French Impressions (Joshua Bell, violin; Jeremy Denk, piano)

"It’s become more and more common for big classical artists to celebrate new albums with intimate recitals at off-the-beaten-track downtown spaces, and the brilliant violinist Mr. Bell and the searching pianist Mr. Denk accordingly arrive at the City Winery to introduce 'French Impressions,' a disc of sonatas by Saint-Saëns, Franck and Ravel. Mr. Denk’s sustained collaboration with Mr. Bell, one of the industry’s marquee names, was a major part of his rise to prominence in the last few years. This is their first recital album together, and it’s always a pleasure to see these two fine artists perform" (Zachary Woolfe, "Classical Music/Opera Listings," New York Times, 1/5/12).
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Jeff Bridges (self-titled)

"I'm having a hard time thinking of an actor who ever made a record that meant a damn: Keanu Reeves, Eddie Murphy, Bruce Willis -- it's a vanity-filled, musical wasteland. ... I can only think of one: Jeff Bridges. Also a painter and photographer, Bridges says that he's been writing songs since he was a kid. He released his album debut in 2000, getting very little attention. Now, with some 'Crazy Heart' wind still at his back, he's taking a higher profile swing at it. Call it 'Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart: the Sequel.' Soundtrack alums T Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham, and Steve Bruton all return to support their star. But Bridges has no interest in playing the part. He deals in sincerity, not posturing. His collection of songs are soft and laid-back. One could argue that they're a little too much of both. Still, there's no questioning his motives. The dude just wants to follow his muse and groove" (Shawn Amos, "PLAY > SKIP," Huffington Post, 8/17/11).

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Keb' Mo': The Reflection

"MR: Speaking of something special, the song 'We Don't Need It' is really beautiful and pretty topical considering the economy. I love how you tell your family you were laid off and how you now won't be able to get things for them like running shoes for your son and a new dress for your daughter. Then, one by one, your family tells you what they're going to do to help, like rake leaves and have a yard sale, because all they need is you. KM: As a kid, that's what I felt. I grew up in a middle class Compton family with my father. I didn't care about the fact my father was broke, I was with my dad" (Mike Ragogna, "A Conversation with Keb Mo," Huffington Post, 8/8/11).

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Keb’ Mo’ recently appeared at the White House in an evening of blues with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr., Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Shemekia Copeland, and Susan Tedeschi. Their White House performance is online at http://pbs.org/whitehouse. You can also find them all at the library!

Janacek: Choral Works

"By now Leos Janacek’s music is firmly established in the orchestral, chamber and, most of all, operatic repertories. ... But his gorgeously varied choral works are heard far less often, so this new release, featuring the Cappella Amsterdam under Daniel Reuss, is a valuable one. As always with Janacek the style includes both the folksy and the sophisticated, peasant dances and Schubertian elegance. The selections include a series of 6 'Moravian Choruses' that Janacek adapted from Dvorak vocal duets; 19 nursery rhymes as gleefully anthropomorphic as his opera 'The Cunning Little Vixen'; dramatic narratives; and a sober, rather abstract elegy written after the death of his 20-year-old daughter. In his setting of the Lord’s Prayer he ingeniously combines harmonium and harp: the profane and the sacred singing at once" (Zachary Woolfe, "Classical Recordings," New York Times, 1/15/12).

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Gary Clark Jr.: The Bright Lights EP

"'You gonna know my name,' vows this blues singer-guitarist on the title cut. Making his major-label debut with this blazing four-track EP, there's no reason to doubt him" ("Quick Cuts," People, 8/29/11).

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Matt Haimovitz, Christopher O'Riley: Shuffle. Play. Listen.

"IF any artists were destined to collaborate, it was surely this pair. Matt Haimovitz, a thoughtful and passionate cellist, veered away from the straight-and-narrow career path of a child prodigy to pursue new audiences in coffeehouses and nightclubs. Christopher O’Riley, an accomplished pianist — and incidentally, the host of 'From the Top,' a popular PBS and NPR series that showcases very young classical musicians — likewise spends as much time in rock clubs as in recital halls. What links the two most is an affinity for popular music that infiltrates their concerts and recordings. ... The first disc asserts the duo’s classical bona fides. ... Mr. Haimovitz’s singing tone is a substantial asset in folksy works by Janacek and Martinu, with Mr. O’Riley providing polished, responsive support. Interspersing those works and others with movements from Bernard Herrmann’s 'Vertigo Suite' is a suitably off-kilter touch" (Steve Smith, "Matt Haimovitz and Christopher O'Riley Team Up," New York Times, 1/13/12).

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Jeff Beck: Rock 'n' Roll Party

"Stephen Colbert reflected Beck's genius and self-effacement when, as host of the 2010 Grammy Awards, he told a worldwide audience, 'You know the game "Guitar Hero?" He has the all-time high score -- and he's never played it.' Beck won his fifth Grammy that night -- he would win three more in 2011 -- and topped things off with a rousing musical tribute to his own hero, electric guitar trailblazer Les Paul. At 67, Beck is going strong. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer continues to tour all over the world. He recently received the Living Legend Award at the Classic Rock Awards in London, where he performed with Joss Stone and Chrissie Hynde. And he's nominated for yet another Grammy (Best Rock Album) for Rock 'N' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul" (Michael Sigman, "Jeff Beck at 67,"  Huffington Post, 1/19/12).

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Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann

"Sony Classical and the Metropolitan Opera ... are collaborating on a project to release no-frills, remastered recordings of historic live Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Met. ... Five of the 20 releases to date feature [Richard] Tucker, and this is good news for the many admirers of this great Brooklyn-born tenor. ... He can be heard in this series as the Duke of Mantua in a 1964 broadcast of Verdi’s 'Rigoletto' ... and in other roles. But the Tucker revelation is a 1955 broadcast of Offenbach’s 'Contes d’Hoffmann,' conducted by Pierre Monteux. The opera, left unfinished by Offenbach, is performed here in the bastardized version cobbled together after his death, which was essentially the only choice at the time. But the singing is magnificent, especially from Tucker, who brings élan, honesty and ringing sound to his portrayal of the love-struck poet" (Anthony Tommasini, "Time Travel at the Met, Thanks to CDs," New York Times, 1/20/12).
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Now Now: Neighbors

"Last year's debut LP, Cars was a well-written diary in aural, mid-fi form. Neighbors is a careful improvement in most regards, but especially production, which gives luminescence to all the band's ever-refining traits, and a new confidence in their delivery. Intro opener 'Rebuild' has a few glitchy electronics and Cacie Dalager's soft, manipulated 'oh's, making it sound like a new Postal Service demo at first. But then it transitions into 'Giants,' a big, bustling and fuzzy yet modest rocker with the busy, slightly distressed atmosphere of the Get Up Kids circa Guilt Show or major label-era Death Cab for Cutie. One line suggests the band's parlaying the foreclosure scandal into personal meaning: 'You can take our homes / but your framework doesn't hold / against the feet of us giants.' You'd like to think the band's got some sly socially aware foundation, anyway. But the melodies and overall presentation, make it maybe the band's best, most mature and well-honed song to date" (Punknews.org, 12/21/10).
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Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf; Moanin' in the Moonlight

"Hubert Sumlin, the guitarist whose slashing solos and innovative ideas galvanized the blues of Howlin’ Wolf and inspired rock guitar players like Jimmy Page, Robbie Robertson and Eric Clapton, died on Sunday in Wayne, N.J. ... Mr. Sumlin’s eerie guitar counterpart to Howlin’ Wolf’s unearthly moaning on the 1956 hit 'Smokestack Lightnin’' has lately been featured in a television commercial for Viagra. He also played lead on 'Back Door Man,' 'Spoonful' and 'The Red Rooster,' all written and arranged by the Chicago blues trailblazer Willie Dixon. 'Dixon’s often astute novelty lyrics and shrewd arrangements were topped off by Sumlin’s imaginative, angular, taut attack, frequent glisses, maniacally wide vibrato and percussive chords, all drawn with an exaggerated brush,' the producer Dick Shurman observed of Mr. Sumlin’s relentlessly inventive playing. ... 'Back Door Man,' 'Spoonful' and 'The Red Rooster' were later made even more famous in versions released, respectively, by the Doors, Cream and the Rolling Stones. All three originally appeared on Howlin’ Wolf’s 1962 LP 'Howlin’ Wolf,' which the critic Greil Marcus called 'the finest of all Chicago blues albums,' largely because of Mr. Sumlin’s contribution" (Bill Friskics-Warren, "Hubert Sumlin, Master of Blues Guitar, Dies at 80," New York Times, 12/5/11).
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David Bromberg: Use Me

"MR: Today we're here with the great folk and blues artist, David Bromberg, discussing his newest album entitled Use Me. ... I want to start out by asking you how your approach on this album differed from earlier releases. DB: Well, what I did with this album was called people like Keb' Mo', Los Lobos, and Linda Ronstadt and asked them to write songs for me. Then, I asked them to produce me doing it as well, and pretty much everyone said that they would. Linda didn't write a song because she doesn't really write, but she picked one out for me to do. Since I was asking this much of people, I decided to call the album Use Me. The great thing about the process is that they all knew how to use me - in a good way, of course" (Mike Ragogna, "A Conversation with David Bromberg," Huffington Post, 7/27/11).
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Lady Gaga: Born This Way

"In the mere four years that she's had a recording contract, Gaga, now 25, has become a global phenomenon. She was No. 11 on last year's Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, coming in ahead of Oprah Winfrey. She's sold a total of 23 million albums and 63 million singles worldwide. Her net worth has been reported to be over $100 million. Her sophomore album, Born This Way, sold more than 1.1 million copies in its first week of release, last May" (Lisa Robinson, "In Lady Gaga's Wake," Vanity Fair, 1/12, pp. 54-60).
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Justin Bieber: Under the Mistletoe

"In a week crowded with new music releases, Justin Bieber’s new holiday album topped the Billboard chart with more than 200,000 sales. 'Under the Mistletoe,' Mr. Bieber’s second full-length album, sold 210,293 copies in the United States, according to his record label, Island Def Jam. It is the first holiday album by a male solo artist to open at No. 1 in the 55-year history of Billboard’s album chart, the magazine reported, although plenty of stars have ridden seasonal music to big sales heights. Josh Groban’s 'Noël,' for example, was the best-selling album of 2007, with 3.7 million copies" (Ben Sisario, "Justin Bieber's Holiday Album Is a Surprising No. 1," New York Times, 11/9/11).
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Casting Crowns: Come to the Well

"Four times a week, Mark Hall ministers to youth at a suburban Atlanta megachurch, working from an office where the walls are lined with vintage Marvel comic books and that also houses a stone-like desk decorated with symbols from 'The Avengers.' In Hall's eyes, he's a 'dork.' But when he steps away from his youth pastor endeavors and comic memorabilia collection, the 42-year-old stars as the lead singer and songwriter of Casting Crowns, a seven-member, Grammy-winning contemporary Christian rock band, one of the most popular in the genre. In mid-October, the group released their latest album, 'Come to the Well.' It debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 charts, trailing only behind Adele, who has dominated the charts with her best-selling album '21.' The band's album also topped the Christian album chart for three weeks in a row" (Jonathan Landrum Jr., "Casting Crowns Continue to Top Christian Charts," Huffington Post, 11/30/11).
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