modern British Jazz fans, like in the case of reissue of his only two existing recordings: “Pendulum” and “Trio”. Even fewer people are aware of the spectacular tribute album recorded by Taylor’s musician friends three years after his death. Recorded under the musical direction of another British Jazz legendary figure, composer / arranger / bandleader Neil Ardley, who discovered Taylor’s genius immediately and scored some of his compositions for the New Jazz Orchestra when Taylor was still alive. Unfortunately the concert, which was to feature NJO and Mike’s trio never materialized, since Taylor (already very ill at the time) simply missed the gig. Nevertheless Ardley continued to use Taylor’s music as part of the regular NJO repertoire and suggested to Denis Preston, owner of the legendary Lansdowne Studios in London, where most of the pivotal modern British Jazz was recorded, to produce a tribute album to Mike Taylor’s musical genius. Preston, who recorded the two Taylor albums, needed no persuasion and funded the complex and costly project with no hesitation, considering it a most appropriate gesture. Ardley assembled a group of 20 musicians to record this project, sharing the scoring of the music for a large ensemble with others, who were close to Taylor and new him well, like Howard Riley, Barbara Thompson and Dave Gelly. One of the tracks is based on a previously unreleased Taylor quartet recording, with the ensemble overdubbed on top of the original recording, which makes Taylor’s participation in this project almost “in person” as well as “in spirit”. The list of the participating musicians reads like the who’s who of modern British Jazz and includes among others: Ian Carr and Henry Lowther on trumpet, Chris Pyne and David Horler on trombone, Ray Warleigh and Stan Sulzmann on saxophone, Peter Lemer and Alan Branscombe on piano, Chris Lawrence and Ron Mathewson on bass, Jon Hiseman on drums and of course the divine Norma Winstone on vocals. I can’t think of a more appropriate tribute than this one, full of love, dedication and music genius by all the people involved. Considering the fact that this album combines the genius of Taylor’s Jazz composition with the genius of Ardley’s Jazz scoring / arranging, we get (in mathematical terms) a genius squared result – a rare event indeed. Recommending this album would be somewhat similar to recommending someone to read some Joyce or see a van Gogh – completely superfluous. I’m sure you get the drift by now!

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Massive restocking from Universal with some great new releases. Please check your Waiting List!

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One of the all time classic albums finally gets the Deluxe Edition treatment:

By the time Free were recording their 3^rd album the combined talents of singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Andy Fraser and drummer Simon Kirke, aided by the experience of grueling touring and fast-rising popularity with the crowds inspired the group to take the crucial decision to produce the new album by themselves. In retrospect this was probably the factor which turned Free from just another white Blues band into Blues-Rock Superstars. Fraser & Rodgers, who were in charge of writing the bulk of the band’s material, took their writing just a tiny notch away from the Blues roots towards Rock, apparently just the right step which made their popularity explode overnight. With the “All Right Now” single charting (soon to achieve a permanent seat on Rock’s Pantheon of evergreens) and constant demand for live gigs, the band was riding the wave of success, which in a very short time will lead to their ultimate destruction (as it did to almost every other band eventually). But right at that time they definitely were at their peak, producing a classic album, which will be never rivaled by any other group in that genre. The secret of this album’s greatness lies with the simplicity and “less is more” approach. Having written some great melodies the band did nothing to muddle the raw material and executed it perfectly, using some great riffs. Fraser’s bass lines are pure genius, pointing the music in the right direction, Kirke’s guitar licks create just the perfect fillers, avoiding lengthy solos which did not fit the bill here and Rodgers’ soulful vocals and his unparalleled understanding of the Blues place his immediately on the top of his class. This Deluxe Edition is a tribute to this outstanding album. Out of the 30 tracks (on 2 CDs) only the first 7 come from the original album, the rest being a plethora of studio, radio and live recordings, some previously unreleased. There is a lot of repetition here with 8 versions of “All Right Now” and 7 versions of “Fire And Water”, but they are all quite different and shed a lot of light on the band’s creative process. This album, combined with the “Forever” DVD, which spans the same time period, is a great document of the era, when music was the epicenter of Western Culture, lamentably long time gone. Essential to all Free fans of all ages, even if they already own the original album.

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Massive restocking from Universal with some great new releases. Please check your Waiting List!

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It certainly looks like April is going to be a busy month, with many new additions already queuing up and waiting to take their place on the site. I start with the new album by one of the best UK Prog acts:

4^th album by British (well almost) Prog band Thieves` Kitchen, which comes five years after their splendid previous release “Shibboleth” – quite a long time of course, but plainly worth the delay in view of the result. TK are one of the very few bands, which manages to make giant leaps between consecutive albums, all in the right direction. Each of their albums has not only been different stylistically and conceptually, but they consistently keep growing up and expanding their musical and lyrical vocabulary. Whereas the last album took them into the ambitious RIO direction, this one takes another turn and brings the band very closely to Scandinavian Prog, with Isildurs Bane and Anglagard coming to mind almost immediately. The fact that the band has a Scandinavian member and a few of the guest musicians on this album are Scandinavians as well might have something to do with this, but I prefer to give them the credit for choosing this path as part of their intentional direction-seeking. In view of the fact that Scandinavian Prog is definitely the most advanced and aesthetically rewarding on the contemporary Prog scene, TK could have chosen no better bearing than this. Fronted by the remarkable vocalist Amy Darby, the band includes also four exceptional instrumentalist: Phil Mercy – guitars, Thomas Johnson – keyboards, Andy Bonham – bass and Mark Robotham – drums. Although Darby’s vocal parts are the most striking and immediately noticeable feature, there are plenty of great instrumental parts here, which are worth listening to attentively. Darby (as I already mentioned in my review of the previous album, her first with TK) continues the great tradition of outstanding unconventional female vocalist like Julie Tippetts (Julie Driscoll) and Annette Peacock. On this album she also occasionally reminds me of Joni Mitchell, another great model to follow. As if her singing abilities are not sufficient, Derby also wrote all the original lyrics on this album (two of the tracks feature lyrics translated from Chinese and one uses Sanskrit) and took care of the elegant and exquisite graphic design of the album’s artwork (and the band’s web site). Definitely a talented lady! The music is mostly contemplative, slowly developing the intricate melodies, with plenty of breathing space and long instrumental passages. Expanding the band with guest musicians playing flute, cello, oboe, saxophone and other instruments, the music receives a loving treatment and intimate chamber character. Kudos to TK for creating this beautiful piece of music. I only hope that many people will enjoy this album as much as I have. Wholeheartedly recommended!

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

Massive restocking from Universal with some great new releases. Please check your Waiting List!

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