This Mulligan is a Gimme

From the CD Vault Dept.: Here’s a trio of CD reviews from 23006 that I found languishing in a single file (computer, that is, not physical) no doubt intended for Metroland magazine. But I don’t think they were published. I find no record of them in my sent-to-Metroland directory. Jazz, old-timey folk, and pseudo-opera are considered. So, in the spirit of exhuming anything and everything to which I put my digital pen, I offer them here and now.

                                                                                          

MOSAIC RECORDS has an admirable history of issuing the finest series of jazz compilations you’ll ever want to invest in. They’re a joy to own and listen to, and once each limited-run pressing goes out of print, its collectible value skyrockets. Typically ranging from four to ten CDs in an attractive box with very detailed program notes, they sport about the best remastering I’ve ever heard, and the scope of each defines a particular jazz artist and/or label during a particular scope of time.

Recently they initiated a new line of reissues under the title Mosaic Select, each a three-CD set that focuses on (typically) a more recently active artist. Not as exhaustive in scope as the big sets, they allow more of surgical strike on the artist’s catalogue. Thus we have Art Pepper from 1956, some 1957 Bob Brookmeyer sessions (complementing Mosaic’s now out-of-print Jimmy Giuffre set), live Dexter Gordon club date recordings from 1978-79, plus sets by Randy Weston, Bennie Green and many more – 22 of them as of this writing.

Number 21 fits in nicely with the series, presenting Gerry Mulligan in a number of different settings (and contrasting with Mosaic set no. 221, which features Mulligan’s Concert Band recordings from 1960-62).

Amazingly, impressively, the four different settings were waxed in the space of two weeks. Although I don’t really want to pick any of them as the best, I’ve been running from one to the next, each a new favorite every other day.

For example: How can you not love a sax section that includes Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Allen Eager in addition to Mulligan’s celebrated baritone? Bill Holman arranged six Mulligan originals for that aggregation, plus rhythm, for an LP titled “The Gerry Mulligan Songbook, Vol. 1,” and when you hear them charge into a number like “Turnstile,” which displays the varied coloration available from so many reeds.

Then there are the Chet Baker collaborations that comprise disc one. As a quartet with bass and drums, Mulligan and Baker are boppish and sinewy, taking a hard-charger like “I Got Rhythm” and making it seem downright plaintive. I’m a big fan of bassist Vinnie Burke from his work with guitarist Tal Farlow; here he’s featured in the unreleased sides from an album that was to be called “Stringtime,” putting Mulligan with a string quartet (violin, cello, guitar and bass) and drums. Songs like “Lullaby in Rhythm” and “Out of Nowhere” again show the saxist’s keen ear for textures.

Finally, two sessions with singer Annie Ross plumbing the standards adds Chet Baker on some, Art Farmer on others, and displays the best of a singer whose voice was a versatile jazz instrument.

With its Sidney Bechet set (Mosaic Select no. 22), the company veers back into vintage jazz, capturing the clarinet and soprano sax artist working with various Clarence Williams ensembles from 1923-25, some small groups from 1937-38, and in some 1947 sessions that include a group put together by Bechet protégé Bob Wilbur, who also wrote the booklet notes.

Being a less-than-exhaustive CD set, it features the best of Bechet’s earliest recordings, restored to astonishingly good sound. You’ll hear a young Louis Armstrong among the sidemen, but through it all is Bechet’s unique sound and innovative way with a solo, making this an essential collection for any early jazz enthusiast.

Gerry Mulligan
Sidney Bechet
Mosaic Select (Mosaic)

– 1 June 2006

                                                                                               

THE BOCELLI PROBLEM IS THIS: The undershaven tenor brings an opera-voice texture to his crooning, thus persuading his fans (and they are passionate!) that his is an operatic voice. It’s actually a small voice that requires a microphone in order to fill a room, but, once amplified, it’s a voice that can be creamy and compelling.

His forays into opera – he has recorded Puccini’s Tosca and La Bohème, and Verdi’s Il Trovatore – were scorned by the purists, and for good reason. His pop and crossover albums, however, continue to please a huge audience, and “Amore” collects 14 versions of 13 familiar songs and places Bocelli with an unbeatable roster of musicians. And, in case you’re still not convinced, he’s paired on individual songs with the likes of sax canoodler Kenny G (“Mi Manchi”), Christina Aguilera (“Somos Novios,” the original Spanish version of “It’s Impossible”) and Stevie Wonder (“Canzoni Stonate”).

Love songs are the theme, and most of the chosen songs have a long history. “Amapola,” for instance, became an English-language hit thanks to a recording by big-band singers Bob Eberle and Helen O’Connell; “Besame Mucho” was waxed by warblers as varied as Frank Sinatra and The Beatles. “Solamente una Vez” was “You Belong to My Heart” when recorded by Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby (though not together).

Producer David Foster is a longtime Bocelli fan who crafted very effective accompaniments for the studio recordings. There’s one live track: a version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” taken, appropriately, from a concert in Las Vegas. And Foster and Bocelli collaborated on song titled “Ama credi e vai” (“Because We Believe”), and versions in Italian and English conclude the album.

It’s a sure sell for the confirmed Bocelli-ites, and the opera fanatics no doubt will stay away. Bocelli is no Domingo – he’s not even a Mario Lanza – but, enhanced the right kind of amplification, his singing packs a convincing punch. Don’t think of him as Pavarotti light: think of him as Bing Crosby heavy.

Andrea Bocelli
Amore (Sugar)

– 1 June 2006

                                                                                         

LIKE SO MANY OTHERS who’d labored in the old-time music sidelines, Norman Blake got a big boost from his work on the soundtrack of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” But he’s been around for a while, whether backing Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan or Joan Baez, or playing with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1973 hit record set, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”

“Home in Sulphur Springs” was his 1972 debut as a solo artist. Two years later he married a cellist who’d been part of an opening act, and Nancy and he have since toured the world and recorded a-plenty, garnering much acclaim and many Grammy nominations along the way.

“Back Home in Sulphur Springs” visits their beloved acoustic territory once again, offering new songs and fresh takes on old ones. It charmed me right away, and further commended itself when I discovered the bonus track “Don’t Be Afraid of the Neo-Cons,” a Woody-esque number that trashes George W. Bush and salutes Cindy Sheehan. Un-American? The Blakes’ recording of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” featuring a vocal by Nancy, is one of the most sincere and sensible versions I’ve ever heard.

The vintage song “He’s Coming to Us Dead” takes on a new immediacy in the current climate, while “Katy Cline” remains fresh as ever. The instrumentation features Norman on guitar, dobro, violin and mandolin, and Nancy playing guitar, mandolin and, of course, cello, and there’s so much good taste in these arrangements you’ll probably go out and find the rest of their recordings as well.

Norman and Nancy Blake
Back Home in Sulphur Springs (Dualtone)

– 1 June 2006