Listening Post /Brief reviews of select releases
Pop
J. D. Souther, “If the World Was You” (Slow Curve). J. D. Souther’s name might not be one that routinely falls off the tongues of pop music fans, but certainly, almost anyone’s who’s listened to pop or rock radio over the past 35 years has heard Souther’s influence, if not his harmony singing or song-writing. A friend and confidante of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Poco, among so many others, Souther was also a less-than-prolific solo artist. His voice was a honeyed tenor 30 years ago. Amazingly, it still is today, as “If the World Was You,” the man’s first solo effort in a quarter century, makes plain. One would expect a Souther record to sound like mellowed-out California rock, dude, but guess what? This new record was laid down live in the studio with a five-piece jazz ensemble (which included Bela Fleck & the Flecktones sax man Jeff Coffin) and much of it genuinely swings. That said, Souther is a songwriter, and “World” is full of smart character sketches and observations set to memorable melodies. Musically, it is unafraid to mix pop, country, soul, bluegrass, Dixieland and Latin rhythms. The closest analog to what Souther has pulled off here is probably Lyle Lovett’s “Joshua Judges Ruth.” Fans of that record’s subtle fusion will be delighted by Souther’s low-key genius. ★★★★( Jeff Miers)
Jazz
Bill Henderson, “Beautiful Memory: Live at the Vic” (Ahuh Productions). Jazz singer Bill Henderson’s friends contend that he is the “pre-eminent male jazz singer of our time” and — I’m quoting the notes here — “DEFINITELY THE GREATEST JAZZ SINGER the larger world knows nothing about.” The world might know Henderson, just not by name. He toured with Bill Cosby, sang with the Count Basie Orchestra and the Oscar Peterson Trio, and acted in TV shows like “Happy Days” and “The Jeffersons.” He recorded this album on his 81st birthday. Henderson is a breezy, fearless, no-nonsense singer, instantly likable. There’s a little bit of Joe Williams in there, a little Nat Cole. I like his bluesy, lyrical pianist, Tateng Katindig. I also like his taste in songs, which include “You Are My Sunshine,” a solo with Katindig. It’s fun to hear the old Earl Hines standard “Royal Garden Blues,” a song out of fashion for decades. And Harold Arlen’s beautiful “A Sleepin’ Bee.” And a few goodies I didn’t know, like “Never Kiss and Run” and “Living Without You.” Ellington’s “Tulip or Turnip” caps off this sweet, satisfying 12-song set. ★★★★( Mary Kunz Goldman)
Folk
The Beyman Brothers, “Memories of Summer as a Child” (Dharma Moon). A trio consisting of actor/writer/musician Christopher Guest, composer David Nichtern and multi- instrumentalist C. J. Vanston, the Beyman Brothers revel in a relaxed, often ethereal blend of instrumental music boasting elements of jazz, folk, bluegrass and — in the non-pejorative sense of the descriptive — new age. All of these pieces reveal an eclectic variety of influences, which is as it should be — the three musicians are lifelong friends who employ their fictional brotherhood as a meeting place for their various ideas. Clearly, ego has been pushed aside here — there is an elegant stillness at the heart of the album, perhaps most ably embodied by the elegaic title song, and it’s a stillness born of mutual respect and refined musicianship. At times, the music is redolent of the sparse interplay personified by the duo and group work of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. At others, the stripped-down acoustic Americana of Pat Metheny’s “New Chautauqua,” or just about anything by John Fahey, is a reasonable analog. Throughout, the music is unhurried, lambent, and ultimately, memorable. ★★★( J.M.)
Classical
Puccini 2008, “Nessun Dorma” (EMI Classics, two discs). Just because the Puccini year is over doesn’t mean we have to stop listening to Puccini, whose 150th birthday anniversary fell in 2008. What’s remarkable about this collection is the wealth of singers included. It ranges from Maria Callas to today’s celebrity opera couple, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. And you get a few that are now in near-obscurity outside of the opera subculture: Alfredo Kraus, singing an aria from “La Boheme,” and Giuseppe Campora, singing an aria from “The Girl of the Golden West.” Callas gets “Vissi d’arte” — she sings it with beautifully paced emotion — but the set happily throws a curve ball or two at you. The coveted “Nessun Dorma,” for instance, goes to Jose Carreras, the least heavy-hitting of the fabled Three Tenors. (It’s fascinating to hear how he makes up for his relatively light voice, but trust me, he does.) There’s so much raw emotion in this set. I wish they included words and translations, since I could imagine opera newbies enjoying it. ★★★( M.K. G.)
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Mendelssohn, Piano Works performed by pianist Dana Protopescu and the Fortepianotrio Florestan (Profil, four discs). Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday is less than a month away (Feb. 3 to be exact) and yet there has been surprisingly little hoopla about it all — surprising, that is, unless you take into account that in some ways Mendelssohn is one of the more weirdly underrated figures in the entire history of music. Among other things, we owe to him, more than anyone, the rediscovery of Bach, which has never stopped since his time. While the symphonies, the violin concerto, “Elijah” and the incidental music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” have comprised the cornerstone of Mendelssohn’s music for the past century or more, the piano music has been ignored more often than not. And, as this four-disc set proves, that is absolutely undeservedly so. The “Songs without Words” aren’t uncommon but the “Variations Serieuses” Op. 54 ought to be much better known, as do the early sonatas and even piano trios. Dana Protopescu is the kind of pianist to be expected from a marathon project like this — a solid, unremarkable pianist attentive to the length and breadth of the work without being supremely focused on any one piece. An enormously worthy box set for what it reveals about Mendelssohn’s piano music but mostly because it stimulates an appetite for what a more poetic pianist would make of it. ★★★( Jeff Simon)
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Debussy, Preludes for Piano, Books 1 and 2 performed by Ivan Ilic (Paraty). Almost everyone who plays them at all on disc plays them well and Ilic is no exception. And Debussy’s Piano Preludes still have the power to provide magic in a singular way. Even so, 28-year-old Ilic is a decidedly no-nonsense interpreter of Debussy, as if an enraptured indulgence in the miasmas and sunken cathedrals and flaxen-haired beauties of Debussy’s tone paintings would be a disservice to Debussy the musical radical rather than a proper recognition of him. All the music is here and well-played too. But the tidal and world-altering art of it is only fleetingly in evidence, if at all. ★★★( J.S.)
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