CD Reviews
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Branford
Marsalis Quartet
Romare Bearden Revealed
(Marsalis Music/Rounder)
It is amazing how consistently
excellent the recordings of saxophonist Branford Marsalis are,
and Romare Bearden Revealed lives up to Marsalis' reputation.
His new CD featuring his quartet and guests (such as his famous
relatives and Harry Connick Jr.) focuses compositions based
on the art of Harlem painter and collagist Romare Bearden.
The CD has a gorgeous beginning
with Branford's shimmering soprano sax on Duke Ellington's "I'm
Slappin Seventh Avenue." The piece combines the tonal colors
of Duke with lines reminiscent of Jelly Roll Morton. This is
a great lead-in to Morton's "Jungle Blues" recorded live with
pianist/father Ellis and brothers Wynton (trumpeter), Jason
(drums) and Delfeayo (trombone). The band interplay on the animal
sounds that the piece contains is quite humorous.
The rest of the CD is balanced
between several more traditional pieces and a couple modern
ones that feature Wynton's trumpet. The traditional pieces range
from the jaunty Hot Club-esque instrumentation of "B's Paris
Blues" to the dancing rhythms of "Steppin'." In contrast, tunes
such as "J Mood" and "Laughin' and Talkin' (With Higg)" are
less ornamental and more stark, especially the latter track
with its lack of piano, and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts' skillful
work on the toms. Wynton and Branford bring out the best in
each other's playing, and that is evident here.
Romare Bearden Revealed
also is successful in bringing out the kinetic yet sensuous,
down-home feel of Bearden's art. Rare is the art-inspired music
that doesn't subtract from either media, and here Marsalis'
playing adds to both. -- David Kunian
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Beatin Path
Jezebel
(Bayou Mamas Records)
Jezebel, the new CD
from local fave Beatin Path, jumps out of the speakers with a
good-natured sound. The band consists of seasoned pros such as
guitarist-singer Skeeter Hanks, drummer Mike Barras and bassist
Craig Legendre as well as two members who are better known for
their production and engineering skill: Mike Mayeux and Brent
Moreland. Together, they make this set of music sound like radio-friendly
late-70s/early-80s rock 'n' roll with a slight country twang.
Most of the songs concern
the enigma known as woman. Songwriters Mayeux and Hanks focus
on the varying aspects of the female gender including yearning
for them, the troubles they suffer, and why they are the way
they are. The songs vary from the confident swagger of "Darker
Days" and "See it in Your Eyes" to the back-porch vibe of "You
Don't Know Me" and the bare-bones sound of the title track.
The voices of singers Hanks and Mayeux mesh well in their harmonies
throughout the entire CD. Moreland's solos are excellent especially
his lead and pedal steel work on "Movin to the Country."
Jezebel occasionally
veers into strange territory with the spacey vibe and flat vocals
of "I Believe" sounding like mid-70s David Bowie or even Steely
Dan. However, that doesn't take away from the wailing crunch
of "Out of Hand" or the many songs here that are catchy enough
to sing along to. It is the harmonies and songwriting that make
this CD stand out for all the right reasons. -- Kunian
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R.E.M.
In Time -- The Best of R.E.M. (1988-2003)
(Warner Bros.)
Ever since R.E.M. left the
major-label but indie-sensible I.R.S. Records for Greener
pastures with Warner Bros. in 1988, the band that helped define
the undefinable term "alternative rock" seemed hell-bent on
not looking or sounding like a sell-out. As I.R.S.'s subsequent
Eponymous compilation proved, the band was comfortably
nestled in its Southern gothic, folk-rock-with-a-punk-edge approach
that checked enough references to feel utterly fresh.
As In Time proves,
R.E.M. was self-consciously obsessed with wanting to stay ahead
of the grim reaper that is the fickleness of music taste, and
the results are as mixed as one might expect. There's lead singer
Michael Stipe becoming more out front, more articulate, more poetic
and (unfortunately) more annoying. There is Mike Mills' growing
affinity for keyboards ("Nightswimming"), and guitarist Peter
Buck (the band's true genius) announcing songs with wider ranges
of instruments (the mandolin of "Losing My Religion," the sonic
fuzz of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?").
The double disc is divided
between a straight-up compilation of hits -- which, if nothing
else, confirms the haunting greatness of Automatic for the
People -- and a "rarities and B-sides" compilation that
shows the band might not have learned any lessons from Dead
Letter. (Still, I'll gladly suffer through an acoustic version
of "Pop Song '89," which exposes Stipe's whine, for a live version
of "Turn You Inside Out.")
The two new songs featured
in the first disc -- "Bad Day" and "Animal" -- are so refreshingly
familiar you almost wish they'd saved it for their next album,
or wonder if that next album (their 13th) will mark a more consistent
return to greatness. -- David Lee Simmons
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