Friday
Monkey House
Alma Records ACD72692 (almarecords.com)

Monkey House has been together for 25 years and has just released its fifth album, Friday. The band is made up of some of the busiest and best players in Toronto – Mark Kelso on drums, Pat Kilbride on bass and Justin Abedin on guitar – but it is L.A.-based keyboardist and songwriter, Don Breithaupt, who’s driving the bus.

Breithaupt is known for his adulation of Steely Dan, and while it shows in his songwriting on Friday, this isn’t a tribute album and the band has a sound all its own. And, like Steely Dan, the musical style is hard to categorize – perhaps sophisticated pop tinged with jazz and R&B? I don’t know. What I do know is that this is an exceptional album from beginning to end, with superb songwriting and performances, and impeccable production by Peter Cardinali with engineering by John “Beetle” Bailey.

Highlighting standout tracks when all 12 tracks are so strong is a challenge, but The Jazz Life – featuring Manhattan Transfer on backing vocals and a killer bass solo by Kilbride – is one. The love song that Breithaupt wrote for his wife, Because You, is another, especially since it is surprisingly unsentimental with its driving rhythm and complex harmonies. Another surprise is that the most ballad-y song on the album is the cover of Walter Becker’s Book of Liars. Becker – who died while Monkey House was making this record, hence the inclusion of this song on the album – certainly wasn’t known for ballads and this mid-tempo tune isn’t sappy in the least. But it is both beautiful and poignant in typical sardonic Steely Dan style. Shotgun has pop hit written all over it and you can check out the fun video, produced by Academy Award-winner J. Miles Dale, on YouTube.

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La Serena
Aviva Chernick
Independent AVGC003 (avivachernick.com)

A deep bond with another can lead to unexpected journeys in one’s life. Such was the case for singer Aviva Chernick, who began extensive studies of the Balkan Judeo-Spanish repertoire after meeting Flory Jagoda, known as the keeper of the Balkan Ladino tradition. La Serena is, in a way, an homage to Flory, Aviva’s beloved mentor and teacher, but also an intimate story of the longing for one’s homeland and tradition that is slowly disappearing.

Ten songs, some traditional Sephardic folk melodies and some Jagoda originals, are all arranged by Chernick and her main musical collaborators on this album, guitarist Joel Schwartz and bassist Justin Gray, in a way that brings forward the intimacy and immediacy of each tune. Mostly sung in Ladino (with some additional text in English), the lyrics are captivating and touching. Chernick’s vocals are pure in expression and unencumbered of any particular tradition or style.

The album opens with A Ti, Espanya, a simple and bright original tune by Jagoda, which conveys the love for homeland that is no more. Min Hameitzar, written by Chernick and Gray, has a mystical energy and wonderfully galloping percussion elements. La Serena, the central piece on the album, is a stunning heartfelt tune that seduces with its pure vocal expression. Esta Montanya de Enfrente features longing guitar lines emphasizing the beauty of both the melody and poetic lyrics.

A wonderful collection of meaningful tunes that will leave your heart longing for more.

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Sphere
Heather Dale
Amphis Music AM7440 (heatherdale.com)

Canadian author, playwright, poet, vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Heather Dale, is currently poised on the cusp of her 20th recording release, aptly titled Sphere. This uber-creative, multi-disciplined, golden-voiced renaissance woman has fashioned (along with co-producer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist Ben Deschamps), 11 challenging compositions, all of which reflect a mesmerizing mashup of world music motifs, ambient electronica and folk music as well as a healthy dose of contemporary Celtic folk balladering.

Dale deftly performs all vocals here, and also plays hammered dulcimer, piano, tin whistles, synths and Hammond B3. She is joined on her sonic, global journey by Deschamps on bass, electric guitar, cittern, bouzouki, mandolin, synth and viola, and co-producer/engineer Dave MacKinnon on tape loops, drums and guitar; Jim Casson on drums; Ben Grossman on hurdy-gurdy/percussion; Meghan Cheng and Amanda Penner on violin and Alex McMaster and Betsy Tinney on cello.

First up is Bacchanalia – mystical, exotic, sensual, rife with elements of Eastern music and invoking visions of ancient instruments raised in celebration of a hedonistic Roman god… a palpable, pagan scene… and yet, somehow magically transformed through poetry into a modern cautionary tale. Dale’s sonorous vocal instrument is a pitch-perfect, honey-soaked, shape-shifting tool – alternately warm and steely – ideal for telling her irresistible lyrical stories. Triumphant Return is a potent anthem, where the triumphant one is not the one returning, but the one who was abandoned. Another gem is Flower Child – perhaps autobiographical – a wonderful pizzicato arrangement which transports the listener into the middle of a seemingly insoluble familial estrangement. Something that many of us can relate to.

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Bare Knuckles & Brawn
Blue Moon Marquee
Independent (bluemoonmarquee.com)

With the release of their third recording, noted Pacific Coast duo Blue Moon Marquee has served up a sumptuous buffet of 11 original songs – all infused with elements of Depression-era jazz, swing, 1950s proto-rock and “Roma Blues.” The music is also informed by philosophical aspects of Indigenous culture, including Native Canadian legends. Consistent with their nostalgic bent, the project was recorded using vintage RCA mics, resulting in a warm, luscious analogue sound. The duo (featuring A.W. Cardinal on vocals/guitar and Jasmine Colette “Badlands Jass” on vocals/bass/drums) are joined on this fine recording by noted West Coast musicians, Darcy Phillips on keyboards, Jerry Cook on reeds, Jimmy “Hollywood” Badger on drums, Jack Garton on trumpet and Paul Pigat on guitar.

The sassy opener, Big Black Mamba is funky and soulful, with sinuous parallel baritone and bass lines establishing a fine bedrock for this swamp-circuit-style blues. The evocative vocal by Cardinal is reminiscent of a young, energetic Tom Waits. Also of note is the irresistible, Fever Flickering Flame – a bit of pure romance, dripping with nostalgia, longing and swing! Hard Times Hit Parade is also a standout, featuring a sultry vocal by Colette, beautifully accented by Garton on muted trumpet. Its heady sepia-toned imagery perfectly captures the loss, futility and desperation of the Great Depression.

Lost and Wild is the closing salvo, boasting a stunningly relaxed vocal by Cardinal, which brings to mind the lyrical sophistication and interpretive skill of Leonard Cohen. This highly musical recording is not only a delight for the ear, but it’s deep, subterranean content will continue to resonate with the listener.

Cairo Moon
Al Qahwa Ensemble
Independent AlQahwa01 (alqahwa.ca)

Ernie and Maryem Tollar, master of wind instruments and vocals respectively, have been mainstays of the Toronto music scene individually, and also have often come together to make music. But rarely has their musicianship been showcased more beautifully than here, where they have combined with oud specialist Demetri Petsalakis for the second time as Al Qahwa, on their album Cairo Moon.

Apart from bringing to life the atmosphere of (usually loud) music and joyous camaraderie heard in coffee houses en route to Leipzig from Damascus, this recording also recalls the glorious tradition that gave us the likes of the great vocalists Om Kalsoum and Najah Salam, and instrumentalist Hamza El Din, among others. On Cairo Moon, the Tollars and Alfred Gamil display extraordinary musicianship in the Mediterranean tradition. More remarkable, much of this is new music; the tradition of popular Arabic music is alive and well and thriving in – of all places – Canada.

Equally significant is the fact that musicians such as the prodigiously-gifted Tollars are thriving alongside others such as Nagmeh Farahmand, Majd Sukar and the aforementioned Gamil and Petsalakis. The evidence is all over this album, in the exotic and ululating soundworld of the Middle East, robustly captured in the glimmering textures of Maryem Tollar’s voice and the eloquent musicians immersed in the traditions that influenced this rich repertoire.

Crowing Ignites
Bruce Cockburn
True North Records TND737 (truenorth.labelstore.ca)

It has been 14 years since Bruce Cockburn first gave notice of what an extraordinary guitarist he really was on his first instrumental album Speechless. Until then he was better known as one of the great purveyors of what is generally classified as folk music. Of course, that classification is highly restrictive because Cockburn, as we all know, transcends the boundaries of that genre. Debates notwithstanding, Crowing Ignites is a perfect reminder of Cockburn’s virtuosity as a guitarist, and of his exquisite musicianship.

There are seven new compositions here. Yet each appears to be a spontaneous meditation at once simple and lyrical, abstract and profound. Cockburn’s magnificent tone – both on regular acoustic and acoustic baritone guitar is magnificent. With fingers and thumb he imbues every note with the purity of song. His playing is passionately free and bluesy, and speaks also of his country roots.

Cockburn’s instinct for brooding lyricism and often for joyful spontaneity provides the perfect setting for songs such as April in Memphis, The Mt. Lefroy Waltz (with bassist Roberto Occhipinti, cornetist Ron Miles and drummer Gary Craig) and Sweetness and Light. When he turns his attention to matters of the soul and of spirituality, he paints his music affectingly with a myriad of deep and varied colours. Angels in the Half Light, Pibroch: The Wind in the Valley and (especially) Bells of Gethsemane are eloquent examples of the profundity of his musicianship.

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The Lost Tapes
Ian & Sylvia
Stony Plain Records SPCD1408 (stonyplainrecords.com)

Thank goodness for downsizing! Because that’s what Sylvia Tyson was doing – that, and gathering archival materials for Calgary’s National Music Centre – when she discovered, in her front hall cedar chest, a long-forgotten treasure trove of recorded-live-in-studio, Ian & Sylvia performance tapes from the early 70s. And thank goodness Tyson wisely asked some of the best ears in the business, i.e., Danny Greenspoon (an accomplished musician, himself) to produce and edit (once the 1/4-inch analogue tapes were digitized) Ian & Sylvia The Lost Tapes. Because the results are masterful!

To be clear, this is not so much a review as it is an homage to these pioneering Canadian icons of folk and country music, who helped pave the way for the likes of Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. I mean, who the heck is going to “review” Ian & Sylvia singing Four Strong Winds, Summer Wages, Keep on the Sunny Side or When First Unto This Country, four of the 13 best-known and beloved classics appearing on disc one of the double album?

What’s exciting for this 60-year-old folkie-at-heart is the selection of previously unreleased performances on disc two. Irresistible are the covers of Sweet Dreams, Jimmie’s Texas Blues, The Last Thing On My Mind and Together Again.

Ian & Sylvia met 60 years ago. Last week they were both inducted, separately, into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ian & Sylvia The Lost Tapes is a heart-warming reminder of why their music still holds up.

Button Music
Phoebe Tsang
Off (phoebetsang.com)

Listening to multi-talented Hong Kong- born British-Canadian Phoebe Tsang’s Button Music one experiences her wide-ranging, idiosyncratic, poetic and musical gifts.

Two multi-movement works are featured. Unbutton is a six-part journey into the challenge of losing a button. Love the attention-grabbing No.1, opening with staccato echoing repeated notes on violin and a vocal on the word “button”, just like the popping sound of losing a coat button. Touches of Romantic-style sad tonalities surface in No.2. A nod to folk music in No.3 with a party mood jig-quality violin part until the abrupt vocal/violin stop. No.4 presents Tsang at her very best as atonal violin lines coupled with emotive held-note vocalizations create a unique personal sound. Use of the familiar song lyric line “Button up Your Overcoat” in No. 5 creates a toe-tapping musical theatre song quality complete with extended violin solo with numerous effects. No.6 is performed with perfect phrasing, tonal quality, sad mood and a building musical tension.

The theatrical three-movement Cards from the Tarot de Marseille features a tight ensemble feel created by one performer in King of Cups. Creepy spoken words supported by a high-pitched violin sets the spooky mood of The Hermit. Tsang shows off her violin virtuosity in Le Pape with fast lines and a repeated note marching effect.

In the final track, Tsang says “Music is Power”, perfectly describing Tsang the artist. Powerful!

Canadian Hits: Unplugged
Saint John String Quartet
Leaf Music LM227 (leaf-music.ca)

Here is another innovative recording by the New Brunswick-based St. John String Quartet, one that recasts well-known Canadian songs in adept string arrangements by Rebecca Pellett. These songs are familiar to us with vocals plus the reverberant long-decaying tones of guitars, bass, pedaled piano and added studio production. So it is an arranger’s challenge to create satisfying textures with only four bowed instruments! Lots of pizzicato is one way to sustain the background, as in the arrangement of Francis by Béatrice Martin (Coeur de pirate). Evoking the simple group vocal sound of Stan Rogers’ Northwest Passage is another way. Percussive effects on the string instruments add equivalent interest and authenticity to Knocking at the Door (Arkells) and the heavy slog of Spring to Come (Digging Roots). The latter’s humour is topped by a tastefully tongue-in cheek Miss Chatelaine (k.d. lang) in tango rhythm with amusing string slides, all dissolving into fairy dust at the end…

But the true elixir of this disc’s arranging by under-billed Pellett is in the eloquence of River (Joni Mitchell) and the Celtic sound of If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot). And leader/violinist David Adams, violinist Danielle Sametz, violist Christopher Buckley and cellist Sonja Adams certainly surpass the mere “unplugged hits” world here! A sound world bathed in long non-vibrato tones, harmonics and emotionally text-conscious melody-playing, here seems to be an ideal realized by players and arranger alike.

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I’ll Be Seeing You
Andrea Koziol; Bill Brennan
Independent AK-BB-01 (andreaandbill.com)

I’ll Be Seeing You, a sharp selection from the jazz songbook, features Toronto vocalist Andrea Koziol and Newfoundland pianist Bill Brennan. They cover 13 of some of the best-known standards – sprinkled with their own songs – with nimble interpretative panache and sure musical taste. Toronto A-lister-musicians Andrew Downing on bass and cello and guitarist Joel Schwartz provide a firm foundation, plus a sympathetic harmonic and melodic framework.  

Koziol’s interpretations are assured and tone perfect. I was stuck by her attentiveness to the lyrical meaning of the intro verse in older songs like Fly Me to the Moon. In Stevie Wonder’s strutting funky Tell Me Something Good she purrs, growls and ghosts her tone in several amazing ways. Is she perhaps channeling her inner Chaka Khan?

Koziol and Brennan generously share the musical spotlight, reminding us that their friendship reaches back several decades. That generosity of spirit extends to Schwartz. He gets a lovely sustained-tone lyrical electric guitar solo in Randy Newman’s moody, thoughtful ballad I Think It’s Going to Rain Today.

Brennan’s piano work avoids cliché while nailing the feel of ballad, gospel, funk or up-tempo swing. He weaves unhurried, protracted extensions to songs like Tea for Two, moving far afield from harmonic home base, and provides exciting melodic and harmonic twists to Annie Ross’ vocalese classic Twisted.

I’ll Be Seeing You launched with concerts in Ontario and Newfoundland this summer. Judging from the glow emanating from this album I look forward to hearing Koziol and Brennan live in the near future.

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In a Landscape
California Guitar Trio; Montreal Guitar Trio
Independent (mg3.ca)

Among small chamber groups, the combination of two, three or even four guitars is not all that uncommon. So what about six guitars? Surely a guitar sextet is a little out of the ordinary, yet that’s what we have here on this disc, titled In a Landscape, featuring the combined forces of the California and Montreal Guitar Trios. While both ensembles have long-established reputations in their own right, the decision to perform together as a single group evolved from a chance meeting at an Oregon music conference ten years ago and since then, they haven’t looked back.

Just as the combination of six guitars may be a little unusual, so is the music they present on this recording. Indeed, the musicians have always shared a determination to “push the boundaries” with respect to repertoire, and this philosophy is evident in the all-too-brief 40-minute program.

Opening with the rhythmic New Horizons by MGT member Glenn Lévesque, it’s clear that these musicians enjoy playing together – what a warm and satisfying sound they produce! Flashy virtuosity for its own sake is decidedly absent – instead what we hear is sensitive and well-crafted interplay among the performers. Furthermore, the eclectic program is a remarkable study in contrasts. Arrangements of Radiohead’s Weird Fishes and David Bowie’s Space Oddity with vocals by ensemble members are juxtaposed with the moody and mysterious title track by John Cage (as arranged by Sébastien Dufour) while the mercurial Magneto – composed by Dufour – is an infectious essay in Latino brilliance.

For such a comparatively short program, In a Landscape covers a lot of ground, and does so with solid musicianship – mixed with some good-natured humour – throughout. This CD is an attractive landscape indeed, one that leaves the listener wanting more.

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A New Day
Gordon Sheard and Sinal Aberto
Independent GSM003 (gordonsheard.ca)

As a self-described “Brazilian music freak,” it’s no surprise that Toronto jazz musician, educator and ethnomusicologist, Gord Sheard, has a group dedicated to playing Brazilian style music, Sinal Aberto. The name translates as “open signal” or “green light” and is a play on a Chico Buarque album called Sinal Fechado (closed signal/red light) made during an oppressive political time in Brazil (of which they’ve had many). So artistic freedom is the overarching sensibility for Sinal Aberto, and it shows in this beautiful collection of songs. 

With a level of musicianship you’d expect from the top players in the country – Mark Kelso on drums and George Koller on bass, Sheard on piano – the band deftly blends jazz and Brazilian sounds (plus a few R&B and Afro-Caribbean elements) for a sound all their own. A New Day is mostly original songs written by Sheard with lyrics by Rio de Janeiro-native Luanda Jones, who features prominently on the album as the singer, too. 

The album opens on a hopeful note with Samba de Primavera which, fittingly, speaks of being free and open to new experiences. (All of the songs are sung in Portuguese and many of them are helpfully translated to English in the CD booklet.) I love the energy and Jones’ virtuosic vocal gymnastics on Forrocatu, which combines Northern Brazilian forro and maracatu rhythms at top speed and is somewhat reminiscent, to these ears anyway, of the great composer, Hermeto Pascoal. The beautiful and poetic title song, Mais um Dia, is another standout track. Bossa nova fans won’t be disappointed as the band has imaginatively covered a couple of classics, including a soul-tinged version of my favourite, Dindi. The album is available from CD Baby: store.cdbaby.com/cd/gordonsheardsinalaberto.

Spinning in the Wheel
Projeto Arcomusical
National Sawdust Tracks NS-028 (nationalsawdust.org)

Projeto Arcomusical is “a world music sextet reimagining the Afro-Brazilian berimbau through unique and powerful chamber music.” Spinning in the Wheel is the second album by this Decalb, Illinois-based sextet co-founded by American composers, percussionists and berimbau-ists Gregory Beyer and Alexis C. Lamb.

A member of the musical bow family found around the world, the Brazilian berimbau is an essential accompaniment of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art combining elements of dance, acrobatics and instrumental and vocal music. At first glance a simple instrument, the berimbau has at least six distinct parts. It includes a wooden bow and steel string, a beater to strike the string with, a small stone or coin pressed against the string to change the pitch, a gourd-like shell secured to the berimbau amplifying/modulating the string in conjunction with the player’s body, and a small rattle held in the stick hand. Using all these sound modifiers the berimbau is capable of a large range of expression, especially when several musicians are involved. Arcomusical’s six berimbaus allow the production of an extended number of tones making possible extended-range melodies, harmonies and spatial effects. In only a few years it has toured widely and commissioned over 30 new scores.

Chief among them is Roda (2016) by American composer Elliot Cole. An engaging and impressive four-movement, 20-minute work, it’s the most substantial musical statement on Spinning in the Wheel.

I was initially drawn to the novelty of Arcomusical’s instrumentation, but after just a few minutes of listening to Spinning in the Wheel I found its music clearly conceived and passionately performed.

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Libre
Amanda Martinez
Sola Records (amandamartinez.ca)

Singer-songwriter Amanda Martinez delves deeper into her background with the release of Libre. The daughter of a Mexican father and South African mother, Martinez has been exploring her Latin roots for years now, so it’s the African side that’s new here. Produced by her longtime collaborator, guitarist Kevin Laliberté, Martinez has enlisted a handful of singers and songwriters – such as Canadian jazz singer Kellylee Evans and Cuban-born Pablosky Rosales – for the ten original songs on Libre. Kevin Laliberté's distinctive guitar playing and Donné Roberts’ beautiful warm vocals blend perfectly with Martinez’s light pretty voice. Bassist (and Martinez’s husband) Drew Birston and percussionist Rosendo “Chendy” Leon round out the core band. Standout tracks include Begin and En La Distancia.

The album has a predominantly Latin sound to it (Mexican and a little flamenco here and there) and I found the African touches to be quite subtle. This is partly due to the fact that most of the lyrics are in Spanish. For those of us who don’t understand that language, translations are available on Martinez’s website. The poetic lyrics’ main themes are love and longing in its many forms – for a land, a lover or a child. Or you could not worry about what the lyrics say and just let the music wash over you and carry you away. The album has a sweet, old-fashioned feel to it that gives us a welcome escape to gentler times and idyllic places.

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3
The Gloaming
Justin Time JTR 8617-2 (justin-time.com)

For their third salvo, contemporary Irish fusion quintet, The Gloaming, has released an intriguing piece of work that not only embraces traditional Irish motifs, but seeps into the modalities of contemporary and neo-classical, piano-driven musics. This is authentic, indigenous, world music enfolded sumptuously into a thought-provoking new music setting. Pianist (and producer) Thomas Bartlett is the spine of the ensemble, fearlessly injecting skilled, rhythmic elements into the music. The haunting, sibilant vocals of Iarla Ó Lionáird inform much of the material, and transport the listener back into the mists of time. With three Irish and two Irish-American members, the music also speaks to the inter-generational scars of the near genocide of the Irish people, and the resulting painful, global diaspora.

The splendid, passionate and skilled work of generational fiddler, Martin Hayes, gauges the intensity of the music and Hardanger d’Amore player Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh consistently elicits a warm, substantive sound from his viola-like instrument (with sympathetic strings). Along with guitarist Dennis Cahill they establish the musical pulse, the very heartbeat of the goddess Danu herself.

Highlights of this expertly recorded CD include Meachán Rudaí and Amhrán na nGleannI. The former is a setting of a poem by Liam Ó Muirthile (about a son remembering his late mother), and the latter is an ancient tune lamenting the death of a chieftain, and also a song that Lionáird has been performing since he was a small boy. Also of special note is Reo, written by the ensemble, and featuring lyrics drawn from a poem by the iconic mid-20th-century Irish poet, Seán Ó Ríordáin.

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