Brahms - Violin Sonatas 1-3

Mark Fewer; Peter Longworth

Azica ACD71259

Long-time collaborators Mark Fewer and Peter Longworth have produced a fascinating and thought-provoking CD of the three Brahms violin sonatas. This is not necessarily the sonatas the way you would expect to hear them: first impressions are that they’re possibly a little too restrained, and perhaps lacking a sense of urgency and tension at times, but this soon proves to be irrelevant.

The opening bars of the Op.78 G Major sonata – the two warm piano chords and the almost hesitant off-beat entry of the violin – always set the tone for the whole work, and Fewer and Longworth set up their stall from the outset. The tempo is perfect, with a gentle, rhythmic lilt that never falters, and a fine sense of melodic line. Fewer’s tone and vibrato are warm but never large or effusive, allowing Longworth to shine and establish a true balance and sense of partnership. No histrionics here – just subtle, reflective playing.

This mood of thoughtful interpretation continues throughout the work, and throughout the Op.100 A Major sonata as well. Finally, when the mood changes in the Op.108 D minor sonata, the duo dispel any possible doubts about their commitment with a passionate ending to a deeply satisfying CD.

The Salle Francoys-Bernier in Domaine Forget was the venue for the warm, resonant and intimate recorded sound.

These are intelligent and richly rewarding readings that offer more each time you hear them. I’ll be playing them again and again.

Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

Berlin Philharmoniker; Simon Rattle

EMI: two editions: 509996 4638522 2CD set;

509996 3162127 Experience Edition

Surely there is no more beloved score in all music than Tchaikovsky’s enchanting Nutcracker, traditionally enjoyed by young and old alike at this time of year... at least in North America. Many countries regard Humperdinck’s “children’s opera,” Hansel and Gretel as the must-see event of the season.

For those who know the music only from the Nutcracker Suite, there is another hour of equally enchanting, instantly captivating music. The electrifying Pas de deux from Act II is sometimes played as an encore by visiting Russian Orchestras, to thunderous applause. Without fail, many of the audience are at a loss to identify it or else confirm that it is from Swan Lake. Collectors will remember the Philips CD of selected excerpts (not the suite) from The Nutcracker played with astonishing intensity by Mravinsky and The Leningrad Philharmonic. After hearing the Rattle, the Mravinsky excerpts, while still very impressive, sound inflexible and the Russian orchestra does not exude the flavour and the joy of the subject matter as the Berliners do. The complete ballet is rarely, if ever, heard at a symphony concert and, according to Rattle, the 1st Act music presents a challenge to even a great orchestra.

Checking a few other complete versions for comparison the Rattle has the edge with its infectious exuberance and good feelings. The recorded sound is stunning in its delineation of details, width, depth and dynamics.

The regular set includes access to live concert footage and a one day free pass to the online Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall. The Experience Edition is a beautiful little hard-bound 60 page art book with the two CDs included; adding exclusive interviews, and downloads to the regular edition. A handsome package for only a few dollars more.

The Gustav Mahler Celebration

Thomas Hampson; Anne Sophie von Otter; Marita Solberg; Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Manfred Honeck

EuroArts 2058148

Introducing Mahler - Symphony No.2

Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Claudio Abbado

EuroArts 2056178

There’s not a lot to see in Kaliště, the tiny enclave of some 330 souls in the present-day Czech Republic, but on July 1 this past summer the town was inundated to celebrate the 150th birthday of their most famous son, Gustav Mahler. Set in a temporary outdoor structure, the greatly augmented Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra (originally founded by Claudio Abbado) appeared under the direction of Manfred Honeck for a festival performance of excerpts from Mahler’s towering Second Symphony and a handful of his more intimate songs with orchestra featuring baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. Despite the compromised acoustics of the band shell the sound of the performance is actually quite good; while von Otter is content with the conventional park-and-bark position to deliver her considerable vocal gifts, hammy Hampson relishes the opportunity afforded by his wireless headset microphone to roam the stage both back and front in a riveting performance of the great anti-war song Revelge. Though little of the town that Mahler knew remains, the camera glimpses a ghostly military band in the distance and briefly roams through the local Jewish cemetery. The Czech Boy’s Choir and Prague Philharmonic Choir chime in remotely from the local church in Es sungen drei Engel and appear on the bandstand to great effect for the concluding paean of the Symphony.

Introducing Mahler is an episode from a music documentary series on EuroArt, Introducing Masterpieces of Classical Music. It features a succinct explication of the Fifth Symphony by British musicologist Jeremy Barham, with piano excerpts leading into the corresponding orchestral segments augmented by appropriate visual footage, scrolling music examples, and additional commentary by anonymous voices reading from period documents. Unfortunately these secondary narrative sub-tracks are at times near-inaudible in the stereo mix. The real draw of this DVD is the magnificent performance of the symphony by Claudio Abbado and his hand-picked Lucerne Festival Orchestra, repackaged from an earlier incarnation of this 2004 once-in-a-lifetime concert. The expertly directed camera work brings an extra dimension to the intense concentration and amazing ensemble work of this distinguished ensemble responding as one with the greatest Mahler conductor of our time.

Chinese Recorder Concertos

Michala Petri; Copenhagen Philharmonic; lan Shui

OUR Recordings 6.220603

This remarkable CD presents the premiere recordings of four concertos by living Chinese composers, two of whom currently work in the USA. The disc opens with Tian Jianping’s Fei Ge (Flying Song), originally written in 2002 as a concerto for dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) and pan-Asian instrumental ensemble. This transcription by the composer for western orchestra and recorder, on which Petri eloquently evokes the dizi in tone and effect, works beautifully with playing of the highest order from both orchestra and soloist.

Bright Sheng’s evocative and strikingly beautiful Flute Moon is more a full orchestral work than a concerto, and Petri plays solo parts originally assigned to the flute and piccolo. The piece revels in a rich array of orchestral colours, dazzling musical gestures, and dramatic shifts of mood. The three-movement Bang Di Concerto by Ma Shui-long is the composer’s best known composition, and is an extraordinarily effective fusion between Chinese and western musical languages. It receives an utterly virtuosic performance from all involved. Written for Petri by Chen Yi, The Ancient Chinese Beauty draws inspiration from Chinese figures, script, and flutes. The second movement, particularly in its evocation of the ancient xun or large Chinese ocarina, is particularly impressive.

For several decades now Michala Petri has been one of the busiest and most familiar recorder players to audiences around the globe, and with programs such as this she continues to do great things beyond the recorder’s more typical boundaries. She seems eminently at home here, making her own distinct music in a fascinating project designed “to creatively collaborate in an international musical dialogue.”

Kudos to her, to the wonderful Copenhagen Philharmonic and conductor Lan Shui – and to the composers of these wonderful pieces.

Concert Note: Chen Yi is the featured composer at this year’s New Music Festival at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto with events January 23 through 29. Chen’s Yangko is also included in Soundstreams Canada’s January 25 concert “Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera” at Koerner Hall.

Lou Harrison - Scenes from Cavafy

Gamelan Pacifica; Jarrad Powell

New World Records 80710-2 (www.newworldrecords.org)

The long list of non-Indonesian composers who have been intrigued and inspired by the instruments and music of the gamelan (an indigenous Indonesian orchestra) goes back some 250 years. Starting with Jean-Philippe Rameau in the 18th c., the lineage continues with Debussy and led to compositions by the Canadian Colin McPhee, and to works of Steve Reich and to many more musicians active today.

There was no more eager convert to the gamelan as a Western musical resource however than the American composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003). As well as composing dozens of works for various types of gamelans, Harrison served as a generous mentor to a generation of musicians who have subsequently taken the gamelan music model into their own musical domains. These include Toronto’s Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and Seattle’s Gamelan Pacifica.

The top-notch musicians of the latter perform definitive versions of the three large-scale Harrison works for Central Javanese style gamelan on this album. The Seattle composer and expert gamelan musician Jarrad Powell convincingly directs the extended ensemble of instrumentalists, choir and vocal soloists in the three works here.

The Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan (1987) is the most substantial of the eight Harrison works combining Western solo instruments and the gamelan. The piano is retuned to match the gamelan instruments. This is an effect which provides bracing listening at first, but to which friendly ears warm by the slow cantabile movement, a Harrison specialty.

A Soedjatmoko Set (1989) illustrating Harrison’s mature gamelan style, features Jessika Kenney, an outstanding American soprano. She manages the most difficult of musical tasks: to convincingly nail a sort of magical amalgam of both Javanese and late 20th c. American vocal style, articulation, timbre, intonation and mood, at the same time. Together with the excellent liner notes, this recording is a fitting tribute to Harrison’s ideal of the peaceful coexistence of world music cultures, demonstrated here at a very high level indeed.

Tracing Light

Laila Biali

Independent LB09102 (www.lailabiali.com)

Laila Biali has had quite a year – a new gig as backing vocalist with Sting, a new baby and now a new CD. “Tracing Light” is the third solo album for the Vancouver-raised, Toronto- and New York-based performer and composer.

Although Biali started out her still-burgeoning career as a jazz piano player who sang occasionally, with “Tracing Light” it’s her singing that predominates. All the tunes except two – an instrumental and another that features Sudanese vocalist Waleed Abdulhamid, both of which Biali composed – feature Biali’s light pretty voice, which is at times reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan. The disc starts strong with an absolutely stunning cover of Imogen Heap's Let Go, featuring Larnell Lewis's exquisite drumming. (Lewis is a standout throughout the disc, turning in some of the most exciting drum work I've heard in a long time.) The Best Is Yet to Come is shaken out of its customary casual groove and turned into a barn burner with Lewis and bassist and producer George Koller driving the tempo and Biali right there with them coolly and capably navigating multiple key changes. The disc closes out with Biali alone on Billy Joel's And So It Goes to which she adds a layer of harmonic complexity on piano and fathoms of emotional depth to the poignant lyrics.

Concert Note: Biali is performing a live-to-air concert with Lewis and Koller on December 6 on Jazz.FM91.

The Forgotten 1949 Carnegie Hall Concert

Nat King Cole

HEP Records CD 91

David Lennick, local music collector and archivist has, since the 90's, made a living restoring archival recordings. Recently he came up with a winner - a November 4, 1949 recording of Nat King Cole and his trio at Carnegie Hall, never issued until now.

Irving Ashby, guitar, Joe Comfort, bass and Jack Costanzo on bongos make up the trio and the programme consisting, for the most part, of familiar material flows along as smooth as silk with Cole's smoky voice making each song sound as if it were written for him. At the time the group was touring as a double bill with the Woody Herman Orchestra which plays on the last cut on this CD.

The concert was recorded on acetates, a not uncommon practice at Carnegie in those days. Bass and guitar are somewhat underrecorded, not the fault of the restoration process, and I would have liked to hear more of Nat Cole the pianist, but it does not take away from the overall feeling of being present at a pretty special event.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this performance available. If you are a fan of Nat King Cole, and who isn't, you will want to add this one to your collection.

This CD is on HEP Records based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned by Alastair Robertson. The label has a catalogue of historically significant recordings which can be accessed at www.hepjazz.com.

One Take Volume Four

Joey Defrancesco; Robi Botos; Vito Rezza; Phil Dwyer

Alma ACD11912 www.almarecords.com

One Take is exactly what it says - a freewheeling session of straight ahead jazz with no rehearsal, no edits, no overdubs - just four masters of their craft blending their skills together to create almost an hour's worth of high octane jazz.

Reticent, never - fiery, always and they take no prisoners when the music starts. Everybody is at the top of his game, although as a saxophone player I feel I have to single out the playing of Phil Dwyer who couldn't play poorly even if you paid him to. Over the years he has developed a maturity and depth in his playing which make him stand out in any musical setting. Having said that, every player on the session puts his stamp on the music and you just know that to hear this band in a live setting would be an experience to remember

It's a well balanced programme, ranging from a lyrical reading of the Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh classic Tenderly to a roaring version of Broadway by the team of Wilbur H Bird/Teddy McRae/Henri Woode. All four musicians are well-known to Toronto audiences, Rezza and Botos being very active on the local scene. DeFrancesco is a frequent winner of the Downbeat Critics' Poll, while Dwyer spent 15 years in Toronto before moving to Vancouver Island.

So take five and give “One Take Volume Four” a listen.

Our First Set

John McLeod's Rex Hotel Jazz Orchestra

http://www.johnsjazz.ca/

In my column last month I suggested that there are three ingredients to look for in jazz - swing, melodic content and a knowledge of the roots. You don't have to look any farther than this excellent CD. John MacLeod is one of the most committed and complete musicians I am privileged to know and his dedication and musical philosophy are stamped on this programme of originals and great standards. Four of the originals are by John with additional contributions from Gord Sheard and Mike Murley. Add three superior standards, one of them arranged by Rick Wilkins, and you have one of the most rewarding albums I have heard this year. It also serves to underscore just how many great players we have in this city. Featured soloists include Andy Ballentine, Joey Goldstein, Terry Promane, David Braid, Perry White, Jon Challoner, Brian O'Kane, Alastair Kay, John Johnson and Mike Murley. The rhythm section is rounded out with Jim Vivian and Ted Warren giving a great foundation for this star-studded musical organisation.

I can't choose favourite pieces from the album. There are so many gems.

This is not a recording you will listen to once and put on the shelf. It deserves repeated playing and will give pleasure many times over.

Perhaps it belongs on television’s Antiques Roadshow. It’s a valuable slice of Canadian jazz history – a treasure trove in fact. Thirty-seven years ago saxophonist Jim Galloway played with American trombonist Vic Dickenson at a long-gone Toronto venue, Daniels. The show was recorded by Hogtown’s voice of jazz Ted O’Reilly, who stored the tapes – and now they’ve been transcribed. The result is Vic Dickenson Jim Galloway - Live In Toronto (Castor Records 11 001 www.jimgalloway.ca), which is pure delight, Galloway on his straight soprano for once (and occasionally baritone sax) matching wits with the king of growls, smears and all-around soft-toned, fluent wit. Backed by warhorses Ron Sorley (piano), Danny Mastri (bass) and George Reed (drums), the session is relaxed, yet swinging, from the first notes of Sonny Boy to the last of Just You, Just Me. It’s fabulous mainstream jazz, with journalist-drummer Paul Rimstead in for three of the dozen tracks. Happily Galloway sounds today much like he did then but everyone who heard Dickenson live misses his earthy playing with its immediately recognizable sound. The leaders both understand the blue notes and tasteful lyricism, and each gets his own stylish feature, Dickenson singing with his horn on Manha de Carnaval and Zing went the Strings of my Heart and Galloway, wry and charming as ever on baritone with Solitude. This great record shows how the wisdom of age trumps the pretentious audacity of much jazz youth.

Trumpeter Lina Allemano is at the forefront of free jazz innovation and glides appealingly on Lina Allemano Four - Jargon (Lumo Records LM 2010-4 www.linaallemano.com) with regular colleagues Brodie West (also sax), Andrew Downing (bass) and Nick Fraser (drums). The leader composed all seven songs, the opening Cannonball Adderley Tattoo not soulful but surging over churning bass and stimulating rat-a-tat drums. The quartet treats time like a toy, sampling all possible permutations. West’s tart tone and distanced viewpoint suits Wayne’s Shorts a nod to Shorter’s mysterious writing and playing while Sling Slang is almost hard bop, textures colouring a sparse theme with uninhibited horns scrambling over an undulating rhythmic landscape. Water is wistful fragments, the title tune channels another altoist (Ornette Coleman) before sliding into dissonance and feverish feeling, while fresh emotional tempests and pungent probing conclude the session which, unfortunately, is far too short – just 40 minutes.

Drummer Nick Fraser is also hard at work with new band Peripheral Vision, co-led by bassist Michael Herring and guitarist Don Scott, whose debut album is the self-titled Peripheral Vision (Step3 Step3-001 www.peripheralvisionmusic.com). This outfit produces jazz for this century, often fiendishly challenging musical structures, intricate forms that might seem relatively simple but in fact are a dense thicket of tricky harmonies, demanding melodies and punishing rhythms. However, along with tenorman Trevor Hogg, the band shapes interesting paths along the divide between inside and outside playing. All the tunes are by the leaders, whose influences are catholic – pop, rock, classical and more. Treehouse exploits fascinating motifs, Lot offers eerie moments over walking strings, and all the material has something to say, propelled with elegant momentum and hearty rations of dynamic interplay despite constantly shifting moods. Alongside the contemplative melody making there’s passages that crackle with intellectual energy, Herring anchoring the tapestry and pulsating where it counts and Scott all serpentine fluidity. Concert Note: Peripheral Vision is officially released Dec. 2 at Trane Studio after a 14-venue tour.

A pair of Toronto veterans show how duo recordings should be executed and presented on Brian Dickinson Ted Quinlan - Around The Bend (Addo Recordings AJR004 www.briandickinson.ca). Pianist Dickinson and guitarist Quinlan are a classy double act who clearly think about every minuscule detail of their craft, delivering superior jazz and an extraordinary rapport that’s never undermined by abrasive competition – almost one body, four hands. Eight of the 10 cuts are originals, plus there’s Monk’s classic Monk’s Dream and a spin through the love scene theme from the movie Spartacus. The protagonists say (in the liner notes) that playing in twos is scary but liberating, with unique challenges. It’s like an extended conversation between two friends and that a duo session is like getting to know someone personally and musically. Amen to that. Such professed togetherness is illuminated here to telling effect, with labyrinthine ideas tossed back and forth whatever the context. It’s a faultless performance, highlights including the opening title piece, the bright ballad Pastiche, the chirpy Rockin’ At The Hillside and Limbo.

Montreal-based Matt Herskowitz is an imaginative artist whose tastes spill over conventional boundaries, as Andre Previn and Dave Brubeck have demonstrated. His Jerusalem Trilogy (Justin Time JUST 239-2 www.justin-time.com) hauls world music, particularly that of the Middle East, into the jazz orbit. The leader calls it 21^st century chamber jazz. It’s a risky notion, but the Herskowitz trio plus violinist Lara St. John and cellist Mike Block, lesser guests and a string quartet on one track (with some through-composed music) make the idea work. Main mealtime item is the three-part Jerusalem Suite with fine use of flowing runs and counterpoint while tunes like the klezmer-styled Gottingen and the note-heavy Prokofiev’s Revenge celebrate the fusion of differing styles and cultures. Only preference for electric rather than acoustic bass jars proceedings.

Three other Canadian discs caught my ear this month. Canefire’s Pandemonium (www.canefire.ca) is splendid Caribbean jazz featuring steel pans, The Jive Bombers Jump (www.thejivebombers.ca) has a gaggle of Toronto stars blasting their way through jump blues and more and Montreal electric bassist Alain Caron is at his funkiest on the nine quartet tracks of Sep7entrion (www.alaincaron.com).

Boxed sets of recorded music have long been a holiday gift favourite. But sophisticated music fans won’t settle for slapped together “best of” collections. However, well-organized boxes of improvised music which collect multiple CDs for specific reasons, should impress any aware music listener.

Anthony Braxton/Gerry Hemingway’s Old Dogs (Mode Avant 9/12 www.moderecords.com) for instance is another instalment in the ongoing recorded history of multi-reedman Braxton. The four CDs feature him and percussionist Hemingway, an integral part of the reedist’s bands from 1983 to 1994, but who has rarely played with him since that time. Each 60-minute inventive Invention was recorded in real time without edits or alternate takes. Extrasensory cooperation is demonstrated as Braxton moves among seven saxophones and Hemingway a percussion collection. Should Braxton’s soprano saxophone obbligato turn staccato and superfast, Hemingway responds with centred vibraphone pings plus affiliated marimba pops. If subterranean contrabass saxophone tongue stops and watery glottal punctuation raucously sound, then abrasive ruffs on ride cymbals and drum rims produce nearly identical timbres. Hemingway’s percussion command is such that in a heartbeat he can produced a tone midway between that of a dumbeck and a set of tin cans to contrast with the reedist’s irregular tonguing; then as swiftly bring his entire kit into play using press rolls and ruffs to replicate foot-tapping swing that complements Braxton’s rare forays into masterful, story-telling runs on tenor saxophone.

Another masterful saxophonist is German tenorist Peter Brötzmann. He never does anything by halves and Chicago Tentet +1’s 3 Nights in Oslo (Smalltown Superjazz STSJ197CD www.smalltownsuperjazz.com) consists of five CDs. No essay in self-aggrandizement, three of the discs feature band subsets. The two CDs featuring the ensemble are filled with the palpable excitement from 11 players collectively honking, fluttering and snorting. There’s space for all, with saxophonists Brötzmann and Mats Gustafsson creating reed gymnastics that encompass fortissimo runs, nephritic split tones and glottal punctuation. Contrapuntal brass layering melds Per Åke Holmlander’s elephantine tuba snorts, gut-bucket slurs from trombonists Jeb Bishop and Johannes Bauer, as drummers Paal Nilssen-Love’s and Michael Zerang’s flams and cymbal pressure chug underneath. Although it may seem that harmonies created by yapping horn blasts and polyrhythmic string friction from bassist Kent Kessler and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm are opaque, the band has such control that the climax isn’t blood vessel bursting flashiness, but contrapuntal divisions exposing every texture. Two smaller groupings stand out. The tenor saxophone battle between Ken Vandermark and Joe McPhee allows undulating trills to bring needed balance to the duo’s initial ghostly shrieks and altissimo split tones. Elsewhere, Bishop, Bauer, Holmlander and McPhee on pocket trumpet, meld such extended techniques as metal buzzes, pedal-point burbles and peeping lip trills without losing chromatic mooring.

Similarly the three CDs which make up Rivière Composers’ Pool - Summer Works 2009 (Emanem 5301 www.emanemdiscs.com) are divided among sessions by a quartet of Americans, bassist Kent Carter and woodwind player Etienne Rolin, and Germans, violist Albercht Maurer and clarinettist Theo Jörgensmann, plus trio and duo interaction. What’s instructive is how the musicians’ smaller meetings suggest ideas that eventually coalesce into the title suite. On the successive Music for a Ghost Story and Dance to This, Jörgensmann/Carter/Maurer build up wide-ranging modulations into a capriccio-like showcase including Jörgensmann’s flying glissandi, Carter’s string slaps and Maurer’s portamento runs. These movements are put to good use during the CD-length suite. From the exposition, where Rolin’s broken-octave basset horn extensions, chanter-like respiration from Jörgensmann’s clarinet, high-energy viola lines and sul tasto bass runs expand the theme, the variations cycle through quartet, trio, duo and solo episodes. If the clarinet outputs altissimo screeches, it’s calmed by Carter’s sul tasto stops; while speedy violin glissandi set the stage for mid-range reed licks. Putting aside bel canto or dissonant timbres, the climax downshifts to clarinet glissandi which push all into a gentling, diminuendo finale.

The wild card in this group is Sun Ra’s three-CD set of The Heliocentric Worlds (ESP-Disk 4062 www.espdisk.com). It confirms the composer/pianist’s legacy as an avant-garde Duke Ellington. Key players, such as saxophonists Marshall Allen and John Gilmore, plus Ra himself on pioneering electronic keyboards, solo impressively. Not only does the re-mastered 1965 set contain a recently discovered third disc, but each CD includes bonus material: a documentary film, a photo archive and contemporary writing. Like Ellington, Ra’s intricately shaded and organized arrangements create symphonic timbres with only 13 musicians. Phantasmagoric and polyphonic, extended tone poems like The Sun Myth are shaped by full-band expressions plus harmonies which contrast tuned bongos and sul ponticello bass thumps, or elsewhere contrapuntal saxophone vibrations and boogie-woogie piano runs. While The Cosmos takes its shape from call-and-response horn work, on other tunes Ra’s musical alchemy encompasses formalist piano tones, chalumeau bass clarinet smears and frenetic trumpet triplets.

Each of these attractively packaged boxed sets demonstrates how expansive musical quality can be presented in an intelligent fashion. And each – or all – would make a fine addition to your CD collection.

Silver Pony

Cassandra Wilson

Blue Note 509996 29752 2 3

“Silver Pony” is the latest in a long line of releases in the varied oeuvre of singer Cassandra Wilson. Getting a new Wilson disc made me feel a little like a kid on Christmas morning, but this wasn't exactly the pony I was expecting to find under the tree. Wilson is at her best when she takes rock and pop tunes and, along with her always innovative band mates, reworks them into atmospheric beauties. Her version of Neil Young's Harvest Moon from the Grammy-winning “New Moon Daughter” with Toronto guitar alchemist Kevin Breit, being a prime example. While “Silver Pony” has a few studio-recorded trademark Wilsonisms - like the funky Forty Days and Forty Nights and Watch the Sunrise, a duet with John Legend — what dominate the album are the live tracks. With many of the songs weighing in around the seven-minute mark and extended soloing from piano player Jonathan Batiste, drummer Herlin Riley and guitarist Marvin Sewell, there's a lot of hay to chew on. Wilson's voice is as deep and nuanced as ever and the interplay between the musicians is a lesson in developing ideas on the fly. Anyone who likes their tunes in nice, neat A-A-B-A packages should probably hitch their wagon to some other horse, but if you want to hear veteran performers giving free rein to their creativity, saddle up and ride.

Along the Way - Duo Pipa & Violin

Liu Fang; Malcolm Goldstein

Philmultic PMPCD809 www.philmultic.com

This double album reflects what appears to be a mini trend: skilled performers of disparate instruments and music genres who once never would have thought of sharing the same stage, coming together in collaborative un-scored improvisation.

The violinist Malcolm Goldstein (b. 1936) is an American born composer and violinist, specialising in free improvisation. Active in the new music scene since the early 1960s, he has developed a totally individual and original approach to violin playing, one which on first hearing sounds distinctly unorthodox. Goldstein’s approach is not to make the violin sound as it “should” in a conventional sense, but to explore making music on it from scratch. Far from being a naïf however, his approach is solidly rooted in the 20th century avant-garde music mainstream and also in Eastern European violin playing traditions.

Based in Montréal, the pipa soloist Liu Fang (b. 1974) has shown a commitment to crossing boundaries. Having obtained a solid foundation on her plucked lute-like instrument at the Shanghai Conservatory for Music, she has performed throughout the world and released 10 albums. In addition to her repertoire of Chinese traditional music Liu Fang has also embraced the culture of her adopted homeland. Her premieres of works by Canadian composers including R. Murray Schafer and José Evangelista demonstrate that. Along the Way is the latest installment of what she calls her “Silk and Steel” projects in which she collaborates with leading non-Chinese musicians from various traditions.

These two master musicians first performed together in 2003 and their years of mutual respect and musical understanding is audible on this album. They seem to be aiming to create 15 very different nature-referenced soundscapes in their improvisations. On track 1, CD 2, the predominant mood is dramatic, while on others it ranges from furious to quiet and silent, to sections sounding disputatious, furious, even bellicose. The dominant texture however is an eloquent musical dialogue with occasional virtuoso flourishes on both instruments; some on the violin would not be out of place in a European 20th c. concerto.  Make no mistake, this is sophisticated, richly layered music

Katrina Ballads

Ted Hearne

New Amsterdam Records NWA011 www.katrinaballads.com

With events such as Richard Nixon’s China visit the subject of modern operas, why not 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed New Orleans? That’s what composer Ted Hearne has done with this 70-minute song cycle. It’s scored for five singers and 11 musicians, including horn and string ensembles and a rock rhythm section.

Winner of many awards since its premiere at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Katrina Ballads is a mature work that belies Herne’s age of 28. Witty as well as inventive, the libretto consists of vocalized versions of transcribed sound bites from New Orleans residents, reporters and officials. Almost every track is given a finer point by the arrangements which adapt variants of notated, jazz, and pop musics to the program.

There are many standouts, including Herne’s zippy and jivey repetition of George Bush’s infamous “Brownie You’re Doin’ A Heck of a Job”; and “Barbara Bush”, where the ex-First Lady’s saying the underprivileged don’t mind uprooting is mocked straight-faced by mezzo-soprano Abby Fischer accompanied by faux C&W fiddling and honky-tonk piano. There’s poignancy as well. “Hardy Jackson” sung by baritone Anthony Turner is a parlando lament for a victim’s missing wife. There’s also tenor Isaiah Robinson’s fully orchestrated gospel-like recasting of the statement that George Bush didn’t care about black people by rapper “Kanye West”.

Impressively as well, Turner and soprano Allison Semple’s musical recreation of an interview between “Anderson Cooper and Mary Landrieu” is an operatic-style recitative highlights swift-tongued talents, while cracklings with the reporter’s indignation towards the platitude-spouting Louisiana senator.

Speak Easy

Cadence

Independent CD-3 (www.cadence-unplugged.com)

How is it that four men with no instruments play trumpet and snare so well? Is it not enough that the bang-on vocals and supremely crafted a capella arrangements and retro-stylings transport us nostalgically back to that era so cleverly reproduced on the “Hi-Fi” cover?  Seriously, I’m thinking of asking these guys (who, by the way, offer school workshops) to teach our kids how to play an instrument without having to shell out the dough to purchase one! It’s easy to see why they have performed alongside Bobby McFerrin as well as being nominated for a couple of Junos and playing sold out concert halls across the land.

This album mixes new interpretations of classic Cole Porter, Van Heusen/Cahn, Lerner/Loewe with some great original tunes and even innovative arrangements of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Paul Simon tunes. Don’t know if they’ve got some Louis Jordan songs up their sleeves but their keen sense of humour and rollicking fun remind me a lot of his good-time musical characterizations. All four, holders of music degrees (York, McGill), obviously studied History of the Rat Pack and its influence on social strata as well as Toward an understanding of be-bop cool.