Genius Loves Company                                            SACD

Ray Charles (and Friends)

2004 Concord Records

Though Ray Charles, one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, was never in need of vocal assistance, he was no stranger to duets either (one of his finest records is a duet album with Betty Carter). For as much of a musical giant as he ...    Full Descriptionwas, Brother Ray knew how to share the spotlight, as evidenced by GENIUS LOVES COMPANY, his final project before his 2004 passing. In keeping with the eclectic nature of Charles's artistry, he partners with a wide assortment of performers here.

Charles is joined by Elton John on a soulful exploration of the latter's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," and sidles up next to Willie Nelson for a haunting version of the Frank Sinatra hit "It Was a Very Good Year," made all the more poignant in retrospect by its posthumous nature. Of course, it's not all bittersweet melancholy; Charles teams with Van Morrison for a jubilant soul/gospel reading of Van's MOONDANCE tune "Crazy Love," and the duet with James Taylor on the upbeat "Sweet Potato Pie" is probably the sassiest, perkiest thing in which Taylor's ever been involved. GENIUS LOVES COMPANY is a swan song that fittingly finds the titular genius surrounded by friends from varied musical worlds, all of whom he's touched with his rare gift.

	1.	Here We Go Again - (featuring Norah Jones)
	2.	Sweet Potato Pie - (featuring James Taylor)
	3.	You Don't Know Me - (featuring Diana Krall)
	4.	Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word - (featuring Elton John)
	5.	Fever - (featuring Natalie Cole)
	6.	Do I Ever Cross Your Mind? - (featuring Bonnie Raitt)
	7.	It Was a Very Good Year - (featuring Willie Nelson)
	8.	Hey Girl - (featuring Michael McDonald)
	9.	Sinner's Prayer - (featuring B.B. King)
	10.	Heaven Help Us All - (featuring Gladys Knight)
	11.	Over the Rainbow - (featuring Johnny Mathis)
	12.	Crazy Love - (live, featuring Van Morrison)

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road                                     2 CD Set

Elton John

1983 This Record Co./MCA 

Amazon.com essential recording

Rarely mentioned as one of the great double albums, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road had to settle for ending up in a few million record collections. So sprawling that it doesn't quite measure up to the earlier, more laid-back Honky Chateau or the later, pushy Rock of the Westies, this still holds claim to a lot of brilliant, very pop-savvy music: the winking rebellion of "Bennie and the Jets" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," the ready-made nostalgia of "The Ballad of Danny Bailey," the downbeat melodicism of "Harmony." --Rickey Wright

	1.	Funeral For a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)
	2.	Candle in the Wind	$0.99
	3.	Bennie and the Jets	$1.29
	4.	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	$0.99
	5.	This Song Has No Title	$0.99
	6.	Grey Seal	$0.99
	7.	Jamaica Jerk-Off	$0.99
	8.	I've Seen That Movie Too	$0.99
	9.	Sweet Painted Lady	$0.99
	10.	Ballad of Danny Bailey, The (1909-34)	$0.99
	11.	Dirty Little Girl	$0.99
	12.	All the Girls Love Alice	$0.99
	13.	Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'N Roll)	$0.99
	14.	Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting	$1.29
	15.	Roy Rogers	$0.99
	16.	Social Disease	$0.99
	17.	Harmony	$0.99

Summer                                                                      CD

George Winston  Solo Piano

1991 Windham Hill Records

 George Winston has long been celebrated for his major contributions to New Age music. A highly creative pianist, Winston showcases both his compositional acumen and keyboard skill on this 1991 concept album. SUMMER opens with the whimsical "Living ...    Full Descriptionin the Country," a joyous paean to rural life. On this selection, Winston mixes an Aaron Copland-influenced melody with gently sloping arpeggios.

Winston again employs a simple folk melody on "Early Morning Range," but unlike the former, this tune bends in the direction of modern pop. The upbeat western "Goodbye Montana Pt. 1" contrasts with "Goodbye Montana Pt. 2." Unlike its counterpart, the second movement is slow and dreamy. Yet, both retain that thousand-mile stare across the plains at high noon. This album might be a tribute to summer, but it equally honors the great expanses of the American West. The last composition, "Where Are You Now" is the finest example of Winston's more dramatic side. Strongly imagistic, SUMMER takes the listener on a distinctly American journey of joyous wanderings and contemplative ballads.

Solo performer: George Winston.

	1.	Living in the Country	$0.99
	2.	Loreta and Desiree's Bouquet-Part 1
	3.	Loreta and Desiree's Bouquet-Part 2
	4.	Fragrant Fields	$0.99
	5.	Garden, The	$0.99
	6.	Spring Creek	$0.99
	7.	Lullaby	$0.99
	8.	Black Stallion	$0.99
	9.	Hummingbird	$0.99
	10.	Early Morning Range	$0.99
	11.	Living Without You	$0.99
	12.	Goodbye Montana (Part 1)	$0.99
	13.	Corrona, Corrina
	14.	Goodbye Montana (Part 2)	$0.99
	15.	Where Are You Now	$0.99

PIANO SONATAS OPP. 109, 110 & 111
Ludwig van Beethoven
Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Philips

 

DISHED UP FOR PIANO: VOLUME THREE
Percy Grainger
Martin Jones, piano

Nimbus

Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars                                         CD

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

1988/1990 Geffen Records

Amazon.com

"What I Am," the leadoff track on Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, was a left-field hit off this Dallas band's debut album, and it remains about the only thing they're remembered for (excepting Brickell's eventual marriage to Paul Simon). But a good part of this album is quite listenable and stands up reasonably well to the years. "Love Like We Do," "Little Miss S." and "The Wheel" are basically equal to "What I Am" in their rhythmic and melodic pop appeal; "Air of December" and "She" allow the band's more jazz-oriented roots a little room to flourish, and the poignantly personal ballad "Circle" remains the best lyric Brickell has written. It was all downhill from here, but Shooting Rubberbands was an early peak worth revisiting. --Peter Blackstock

	1.	What I Am
	2.	Little Miss S.	$0.99
	3.	Air of December	$0.99
	4.	Wheel, The	$0.99
	5.	Love Like We Do	$0.99
	6.	Circle	$0.99
	7.	Beat the Time	$0.99
	8.	She	$0.99
	9.	Nothing	$0.99
	10.	Now	$0.99
	11.	Keep Coming Back	$0.99

BOOK OF SILK
Tin Hat Trio

Ropeadope

Live At San Quentin                                   CD

B.B. King

1990 MCA Records

Much gutsier than the REGAL album, this is in harmony with the patrons as King plays to a different audience; the inmates of one of America's toughest prisons. King devotes a lot of his time every year performing to prisoners, and he coummunicates ...    Full Descriptionon this album without patronizing them. This is a fairly predictable set but the high level recording (presumably to block out any obscenities) makes it one of his most exciting live albums. Songs he has played a thousand times sound fresh and energetic, notably "Everyday I Have The Blues" and "Let The Good Times Roll."

All selections recorded live at San Quentin Prison on May 25, 1990 except "Peace To The World".

	1.	B.B. King Intro	$0.99
	2.	Let the Good Times Roll	$0.99
	3.	Everyday I Have the Blues	$0.99
	4.	Whole Lotta Loving	$0.99
	5.	Sweet Little Angel	$0.99
	6.	Never Make a Move Too Soon	$0.99
	7.	Into the Night	$0.99
	8.	Ain't Nobody's Bizness
	9.	Thrill Is Gone, The	$0.99
	10.	Peace to the World	$0.99
	11.	Nobody Loves Me But My Mother	$0.99
	12.	Sweet Sixteen	$0.69
	13.	Rock Me Baby	$0.99

GHOSTS
English Acoustic Collective
John Dipper, Robert Harbron, and Chris Wood

RUF Records

Soul Journey                                                   CD

Gillian Welch

2003 Acony Records

Amazon.com

Blessed with a soulful and expressive voice and an innate grasp of the melodies and themes of traditional country music, Gillian Welch has made three beautiful, often brilliant, albums. Yet, one can make the case that she's still searching for her own true artistic voice. Soul Journey brings her ever closer to that elusive goal. After 2001's austere, solemn, at times inscrutable Time (The Revelator), this follow-up finds Welch showing more warmth, ease, and openness as both singer and songwriter. As the title portends, the concept of travel (physical and emotional) is a prevailing thread throughout these 10 tracks; she sings of rolling stones "on the road to sin," travelers on "black highways," girls "running around with the ragtop down" and "at the station rolling slow." These characters, perhaps autobiographical, are simultaneously searching for and running away from their pasts, while soft drums, fiddles, organs, and Dobros add a welcome bit of lightness. With the trusty David Rawlings again at Welch's side, the songwriting and production till the earth between their old-time heroes and more modern troubadours like Townes Van Zandt and Neil Young (both the bucolic strummer and, on the closing "Wrecking Ball," the ragged electric wanderer). For Welch and for us, Soul Journey is yet another fascinating rest stop on the never-ending road to self-discovery. --Marc Greilsamer

	1.	Look at Miss Ohio	$0.99
	2.	Make a Pallet on Your Floor
	3.	Wayside/Back in Time
	4.	I Had a Real Good Mother and Father
	5.	One Monkey
	6.	No One Knows My Name
	7.	Lowlands
	8.	One Little Song
	9.	I Made a Lovers Prayer
	10.	Wrecking Ball

 

A CHILD'S GARDEN OF DREAMS, IN MEMORIAM, SYMPHONY #4
David Maslanka
Dallas Wind Symphony
Jerry Junkin, dir.

Reference

Learn To Live                                                CD

Darius Rucker

2008 Capitol - Nashville

Amazon.com

As the lead singer and co-writer for Hootie & the Blowfish, Darius Rucker always eschewed overt R & B, and fixed the band’s music in roots rock. Now on this solo album, Learn to Live, he immerses himself in the typical Nashville themes of home, hearth, and spirituality, with varying results. His sturdy baritone knows how to carry these messages, and he displays an ease with country phrasing. Furthermore, he's assembled a fine passel of pickers, from mainstream guests Vince Gill, Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley, to 'grassers Aubrey Haynie and Bryan Sutton. All this works fine on the radio—the album and the single "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," which logged the number one slot on the country charts. But while Rucker pays fine homage to Buck Owens with the intro to the humorous divorce declaration "All I Want," and nurtures his inner redneck on the barroom anthem "Drinkin' and Dialin'," too many clichés weave their way into his lyrics, and the overall sound is that of amiable, cookie-cutter, country pop. Next time out, let’s hope Rucker reaches farther back into his South Carolina roots for a more authentic backwoods connection. -– Alanna Nash

	1.	Forever Road	$0.99
	2.	All I Want	$0.99
	3.	Don't Think I Don't Think About It	$1.29
	4.	Learn To Live	$0.99
	5.	If I Had Wings	$0.99
	6.	History In The Making	$0.99
	7.	Alright	$1.29
	8.	It Won't Be Like This For Long	$1.29
	9.	Drinkin' And Dialin'	$0.99
	10.	I Hope They Get To Me In Time	$0.99
	11.	While I Still Got The Time	$0.99
	12.	Be Wary Of A Woman	$0.99

Take Ten                                                         LP

Paul Desmond

1963 RCA Victor 

Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond has been considered one of the avatars of the cool school of jazz. One of the few saxophonists of his generation to not be overly influenced by Charlie Parker, Desmond favored a sound that was somewhat mellow, suave, ...    Full Descriptionsmooth and dry--so much so that critics and fans would liken his style to "a very dry martini." These appellations certainly weren't meant to imply that there's no emotion or swing in his playing, only that the focus is away from forced emotionalism.

TAKE TEN was recorded in 1963, with a small crew of sympatico musicians, including one of the finest mainstream jazz guitarists ever, Jim Hall. Hall and Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay are the closest thing to "counterparts" on their instruments to the Desmond approach: tight, economical, tasteful. Everyone compliments each other perfectly. The program mixes originals, standards ("Alone Together") and several bossa nova pieces ("Samba De Orpheau," "Theme From Black Orpheus"). Desmond makes each piece his own. Nicely recorded, this album is recommended for both fans and newcomers.

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York, New York between June 5 & 25, 1963.

Personnel: Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Jim Hall (guitar); Gene Cherico, Gene Wright (bass); Connie Kay (drums).

1.	Take Ten	$0.99
	2.	El Prince	$0.99
	3.	Alone Together	$0.99
	4.	Embarcadero	$0.99
	5.	Theme From "Black Orpheus"
	6.	Nancy	$0.99
	7.	Samba De Orfeu
	8.	The One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else)

 

CONCIERTO
Jim Hall

CTI