Rock



The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Live 1968: Paris, Ottawa” (Experience Hendrix/Geffen). Originally recorded for a French radio program, this live show from 1968 represents the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the peak of its powers. Two solid years of uninterrupted gigging had turned the group—Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding— from a fiery garage band into a psychedelic blues power-trio. If they were exhausted—and they had to be—it sure doesn’t show here. The three move as one, taking the electric howl and tortured moan of Hendrix’s post-blues guitar playing into outer space, where it swirls around for a bit during “Foxey Lady,” then slamming it back down to earth with the grungy deep-Southern blues of “Red House.” It’s all simply jaw-dropping stuff, and might serve as a suitable introduction to this band’s work for the uninitiated. Hendrix completists, of course, know that this is a must-have. The picture-disc vinyl edition might be the way to go, if you’re suffering from digital fatigue. ????( Jeff Miers)



Jazz



Miroslav Vitous Group with Michel Portal, “Remembering Weather Report” (ECM). A misnomer. If you think that this lean and hungry new disc by the great original bassist of Weather Report harkens back, in any way, to the exalted and hugely successful jazz fusion group the world cherished for so long, think again. Vitous is “remembering” in this keyboard- less band what he says was the original idea “I brought to that group in 1970” before he departed: “direct conversation and parity between the instruments, leaving behind old roles of rhythm section servitude.” Though the percussionists still contributed mightily after he left, the basic thrust changed enormously when Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, for obvious reasons, increasingly dominated the band, with everyone else relegated to solo showing off (Jaco Pastorious anyone?). Vitous uses three horns here— Franco Ambrosetti on trumpet, Gary Campbell on tenor saxophone and Michel Portal on bass clarinet. There is a great deal of simultaneous improvisation as well as a lot of allusions to great themes by Wayne Shorter, Dvorak and Ornette Coleman (“Variations on Lonely Woman”). It’s vital post-bop abstraction ECM style, an impressive compression of two different jazz eras. ???( Jeff Simon)



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Art Pepper, “The Art History Project: Unreleased Art Vol. IV” (Widow’s Taste, three discs). Bebop heaven—so much so that this box set is practically a must for ardent jazz fans who predate fusion and Diana Krall. Widow’s Taste is the label of Art Pepper’s widow Laurie, and it’s as much of a brilliant and loving model of how to present a true giant of jazz posthumously as Sue Mingus’ label. The very organization of these previously unreleased performances is inspired. There are three discs wittily called “Pure Art (1951-1960)”; “Hard Art (1960-1968)” and “Consummate Art (1975-1982).” What you get, then, are the three distinct eras of the West Coast’s greatest exponent of alto saxophone bebop —the magnificent young junkie whose ironically titled tune “straight life” is one of the handful of breakneck tempo compositional masterpieces in all of bebop; the jailbird in and out of San Quentin who responded to the “new jazz” of Coltrane, Coleman et. al. with some of the finest music of his life; and the lionized post-addiction wizard he was in his final years. It remains astonishing that so much extraordinary music came out of such a horribly damaged life —and, in the view of Laurie Pepper, refers so directly to that life. These three discs are full of extraordinary sidemen and transcendent music, despite never having made it to record or disc before. ????( J. S.)



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Alvin Queen featuring Jesse Davis and Terell Stafford, “Mighty Long Way” (Justin Time). He was one of Oscar Peterson’s last drummers and among those he played with (after Elvin Jones “discovered” him) have been Horace Silver, Charles Tolliver and George Benson. And when annotater Thomas J. Hopkins says in his notes that this new disc brings back the boogie-down weekends of late-’60s/early-’70s places called “clubs” or “lounges” or “joints” or “halls” or “bars” (in other words, the ilk of the fabled East Side Buffalo Pine Grill, Bon-Ton etc.), he’s not making things up. Despite his “discoverer,” he’s no Elvinite. Nor are Mike LeDonne and Peter Bernstein a perfect substitute for Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell, but that’s the kind of gut-level blue-collar mainstream jazz they play, and alto saxophonist Jesse Davis and trumpet player Terell Stafford make for a worthy front line. Besides, any leader so partial to Horace Silver’s “Cape Verdean Blues” is a leader you can trust. Good fun, sometimes great fun. ???( J. S.)



Country



Hank Jr., “127 Rose Avenue” (Curb). He may be the son of the late, great Hank Williams, but Hank Jr. doesn’t have dad’s flair for subtlety. To say the least. The original Hank is still considered the greatest songwriter country music has yet produced, but Jr. is a different bear altogether, a man given to flights of Southern rock fancy, right-leaning observations of the social and political variety, and “aw shucks” sentimentality. The nadir of this approach is ably represented by “Red, White&Pink-Slip Blues,” a maudlin bit of “tough times in America” balladry. More fun are the pure Kid Rock-meets- Charlie Daniels Band country-rock burners “Farm Song” and “High Maintenance Woman.” Most of this is not very good, which means it’s up to Hank Jr.’s standards. Like him? You’ll love it. Otherwise, steer clear. ? 1/2 ( J. M.)



Classical



Vivaldi, The Four Seasons arranged for piano and performed by pianist Jeffrey Beigel (Naxos). All right, stop your chuckling now. Believe me, I understand how utterly ridiculous transcription-mania can get in the classical world. Has there ever been foolishness sillier than that Japanese guitarist who somehow got it into his head that his instrument was the perfect one for Mussorgsky’s piano showpiece “Pictures at an Exhibition” (the Great Gate of Kiev sounded, at the end, like music to accompany the opening of a new room in an Olive Garden). Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” are, to put it mildly, not exactly ideally suited to the piano, but there are moments on Beigel’s disc where it’s not too absurd. In fact, Beigel’s fellow pianists might even adopt a movement or two from this to make for merry recital encores and fillers. ?? 1/2 ( J. S.)