Nate Chinen on Jeremy Pelt

"The trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has spent most of the last decade as a young exemplar, traveling the postbop continuum on his own steam, at his own pace. As a bandleader he has plunged headlong into funk and dipped a toe in chamber orchestration, but the larger theme of his output seeks a footing on the bedrock of jazz convention. He’s still finding good terrain to explore there, as he proved at Jazz Standard on Thursday night. Mr. Pelt, 33, has outgrown the unnatural glow of a prodigy. … What he has now is a balance of proficiency and insight, and an aversion to unnecessary flash. His playing is impressive, with fast action, bladelike articulation and a full-featured tone. But he used each of his solos on Thursday mainly as a means of fleshing out ideas and, no less important, connecting with his working band. It was the same quintet as on his stoutly effective new album, 'Men of Honor' (HighNote), and on the one before that, 'November' (MaxJazz). With J. D. Allen on tenor saxophone, Danny Grissett on piano, Dwayne Burno on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, the group has ample firepower, and nearly as much acumen" ("Music Review: Taking a Ride on Jazz's Main Line," New York Times, 2/1/10).

Adam Serwer on Hip-hop

"The new anthology Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai, is a love letter to Illmatic. … Born voyages into some cringe-worthy moments when writers try to seamlessly code-switch between contemporary black vernacular and academic-speak, a feat only Dyson has perfected. … The premature declaration of hip-hop's demise in Born's introduction casts a shadow over the entire book. The only problem with this view, which often happens to coincide exactly with the point at which a given rap critic creeps toward middle age, is that it's perennial. (Even Nas himself has pronounced hip-hop dead.) As rapper Common reminds us in the book's foreword, his own nostalgic eulogy for hip-hop's artistic integrity, 'I Used to Love H.E.R.,' was released the same year Illmatic ushered in hip-hop's East Coast Renaissance. And the hits of 1994 kept on coming. The Notorious B.I.G.'s hectic and haunting album Ready to Die changed rap forever and Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik foreshadowed Outkast's critical and commercial success" ("Literature from the Underground," The American Prospect, 2/5/10).

Wadada Leo Smith: Spiritual Dimensions

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Personnel: CD 1, Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quintet; CD 2, Wadada Leo Smith's Organic.
"What we've got here is a double-disc set of avant garde, free jazz led by a 69-year-old Rastafarian trumpeter who is a known admirer — as most trumpeters are — of Miles Davis. And it shows. Disc one was recorded live in a New York studio, but disc two, also recorded live, was born at New Haven's own Firehouse 12 studio last April. Each of the four tracks on the locally-bred disc is over 12 minutes long. 'South Central L.A. Kulture' starts out spacey, then settles into a funky 'Superstition'-type groove. 'Angela Davis' continues the funk, but eventually breaks down to simple, sustained trumpet sounds. 'Organic' takes a cue from the abstract, spine-tingling monolith sounds of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and then transforms into a loose, wandering, but aggressive jam. Don't listen for melody ... just enjoy the ride, like you would driving down the highway with your eyes closed in a dream" (Mike Sembos, "Local CDs," New Haven Advocate, 3/4/10).

Will Dana on Vampire Weekend

"For their 2008 debut, Vampire Weekend whipped up a new pop formula by fusing Paul Somon's Graceland with the touchstones of preppy ennui — Cape Cod summers, collegiate grief, crushes on girls with trust funds. The music had a bracing smartness, as overdetermined and detailed as a Wes Anderson movie, almost perfect for what it was, but you wondered how they'd handle the real world. Just fine, it turns out. If Vampire Weekend was Rushmore, Contra is their Royal Tenenbaums: brainy, confident and generally awesome. Where much of the first album's charm was conceptual — Ivy League guys mashing up J.D. Salinger and King Sunny Adé — here the band has put on some muscle. The drums are bigger, the guitars are faster, and the songs are outfitted with synth beats and hip-hop, reggae and electro accents. 'Diplomat's Son' sounds like a cross between classic rock steady and an M.I.A. mixtape; Ezra Koenig Auto-Tunes his voice over dancehall on 'California English.' The band even takes a stab at arena rock on the synthy 'Giving Up the Gun.' … The album ends with the brutal, orchestral quiet of 'I Think UR a Contra.' … It's powerful and disconcerting" ("Reviews," Rolling Stone, 1/21/10, p. 56).

Allan Kozinn on "The Four Seasons"

"In recent years the smooth textures and elegant solo violin playing that have long characterized 'Four Seasons' performances have given way to brash, high-energy readings. … The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the violinist Midori Seiler expand on this visceral approach in … a CD that brings together the Vivaldi and a more obscure but equally descriptive work, Jean-Féry Rebel’s 1737 ballet, 'Les Éléments.' The reading is a curious hybrid: though the Akademie honors the period-instrument world’s current fascination with assertiveness, it also takes ambitious textural and interpretive liberties. Not only does the ensemble incorporate a double bass, for example, but it also uses the instrument to magnify the dramatic thunderstorm passages in 'Spring' and 'Summer' and the breaking of the ice in 'Winter.' When the hunters catch their quarry in the finale of 'Autumn,' a snapping string suggests the lethal shot, and the bass pounds home its finality. Ms. Seiler’s solo line is focused and often sizzling, and she makes a point of adding stylish ornamentation, along with programmatically freewheeling but defensible phrasing ideas" ("Vivaldi Sound Pictures (Cue Birds)," New York Times, 4/4/10).

2morrowknight on Josh Charles

"Remember where you were when you heard Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, or Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor? Like these two albums, you will remember the moment you heard Love, Work and Money, the stunning debut album from visionary musician Josh Charles. It is, quite simply, an instant classic. It draws on many genres — blues, gospel, R&B, pop — and incorporates them in a uniquely powerful way. … It opens with The Waiting Game, an invigorating, up-tempo track sure to be a solid, radio-friendly hit. From the awesome title track to the smooth Just a Man, the listener will never be disappointed. Charles burst onto the scene in early 2009 with the emotional Time, the hit record he used to inspire those struggling with the scars of Hurricane Katrina. He includes that record on the album, as well as the powerful I'm Always Here for You, which is as much a love song as it is a postcard to his beloved New Orleans, and the soaring spirit that makes it The Emerald City. This album is a major charm offensive for music lovers in search of great tunes, and for music executives eager to find the 'next big thing'" ("Love, Work, and Money," Huffington Post, 2/11/10).

Steve Smith on the Kronos Quartet

"Credit for inventing the string quartet tends to be laid at the feet of Joseph Haydn. … Haydn was not the first composer to write pieces for two violins, viola and cello. But his efforts established … intimacy, flexibility and expressiveness. … Credit for intuiting that the medium could be opened wider — in a sense reinventing the string quartet as a vehicle of limitless stylistic breadth — belongs to the violinist David Harrington, who founded the Kronos Quartet in 1973. Today the quartet — currently Mr. Harrington, the violinist John Sherba, the violist Hank Dutt and the cellist Jeffrey Zeigler — spends some five months a year on the road, playing in concert halls, nightclubs and at festivals. It has sold more than 2.5 million recordings from a discography of nearly 50 albums, most of them on the Nonesuch label. The latest Kronos disc, 'Rainbow,' a collaboration with the Afghan rubab player Homayun Sakhi and the Azerbaijian singers Alim and Fargana Qasimov, comes out in March on the Smithsonian Folkways label as part of a superb Central Asian series sponsored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture" ("The String Quartet, Reinvented," New York Times, 2/28/10).

Eric R. Danton on Christine Ohlman

"With her band Rebel Montez, the longtime Connecticut resident takes rock back to its roots on 'The Deep End' (Horizon Music Group), her first album of original material in five years. It's a varied collection, featuring contributions from Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, Marshall Crenshaw, Levon Helm and Big Al Anderson on 15 songs that range from brisk shuffles to subtle twang to shades of doo-wop. Ohlman anchors the proceedings with her throaty, rock 'n' roll survivor's voice, radiating gritty attitude on opener 'There Ain't No Cure' (with help on the chorus from fellow Connecticut resident Hunter, of Mott the Hoople fame) and letting the emotion flow on the 'Cry Baby Cry,' a duet with DiMucci, who helmed the Belmonts. They talk back and forth on the verses, explaining their respective positions over shuddering tremolo guitar, and sing ruefully of missed opportunities on the chorus. Windsor native Anderson guests on two songs, adding a tasteful guitar parts to the title track and dialing in a trebly, countrified twang on 'Love You Right.' When she's not fronting Rebel Montez, Ohlman sings with the 'Saturday Night Live' band" ("CD Review," SoundCheck, 3/29/10).

Steve Smith on Morton Feldman

"Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 2 is hardly standard fare for a housewarming. Composed in 1983, the work runs more than six hours when played complete. But somehow it seemed ideally suited for the first public event mounted by Issue Project Room, a vital avant-garde performing arts presenter, in its future home. … A string quartet drawn from the fine new-music ensemble Ne(x)tworks did the honors. … Two members of the ensemble that performed on Sunday, the violinist Cornelius Dufallo and the violist Kenji Bunch, had previously played the Quartet No. 2 several times as members of the Flux Quartet and were involved in that group’s invaluable recording on the Mode label. Those experiences surely helped Mr. Dufallo and Mr. Bunch prepare their colleagues, Christopher Otto, a violinist and a member of the JACK Quartet, and Yves Dharamraj, a cellist, for the experience. Despite its Brobdingnagian length, the quartet consists of Lilliputian parcels: succinct gestures, tiny shudders, rising and falling melodic cells. Sustaining mood at length while keeping an accurate count of repeats is one challenge; obviously, physical stamina is another" ("Music Review," New York Times, 4/13/10).

John Adamian on Wilco

"Wilco is a bit like America’s answer to Radiohead. The band is hugely popular, inspiring major-league fan adoration, loads of Internet documentation and speculation, and ample critical acclaim. Like Radiohead, the Chicago-based group has experimented extensively in the studio, most notably with their 2002 record Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which was co-produced by avant-garde musician Jim O’Rourke and which features layers of whirring noise and radio-fuzz effects that seem to both mask and accentuate parts of the tracks.
 And perhaps it’s a measure of the band’s success — hitting the sweet-spot for a wide swath of 30-something hipsters — that Wilco, which has been at it for 16 years now, has also inspired its own specific kind of critical dismissal, the smart-ass uber-hip putdown. The band’s 2007 record Sky Blue Sky was famously dissed as 'dad-rock' by the taste-makers at Pitchfork. In that respect Wilco may be more like Coldplay; their success and genre- and generation-spanning appeal is something that irks some critics as well as that special subset of hipster who likes to make fun of hipsters" ("Deep Balance: Wilco Continues to Manage the Extremes," New Haven Advocate, 4/8/10).

Stravinsky: Music for Piano (1911-1942)

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Three movements from "Petrouchka" (16:19; arranged by Stravinsky) — Valse pour les enfants (0:51) — Ragtime (4:41; originally for chamber ensemble, arr. Stravinsky) — Piano-rag-music (3:04) — The five fingers (7:49) — Sonata (10:18) — Serenade in A (12:04) — Tango (4:11) — Circus polka (3:30; originally for orchestra, arr. Stravinsky) — Three easy pieces for piano duet (3:19) — Five easy pieces for piano duet (5:55). Recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Mar. 12-14, 1993.
Personnel: Aleck Karis, piano; with Robert Lubin, piano (in the piano duets).
From the notes by James M. Keller: "[I]n 1922, Stravinsky transcribed three of [Petrouchka's] movements … specifically crafting them to the virtuosic technique of Arthur Rubinstein. … Stravinsky demands a texture so rich … that his notes occupy three staves (rather than the normal two) for several expanses … and a sixteen-measure passage near the end, where the notation spreads to four staves, guarantees to strike terror in the heart of all but four-handed pianists."

Will Hermes on Yeasayer

"Yeasayer are pioneers of a scene that refuses to choose between a sense of experimental adventure and pure pop pleasure. … On their 2007 debut, they were freak-folkies with a knack for creating hot Eastern-flavored grooves. … On their follow-up, they dive deeper into electronics and big Eighties beats (literally: They hired Peter Gabriel's old drummer). The result is simulaneously stranger and poppier, more celebratory and more serious. 'The Children' opens with clattering beats, synth heaves and processed vocals that crossbreed T-Pain with the Residents — yet at the core it's a gentle ballad about vigilant, and potentially vengeful, kids. 'Ambling Alp' is a hugely catchy anthem framed as a father-to-son pep talk, dated by references to foes of prizefighter Joe Louis; its scrumptious reggae-pop chorus and falsetto bridge unspool amid splashing water and ricocheting ray guns. The most killing jam is 'O.N.E.,' a dubby blast of samba-spiked funk that finds singer Chris Keating wrestling with a love jones like a schizo Daryl Hall; it cries out for a dozen remixes. It's all held together with thundering, radio-ready drums" ("Reviews: Music: Yeasayer's Great Leap Forward," Rolling Stone, 2/18/10, p. 58).

James R. Oestreich on "Elijah"

"Elijah may or may not have graced your Passover Seder last week, but he put in a vivid appearance at Carnegie Hall on Monday night. Or at least the trappings were vivid, as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a formidable cast of vocal soloists in Mendelssohn’s grand oratorio 'Elijah.' The eminence absent here was James Levine, who missed the performances in Boston and New York because of lower-back problems, soon to be treated surgically. But Mr. Levine left his mark on the performance as one of the few conductors able to attract so many Metropolitan Opera stars, like the soprano Christine Brewer, the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, the tenor Anthony Dean Griffey (a late substitute) and the bass-baritone Shenyang. … The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, 147 strong, is celebrating its 40th anniversary under its founding conductor, John Oliver. … [T]hese singers were even freer than the vocal soloists to throw themselves into frenzied action. … Mr. Frühbeck, a veteran of broad experience, made a classic recording of 'Elijah' in 1968 and obviously knows it cold" ("Music Review," New York Times, 4/7/10).

Nick Curran and the Lowlifes: Reform School Girl

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Tough lover (Etta James, Joe Josea) — Reel rock party (N. Curran) — Reform school girl (Curran) — Kill my baby (Curran) — Psycho (Curran) — Sheena's back (Curran) — Baby you crazy (Curran, B. Horton) — Ain't no good (Curran, F. Nowhere) — The lowlife (Curran, Horton) — Dream girl (Curran) — Flyin' blind (P. Alvin, N. Curran) — Lusty L'il Lucy (Curran) — Filthy (Curran) — Rocker (B. Scott, M. Scott & A. Young).
Personnel: Nick Curran, vocals & guitar; Billy Horton, bass, percussion, background vocals; Derek Bossanova, piano, background vocals; Jon Doyle, tenor sax; Dan Torosian, tenor & baritone sax; Nikki K, drums, percussion & background vocals; Barb & Rachel (The Honey Bee Babes), "wah wah vox"; Bobby Horton, background vocals on "Ain't No Good"; Jason Ricci, harmonica on "Reel Rock Party"; Chris Ruest, rhythm guitar on "Flyin' Blind"; Phil Alvin, vocals & guitar on "Flyin' Blind."
"There's a little bit of Chuck Berry, B.B. King and Little Richard in this badass blues-rocker. Highlights include the retro-'50s title tune" (Chuck Arnold, "Music," People, 3/15/10, p. 53).

Steve Smith on Bernarda Fink

"Ms. Fink’s latest CD is devoted to songs by Schumann, performed with the stylish, keenly responsive pianist Anthony Spiri. So it was no surprise that when Ms. Fink and Mr. Spiri performed at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday evening in Lincoln Center’s Art of the Song series, the first half of their program dipped into the same repertory. … The selling point of Ms. Fink’s new disc may well be her gorgeous rendition of the well-known song cycle 'Liederkreis' (Op. 39). But in her concert she focused on less familiar material from the disc. It was a smart move, since those selections — five songs on poems by Friedrich Rückert, five from the collection 'Myrthen' and a final group based on texts attributed to Mary Stuart — showed both Schumann and Ms. Fink at work in varying expressive modes, warding off any risk of stylistic monotony. The Rückert group displayed Ms. Fink’s warm tone, ample range and textual insight. … Ms. Fink was a stirring storyteller in the selections from 'Myrthen,' based on heroic poems by Robert Burns, and brought a rapt concentration to the 'Maria Stuart Lieder,' spare, enigmatic laments composed just before Schumann’s final breakdown" ("Music Review: Bernarda Fink," New York Times, 1/26/10).

Mike Sembos on Titus Andronicus

"Why such an exhausting schedule? 'For one thing, if you’re going to do something you should do your best and try your hardest, whatever that happens to be in your particular life,' says singer/guitarist Patrick Stickles. … As far as its sound goes, in this vague era of indie rock (a label that doesn’t mean much of anything anymore), Titus Andronicus injects a much-missed dose of punk rock back into the modern era. They’re from Jersey, and they reference Springsteen, but they’ve got more in common with subterranean Jersey natives like the Bouncing Souls or Lifetime. But then again, most punk bands don’t have a concept album about the Civil War (it’s called The Monitor, referring to the famous ironclad warship) with a 14-minute song about a particular battle.
 'I think that a long-playing record should be a cohesive statement,' Stickles says. 'The songs, while retaining their individuality, should combine to form a greater picture. It’s clear to me that the concepts driving those events are very much at work today. History has a way of putting things in perspective and things that seem remote and distant and archaic are just in hiding'
" ("Music: Coming Up Jersey," New Haven Advocate, 4/8/10, p. 38).

Anthony Tommasini on "La Traviata"

"To help me put the Met’s current 'Traviata' in context, I relistened to three classic recordings: Toscanini’s live 1946 performance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra … Carlo Maria Giulini’s live 1955 performance at La Scala Opera in Milan … and Carlos Kleiber’s studio recording with the Bavarian State Orchestra, released in 1977. … Toscanini … could certainly claim a direct link to the Verdi heritage. But by the 1940s he was in his towering maestro mode, determined to clean up the indulgent mess, as he saw it, that had come to be considered the Italian opera style. … Under Toscanini the duet lasts 2 minutes 30 seconds. Under Giulini, nearly 4 minutes: a stunning difference. … Kleiber, the great Berlin-born conductor, finds a happy medium in his splendid 'Traviata,' with Ileana Cotrubas as Violetta and Plácido Domingo as Alfredo, both superb. His tempo for 'Un dì felice' has a gentle gait, a bit slower than Toscanini’s. The restraint allows the singers a little more room to stretch and bend the lines. As the voices blend during the final phrases, they sing with delectable pianissimo tenderness, especially Mr. Domingo’s. The duet is just 30 seconds longer than in Toscanini’s performance" ("Music," New York Times, 4/5/10).

Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part Two

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: 20 feet tall — Window seat — Agitation — Turn me away (get munny) — Gone baby don't be long — Umm hmm — Love — You loving me (Session) — Fall in love (Your funeral) — Incense (featuring Kirsten Agresta) — Out my mind just in time (part 1) (undercover over-lover) — Out my mind just in time (part 2).
"Erykah Badu's husky drawl is one of pop music's most compelling sounds. She's also R&B's most dedicated bohemian eccentric, as she proves once more on New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh. … Part Two revives Badu's romantic side, and at its best it places her on a sun-splashed day in 1972: On the gorgeous 'Window Seat,' her supremely mellow voice is awash in jazzy Fender Rhodes keyboards and loping funk-soul grooves. … Part Two is most powerful when Badu goes for straight feeling: In 'Out My Mind Just in Time (Part 1) (Undercover Over-Lover),' she stops in the cabaret, singing a torch song with some real feeling behind it" (Jody Rosen, "Badu's Complicated Return," Rolling Stone, 4/1/10, p. 72).