Susheela Raman doesn’t think much of borders. Born in London to South Indian parents but raised in Australia, her musical career has been all about bringing together people, cultures, ideas, and sounds to create her own musical voice. She’s worked with musicians from South and South East Asia, Africa, Greece, Turkey, and North Africa on previous releases such as Music For Crocodiles and Vel. So it doesn’t seem at all odd that for her latest album, Ghost Gamelan, she has worked with gamelan musicians from Java.
Continue reading Susheela Raman: Ghost GamelanCategory Archives: Records
Susheela Raman: Music For Crocodiles
Susheela Raman is one in a line of Indian performers who have sought to bring the traditional aspects of the music of their heritage into a satisfying mix with popular Western musical forms in a way that does not subjugate the exotic elements, making them into mere ornaments that only pay lip service to age old musical traditions. On Music for Crocodiles, her third album, Raman pushes a bit further out from her comfort zone, performing the majority of the songs in English.
Continue reading Susheela Raman: Music For CrocodilesFreedom Suite
The history of Sonny Rollins’ jazz classic
by Marshall Bowden
In 1956 Sonny Rollins was one of the best-known tenor saxophonists in jazz, released two classic jazz albums, Saxophone Colossus and Tenor Madness. In the following two years, freed from his Prestige Records contract, Rollins set about making some great records that were released on a variety of labels, including Riverside, Contemporary, and Period. He released Way Out West and worked with Thelonious Monk.
Yet, even as his career ascended he faced the specter of racism when he attempted to rent an apartment in New York City. “Here I had all these reviews, newspaper articles and pictures,” Rollins later said. “At the time it struck me, what did it all mean if you were still a nigger, so to speak? This is the reason I wrote the suite.”
Continue reading Freedom SuiteSonny Rollins: Plus 4
1956 was a hell of a year for Sonny Rollins. Having already recorded a number of memorable dates for the Prestige label, both as a leader and a sideman, ’56 saw the recording of Rollins sessions that became the albums Saxophone Colossus and Tenor Madness, as well as Sonny Rollins Plus 4, which has been reissued as one of Prestige’s Rudy Van Gelder Remasters series.
Continue reading Sonny Rollins: Plus 4Ike Quebec: Heavy Soul
Ike Quebec was a really great and sadly under-recorded tenor man of the Coleman Hawkins school, with nods to Ben Webster and Stan Getz as well. In the 1940s Quebec cut some 10 and 12-inch 78 rpm records for Blue Note, records that were quite popular in their day. By the mid-fifties, Quebec had virtually disappeared from the scene, at least partially because his 78 rpm sides were not available on the new LP format, and so very few young jazz fans had ever heard of him.
Continue reading Ike Quebec: Heavy SoulIke Quebec
The Forgotten Tenor
by Marshall Bowden
The story of Ike Quebec is in many ways the story of the prototypical working jazz musician who never quite catches a lucky break, but who nonetheless perseveres and is able to earn a livelihood from his art for his entire life.
Continue reading Ike QuebecCowboys International: Original Sin (Revisited) (Again)
This piece was written in 2003 when Original Sin was released for the first time on CD by the label CD Baby. The disc was titled Revisited and it featured the full original album plus five additional tracks. However, it failed to preserve the original programming order of the album tracks, opting instead for a random presentation. Revisited is still available on the resale market, however the original album is now available for streaming and MP3 download at both Spotify and Amazon
Continue reading Cowboys International: Original Sin (Revisited) (Again)Parliament: Mothership Connection
1976’s Mothership Connection is one of the best albums George Clinton released under the Parliament banner in the five years between 1975 and 1980. During that period the group released an incredible nine records (no greatest hits or live sets, either) and toured relentlessly. When not busy with Parliament, Clinton was busy supervising recording by his other group, Funkadelic, or the P-Funk All Stars, Bootsy Collins, The Brides of Funkenstein, Bernie Worrell, or Zapp. What is incredible is the high quality of all this music. To say, then, that Mothership Connection stands out among the work of this period is high praise indeed.
Continue reading Parliament: Mothership ConnectionThree by Cannonball Adderley
Cannonball Adderley Takes Charge
In 1963 Julian “Cannonball” Adderley moved from the Riverside label, where he had recorded some fifteen albums of material, to Capitol Records, where he would find some of his greatest success. Cannonball Adderley Takes Charge presents one of seven master tapes that Capitol acquired along with Adderley himself. Produced by Orrin Keepnews, the recording presents Adderley in spring of 1959. He is accompanied throughout by pianist Wynton Kelly, one of jazz music’s most tasteful and empathetic sidemen, as well as a swinging soloist. On four tracks bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb sit in, while the final five selections find brothers Percy and Albert Heath filling those roles.
Continue reading Three by Cannonball AdderleyCannonball Adderley: Somethin’ Else
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley burst upon the jazz scene in 1955, sitting in with Oscar Pettiford’s group at the Bohemia in New York and almost instantly being hailed as the “new Bird”. While Adderley had certainly listened to and incorporated Charlie Parker’s work into his playing by this time, the foundation for his funky, graceful alto style came from careful listening to the work of Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, as well as tenor players like Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and, of course, Lester Young.
Continue reading Cannonball Adderley: Somethin’ Else