You’re Fine
Barbra Lica
Justin Time JUST 260-2 (justin-time.com/en/profilArtist/404)

Barbra Lica is on a songwriting and album-releasing tear. Her fifth CD in six years has just come out and it’s populated by all original songs, almost all written or co-written by Lica. For this album, she travelled to the mecca of American music, Nashville, where she collaborated on songwriting, enlisted players and recorded tracks, all under the tasteful oversight of Toronto bassist and producer Marc Rogers. So while this album is a bit of a departure from Lica’s previous jazzy records, it’s still true to her signature, sunny style. Even when she’s singing about heartbreak and longing, such as in Everybody Else, you need to listen closely to know it, since the songs are so consistently upbeat.

Besides Lica’s pretty, lithe voice, guitars are the stars of You’re Fine courtesy of Tom Fleming and Nashville session players Paul Franklin and Wanda Vick Burchfield, whether it’s the acoustic on the opening track Before I Do, which sets the tone for the album with its lovely simplicity, or the pedal steel, dobro and mandolin that enrich a number of the tracks. Heck, a banjo even makes an appearance on one song (Jolie Oiseau)! Joel Visentin’s keyboard work deserves mention as it subtly supports throughout the album then shines on the closing track, When I’m Gone, a lovely lilting number featuring piano and the instrument that’s most dear to this reviewer’s heart, accordion. Aaahh.

Bushes and Bombshelters
Ivana Popovic
Long Play CD 034 (ivanapopovic.com)

While it’s generally not my practice to mix reviews with politics, in this current political climate of hateful, anti-immigration rhetoric being hurled by xenophobic politicians (from both sides of our southern border and beyond), it delights me to review violinist and composer Ivana Popovic’s lovely debut album, Bushes and Bombshelters, which paints a poignant, musical portrait of a successful immigration story – her journey from Serbia to a creatively rich life in Canada.

An accomplished classical musician, Popovic’s compositional influences run the gamut from Bach and Shostakovich to Gypsy and Eastern European folk music. The ten original tracks on Bushes and Bombshelters cover the themes of longing and belonging, nostalgia, connection, homeland and new beginnings, and are crafted with the passion of someone who has experienced them all, intimately. Accompanying Popovic on her musical journey are pianists Saman Shahi and Perry Maher, double bassist Jesse Dietschi, trombonist Don Laws, percussionist Max Senitt, violist Nikray Kowsar, cellist Stuart Mutch and flutist Jamie Thompson. Popovic sings on three tracks; John MacLean lends vocals on one.

With the spirited clippity-clop of the voyage, the mood shifts from sombre to celebratory, brilliantly depicted by Popovic on electric 5-string violin with outstanding contributions from Laws and Senitt; this titular first track sets the tone for the entire album. From the evocative violin and piano duo, Sketches From Serbia, to the plaintive, prayer-like Blue for solo violin, and Memory’s exquisite interplay of flute, violin and cello, Popovic’s Bushes and Bombshelters is a journey worth taking.

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Felix Anima
Jeff Bird
Independent (jeffbird.com)

Canadian multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird, familiar to many as the harmonica player for the Cowboy Junkies, describes his interpretations of the music of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) as “Man plays 800-year-old music on the harmonica.” And so he does, with passion, clear musical understanding and respect on eight of her sacred chants. Bird also supports his harmonica playing with many other instruments like shruti box and lap steel, with special guest pianist Witold Grabowiecki on two tracks.

This is such a rewarding magical listening experience. Bird’s perfect breath control on harmonica emulates the original vocal lines throughout all his contemplative arrangements. The opening solo Lovingly Inclined Towards All is amazing from the start, with nice use of drone and musical touches maintaining von Bingen’s original stylistic aspects. Noble Rupert is given a reflective performance on harmonica and shruti box, as a low drone note supports the lead harmonica lines featuring dynamic held note swells. The Third Flies Everywhere is an intense harmonica/piano duet tour de force as the resonating very low piano notes contrast a detached piano melody, with the harmonica introduction adding new colour. A mid-piece solo piano leads to duet melodic conversations and an inspiring reflective harmonica line against more florid piano movement.

Bird’s decades-long passion for von Bingen’s music has enabled him to create a new brilliant sound mix of medieval and modern arrangements for instrumentations that all just work perfectly to the final harmonica closing fade.

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Songs without Words – Torchsongs Transformed
Les Délices
Navona Records NV6195 (navonarecords.com)

A unique programming scenario highlights this second release by Les Délices, a Baroque instrumental trio founded in 2009 by Baroque oboist Debra Nagy, with members Mélisande Corriveau on viola da gamba and pardessus de viole, and Eric Milnes on harpsichord. Here the trio performs 17th- and 18th-century vocal airs and 20th-century jazz standards and torch songs, creating mindset-altering music.

As no published solo music existed for Baroque woodwinds prior to 1700, vocal songs were adapted for instruments. Les Délices chose French love songs from some of the greatest 17th-century songwriters. Highlights include Marin Marais’ Prelude in A Minor featuring intricate ornamentations and trills, clear phrasing and clear harpsichord accompanying cadences. Nice melodic and ornamental interplay between harpsichord and oboe makes for a straightforward Baroque rendition of Jean-Baptiste de Bousett’s Pourquoy, doux rossignol. Strong ensemble playing keeps the listener’s attention throughout a slow and heartbreaking rendition of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Tristes apprets.

The big surprises here are the contemporary songs. For example, the Patsy Cline/Willie Nelson classic Crazy is true to the original, with the almost-country-band rhythmic harpsichord and viola da gamba supporting the wailing oboe melody. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s Michelle highlights an upbeat pop harpsichord with a sing-along oboe melody. The closing Joseph Kosma/Johnny Mercer Autumn Leaves features almost percussive harpsichord chords with an almost walking bass viola da gamba background, highlighted by an oboe lead complete with solo improvisation.

This is successful risk-taking music!

Dreamers
Magos Herrera; Brooklyn Rider
Sony Masterworks 190758907123 (brooklynrider.com)

In a context where the term “dreamers” is being misused to characterize immigrants as being motivated by some kind of imaginary land grab or cultural invasion, celebrating beauty and one-ness becomes a political act. New York City-based Mexican vocalist and composer Magos Herrera and the noted string quartet Brooklyn Rider’s debut collaboration is, in their own words, “Celebrating the power of beauty as a political act.” This breathtaking Hispano-centric recording includes not only poetry and compositions from Violeta Parra, Gaetano Veloso, Federico García Lorca, João Gilberto, Gilberto Gil and Octavio Paz, but also contains gems from the Ibero-American songbook, arranged with a fresh, new perspective. All of the poets and composers featured on the CD have come from places that have endured brutal national violence and oppression.

Produced by Brooklyn Rider’s violinist Johnny Gandelsman, the CD opens with Nina – with lyrics drawn from a poem by Paz and music by Herrera and Felipe Pérez Santiago. Herrera’s sonorous and evocative vocal sound is magic itself, and the string arrangement is percussive and urgent. Brooklyn Rider also includes Colin Jacobsen on violin, Nicholas Cords on viola and Michael Nicolas on cello.

On the exquisite Dreams, written by Paz (with English lyrics by Herrera), she clearly sings “We have to sleep with open eyes – and we must dream with our hands.” Every song on this CD is a work of art, guaranteed to open every heart. A total delight is Brazilian political activist Veloso’s De Manhã (It’s Morning), as is the swinging bossa by Gil, Eu vim da Bahía (I come from Bahía).

Jamie Thompson and the Urban Flute Project – Live at St. Anne’s
The Junction Trio & Friends
Independent (urbanfluteproject.com)

This latest CD from the Urban Flute Project is a compilation of 20 performances recorded live over the first ten years of the Music at St. Anne’s concert series. That makes it more than just a CD; it is a “remembrance of things past,” a chronicle of a time and a place when a loosely knit band of musicians listened to the impulse to bring music to life – yes, to make it live but also, as documented in the listings in The WholeNote over the course of that decade, to bring it to the life of their community. For this they received very little money and only a modicum of fame, as many in the community do. Music at St. Anne’s was the musical equivalent of what British theatre and film director Peter Brook called – in his book The Empty Space – “Holy Theatre...the theatre of the invisible-made-visible.”

The CD brings all this to life, with unvarnished live performances which, maybe just because they are unedited and un-doctored, make those moments in lost time immediate and all the more precious because they are gone. The names of over 20 musicians are listed, and many more unnamed were involved because there are performances by three choirs. The range of music is vast, from a motet by Thomas Tallis to improvisations involving both conventional instruments and secondhand pots and pans which produce the most magical sounds, and something of everything in between.

This CD is like a slice of The WholeNote made audible, and a testament to our need for art in life.

Bhumika
Toronto Tabla Ensemble
Independent (torontotabla.com)

Bhumika, a rich philosophical Sanskrit term, derived from bhūmi meaning earth or soil, can refer to a writing surface, receptacle, or an introduction to a book, among other things. Bhumika is also the title of the Toronto Tabla Ensemble’s sixth album and its first track. Composed by TTE’s artistic director and tabla educator Ritesh Das, the title track, featuring a chanted Sanskrit sloka, is dedicated to Ritesh Das’ brother the influential kathak dancer and teacher Chitresh Das (1944-2015). The liner notes also acknowledge another key artistic inspiration, Swapan Chaudhuri who is among today’s outstanding tabla masters.

Bhumika the album reflects the richness of the tabla’s extensive technique, repertoire and the complexity of Indian rhythmic practice: the album features talas (rhythmic cycles) of 5½, 9½ and 11 beats. It also speaks to Ritesh Das’ larger artistic ambition to engage culturally with his Toronto home and collaborate with other resident musical cultures and musicians. For example, instruments heard on the album include ritual Indian conch trumpet, finger cymbals, Hindustani tabla and sarod, Carnatic mrdangam, but also drum kit, violin, Chinese zheng, flute, and the Japanese taiko ensemble Nagata Sachu. Most of them are played by Toronto area musicians, some of whom are students of Das.

For me the strength of this album is the convincing argument it makes for the tabla forming the core of a musically compelling drum-centric ensemble in 2018 Toronto, far from its (first) homeland. Before Das dreamed it in 1991, that did not exist.

A QSF Journey
Quartet San Francisco
Reference Recordings RR-143 (referencerecordings.com)

The boundaries between music genres are fluid and constantly moving these days, with many musicians experimenting and combining elements of different styles in both new compositions and interpretations of the traditional ones. Classical music seems to be an especially productive foundation for such crossovers, breeding many exciting projects. One of them is the latest release by Grammy- nominated Quartet San Francisco – A QSF Journey. Most of the tracks on the album are written and arranged by Jeremy Cohen (the first violinist of the quartet) and the album contains seven world premieres, making it an adventuresome journey into the chamber music of the 21st century.

While the album features arrangements of traditional folk songs (Chinese, Mongolian and African), many of the tracks are rooted in the tango tradition and, to some extent, American folk. Rhapsody in Bluegrass combines two vastly different works – Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and bluegrass tune Orange Blossom Special. The result is a lively, toe-tapping, buoyant tune. Frederico II, written by Italian cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, is a whirlwind piece with a constantly pushing rhythmical drive and strong medieval roots. I really enjoyed Cohen’s tango pieces as well – Al Colón, Francini, La Heroína and the opening Tango Eight – and their passionate, cheeky melodies. QSF members are true crossover stars. Their playing is effortless and entertaining, with just the right amount of classical touch, and with an abundance of beauty.

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It’s Time
Tanya Wills Quartet
Independent (tanyawills.ca)

Carrying the DNA of an artistic lineage, it is no surprise that gifted vocalist, dancer and actor Tanya Wills would enter the family business and manifest an international performance career. With the release of her debut CD, Wills has drawn from her diverse career experiences and fashioned an eclectic, stirring and musically stunning recording – beautifully recorded by Bernie Cisternas. Acting as producer here, Wills has assembled the perfect musical complement to her smoky, substantial, mezzo-soprano: Jordan Klapman on piano, Bill Bridges on guitar (and also primary arranger) and Ron Johnston on bass.

A few of the sources of the intriguing material on this project come from the worlds of musical theatre, the European/American cabaret culture of the post-WWI era, American popular song, traditional folk music, a proto-rock ‘n’ roll contribution from Elvis and two original compositions, including Tony Quarrington and Klapman’s dark bossa, Rain on the Roof.

One of the many standouts is Wills’ performance on Lazy Afternoon. Her voice is exquisitely controlled, as she weaves a laconic, gossamer web of sensuality around the mesmerized listener, and Bridges’ guitar accompaniment is nothing short of luminous. Another track of note is Arthur Hamilton’s Cry Me a River – a passive/aggressive anthem made popular by the late Julie London. Wills puts her own contemporary stamp on the tune, cleverly morphing the intent of the lyric into a statement by a strong woman (rather than a victim’s lament). I would be remiss if I didn’t single out the joyous rendition of If I Were a Bell – Frank Loesser’s hit from the venerable musical Guys and Dolls. Wills imbues this tune with just the right amount of spice and sass.

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Anba Tonèl
Daniel Bellegarde
Independent (danielbellegarde.com)

Daniel Bellegarde has enjoyed a 35-year career as a freelance percussionist primarily in Quebec. As he explains, Anba Tonèl (Under the Arbor), his first album as a leader, primary arranger and composer, is the fruit of his research on the confluence of European and African musics in the French Caribbean.

In Anba Tonèl, with the aid of nine musicians and five singers, he explores – through arrangements and compositions – unfamiliar musical territory to outsiders: rural French Caribbean music, the result of that hybridization. Dance music represented includes the contra-dance (square dance), quadrille, minuet-congo, and Haitian twoubadou, a popular genre of guitar-based Haitian music. The album aims to evoke the music performed by Haitian and French West Indies slaves during the 19th century and field workers in the early 20th.

Not a synth or drum set to be found here, the lead French Creole vocals by Marco Jeanty are accompanied by all-acoustic instrumentation. We hear the prominent sound of the banjo (which appears to have been played in the Caribbean before mainland North America), violin, guitar, dobro and manouba (bass kalimba-rumba box), as well as percussion instruments from the French Antilles including tanbou di bass (large tambourine), ti bwa (small wooden slit drum), graj (metal scraper) and chacha (calabash rattle).

I’m no expert on the origins or development of this music. As presented here by Bellegarde however, it has considerable range of mood and is full of danceable musical energy and charm; plus it’s sung and played with authentic-feeling élan.

Sisters in Song
Ault Sisters
Independent AAA18001 (aultsisters.com)

Amanda, Alicia, and Alanna Ault bring clear diction, excellent ensemble, musical mastery, and inspiration from other sister groups to their vocal jazz trio, The Ault Sisters. The CD Sisters in Song adds to a career that includes Toronto club and Ontario jazz festival performances, plus appearances on Vision TV’s Your All-Time Classic Hit Parade. Of the disc’s old-style numbers, I like both the well-enunciated lyrics and Adrean Farrugia’s hot piano solo in Is You or Is You Ain’t My Baby/Wikked Lil Grrls. Songs from the Pointer Sisters’ era are particularly notable: Fire, Slow Hand, and Neutron Dance/Axel F. The Ault Sisters’ versatility shows, with smooth close harmony in the first two and up-tempo precision in the last; each member can lead vocally and voices intertwine seamlessly in Dylan Bell’s sophisticated arrangements. Solos adding further distinction to these tracks come from Ted Quinlan, guitar; Kevin Turcotte, flugelhorn; George Koller, upright bass; and Farrugia -- only four of the disc’s 12 all-star jazz instrumentalists.  

The Ault Sisters express restrained feelings in anything from whispery insights to earnest pleas in Dog and Butterfly and Sincerely. The vocalists show to advantage in both songs as arranged by Debbie Fleming; so does the group’s own creation Let’s Get Away. Thanks also to Greg Kavanagh’s fine producing, this lovers’ title seems to evoke for me a symbolic getaway to the music of the past, with the sound of the present!

World Café
Ron Korb
Humbledragon HD2018 (ronkorb.com)

Flutist and musical polymath, Ron Korb’s modus operandi is to study a musical genre, assimilate it and then compose a program of music reflecting that genre, take it on the road, and, finally, put it on CD, performed on the flutes most appropriate to the music, from his enormous collection of instruments from all over the world. For his 33rd CD, World Café, the musical genre he has chosen is “the Latin world ... Spain, Cuba and South America.” The outcome is both convincingly authentic and addictively alluring!

Take the very first track, Bailar Conmigo, which begins with a burst of infectious rhythmic energy from his collaborators, the perfect foil for the long but always forward-moving phrases of the melody, played in the sultry low register of a regular concert flute. To his credit, Korb moves out of the way partway through for a terrific solo by lead guitarist, Bill Bridges. Similarly, track two, Sans Regret, was intended to be a flute solo but, as Korb explains in his notes, Joe “...Macerollo did such an incredible job that this song became an accordion solo.”

Macerollo isn’t the only top-flight musician on this CD. In track four, Hilario, he enlists the great pianist Hilario Durán and two other Cuban musicians, Papiosco on congas and Roberto Riveron on bass. Korb’s stunning solo line rides the energy of his fellow musicians like a surfer on giant waves!

The remaining nine tracks are just as good as the three I have mentioned. A stellar effort!

Muse
The Tiki Collective
Vesuvius Music (thetikicollective.com)

For the Tiki Collective’s opening salvo, producer Jaymz Bee has assembled a conflagration of noted musicians and chirps that could rival Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. Tenuously classified as “Exotica Lounge Music,” the 13-track project is essentially an ensemble of friends (led by musical director Eric St-Laurent) exploring various musical sub-genres, including snippets of surf, retro, jazz, pop and South Pacific Island influences of the 50s Tiki Culture. The tune menu contains a couple of standards such as Chelsea Bridge, rock anthems (the electric-sitar drenched Don’t Fear the Reaper) as well as pop hits, including a version of Nigerian/British chanteuse Sade’s mega-hit Sweetest Taboo.

Featured vocalists include Genevieve Marentette, Joanna Majoko, Heather Luckhart, the Willows, Lily Frost, Tyra Jutai, Melissa Lauren, Jocelyn Barth, Paget Biscayne, Jessica Lalonde, Irene Torres, Mingjia Chen, Avery Raquel and Danielle Bassels. A few of the fine musicians include St-Laurent on guitar, magnificent and versatile bassist George Koller, Attila Fias on piano, Great Bob Scott on drums, the brilliant Drew Jurecka on violin and Michael Davidson on vibes.

Highlights of this musical pu pu platter include the sexy, dusky, Julie London-esque Harlem Nocturne, expertly rendered by Majoko; the funky-cool Mountain High, Valley Low featuring the laconic, silky vocals of Frost, and Lalonde’s touching take on the sentimental WWII hit, I’ll Be Seeing You (featuring a stunning solo by Jurecka). Also of note is a queso-dripping rendition of Quizas, Quizas, Quizas (better known as Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps) sung in español perfecto by Torres.

Does the musical excess here exceed or succeed? Either way, Muse is an entertaining ride – so have a Mai Tai, and enjoy!

Night Chants – Native American Flute
Gary Stroutsos
ARC Music EUCD2777 (arcmusic.co.uk)

A 35-year, 30-album career makes Seattle-based flute player Gary Stroutsos a veteran of the ethnic flute scene. He’s been heard in concerts, on albums, on TV and film soundtracks. While he considers jazz and new age music pioneer flutist Paul Horn (1930-2014) one of his mentors, Stroutsos has made his own mark exploring the music of Native American flutes. His passion for the stewardship of diverse cultures and the natural environment can be heard throughout the 16 tracks of Night Chants. All the music was composed and performed by Stroutsos on various Native American flutes with technical and musical assuredness and cultural sensitivity.

Stroutsos performs on a wide range of flutes here. They include Dakota 5-hole cedar and 6-hole cedar elk flutes, a Hopi rim flute, a Navajo 6-hole cedar flute, as well as river cane wind whistles and clay aerophones. The various timbral and tonal qualities evoked by each flute are vividly captured in the recording, enriching the overall contemplative mood. In addition, the introduction of occasional percussion and sounds of nature – such as bird song, night frog choruses and wind – pair beautifully with Stroutsos’ unhackneyed and unhurried flute melodies. Together they share a contemplative space that invites listeners into a particular and peaceful sense of place. 

I began listening to Night Chants wondering if I would last an entire album of solo cedar flute. Given the rich musical-cultural journey Stroutsos takes us on, I’d gladly embark again soon.

Yiddish to the Heart
Tango Yona
Independent n/a (tangoyona.com)

Tango Fado Duo
Daniel Binelli; Pedro H. da Silva
Sorel Classics SC CD 012 (sorelmusic.org/Sorel/Recordings)

My first childhood memories of tangos were watching my parents and their friends put on the vinyl and dance enchantingly in living rooms and backyard lawns to the rhythmic, sultry melodies. I loved the sounds and later became enthralled with the extension of the style by Astor Piazzolla. Here are two releases which take tango even further. 

Montreal-based Tango Yona is comprised of the amazing accordionist Yoni Kaston with Briga Dajczer and Daniel Fuchs (violins), Gael Huard (cello), Joel Kerr (bass) and Jane Erkin (vocals). Their CD, Yiddish to the Heart, features heart-wrenching exploratory performances embracing tango qualities of Holocaust songs, and other songs from the 1920s to the 1960s. The emotionally charged Yiddish-language lyrics, juxtaposed against familiar tango qualities, create moving memorable music. Erkin is a dynamic performer, whether singing or speaking the heartrending mother’s love story A Mames Harts/A Mama’s Heart, against violin/accordion solos and a closing fast tango. Markovtshizne has a more traditional tango feel with superb vocal/violin interplay, deep resonant bass, and melodic accordion flourishes, with the dynamic vocals grappling with difficult labour camp existence. Like the more symphonic string sound under the vocal duet with Erkin and guest Damian Nisenson, Es Benkt Zikh/Yearning, the less evident tango backdrop lets the love lyrics lead. Contrasting touches of New York theatre surface, as a jazzy show tune leads to a strong tango and theatrical violin ending in Shpet Bay Nakht/Late at Night. Tango Yona deserves a standing ovation for their research and performances of these dramatic, diverse pieces.

Portuguese Fado music meets Argentine tangos head on as Portuguese guitarist Pedro H. da Silva and Argentine bandoneonist Daniel Binelli unite their multifaceted superstar musical talents in this strong, novel genre duet project, Tango Fado Duo. Opening track Quiero ser tu sombra (“La partida”) sets the stage with contrasting instrumental possibilities at fast tempos. Big surprise here is that the absent bass and drums on the CD are not missed, as the music is driven by the tight ensemble playing. The traditional tango El Choclo (tango) is a straightforward, uplifting cover of the tango classic, especially in the guitar middle section where the accompanying sharp staccato bandoneon notes create a new take on this famous tune. Piazzolla classic Oblivión (milonga lenta) is given a unique rendition with an overwhelmingly musical, impassioned exploration. The classic Portuguese song Lisboa antiga becomes a tango with bandoneon melodic swells, dramatic slow guitar strums and held-note ending. Fado style is maintained in the fast tempo Maria Lisboa (fado) featuring more great musical dialogues. An extremely subtle tango backdrop is heard in Binelli’s French musette-spirited Paris desde aqui, while Da Silva’s Lachrymae has him use finger-style classical techniques on the Portuguese guitar. Intriguing!