The relationship developed between Tiziana Giglioni and Mal Waldron from the eighties till the pianist's death at the end of 2002 was more of a friendship than a professional band. The singer found a sort of synthesis for her own artistis growth and the great inventor's artistic itinerary and aestetic approach, in the rapport with Billie Holiday's voice towards the end of her career, his participation in Charles Mingus "extended forms", his conceptual dialogue with Steve Lacy and his close brotherhood with the avant-garde ( Dolphy, Roach, Coltrane... ) but also within his authentic roots in tradition ( standards, blues, Ellington ). In Waldron, Tiziana also found a profound and humorous human being, disenchanted and sincere, whom she brings back to life in the many stylistic facets to be heard on this tribute. Those who have followed the complex development of this singer's career know that she does not focus her attention on the voice but on the instrument/voice, not on virtuosity but on expression, not on her individual performance but on collective strengh; exactly the same characteristics that could be used to describe Mal Waldron's art.
These are elements that permeate this album which Tiziana and her partners have interpreted skillfully to find their unique way through Waldron's compositions : a rich and little explored heritage, as evidenced by the fascinating variety of styles and expressions to be enjoyed in this selection.
A delightful individualist, as we can hear in his minimalist yet always surprising solo idiom, the pianist was able to invent scrutures ( not just melodies, harmonic sequences of rhythmic formulae, but open compositions where all these elements achieve a sense of balance ) of which this ensemble, come together for this session, has recorded a creative and passionate version, which remains in our memory.
Claudio Sessa
Tiziana Ghiglioni - a MALe WALking in the caulDRON
Aynsley Lister - Equilibrium
“Superb”
- THE TIMES
“His best album ever”
– GET READY TO ROCK
“Deft lyrical touch and musical feel”
– ZEITGEIST
“Bursting with killer riffs and songs”
– CLASSIC ROCK
Aynsley Lister is the blues man with the ‘boy-next-door’ looks, the dextrous guitar fingers and the silky voice; the one that plays contemporary blues as if its the most natural and most commercial thing you can do. Lister brings a new lightness, fresh optimism to an old form with his wonderfully intelligent take on the blues.
Lister is possibly the most universally commercially viable of all the bluesmen out there; his music flirts with the darker side of indie-rock but is anchored firmly and securely in the heart of the blues. Lister has a lightness of feel, a new and expansive energy that will appeal to the younger listener still just toying with the form, Lister’s a new-age bluesman methinks!
Lister’s expansive but still rooted music rocks and motivates as much as it moves and impassions; Lister’s blues is blues with a modern twist – all the guitar virtuosity you could ask for, all the bitter-sweet reality that’s needed and all stereotypical nuances of the form wrapped up in compositional modernity and futuristic thinking. Blues for the modern ‘man’ perhaps!
With Lister’s blistering guitar playing comes a voice that’s as welcoming as it is embittered; Lister writes songs that are superbly suited to the modern era but still have the true essence of blues philosophy of hard times, struggle and uncertainty at their heart. ‘Equilibrium’ then, showcases Aynsley Lister’s penchant for musical acceptability by way of his visionary adaptations and slick commercial ideas – yes it’s blues but, it’s blues with new direction, new open-ness, new accessibility. Lister makes blues available to and viable for the non-believer and blues sceptic.
‘Equilibrium’ by Aynsley Lister is a bright and forward-looking work of nu-blues for the common ‘man’; if you like guitar driven modernistic blues then ‘Equilibrium’ by Aynsley Lister will provide you with everything you crave for; punchy rockin’ riffs aplenty, succinct and gritty solos of immense power and passionate eloquence, hooky melodies and meaningful words. ‘Equilibrium’ by Aynsley Lister is a wonderfully genuine journey through the more commercial side of blues music – it’s superbly crafted, stunningly executed and quite simply a fantastic album by the new ‘face’ of the blues!
Peter J Brown
Colin Linden - From The Water + The Columbia Years
Of how many artists can it be said that they’re getting better, 33 years into their recording career? Colin Linden can certainly be considered a member of that select club based on From The Water, the 11th solo album in a storied career that has also featured his work on literally hundreds of other records. At last count, the total of albums on which he has played stood at over 300, while at least 70 albums bear the ‘Produced by Colin Linden’ credit.
Linden is a genuine renaissance man of roots music. He’s a singer and songwriter of great skill, an in-demand and prolific record producer ( Bruce Cockburn, Tom Wilson, Colin James), a sideman to the stars as guitarist for the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Emmylou Harris, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and, for the past decade, a member of the highly successful trio, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
Colin’s songs have been covered by The Band, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Keb’ Mo’, and Colin James, and his well-stocked trophy case includes seven Juno, multiple Maple Blues Awards, and a Toronto Arts Award. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for the star-studded A Tribute To Howlin’ Wolf CD, and was involved in the ground-breaking O Brother Where Art Thou phenomenon. Linden has a well-deserved reputation as a slide guitar virtuoso of real originality, and his riveting slide work can be heard both on albums from such artists as Cassandra Wilson, The Rankin Family, Whitey Johnson and on his own sizeable solo catalogue.
Colin’s multi-faceted talents coalesce in truly compelling fashion on From The Water. This is a stylistically more diverse work than his previous outing, 2007’s easin’ back to tennessee. That acclaimed disc served as an homage to the acoustic country blues style that was the crucial inspiration for the Toronto-born and raised, Nashville-based Linden in his musically formative years.
From The Water can also be viewed as an homage of sorts. Colin’s long-time musical collaborator and closest friend, legendary keyboardist Richard Bell, passed away in 2007, and his spirit is omnipresent here. The dynamic duo played on over 100 albums together (more than 40 of them Linden productions), including records by The Band, Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and Colin James.
“We had such a giant, gaping hole in our hearts, our lives and our music,” says Colin of his departed comrade. “Instead of trying to replace the irreplaceable, we all just tried to play more like Richard. We tried to incorporate his irreverence, his spirit, and his incredible musicality. I surrendered a lot to the emotion and you hope that lets you dig deeper. You are not so self-conscious in what you are doing. We all just tried to get better than we’ve been.”
That determination paid off, as the depths of their grief clearly lifted Linden and his band up to greater musical heights on From The Water. The disc features his ace team of long-time musical accomplices, bassist Johnny Dymond, drummers Bryan Owings and Gary Craig (who doubled as associate producer), and keyboardist John Whynot, who also recorded the album. Guests include harmonica virtuoso Paul Reddick and the famed Memphis Horns, featuring Wayne Jackson.
This stellar cast proved the ideal accompanists for a collection of, in Colin’s words, “some of the grooviest, funkiest and most soulful songs I could have written and recorded.” The central focus throughout remains the potent combination of Linden’s gritty and emotionally eloquent vocals, typically fluent and resonant guitar work, and songs saturated with gravitas, grace, and heart-rending soul.
From The Water was recorded in studios in both Nashville and Canada. “The spirit of the record had more to do with the people than the place this time,” says Linden. “Much of what you hear is off the floor, with the basic band, then I spent a lot of time working on the little details.”
Some notable co-writers contributed to these songs. “Trouble Only Comes in 3s” was written with Richard Bell while he was in hospital. “To take our minds off what was going on, I told Richard it was time to finish the song,” recalls Colin. “I bought my guitar and notebook to the hospital one day, and we knocked it off. That song was born by the idea of Richard and I impersonating Peter Lorre in singing ‘It Should Have Been Me’ by Ray Charles.”
Linden co-wrote two songs with his wife, novelist Janice Powers. “Smoke Em All” is about Bell (“tough like Chuvalo, with Ray Charles soul”), while slow blues ballad “Sinking Down Slow” was spawned by a lyric written by Powers for her new novel. One of Nashville’s top songwriters Gary Nicholson aka Whitey Johnson co-wrote two numbers with his good pal Colin, “The Price You Pay” and the gentle and haunting closing cut, “God Will Always Remember Your Prayers.”
Intriguingly, three songs here, “Devilment,” the poetic and poignant “John Lennon In New Orleans,” and “It’s Later Than You Think,” surfaced last year on Paul Reddick’s acclaimed album, Sugar Bird. Colin produced and wrote or co-wrote all the numbers on that record, and these convincing reworkings prove that a good song can work with different treatments.
The title track was written by Linden in the wake of Katrina. “My wife kept having dreams about floods,” he explains. “So many people who love music have a deep connection with New Orleans, and we were terrified by what went on there, the natural and the man-made disasters.”
The imagery of water washes over much of this album. “Fundamentally, I feel that, in this period of time, in so many lives, there was a lot of water, a lot of tears shed,” Linden explains. “But you can also view water as a place you get baptized in. No matter how crazy and chaotic and heart-breaking this time has been in history, I’m an optimist that we are coming out from the water.”
With From The Water, Colin Linden has crafted a compelling work that will leave the listener feeling spiritually cleansed and musically reinvigorated.
No More Rainy Days - Omaggio a Paolo Di Sarcina
NO MORE RAINY DAYS (Mai Più Giorni di Pioggia) è un’antologia che raccoglie 20 brani composti da Paolo Di Sarcina, autore, compositore, musicista napoletano, morto di leucemia il 5 aprile 2004, all’età di 47 anni.
I brani sono eseguiti da vari artisti solisti, band ed ensemble napoletani che hanno scelto alcuni tra i numerosi pezzi composti dall’artista nell’arco di quasi trent’anni – tra il 1975 ed il 2003 – rielaborandoli liberamente secondo il proprio stile e la propria attuale visione artistica e, in alcuni casi, addirittura stravolgendoli rispetto alla versione originale per restituirli in una lettura delicata o audace, ma in ogni caso personale e sempre attenta.
Hanno contribuito al progetto: Daniele Sepe, Marco Zurzolo, Luca Toller, Mariapia De Vito, Osanna, 666 & Capone, Walhalla, Marco Francini, Lega Leggera, Brunella Selo, Blue Stuff, Enzo Nini Rubber Band, Antonello Paliotti, Galo Cadena, Andreasbanda, I Sottomarini, Compagnia Musicale, Marco Gesualdi, Chattanooga, Queeny, generosamente affiancati da circa cento musicisti.
Il risultato finale è un album di 80 minuti, ricco di contenuti, riletture d’autore, stili e riferimenti musicali: nella sua apparente eterogeneità di componenti, il disco traccia un percorso guidato nella storia della musica e dei musicisti di Napoli, dall’epoca della Vesu-Wave ad oggi.
Musicista poliedrico, nato dal rock, ma poi sedotto dalla musica colta, autore di colonne sonore, canzoni, commedie musicali (in Italia e Francia) seppur non assetato di notorietà, Paolo Di Sarcina è stato conosciuto, stimato ed amato da pubblico e addetti ai lavori, sia per le sue doti artistiche ed intellettuali che, ed è ciò che più conta, per le sue qualità umane.
Di Sarcina era, come si usa dire, “una bella persona” ed il suo impegno culturale, politico, civile ed umanitario – in particolare nell’ambito del volontariato a favore dei disabili (UNITALSI e AIAS) – aveva sempre affiancato, sin dall’adolescenza, il suo personale talento artistico.
Quale attivo sostenitore delle attività dell’A.D.M.O. (Associazione Donatori Midollo Osseo) e dell’A.I.L. (Associazione Italiana contro le Leucemie), ben prima di ammalarsi, spesso aveva espresso la volontà che ai suoi funerali fossero diffuse le coordinate di questi enti al fine di convertire in utili donazioni “...quella barbara usanza di sprecare soldi e fiori...”.
Abbiamo, quindi, ritenuto doveroso impegnarci, insieme ai suoi tanti amici e collaboratori, nella realizzazione di questo CD antologico – finalizzato alla divulgazione e al sostegno economico delle attività dell’A.I.L. – poiché ciò rispetta totalmente la personalità e i desideri di Paolo Di Sarcina.
Un progetto lungo e ambizioso, di conseguenza, che dichiaratamente non è né una sterile e lamentosa commemorazione del ‘caro estinto, né una lucrosa operazione discografica postuma e nemmeno un modo per far ‘fare bella figura alla città di Napoli: stanchi di retorica e dietrologia che attanagliano il capoluogo partenopeo, cogliamo l’opportunità di continuare a far vivere le composizioni di un artista gentile, mettendole al servizio di una giusta causa.
E questo è, per noi, il miglior modo di ricordare Paolo Di Sarcina.
Claudia GUALDIERI
Michael Occhipinti - The Sicilian Jazz Project
The newest project put together by 2008 JUNO Award nominee Michael Occhipinti, The ensemble features some of Canada’s finest musicians, including Roberto Occhipinti on bass, Ernie Tollar on flute/saxophones, Dominic Mancuso on vocals and guitar, Kevin Turcotte on trumpet, Louis Simao on accordion, Barry Romberg on drums, and Michael Occhipinti on acoustic and electric guitars, with vocalist Maryem Tollar, violinist Hugh Marsh and a string quartet all featured on the group’s new CD as well. As with his Juno Award nominated CD Creation Dream, which explored the songs of Bruce Cockburn from a jazz musician’s point of view, The Sicilian Jazz Project has Michael reshaping the traditional folk music of Sicily.
In 1954 ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax toured Sicily, recording traditional folk music performed by diverse individuals including sulfur miners, tuna fishermen, a donkey cart driver, and assorted peasants and folk entertainers. Many of these raw field recordings form the basis of The Sicilian Jazz Project’s repertoire, along with traditional dances and ballads gleaned from Michael and Roberto’s cousins in Sicily. As the band’s arranger, Michael Occhipinti has reinvented the music in imaginative ways that nevertheless capture the original emotions behind the songs and the result is a passionate instrumental and vocal repertoire that makes reference to many genres and resonates with listeners.
The talented individuals who make up the group have experience in jazz, classical, Arabic, Cuban, Brazilian, and Italian popular music. In inventing new ways of experiencing the source music, Michael uses the eclecticism of the ensemble as a great asset and freely blends Sicilian music with global rhythms and a variety of modern approaches to the music. Michael also incorporates his own unabashed love of electric guitar sounds.
Michael Occhipinti released The Sicilian Jazz Project in Canada in June of 2008, and the group’s Canadian festival tour yielded many stellar reviews. The CD will be released worldwide in early 2009, and Michael and the group have already been invited to perform in Italy, Australia, Mexico, and the United States.
"The Sicilian Jazz Project is an astonishingly salient new sound in the jazz spectrum"
Stephen Pedersen – Halifax Chronicle Herald
"Occhipinti’s re-imaginings don’t sound like pure Sicilian music, nor are they intended to. Instead, they’re the sound of a musician who knows where he came from and where he’s going – and that’s a beautiful thing."
Alex Vary - The Georgia Straight (Vancouver)
"Michael Occhipinti's Sicilian Jazz Project was a winning sextet with exotic ethno-musical influences from Sicily and the Mediterranean stitched to contemporary jazz inventions, rousing a Thursday crowd at the Yardbird. With Occhipinti's wonderful arrangements, it was beautifully rendered with the soulful vocal of Dominic Mancuso and a band of Toronto's best (including trumpeter Kevin Turcotte and drummer Barry Romberg). Sicilian yes, but ultimately Canadian."
Roger Levesque – Edmonton Journal
Omar Kent Dykes - Big Town Playboy ( Ruf Recods )
" The final result is more than just a very cool tribute album; it's one of the most
satisfying blues sets this year. " John Morthland
Two years ago, the rollicking tribute album On the Jimmy Reed Highway pointed the storied career of singer/guitarist Omar Kent Dykes in a new direction. That record, cut in Austin and one of the most popular blues releases of 2007, united Dykes with guitar master Jimmie Vaughan and a cadre of talented Reed devotees. Together, they celebrated the music of an acknowledged post-war blues hero. For his new Big Town Playboy, Dykes summoned many of the same Austin session players (including Vaughan, guitarist/producer Derek O'Brien and singer Lou Ann Barton) and teamed them with a pair of bona fide blues harp legends, Lazy Lester and James Cotton, on a half-dozen tracks. The all-star lineup delivers another shuffling, satisfying selection of classic American blues.
The musical scope has been broadened this time around to include post-war gems made famous by John Lee Hooker, Ivory Joe Hunter, Smokey Smothers and Jimmy McCracklin. Dykes revisits the Jimmy Reed songbook on three tracks and shines the spotlight on Reed's often overlooked partner Eddie Taylor, who scored his biggest solo hit with "Big Town Playboy" in 1956. The crack band (with Ronnie James and Wes Starr returning as rhythm section) also wades into classic Excello Records swamp blues on a pair of titles by Slim Harpo and Lightnin' Slim respectively. Nearly a half century after he blew harp behind Lightnin' Slim, Lazy Lester shows he can still wail on "Hello Mary Lee." It's just one of many memorable moments on this expertly crafted disc.
Originally from McComb, Mississippi and making his musical home in Austin, Omar Kent Dykes has been enriching the international blues scene for over three decades. He first came to notoriety as frontman of Omar & The Howlers and continues to tour at home and abroad. As a singer and guitar player, Dykes is as tough and gritty as they come, and always has at least one foot planted firmly on traditional blues turf. In continuing to honor the legacy of his elders on Big Town Playboy, he has dedicated himself to making music as timeless as the original.
Sean Jones - The Search Within
During the course of Sean Jones’ burgeoning career beginning with his Mack Avenue Records debut in 2004, Eternal Journey, the trumpeter/bandleader has embarked on a series of quests, passionately plumbing the depths of different wellsprings of his life as a musician. His first album, recorded when he was 24, was his awakening, “my first step out into the recording world,” Jones says. That was followed by more steps as well as leaps, with the theme of personal navigation at the center of his vision. In the process, Jones has developed into one of jazz’s top young trumpeters, known for both his lyrical fluidity and high-tier technical facility. “The idea of being on a journey has been in line with all my albums,” he says. “My second album, Gemini, explored both sides of my musical loves, r&b and jazz. I expanded that with Roots, where I revisited my youth and paid tribute to gospel. And then on Kaleidoscope, I created a collage of sounds, exploring different timbres by enlisting vocalists to be collaborators.”
On Jones’ fifth album, The Search Within, the venture continues, but this time the focus turns inward. “This is a journey inside my soul that’s taken place over the past 10 years,” Jones says. “It’s an assessment of where I am in the present as well as how I’ve learned from my mistakes and triumphs as a way of looking into the future. This album goes very deep for me. It’s a spiritual and sonic journey for me.”
Along for the ride is a superb band (a group of “unsung heroes,” Jones says) that includes Orrin Evans on piano and Fender Rhodes, saxophonists Brian Hogans (alto) and Walter Smith (tenor), bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire, all of whom have been mainstays in Jones’ band. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” Jones says when asked about the group’s personnel consistency. Special guests include Gregoire Maret on harmonica, Erika Von Kleist on flute, Kahlil Bell on percussion and vocalist Carolyn Perteete, who Jones introduced on Kaleidoscope.
The Search Within strikes a decidedly reflective posture even though Jones delivers a stylistic range of expression, from straight-up swing to down-home groove to lyrical balladry. The title song serves as the theme on the album. A segment of the tune opens the album as a prelude, another part appears midway as an interlude and the third section closes the disc as a postlude. (The tune appears in its entirety as a digital exclusive.) “’The Search Within’ sets the mood for the album,” says Jones. “I wrote it while sitting at the piano, reflecting on my life. I started out playing a set of chords, then figured out the melody later. The first part is reflection, the second part is like looking at the mirror and being surprised at how deeply chaotic things can be in your life, and the third part is this sense of resignation and reflection.” Jones adds with a laugh, “By the end it’s also about saying, OK, let’s move on now. I’m tired of looking at myself.”
After the pensive prelude, Jones buoys the proceedings with “Transitions,” a bright, swinging tune with the leader’s blaring, frenzied trumpet lines and exhilarating alto sax-trumpet interplay. “This tune is designed to jar you out of a free-floating experience,” Jones says. “It represents how it feels when you’re going through a transition, how you segue with a chaotic kind of feeling from one experience to another. In the middle section I wanted to give that sense of being on a rollercoaster ride where it’s like you’re floating in the air.”
The balladic beauty, “The Ambitious Violet,” is one of two songs Jones composed inspired by poet/philosopher Khalil Gibran. The poem tells the story of a violet that wishes to be a rose. It gets its wish but is destroyed by a storm that sweeps through the garden, ruining everything except the violets. “It’s about how you’d rather spend one day as a towering rose than all your days as a violet,” Jones explains. “It’s about wanting more. That’s part of my story—coming from a small town but wanting more, whatever it takes.” The second Gibran-inspired piece is “The Storm,” a parable of a young innocent whose purity of love gets crushed by society. The main character retreats to a cave and relates his story and the wisdom he has found during a fierce storm. The tune itself is turbulent, fueled by Calvaire’s drum tumult.
In between the two tunes Jones delivers the graceful melody “Life Cycles,” playing a luscious tone on flugelhorn. It was inspired by a conversation with a friend about life being a series of cycles. “The two of us talking about this made me feel good, kind of like how it feels when you drive down the highway and just allow your thoughts to flow,” Jones says. “It’s a pretty simple tune that I wrote out and later turned into a song with a samba feel to it.” Featured on the tune are Von Kleist and Maret.
The waltz, “Letter of Resignation,” is a song co-written by Jones and Perteete, who penned the lyrics. “Carolyn is just amazing,” says Jones. “Her voice is so pure, she’s a great lyricist and she’s a one-take wonder. That’s all it takes when she sings a song.” The tune is about the painful recognition that love isn’t always reciprocated. “You love someone, but they’ll never love you back in the same way you long for,” says Jones. “So, you’re resigned to this, accepting that the romance isn’t going to be that utopia you were hoping for.” While Perteete gives voice to the resignation, Jones’ trumpet plays the sentiment.
The groove-steeped tune on the album is “Summer’s Spring,” composed by alto saxist Hogans who wrote it, Jones says, “during a transition in a relationship between summer and spring.” Jones again plays flugelhorn and delivers sumptuous harmonies with Hogans on the piece that also includes Evans playing the Fender Rhodes. “We wanted a groove feel,” says Jones. “The tune felt more organic that way. We wanted the groove to pop.”
That piece is followed by another Jones reflection, titled appropriately “Sunday Reflections,” that was written while he was traveling from New York (where he was playing in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as the big band’s lead trumpeter) to Pittsburgh (where he is the Professor of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University). He superimposed an r&b melody over the swinging feel he first created. Swing opens the door to whimsy on the playful, time-changing “Sean’s Jones Comes Down” that jazz elder Frank Foster wrote for the youngster. “I met Frank in Cleveland once and I asked him tons of questions about New York,” Jones says. “Frank joked with me that I was jonesing for the city. After I moved there, Frank called me and told me he had written a piece about me no longer having a jones to get there. I love the tune, and yes, it is difficult to play.”
The end song, “Love’s Lullaby,” that comes before the thematic postlude was originally written by Jones for a Pittsburgh dance ensemble. It opens with a passionate trumpet solo and features moving trumpet-flute interplay. “It’s probably my favorite song on the album,” Jones says. “It describes a lovers’ evening. It’s filled with emotion, but it’s also spiritual. And it also expresses love’s extremes, from the lowest lows to the highest heights. Erika and I were trying to do something different with our instruments, to give the feeling of a bird or butterfly, to present that oooh feeling.”
A compelling view into the inner life of Jones, The Search Within advances the rising-star career of the young trumpeter who turned 30 last May. Remarkably this is Jones’ fifth album for Mack Avenue, which has afforded him the opportunity to pursue his musical journeys. “Mack Avenue is one of the great jazz labels,” he says. “They understand artists and their need to express themselves without the burdens of the business. In a pure sense, they make it possible for me to bring my vision to life.”
The Man Who Married Music - The Best Of Stephen Fearing
Multiple Juno Award winning Stephen Fearing is one of the foremost performing singer-songwriters in Canada.
Mixing powerful lyrics, creative arrangements and brilliant guitar playing, Fearing has built up a loyal and dedicated international audience with a wide range of songs - from his 1988 release ‘Out to Sea’, to his last Juno winning album ‘Yellowjacket’. A founding member of Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Stephen has collaborated with many artists including Richard Thompson, Sarah McLachlan, Tom Wilson, Colin Linden, and most recently producing the newest album from Suzie Vinnick.
The Man Who Married Music is a 'Best Of' collection, with tracks handpicked by Stephen Fearing, featuring some of the best
music he has released over his career as well as two brand new tracks No Dress Rehearsal and The Big East West.
Biography
April 2006 - It has been 20 years since songsmith Stephen Fearing released his self-titled debut. Over the following two decades, he has built up a very loyal and committed international audience, one sure to be delighted by his beautiful new recording.
Yellowjacket is Fearing's eighth solo album and as always it features a potent combination of powerful and affecting lyrics, pure vocals and masterful musicianship. Yellowjacket also marks something of a breakthrough in Stephen's approach to recording as he assumes the mantle of producer for the first time since his early albums. The result is a relaxed fluency vocal and guitar work and a unique sonic palette, which make this album distinctly different, again, from his previous releases.
Over the course of his career, Fearing has been able to learn from some of roots music's finest producers. English folk star Clive Gregson (Any Trouble, Gregson and Collister) produced his acclaimed 1989 album, Blue Line; Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) was on hand for 1994's The Assassin's Apprentice (a disc featuring fans Sarah McLachlan and Richard Thompson), whilst Stephen's close friend Colin Linden manned the console for 1997's Industrial Lullaby, 2000's So Many Miles - LIVE and 2002's That's How I Walk (which Fearing co-produced).
To record Yellowjacket, Stephen set up shop in the Guelph studio of noted musician/producer, Scott Merritt (Fred Eaglesmith), who engineered and mixed the sessions. Together, they have crafted a richly diverse collection of songs. These range from a rollicking guitar “march” that could have been written by John Phillip Sousa and Dr. Seuss (“Whoville”), to intricately arranged pieces featuring strings and female backing vocals (“Yellowjacket,” “Like Every Other Morning”), poignant ballads suffused with Salvation Army-style horns (“Johnny's Lament”, Love Only Knows) to full band workouts reminiscent of Blackie and The Rodeo Kings (“One Flat Tire”)
This diversity also reflects changes in Fearing's perspective on songwriting, and his ongoing experimentation with co-writing. “Writing songs with another person allows you to be a little more objective, a little less critical and a lot more productive and surprisingly, I've found that it really informs the material I write on my own”. “Collaborating opens up a whole other vista, it's like taking a walk outside of my own stuffy little brain”
Fearing's songwriting partner on four of the songs in this collection, is Josh Finlayson, from much-loved roots-rockers The Skydiggers. After one brief phone call they met at Fearing's home and immediately tapped into a rich creative connection, trading lyrics and melodies in an instantly productive “crazy rush of ideas”. This rapport is vividly illustrated on “Love Only Knows,” a tender portrait of a parent coming to terms with a child's burgeoning maturity - “Love only knows what happens now, Yesterday turns under the plough, Only a fool would not allow You to stand on your own.”
Yellowjacket's title song is a co-write with Stephen's close creative comrade, Tom Wilson. Spawned during a long drive in the rain from Nashville back to Ontario, a trek fuelled by 'yellow jacket' caffeine pills, it depicts a restless soul out there “following the big beat.” The protagonist is one of those young Jam-band disciples, a Deadhead perhaps, escaping some decaying Midwestern town and running out of youth.
As is customary on Fearing's records, the supporting musical cast is of the highest order. The list includes Dan Whiteley (Heartbreak Hill), Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies), backing vocalist Suzie Vinnick, Josh Finlayson, and Stephen's B&RK bandmates, Colin Linden, Gary Craig, John Dymond and Richard Bell.
The consistent quality of work produced over Stephen Fearing's two decades plus career has earned him a West Coast Music Award for Best Folk Music Recording and five Juno Award nominations as a solo artist and a faithful international fan base.
"Papa" John De Francesco - Big Shot ( Savant Records )
The father of Joey DeFrancesco, "Papa John" had his career revived when his son's success helped bring about the renaissance of the Hammond organ. John's father had played reeds with various swing bands including the Dorsey Brothers. John DeFrancesco began playing trumpet when he was six and did not start playing organ until his wife bought him an organ for his 23rd birthday. After a few months of nearly nonstop practicing, he was ready to perform in clubs. In 1967 DeFrancesco moved to Philadelphia and soon he was part of the Philadelphia jazz scene. However in 1979 when Joey turned eight and started playing professionally, John temporarily gave up his career so as to supervise his son. Another son, Johnny DeFrancesco, developed into a fine guitarist. In the 1990s, John DeFrancesco returned to a more active playing career, recording two strong sets for Muse (both of which feature Joey on trumpet) and gaining a national reputation of his own. "Papa John" plays organ in an infectious hard bop style not that different from his son.
~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
From the perspective of family history, there wouldn't have been a Joey DeFrancesco, perhaps the most famous of the contemporary jazz organists, without the style that he learned from his father. 'Papa' John DeFrancesco, himself the son of working musician, moved to Philadephia in 1967 and quickly became a staple on that city's busy jazz scene jazz. His fourth Savant recording as a leader finds him presiding over sons Joey and John Jr. along with saxman Jerry Weldon, Mike Boone's bass and Byron Landham on drums. Hear the DeFrancescos make jazz a true family affair on this smoking set of organ classics and original works.
Featuring:
'Papa' John DeFrancesco, organ
Joey DeFrancesco, keyboards;
John DeFrancesco Jr., guitar;
Jerry Weldon, tenor sax;
Mike Boone, bass;
Byron Landham, drums
Jessica Lea Mayfield - With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
“With the edge and attitude that Kurt Cobain possessed coupled with a rich musical family history similar to Maybelle Carter’s, JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD IS THE MOST EXCITING NEW ARTIST IN THE SCENE TODAY.” —Scott Avett
The album was recorded over a two-year span in Dan Auerbach's home studio in Akron. With Blasphemy So Heartfelt features Mayfield on acoustic guitar and vocals, Auerbach on a variety of instrumentation and Mayfield’s brother (David) on upright bass. Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken and Frank McElroy provide vocal harmonies on the track “I’m Not Lonely Anymore.” Says Auerbach of the recording experience, “I think she’s dark and moody in a mysterious way, not unlike Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.” He adds, “I’m just always really excited to make music with her.”
The 18-year old first performed with her family band One Way Rider at the age of eight. In 2007, Mayfield lent her voice to the track “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be” on The Black Keys’ album, Attack & Release, making her the first guest vocalist to appear on any record released by The Black Keys.
Tony Lakatos & Frankfurt RAdio Bigband - Porgy & Bess
„This Recording of Porgy & Bess is a triumph for the team of Lakatos and Keller.
With reverence for the original material and vision for a fresh take of things,
the gifted Hungarian Saxophonist and accomplished German Arranger have breathed new life into this quintessentially American work.“ - Bill Milkowski
Tony Lakatos was born in a musician family on the 13th November 1958 in Budapest, Hungary. His Father was a famous gipsy violinist as well as his younger Brother Roby. The musical study began on the violin at the age of 6. Began to play the saxophone when he was 15 years old, and became a professional musician when he won a national jazz competition in 1977. He graduated from the jazz department of the Bela Bartók Conservatory in Budapest 1979. Shortly after he moved to Germany in 1981, became one of the most respected saxophone player in Germany as well as worldwide. He performed as a saxophone soloist in numerous jazz/pop/rock recordings and concerts. Tony has played the saxophone about 300 LP/CD recordings as a leader or as a sideman.
From 1985 thru 1996 member of the succesful PILI-PILI Band ( leading by Jasper Van't Hof ) He has been living in Germany since 1981, Frankfurt am Main since 1993 and working as a soloist in the H. R. Big band - Radio station.
A TV Show / jazz in Concert / was made with him in Zürich, Switzerland in 1991.
Guest musicians:Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)Anthony Jackson (bass) David Whitham (keyboard) Peter O'Mara ( guitar )
Tony Lakatos was the first Hungarian musician who appeared on the Gavin Report Top Ten in the American Jazz Music Radio with his CDs.
1. 1993 "Recycling"(jazzline) Feat. Kirk Lightsey (piano) and Al Foster (drums) was the seventh best CD.
2. 1994 "The News" (jazzline)Feat. Kirk Lightsey (piano), George Mraz (bass) and Al Foster (drums) won the fourth place.
In 1997 a CD " Generation X " (jazzline) came out with American world star trumpeter Randy Brecker.
He is continually touring in Japan with his own formations, and signed an exclusive contract with SKIP RECORDS in year 2002.
The CD “ I get Along with you very well ” ( Skip ) Music of Hoagy Carmichael with George Mraz (Bass) - Adam Nussbaum (Drums) and with the legendary guest singer Jimmy Scott, was recorded in year 2003 in New York
The CD “Gypsy Colours” (Skip) Recorded in 2005 in Budapest, featuring Gypsy origin jazz and folk Musicians.
“ The Quartett Live in Concert “ DVD Feat: Kalman Olah-Piano, Adam Nussbaum-Drums, Ron McClure-Bass, ony Lakatos- Tenor,Sopran-Sax. Released in a year 2006
Tony Lakatos has been touring in all countries of Europe, in the USA, Japan, South Africa, India, Singapore, Indonesia and many other parts of the world.
Giving master classes in the Jazz department of: Rotterdam, Arnheim (Holland), Graz, Wien Konservatorium (Austria), Fredericksburg Mary Washington Collage (USA),
Royal Academy of music London (UK) Birmigham Music Depart.( UK) Bela Bartok Music academy Budapest (Hungary),Yamaha School Hamburg (Germany)
Workshops: Remscheid, Erlangen, Darmstadt( Germ.), Langenau (CH) Ishimori Saxophon Store (Tokyo), Amsterdam wind shop (NL)
André Ceccarelli - Sweet People
...what strikes most while listening to Sweet People album is the equilibrium of this trio, a perfect mixture of different ingredients of sound...
André Ceccarelli, favoring the trio's unusual instrumental configuration for this occasion, exhibits remarkable expressive freedom, on which wavelength his two skilful partners are well synchronized. The CD is comprised exclusively of original compositions.
"The tempo, sonny, stick to it!" This piece of advice his father, himself a drummer, would give him, has stuck to André Ceccarelli’s memory. He even has it at his fingertips. Drawing on sixty, “Dédé” still exudes the same zest for playing which was part and parcel of the teenager on his way to Paris to make his début in a rock band (Les Chats Sauvages). And on top of that a comprehensive field experience - from accompanying singers to playing in great music groups - and one can easily understand why as early as 1998 Mr Ceccarelli was granted the Great jazz Award by the French copyright management society “Sacem” as an acknowledgement of his whole career.
Don’t be mistaken! The leading drummer from Nice is not the kind of musician to rest on his laurels. He drives his brand new trio at full speed with the gusto of a younger player. His two fellow players are up to par with him:Biréli Lagrène, a guitar virtuoso, a soul mate he had already invited to play in his latest album and Joey DeFrancesco, an American organ player in the tradition of Jimmy Smith. The three of them don’t make one brood, a far cry from it, and they set the whole audience on fire with a brand of music to be tasted at leisure.
André, Biréli and Joey have no need for a trial and error test to launch into the core of the matter - the famous tempo treasured by Daddy Ceccarelli - with a Miles Davis classic of its kind, Nardis, which comes first in an album recorded in the conditions of a live performance. A cocktail of generosity, fullness and rhythm is delivered rightaway.
A change of register in Sophisticated Lady, a great masterpiece by Duke Ellington “Dédé” knows how to sit in the background so as to bring his soloists to the fore in a romantic mood. With the unimpeachable Summertime, the trio display their cohesion and pay tribute to Jimmy Smith, one of the leading players of the organ-guitar-drums trio. After an interlude (Prélude) by the “Boss” playing a solo on the drums (two small minutes of sheer happiness), Dédé sets the band amoving in April in Paris in which Biréli displays his nimbleness while Joey dallies buoyantly.
In 3 Views Of A Secret, a piece by the mythical bass player Jaco Pastorius, the three fellow players demonstrate that they do share the same point of view on the ballad art. As they show the same gusto in the “Avenue des Diables Blues » composition, by Aé Ceccarelli, which lends its name to the album, Dédé, Biréli and Joey work themselves up into a frenzy, putting their heart and soul to match a hellish tempo. A dreaming spell is due with the two following pieces: La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf (Biréli finetuning and Dédé being sprightly and brisk) and Sunrise” by the young vocal prodigy Norah Jones (André doing a wonderful job with the brushes).
A breathing spell before a bracing The song is you, a great masterpiece by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II, which closes the album. Each of our three buddies drain their dwindling strength for the –quite friendly indeed-battle. The crowning piece of a firework display singlemindedly dedicated to rhythm and music.
With “Avenue des Diables Blues”, André Ceccarelli not only flaunts his musical gift (“an untamed jazz musician ringing his instrument in the way he speaks: with a spell binding southern accent” according to Didier Lockwood‘s assessment) but he also records one of the most beautiful pieces in one of the most striking jazz swing format, the organ-guitar-drums trio. And what smashing tempo!
With Golden Land, first Andrè's Cd for Cam Jazz, the interplay between this incomparable leader and his companions (ENRICO PIERANUNZI - piano, HEIN VAN DE GEYN - Bass DAVID EL-MALEK -sax )is pure elegance: smooth yet energetic and profoundly articulate. A sumptuous encounter.
An album which nourishes on a most genuine jazz feeling, between rhythmic and effervescent episodes and others marked by an atmosphere of great melodic gracefulness, such as the title track, which can be heard in two versions: the first with the participation of Elisabeth Kontomanou, and the second performed by the quartet. Everywhere André Ceccarelli's dynamic and masterly drumming is the pivot around which the musical machine rotates, with well-greased gauges.
John Hiatt - Same Old Man
Ricordiamo che è possibile acquistare il cd
John Hiatt - Same Old Man
presso il negozio on line www.moonlightrecords.com
On May 27, New West Records will release John Hiatt’s new full length album Same Old Man, his first album since 2005’s critically acclaimed Master of Disaster, of which The Washington Post declared “Hiatt has written some of the best melodies of his career,” and Time Out New York proclaimed “...his most vibrant and soulful album in years.” Same Old Man will also be available as a Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl record.
Same Old Man was recorded at Highway 61 Recordings and produced by John Hiatt. Appearing on the album are Kenneth Blevins on drums, Patrick O’Hearn on bass and Luther Dickinson on guitar, mandolin and national resonator. John’s daughter, Lilly Hiatt, sings harmony on the songs “Love You Again” and “What Love Can Do.”
John Hiatt’s career has spanned more than 30 years and his songs have been covered by everyone from Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and BB King to Iggy Pop, Three Dog Night and The Neville Brothers. John Hiatt began his solo career with the 1974 album Hangin’ Around the Observatory. Hiatt’s landmark 1987 release Bring The Family received critical praise and was his first album to chart in the U.S. In 1993, Rhino Records released Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, which collected many of the cover versions of his songs that were recorded during the 80s and 90s. 2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters was released on the independent imprint Vanguard Records to critical acclaim and called “The most natural and relaxed John Hiatt album in years…”
Same Old Man may be the most accessible album of John Hiatt’s career. But it’s worth serious note that the rewards of hearing this album (repeatedly) far outweigh its simplicity and that’s due to the strength of the songs. Tunes such as “Cherry Red” and “Hurt My Baby” are just two instances in which the author turns the usual conceits of composition inside out.
Those songs don’t get much elaboration or decoration here. It’s easy to imagine Hiatt strumming out these tunes by himself on the folk circuit this summer (and beyond. The rhythm section of Kenneth Blevins on drums and Patrick O’Hearn on bass is merely subtle, authoritative emphasis to the author’s own self-effacing delivery of lyrics. Yet there is much more going on below the surface, on both those fronts, than a cursory listen may discern.
“What Love Can do,’ for instance, has more to do with acknowledging the passage of time in ourselves and others than a romantic epiphany. Similarly, “Ride My Pony” describes the sensation of the spontaneous joy of childhood even as the years go by. Bob Dylan’s influence has never been so obvious on John Hiatt as in “On With You”—where the verses resemble a re-write of “All along the Watchtower—“ or “Let’s Give This Love a Try”-- which sounds inspired by “Tangle Up in Blue”—but Dylan could never be so open as Hiatt is on those aforementioned songs.
The production of Same Old Man never calls attention to itself and neither does the musicianship: The North Mississippi AllStars’ Luther Dickinson (who with his brother Cody has toured and recorded with Hiatt in the past) displays dexterity comparable to his restraint as a guitarist; his fills are a less obvious echo of Hiatt’s R &B roots than the background vocalists of “On with You” while the dobro he plays, like the slight echo on Hiatt’s vocal during “Hurt My Baby,” is indicative of the small touches that make Same Old Man, simultaneously, so distinctive and so memorable.
Buddy & Julie Miller - Written In Chalk In Store Now
Buddy & Julie 4-stars in Rolling Stone!
Buddy & Julie Miller 4-star review in LA Times
Ricordiamo che è possibile acquistare il nuovo cd
Buddy & Julie Miller - Written In Chalk
Presso il negozio di cd on line www.moonlightrecords.com
Buddy and Julie Miller have been writing and making music together since they first met and married over 20 years ago. Whether the end result was a Buddy record or a Julie record they couldn’t help but collaborate and influence each other’s work. New West is excited to release their latest, Written In Chalk (March 3, 2009), a true collaboration. The musical synergy this couple has with each other is clear on the record and is rounded out with a thoughtful country-soul vibe, emotional lyrics, outstanding musicianship and of course, Buddy’s extraordinary guitar playing. Guests on the record include Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Regina and Ann McCrary and Larry Campbell. The record was recorded at the couple’s home studio in Nashville, TN. Written In Chalk will also be available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl.
Julie has released six solo albums and Buddy five. Written In Chalk is only the second Buddy and Julie record, and comes eight years after the first. While Buddy was out on tour recently with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss as well as The Three Girls and Their Buddy tour he does with Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, Julie wrote nine of the twelve tracks on this extraordinary record.
Julie’s songs are emotional, even gut wrenching at times, but all with underlying hints of love and of her faith. The most touching song on the album is “Don’t Say Goodbye” a beautiful, poignant ballad that features Patty Griffin on backing vocals. Her lyrics often evoke a deep sadness evident in “A Long, Long Time” with the muted trumpet crying as Julie sings. The record is balanced out with Buddy contributing to the country rock duet “Gasoline and Matches” and Dee Ervin’s more bluesy, “One Part, Two Part” which Buddy sings with Regina and Ann McCrary. Buddy calls on Robert Plant for vocals on “What You Gonna Do, Leroy” a swampy stomp written by Mel Tillis and originally performed by Lefty Frizzell.
Named Artist of the Decade by No Depression magazine, and instrumentalist of the year by the Americana Music Association for the past several years, Buddy Miller is one of the more highly sought after guitarists and has played with such greats as Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jim Lauderdale, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Buddy’s songs have been cut by such artists as The Dixie Chicks, LeeAnn Womack, Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris, among others. As a producer, his resume is just as impressive; he produced Emmylou Harris's live album Spyboy, Solomon Burke's Grammy® nominated Nashville and Allison Moorer’s covers record Mockingbird.
Julie received her first real attention with the release of Buddy Miller's 1995 HighTone debut, Your Love And Other Lies, for which she co-wrote several songs and sang on three. Her songwriting soon attracted the attention of Emmylou Harris, who recorded Julie's "All My Tears," as did jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott. Emmylou Harris, as well as Steve Earle and Karen Perris of Innocence Mission, guested on Miller's album Blue Pony, which generated reams of critical praise and brought Julie's talents to center stage.
Bruce Cockburn – Slice Of Life (Live Solo)
Per i cultori della musica d’autore, questo songwriter canadese giunto al 26esimo album per la True North da quando ha iniziato la sua carriera nel 1970, rappresenta un punto di riferimento sicuro. In“Slice Of Life”, primo album solo dal vivo, viene baciato, ancora una volta, dalla musa dei cantautori dell’Eastern Canada. Bruce ingloba, infatti, nella sua musica tutto il genio, la sensibilità, le doti umane, e, non ultima, la spiritualità che fanno di lui un personaggio unico. Colto, sensibile e ricercatore, nelle sue songs possiamo trovare le più disparate influenze: dal finger-picking guitar style degno del blues di Mississippi John Hurt sino alle armonie del jazz modale, non senza echi e suggestioni world che inglobano il lirismo ed i ritmi dell’India, l’Asia, e quelli della musica africana.
- Bruce Cockburn – Slice Of Life (Live Solo) Strepitoso doppio cd solo live che ci fa vivere sia l’atmosfera del concerto-evento che quella delle prove, sì proprio uno spicchio di vita del cantautore!
Ricordiamo che è possibile acquistare il cd presso il negozio on line
www.moonlightrecords.com
The best live albums create the illusion of being there, witnessing an artist in a memorable performance. Bruce Cockburn has recorded three previous live recordings: Circles in the Stream (1977), Live (1990) and You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance (1997), each critically acclaimed and featuring Cockburn in concert with a backing band. Now, the celebrated musician-activist delivers something new: his first-ever live solo album.
Recorded last spring over a series of dates in the northeastern United States and one in Quebec, Slice O Life is a double CD that showcases a cross-section of Cockburn’s finest songs and some of his most dazzling guitar work. The album, produced by longtime associate Colin Linden, also includes one new song, “City is Hungry,” three tracks recorded at sound checks on the tour and some between-song banter that shows Cockburn to be both a quick wit and an engaging storyteller.
Slice O Life features such hits as Cockburn’s controversial “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” his classic “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” and his breakthrough “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” which he rightly quips may be the only song ever to make the Billboard chart that includes the word “petroglyph.” Originally recorded with a full band, these and other songs like “World of Wonders” have been rearranged and performed on acoustic guitar—often with stunning results. In particular, the polyrhythmic solo on “Rocket Launcher,” full of complex, cascading notes, is especially mesmerizing.
Besides the hits, the album recasts lesser-known songs such as “Wait No More” and “Celestial Horses,” both originally featured on Cockburn’s 2003 album You’ve Never Seen Everything, in a dramatic new light. The latter, full of slow, haunting reverb, now seems like an overlooked psych-folk masterpiece, while the former, played in a fast, bluesy drone on a Dobro guitar, takes on a compelling urgency. Similarly on “Tibetan Side of Town,” Cockburn’s single guitar conveys a full, rich accompaniment—fluid, jazzy treble notes and Big Bill Broonzy-style droning bass notes—for his vivid tale of sensory nights in Katmandu.
Cockburn has often cited the influence of the blues on his music, especially the work of country-blues pioneers like Mississippi John Hurt. The blues tinge shines through in several other performances on Slice O Life, including Cockburn’s gut-wrenching rendition of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” and “City is Hungry,” an hypnotic urban blues number in which Cockburn warns “hear that rumbling underground/better think twice before you go downtown.”
Meanwhile, the sound checks and introductions to songs reveal another side of the award-winning artist. One sound check involves Cockburn jamming wildly on his 12-string guitar before segueing into “The Trains Don’t Go There Anymore,” a rare track he co-wrote in the 1960s with Ottawa poet Bill Hawkins. Cockburn’s humor comes across in anecdotes about panhandlers who claim to know his music and a mercenary who once offered him a summer job as a gun-runner while he was a student at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music.
Fortunately for us, Cockburn turned down the job and stuck with music. Over 35 years, the Ottawa-born musician has recorded almost as many albums while earning respect for his charitable and activist work. “My job is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of notes out of metal,” Cockburn said when he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been the recipient of honorary degrees in Letters and Music from several North American universities, including Berklee and Toronto’s York University. His many other awards have included the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy and 20 gold and platinum awards in Canada.
As a songwriter, Cockburn is revered by fans and musicians alike. His songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Elbow, Jimmy Buffett, Judy Collins, the Skydiggers, Anne Murray, Third World, Chet Atkins, k.d. lang, Barenaked Ladies, Maria Muldaur and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. As a guitarist, he is considered among the world’s best. The New York Times called Cockburn a “virtuoso on guitar,” while Acoustic Guitar magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell and Django Reinhardt. With Slice O Life, all of Cockburn’s formidable gifts are on full display. ~ Nick Jennings