Cuneiform Novita' : John Surman - Carlo DeRosa - Gutbucket - Led Bib - Planeta Imaginario

Da casa Cuneiform, di cui segnaliamo la disponibilità dell’intero catalogo, presentiamo le prime uscite del 2011. Una label di sicuro affidamento e punto di riferimento per i cultori del progressive, del free, del rock più creativo e contaminato e del miglior British-jazz..




For nearly 45 years, John Surman has been one of England's best known modern jazz musicians. His career began in the late 60s as both a sideman and a leader with such notable greats as John McLaughlin, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Terje Rypdal, Mike Westbrook, Barre Phillips, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chick Corea and many others. He began working with the ECM label in the late 1970s where he has released a string of fine work that continues to this day. Every period of his career is filled with highlights, which is why Cuneiform is exceedingly proud to release for the first time ever this amazing document of the late 60s 'Brit-jazz' scene.
The NDR Jazz Workshop was a weekly show featuring all manner of jazzmen of the day. The taping of this NDR show was around the same time as Surman was recording his second album as a leader, How Many Clouds Can You See, so this is a unique chance to get an expanded view of his formative work as a leader and also at the early work of his musical compatriots who appear with him here. For this occasion, Surman led a ten-piece ensemble featuring the cream of modern British jazz players: John Surman - soprano and baritone sax, Kenny Wheeler - trumpet and flugelhorn, Alan Skidmore - tenor sax and flute, Ronnie Scott - tenor sax, Mike Osborne - alto sax, Malcolm Griffiths - trombone, Harry Miller - bass and Alan Jackson - drums, as well as two Austrian musicians, Fritz Pauer - piano and Erich Kleinschuster - trombone.

Heard and seen on Flashpoint for the very first time since the original broadcast over 40 years ago are five great peformances, including two excellent Surman compositions that he never recorded elsewhere. High quality audio recordings from these musicians from this period are quite rare and video footage is basically non-existent. Captured in crisp, clear black and white footage and in excellent mono sound, this release is a exeptional and hugely important document that will blow the minds of Brit-jazz fans and will open the ears, eyes and minds of those who don't know the great and distinctive work of these fine musicians!
- John Surman – Flashpoint (CD + DVD edition) NDR Jazz Workshop feat John Surman - soprano and baritone sax, Kenny Wheeler - trumpet and flugelhorn, Alan Skidmore - tenor sax and flute, Ronnie Scott - tenor sax, Mike Osborne - alto sax, Malcolm Griffiths - trombone, Harry Miller - bass and Alan Jackson - drums, as well as two Austrian musicians, Fritz Pauer - piano and Erich Kleinschuster - trombone (Raro documento ’60 di questo British jazz hero dell’epoca celebre per il suo lavoro con musicisti del calibro di John McLaughlin, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Terje Rypdal, Mike Westbrook, Barre Phillips, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chick Corea, oltre che per le sue numerose registrazioni ECM..)







Proficient, creative, a first-call, in-demand bassist, Carlo De Rosa has earned a reputation of very high standards. As a composer and band-leader of the quartet Cross-Fade, he also has very high standards, but outside of New York City clubs, this work has not been widely recognized. Brain Dance is set to remedy that situation!

Cross-Fade is a band of top-drawer musicians. In addition to Carlo's work on bass, the band features the constantly inventive saxophone work of Mark Shim, who released three albums on Blue Note and who plays here with an amazing fire and fervor, playing fast and intricate melodic lines as if cutting butter. Drummer Justin Brown is the youngest member of the group and the least known at this time, but his playing here is agile, assured and quite mind-boggling. Pianist Vijay Iyer should need no introduction; he is the rising young piano star of jazz today. Iyer was named the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and he is up for a Grammy in February for 'best instrumental jazz album'.

These are obviously all great players, but great players deserve great material and one of the notable things about Brain Dance is the writing. The compositions give the players malleable material with which to work with; there's plenty of thematic material, but also plenty of room for them to add their individuality. The end result is greater than even the sum of their musical talents and the compositions. The music constantly moves between the modern, avant-garde and electric jazz worlds, never standing still, but taking the most interesting and attractive elements of these worlds and combining them into a new whole. For the listener who appreciates modern, cutting-edge jazz as well as cutting-edge jazz/rock, this album will be a hugely enjoyable musical revelation!

"Great writing and ensemble playing. Deep thoughtful solos."
– Jack DeJohnette

- Carlo DeRosa – Brain Dance Bassista, compositore e band-leader. Feat. Mark Shim, sassofoni, Justin Brown, batteria, e Vijay Iyer, pianoforte.




What happens when you take four highly opinionated, strong-willed and creative composer/musicians and put them in a band together? You might have a volatile problem on your hand...or else you have Gutbucket. From the beginning Gutbucket has had no single bandleader; the result has been an expansive yet unified and recognizable group sound.

With Flock, the group's fifth release, the twelve year-old Brooklyn-based quartet push their composer-driven, art-rock-tainted chamber jazz into new terrain. The group attacks their jazz with the ferocity usually reserved for punk. Their music is filled with layers of mature arrangements and a full-throttle blend of energy, chops, melody, intricacy and noise.

From the beginning, Gutbucket’s music challenged New York’s downtown norm – “a no-holds-barred approach to the jazz-rock paradigm” (The New York Times, 2010) – bringing a completely unique, road-tested performance and a sound that tilted much further towards rock than many of its jazz contemporaries. Gutbucket’s brand of jazz continues to have its signature biting edge, cunning sense of humor and appreciation for the loud and theatrical. Improvisations are woven seamlessly and sometimes unexpectedly into the band’s growing repertoire, and each composer in the group has developed an individual voice that simultaneously supports the collective.

Flock cements Gutbucket’s sound – still wearing the indie rock influences on its sleeve, but delving deeply into all four members’ work as individual composers, assimilating contemporary classical, free jazz, mathy art rock, and more. Audibly, Gutbucket learned from its decade of record-making and has produced its most ambitious disc yet. The band has produced a CD that is hard-hitting yet nuanced, with a new sonic and compositional breadth. Gutbucket’s imagination is in full bloom on Flock; the band sounds exactly like itself: immediate, ferocious, ambitious and inviting. During their dozen year ride, Gutbucket has brought its “impressive balance of passionate lyricism and pummeling angularity” (Time Out New York) to festivals, clubs and concert halls in 33 US states and 19 countries. All of this work and energy and power has been harnessed on Flock, the latest in their series of impressive albums!

“...achieves an impressive balance of passionate lyricism and pummeling angularity.”
- Time Out New York

“Forcing a conversation between punk, funk and free jazz for saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.”
- The New York Times

“A classic case of a band that defies categorization.”

– The Washington Post

- Gutbucket – Flock Il New York Times li ha sintetizzati con: “Forcing a conversation between punk, funk and free jazz for saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.”




A tremendously popular act at home in the UK, their last album, Sensible Shoes (their first with Cuneiform) was a 2009 'Album of the Year' winner with the prestigious Mercury Prize. They regularly play large-scale festivals and concert halls in the UK as well as festivals and shows elsewhere in Europe. So, in the wake of the huge press attention lavished on them due to the Mercury, and having appeared on UK's Channel 4 News, performing their version of the theme music to literally millions in front of the telly, did the mighty Bib decide to tone it down? Turn it back a notch? Definitely not. If anything, Bring Your Own contains some of their hardest rocking material to date, mixing the full throated cry of the dual saxes over loudly amplified Fender Rhodes and heavy bass and drums.

Those familiar with the Led Bib sound will recognize the trademark hooky melodies and idiosyncratic improvisation on this album. The raw energy and style remains, but it has never sounded so confident or accomplished, so genre-crossing and definition-defying. Here eastern melodies tumble into rock and roll grooves, there jazz phrases open up pastoral overtures, and elsewhere crescendos rise and disappear into whirring kraut-rock wormholes. The group has been playing together for over 7 years – and it shows. There’s an electricity here, a ‘group mind’ built out of a confidence in each of the member’s playing that means risks can be taken and their unique sound world cracked open and reassembled time and time again. The band has come a long way from their humble beginnings as Holub’s college music project!

Led Bib were formed in 2003 and have had the same formation since their beginnings; Mark Holub, drums; Liran Donin, bass; Toby McLaren, Rhodes and Chris Williams and Pete Grogan, alto sax.

"This is the sound of a band having fun… like a hot chainsaw through butter." – The Wire

"One of the UK’s most adventurous groups" – Jazzwise

"You’ll be hard pressed to keep the lid on this explosive tour de force of ensemble intelligence" – The Independent

"Rarely have two saxes, keyboard, bass and drums sounded so dangerous yet so compelling" – Observer Music Monthly

"It’s exuberant, intense, varied and exciting."
– BBC Music Magazine

" …a masterpiece of musical foreboding"
– The Metro

"...like a gale of fresh air" ­
– The Guardian

- Led Bib – Bring Your Own Secondo album Cuneiform per un gruppo che Jazzwise ha definito: “One of the UK’s most adventurous groups”.




As long-time fans of the 'Canterbury School' style of jazz/rock, a very appealing, very English, sometimes slightly whimsical blend of electric jazz with complex rock have sadly learned, this style and sound is rarely invoked nowadays. Planeta Imaginario are a creative and extraordinary six piece Spanish jazz/rock band that take some of the best influences from Canterbury style music and blend it with an original, very Mediterranean feel for a end result that is strongly their own but that is also redolent of 40 years of creative work in bringing jazz and rock together.
To get an idea of what their third album, Optical Delusions, has to offer, think of a great rhythm section of keyboards (Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes piano, acoustic piano, synths), electric bass and drums, influenced by creative rock bands like The Muffins, Hatfield, Caravan, National Health. Be sure to make note of the fact that the keyboardist is a excellent writer and arranger. Now add three jazz musicians on trombone, trumpet and alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, as well as guests on additional saxes, flute and French horn. Give all the musicians great tunes to play and don't forget to throw in a little dollop of weirdness to keep everything just a little bit off the (well) beaten track. This scenario is what you have here.

I would not have expected that the best current exponents of that great Canterbury sound would be a group of musicians from Barcelona, the heart of Spain's Catalan region, but expectations are made to be destroyed and Optical Delusions will utterly destroy you!

"From this album's earliest jittery unison lines and rocked up beats, this Spanish post fusion band sets the genre clock back to the 70's. Funny thing is, with its ensemble moxie and personal peculiarities, Planeta Imaginario wins expressive points in a style we might have given up for dead or irrelevant. The charm is in the details and the quirks.... It reminds us of what was lacking in much fusion of old: a sense of humour on the cultural playground. Could it be that fusion is ripe for a renaissance? Maybe musical models such as this one-from unexpected corners, globally and stylistically, will hasten a reconsideration of fusion's early demise."
– Josef Woodard, Jazziz, July/August 2008

FRANK SINATRA

Grazie alla Blue Moon e alla Spagnola Fresh Sound, abbiamo modo di poter apprezzare il Sinatra anni ’50, vale a dire il miglior Sinatra di sempre: “Una voce” che, accompagnata dalle più prestigiose orchestre dell’epoca, ha fatto sognare più di una generazione. Molto curata e prestigiosa la veste grafica e l’edizione digipack di questa collana che, nonostante il medio-prezzo, si presenta veramente molto bene. 12 cd che rappresentano un must per chi ama la buona musica!

- Frank Sinatra - Songs For Young Lovers + Swing Easy (Due 10 inch 1954 in 1 cd con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours (1955 - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - This Is Sinatra Vol. 1 (1956 - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde. Billy May Axel Stordahl, e Heinie Beau)

- Frank Sinatra – Songs For Swinging Lovers (1956 + 2 bonus tracks e con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - Closet To You (1956 + 1 bonus tracks e con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e l’Hollywood String Quartet.

- Frank Sinatra - A Swinging Affair (1957 + 2 bonus tracks - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - Where Are You? (1957 + 2 bonus tracks - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e Gordon Jenkins)

- Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me + Come Dance With Me (2lp, 1958 e 1959 con l’orchestra condotta ed arrangiata da Billy May)

- Frank Sinatra - This is Sinatra Vol. 2 (1958 + 7 bonus tracks con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde)

- Frank Sinatra – No One Cares (1959 + 2 bonus tracks con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e Gordon Jenkins)

- Frank Sinatra - Look To Your Heart (1959 + 3 bonus tracks con l’orchestra di Nelson Ridde e Ray Anthony e arrangiamenti di Nelson Ridde e Dick Reynolds)

- Frank Sinatra - Only The Lonely (1958 + 1 bonus track con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde)

Barbara Casini - Barato Total




Attendere un cd di Barbara è come attendere la primavera dopo un lungo inverno. Penso che sia questo il pensiero dei suoi numerosi fans che le riconoscono una classe e un'arte musicale fuori dal comune ma anche una personalita' attenta e sensibile. Barbara Casini è da anni una delle massime interpreti del jazz italiano nota tanto per le rivisitazioni della musica brasiliana quanto per quelle della canzone d’autore francese. Voce e chitarra fiorentina sin da ragazzina la fanno volare fino in Brasile che è diventato la sua seconda patria musicale. Barbara Casini è stata più volte definita la più importante interprete di musica brasiliana in Italia tanto da essere invitata piu' volte a esibirsi durante feste organizzate per promuovere la cultura di questo immenso e per la maggior parte ancora sconosciuto paese fatto si di divertimento ma anche di poverta' e tanta voglia di uscirne. La sua conoscenza della musica popolare brasiliana le hanno tra l'altro dato occasione di esibirsi piu' volte dal vivo con un altro grande musicista italiano che condivide con lei questo immenso amore per le melodie verdeoro ossia Stefano Bollani e i suoi Convidados di cui Barbara è per l'appunto la voce. Amore per il brasile che si è concretizzato in questo nuovo cd con cui Barbara vuole rendere omaggio a Gilberto Gil, "stupefacente compositore,chitarrista, cantante, poeta , cosi' profondo e cosi' giocoso". Godiamoci dunque questo nuovo lavoro di Barbara e lasciamoci pervadere dalla primavera in un inverno ancora cosi' lungo.

Barbara Casini - Canto Percussioni
Beppe Fornarelli - Chitarra 7 corde
Sandro Gibellini - Chitarra Elettrica
Special Guest
Stefano Cocco Cantini - Sax soprano e tenore
Massimiliano Rosati - Chitarra Classica Solo

Tracklist :
Pop Wou Wei - Drao - Ladeira da Preguica - Logunedé - Balafon - O Rouxinol - Flora - Expresso 2222 - Se Eu quiser Falar Com Deus - Um Carro De Boi Dourado - O Sonho Acabou - Nossa - Barato Total

Link Correlati :
Barbara Casini - Formidable

Damon Fowler – Devil Got His Way

Grazie a casa Blind Pig, ritorna questo chitarrista di Tampa, Florida, che ha lasciato un segno quanto nel pubblico del rock quanto in quello del blues. Una conferma a livello nazionale ed internazionale per un’autentica promessa dello slide-guitar sound di matrice rock-blues accostato dalla stampa specializzata a personaggi del calibro di Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck e Duane Allman ossia puro Southern rock, swamp blues and lightning slide

Fowler's guitar work has been compared to Johnny Winter and Jeff Beck, while his slide guitar has a hint of the late Duane Allman. He can play fiery guitar runs with the best of them, but it's his lyrical work on lap steel and Dobro that makes him stand out among the legions of guitar heroes.
On Devil Got His Way, Damon fulfills the tremendous potential that his acclaimed Blind Pig debut, Sugar Shack, promised. His remarkable songwriting skills and vocal expressiveness are maturing, and his instrumental voice, by turns incendiary and deeply lyrical, is even stronger. Damon and his band have been touring extensively since the release of Sugar Shack, and there is quite a buzz already about this release.

"Make way for the next big-time guitar slinger, wire-walking Tampa, Fla., native Damon Fowler. This kid can play... Even better, he shows no need to kill you with pyrotechnics on his major-label debut for San Francisco's Blind Pig." -Chicago Sun Times

"After three self-released albums, Florida native Damon Fowler makes his Blind Pig debut with this notable project. Fowler oscillates between country, electric blues and Americana. He's a formidable slide guitar player... He has also mastered lap steel and dobro as well as electric guitar, and his playing throughout the album is deft. Indeed, Fowler may be so skillful that he prefers pickin' tasty to larger-than-life guitar heroics. Fowler wrote nine of the 12 tunes on the album, and his original material is solid. Billboard

"Sugar Shack is lean and slinky, powered by Fowler's exceptional work on electric guitar, slide, Dobro and lap steel...On Sugar Shack, Fowler is first-rate all the way." - Orlando Sentinel

"In the Blues world - or any other genre, for that matter--the complete package is hard to come by...to combine facile fervor on a Tele, a lap-steel, and a flattop with a truly compelling vocal style and soulful songwriting -- that's something rare in an artist of any age. It's even more impressive when such maturity and authenticity come from a 25-year-old like Damon Fowler." - Guitar Player

Novita' Ecm : Paolo Fresu , Alexander Lonquich, Ketil Bjornstad & Svante Henryson, Colin Vallon

Paolo Fresu, A Filetta Corsican Voices & Daniele di Bonaventura

Mistico Mediterraneo

Sketches of Corsica: the radiant lyric trumpet of Paolo Fresu glides across the massed voices of A Filetta, the singers who are both trailblazers and keepers of tradition in the realm of Corsican polyphony. The ancient and the experimental blend seamlessly in these compositions, several of them written by ensemble founder Jean-Claude Acquaviva, who has directed the singing group for more than 30 years. A powerful showing here also for Italian bandoneon innovator Daniele do Bonaventura, who contributes new music, solos imaginatively, duets with Fresu, and envelops voices and trumpet with an almost orchestral sense of form.

Paolo Fresu trumpet, flugelhorn
Daniele di Bonaventura bandoneon
A Filetta
Jean-Claude Acquaviva seconda
Paul Giansily terza
Jean-Luc Geronimi seconda
José Filippi bassu
Jean Sicurani bassu
Maxime Vuillamier bassu
Ceccè Acquaviva bassu

Tracklist

Rex tremendae - Liberata - Da tè à mè -Le lac - Dies irae - Gloria - Corale - La folie du Cardinal - U sipolcru - Scherzi veranili - Figliolu d’ella - Gradualis - Sanctus


Alexander Lonquich – Robert Schumann/Heinz Holligier

“Schumann is the composer who has almost always been at the true centre of my thoughts” says Heinz Holliger, and the brilliant performance by Alexander Lonquich illuminates deep connections between the sound-worlds and imaginations of two great composers separated by one and half centuries. In this remarkable recital, Lonquich offers new insights in his account of the 1838 first edition of Kreisleriana op. 16, and then plunges deep into Holliger’s contemporary invocation of Schumann, the “radicalized romanticism” of the 1999 piano cycle “Partita”.

Opera :

Robert Schumann
Kreisleriana op. 16 (First Edition, 1838)
Dedicated to Frédéric Chopin

I Äußerst bewegt - II Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch – Intermezzo I. Sehr lebhaft – Erstes Tempo – Intermezzo II. Etwas bewegter – Langsamer (erstes Tempo) - III Sehr aufgeregt – Etwas langsamer – Erstes Tempo - IV Sehr langsam – Bewegter – Erstes Tempo - V Sehr lebhaft - VI Sehr langsam – Etwas bewegter – Erstes Tempo - VII Sehr rasch – Noch schneller – Etwas langsamer - VIII Schnell und spielend

Heinz Holliger
Partita (1999)
Dedicated to András Schiff

I Praeludium ("Innere Stimme") - II Fuga - III Barcarola - IV Sphynxen für Sch. (Intermezzo I) - V Petit "Csárdás obstiné" - VI Sphynxen für Sch. (Intermezzo II) - VII Ciacona monoritmica


Ketil Bjornstad & Svante Henryson – Night Song

Ketil Bjørnstad returns to the piano/cello duo, instrumentation which defined two of his best-loved albums, “The River” and “Epigraphs” with David Darling, back in 1996 and 1998. This new collaboration with Svante Henryson, however, tells a different story. As cellist, Henryson currently works in duos and trios with distinguished classical musicians including pianists Roland Pöntinen and Bengt Forsberg, clarinettist Martin Fröst, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and baritone Mikael Samuelson. ECM listeners, however, first heard him as a member of Jon Balke’s Magnetic North Orchestra on “Kyanos” (2001). In jazz contexts, he has also played in diverse formations with Tord Gustavsen, Marilyn Mazur, Nils Petter Molvaer, Arild Andersen and others. In rock and pop, he has collaborated with artists from Yngwie Malmsteen to Elvis Costello. In brief, he is an artistic polymath, rather like composer/improviser/author Bjørnstad himself. The music they create together - atmospheric, dark-hued, of melancholic temperament - is similarly beyond category.

Ketil Bjørnstad piano
Svante Henryson violoncello

Night Song (Evening Version) - Visitor - Fall - Edge - Reticence - Schubert Said - Adoro - Share - Melting Ice - Serene - The Other - Own - Sheen - Chain - Tar - Night Song (Morning Version)


Colin Vallon – Rruga

“Rruga”, meaning ‘path’, ‘road’ or ‘journey’ in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer. After shared musical experiences on the Swiss jazz scene, they began their trio journey five years ago, and have grown into one of Europe’s most promising bands, shaping a rugged and individual music, inspired by songs and singers, and by the music of the Caucasus region as well as by the jazz tradition. Challenging conventions of the modern jazz piano trio, the instrumentalists meet on equal terms as the music is created, arranged and developed collectively.

Colin Vallon piano
Patrice Moret double-bass
Samuel Rohrer drums

Telepathy - Rruga - Home - Polygonia - Eyjafjallajökull - Meral - Iskar - Noreia - Rruga, var. - Fjord - Epilog

Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya - Sotho Blue

Disponibile gia' da tempo ripresentiamo questo cd del leggendario pianista sudafricano Abdullah Ibrahim in occasione della suo tour italiano che tocchera' proprio domenica 30 gennaio Milano in occasione della manifestazione Aperitivo in Concerto. Abdullah fonda il Gruppo EKAYA che lo accompagnera' sia dal vivo che nel cd (che in lingua xhosa o zulu vuol dire "patria") a New York, nel 1983 e si tatta di un'intuizione geniale visto che grazie alle eccezionali doti strumentali dei vari musicisti si è in grado di rievocare le linee melodiche del canto popolare sudafricano inserendole nel contesto dell'improvvisazione jazzistica vera e propria. Insomma un bellissimo ritorno cui tutti gli amici della moonlight sono sicuro non vorranno fare mancare il propro appoggio.

The term legend is used exceedingly in our prosaic times. But it is appropriate in every respect when we talk about the South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. Then this giant of a man, who has not lost anything of his eagle-like sharpness despite being in the middle of his 70s, not only tells stories with his music, he also embodies living history. Abdullah Ibrahim emanates an aura of impregnable eternity.

Born as Adolphe Johannes Brand 1934 in Cape Town, he worked as a professional musician under the name Dollar Brand starting in 1949. The significance of that during apartheid in South Africa need not be explained here. Still, he stuck it out in his native country until the beginning of the 60s, performed with Miriam Makeba and founded the first noteworthy jazz band in Africa with the Jazz Epistles. However, international recognition also produced distrust in his country. He moved to Europe in 1962, performed above all in Switzerland and Denmark, and was discovered by Duke Ellington in 1965.

Ellington took Brand back to New York. He set off on a spiritual path on the side of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, which he has not left till today. He never broke off his close connection to Africa, but he also constantly sought alliances in Europe and Asia. Starting from 1968, his closest collaborators included musicians such as Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri and the legendary South African bassist Johnny Dyani. He converted to Islam in 1968 and took the name Abdullah Ibrahim, which slowly replaced the trademark Dollar Brand over the next decades. He was the foremost integration figure for African jazz in the 70s and 80s. The abolition of apartheid was also an act of liberation for Abdullah Ibrahim. He played at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994. He expanded the context of his African roots and American memories into a global experience with the reflective solo album "Senzo".

The band Ekaya is one of his long-term projects. Ekaya means homeland or hometown. In 1983, the band starting playing South African folk music and transferred its hymnic magic into the context of instrument jazz. The first album of the septet was simply called "Ekaya". The saxophonists Carlos Ward, Ricky Ford and Charles Davis were part of the band then. "Water From An Ancient Well" followed two years later with the same band members. The band members of Ekaya have changed completely since its founding, but not its spirit. "In each group, there is a continual process of interaction, which takes place in three stages: a few come, a few remain, a few go," according to the master. "Ekaya, native country, has become established as a kind of institution. Its center is a universal code; regardless of where you go, you remain at home."

Cleave Guyton (alto saxophone, flute), Keith Loftis (tenor saxophone), Jason Marshall (baritone saxophone), Andrae Murchinson (trombone) sound in harmony with drummer George Gray, bassist Belden Bullock and Ibrahim's unmistakable piano hymns like a choir of many voices. The pieces are originals from the past of Ekaya. The spirit is the same, but the attitude has changed. The past and the future flow together in the present for Ibrahim. The slogan "Back to the Future" is not something cool or mellow for him, but instead it belongs to the ritual basic equipment of his music. As a result, the recapitulation of these songs, some already 25 years old, has nothing to do with revisionism, melancholy or even self-importance as can often be heard from the old jazz heroes. Or, to put it in Ibrahim's words, "The new Ekaya provides us with the unique opportunity to question our past in order to plan our future."

Ekaya 2010 is more economical and minimalist than previous recordings of the band. The fight is finished; now it is a question of preserving memories and making something new out of them. The exuberant poetry of the songs has remained, but they have been set in a new historical context. Following the Soccer World Cup 2010, we listen to the songs in a much different way than in the 80s. Abdullah Ibrahim addresses a younger audience, which did not exist yet in 1985 and for whom apartheid was a cruel part of the past but which has been overcome. But still, “The deep inner significance of the old and the new will never change. It crystallizes precisely in this moment. The now and then are realized in an eternal sound."

Susan Cattaneo – Heaven To Heartache

Conosciuta ed apprezzata nel nostro paese per aver trascorso un anno dei propri studi a Roma tanto da essersi formata oltre ad una sua Band d'oltreoceano anche una Band tutta italiana che la accompagna durante i suoi italici tour Susan è davvero qualcosa di straordinario. Grinta, Rock e vena compositiva non le mancano di certo cosi' come la voglia di farsi notare, di far strada in un ambiente non certo facile. E la cosa non è di certo passata inosservata visto che nel 2010 Susan è stata tra gli ospiti del Buscadero day mentre non indugia in complimenti la rivista inglese Maverick che di lei dice “Blending a powerful combination of blues, rock, country and soul this record is definitely set to make a mark on her musical career”.

- Susan Cattaneo – Heaven To Heartache (Vocalist rock oriented USA)

Passion, drive, and great writing – these adjectives define the music and life of Susan Cattaneo. Raised in the farm country of New Jersey, Susan found her place in the musical world at an early age, singing six-part harmony with her family around the dinner table. After stints in bands in college, she spent a year in Italy, where she studied Italian and performed a mix of standards and traditional Roman songs in various piano bars in Rome. Upon her return to the States, she began a dual career in New York City. By day, Susan was a television writer/producer, earning an Emmy nomination and NY State Broadcasters Award. By night, she was the lead singer in the Blackfish Band, a funk-folk outfit that also launched the career of Mike Errico, and that became a regular fixture at clubs like The Bitter End and Kenny’s Castaways. Applying her writing talents to the craft of songwriting was a natural next step, and following her musical dream, Susan headed to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music on a vocal talent scholarship.

Hired by the Berklee songwriting department upon graduation, Susan has spent the past few years splitting her time between teaching, raising two kids, and writing in Nashville, where three of her songs have been signed by producer/A&R man Michael Lloyd (Dirty Dancing, Belinda Carlile, Righteous Brothers, Frank Sinatra) for Curb Publishing.

In 2009 she returned to performing and released her first full solo album, Brave and Wild. The record was voted Boston debut of the year and one of the Top 10 records of the year (along with releases by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and the Avett Brothers) by Wicked Local.

JOLLY STORY VOL 1 & 2 – FAUSTO LEALI

Dalla gloriosa casa italiana anni ’60, grazie al prezioso intervento della BTF, alcuni pezzi da 90 di questo catalogo che ha lasciato un segno nella musica italiana del periodo. Curatissima,come sempre la confezione e la veste grafica.

- Maurizio – Maurizio (Album Saar 1970 + 1 bonus track per il leader dei New Dada)

- Fausto Leali – Fausto Leali & I Suoi Novelty  (Album Saar 1965 + 5 bonus tracks)

- Jolly - Story Vol. 1 Compilation dal 1959 al 1969 di 18 brani. Feat. Adriano Celentano, I Ribelli, I Campioni, Remo Germani, Le Amiche, Nicola DiBari, Tony Dallara, Roberta Mazzoni, Gli Scooters, The Casuals, Armando Trovajoli, Franco Battiato, I Quattro di Lucca.

- Jolly - Story Vol. 2 Compilation dal 1959 al 1969 di 18 brani. Feat. Adriano Cementano, I Giullari, Tony Dallara, Totò Savio, Fausto Leali, Enzo Jannacci, Ricky Shaine, I Ragazzi del Sole, Bob Mitchell, Augusto Rigetti, I Fuggiaschi, Peppino Gagliardi, Fausto Billi.

I capolavori di Bruce Cockburn in vinile 180 gr

Per i cultori della musica d’autore, questo songwriter canadese ormai giunto a più di 25 album da quando ha iniziato la sua carriera nel 1970, rappresenta un punto di riferimento sicuro. Ecco dunque il pregevole progetto di ristampare i suoi album piu' significativi in vinile in un formato audiophile 180 gr vergine. Questo progetto può essere dunque considerato un evento che aiuterà ad apprezzare maggiormente l’opera di un eclettico songwriter baciato dalla musa dei cantautori dell’Eastern Canada. Per chi non ha mai avuto la possibilita' di ascoltarlo sino ad ora è bene ricordare che Cockburn ingloba nella sua musica tutto il genio, la sensibilità, le doti umane, e, non ultima, la spiritualità che fanno di lui un personaggio unico, per cultura, sensibilita' e voglia di ricerca tanto che 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. In questi primi tre Lp abbracciamo comunque il Cockburn piu' folk e cantautorale degli esordi. Ogni Lp è accompagnato da una "card" con cui potrete scaricare gratuitamente e LEGALMENTE i brani piu' i bonus tracks apparsi a loro volta nelle ristampe su cds.

- Bruce Cockburn – High Winds White Sky (1971)

With 1984’s Stealing Fire, Bruce Cockburn’s words and music took a greater urgency thane ver before. The previous year, he made his first trip to Central America on behalf of the international development group OXFAM. While in southern Mexico, he visited a refugee camp that had recently been attacked by the helicopters of the U.S.-backed Guatemalan army.

The horrific experience sparked the anger- filled “If I had a rocket Launcher” a song which brought him unprecedented attention _ garnering heavy radio airplay and regular video rotation on MTV. Stealing Fire is full of many of Cockburn’s most powerful political songs, yet it boasts some of his most romantic numbers as well. From “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” to “Making Contact” whether issuing calls to action or cries for help. Bruce Cockburn's poetry demands affection. Upon its release Stealing Fire immediatly staked a claim as one of the most compelling albums by singer -songwriter in the 1980s. Nearly twenty years later, the album's impact is undiminished.



- Bruce Cockburn – Stealing Fire (1984)

"World of Wonders" Cockburn wrestles with both the beauty and ugliness that the world around him has to offer.







- Bruce Cockburn –World Of Wonders (1986)

Images and references to rivers, birds, mountains, and espacialy, sunlight abound on 1971's High Winds White Sky _ as they do on Cockburn's previus self-titled debut album and the subsequent Suwheel Dance. The three albums formed a powerful acoustic triology that established Cockburn as one of Canada's most important performers of introspective, literate songs.
High Winds White Sky remains a landmark recording _ as fresh and adventurous sounding as the day it was released.



Ricordiamo anche l'ultimo cd live pubblicato lo scorso anno Slice of life.

Bill Frisell - Vinicius Cantuaria - 'Lagrimas Mexicanas'

Lagrimas Mexicanas non è altro che il naturale risultato di una collaborazione decennale tra uno dei piu' bravi ed ecclettici chitarristi americani della sua generazione e uno dei piu' importanti cantautori brasiliani artefice di molti brani poi portati al successo da personaggi del calibro di Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa e Gilberto Gil. Collaborazione iniziata grazie alla felice partecipazione di Bill agli album "Tucumã", "Vinicius" e "Samba Carioca" di Vinicius, partecipazione che verra' poi ricambiata quando Frisell lo invitera' a diventare membro della sua band "The Intercontinentals" cui seguira' la pubblicazione dell'omonimo album. Tornando al presente Vinicius prende ad esempio, diremmo quasi come musa i componimenti di Frisell utilizzati in questo caso per una rivisitazione personale della Bossa Nova con ritmi che vanno al di fuori dello stereotipato paese carioca per donarci invece un cd appassionato si ma quasi sussurrato. Insomma, un cd intimo, personale, degno di uno dei piu' imporanti cantautori in circolazione e sicuramente un cd che fara' parlare molto di se in questo inzio 2011

René Aubry - Refuges




Siamo lieti di presentare Refuges il nuovo lavoro del chitarrista e compositore autore di molti capolavori nell’ambito della musica per balletto e colonne sonore. Aubry è universalmente conosciuto come autore di melodie affascinanti e ricche di patos capaci di creare nell’ascoltatore sensazioni che coprono tutta la gamma delle umane emozioni giungendo con questo suo nuovo disco sulla vetta dei “sound artists”, al pari di altri grandi nomi come Francois de Roubaix, Pascal Comelade ed il nostro Ennio Morricone. Come quest’ultimi, l’alchimia della sua musica comprende di tutto: l’electro, il dub, il flamenco, il celtico, il rock, musica minimalista, orchestrale, il jazz, il bebop, e tutto quanto è fatto di ritmo e melodia. Riduttivo definire emozioni musicali a 360° con termini come new age o musica per balletto. Uno dei grandi musicisti del nostro tempo è tornato per darci dei picculi rifugi musicali in cui per qualche attimo riposare.

- Rene Aubry - Refuges Feat. Marc Buronfosse, Daniel Beaussier, Antoine Banville, Jun Miyake, Ali El Khatib.

" Music fills both air and bodies, meant for all and for none. It is music that reaches out to the unknown. Music is there not to convince or conquer, and when it wrings our hearts, it is to remind us that life is ardent, that man and the stars may be linked by invisible bridges. It progresses through the world, enfolding our lives like so many rings of power to render us invincible. Music does not choose who will love her, each of us is free to turn away or to embrace her, she invades our minds and takes her stand in the midst of our memories. For all eternity, this has been her rightful place and only human circumstances have momentarily dislodged her. Her place is at the heart of our history, like the calling of the wind, the echoing surf of the oceans, the rumbling of the storm.
René Aubry has invented a mysterious alchemy of sounds and melodies which one day stole into the world as if nothing were more normal than to soar beyond the clouds with the sole aim of lapping everything in a softer skin. This music, like a new lover, seems to recall long-buried memories of another time, another place, evoking a multitude of slight instances, the sketching of a gesture, a perfume, the sidelong glance of a woman passing.
The first time chance led me to these strange sounds, they were the accompaniment to a television portrait of Jean Genet.
I went straight to the film's director and producer to find the name of a composer inexplicably missing from the credits. Once I had tracked down the precious CD, I listened to it repeatedly day after day. At each hearing I experienced the same astonishment, the same mind-shift encouraging me to glide into worlds close by yet parallel, where fresh-created feelings welled up and flowed into landscapes newly invented at every instant, just for me, by the music. For this is a music that recreates the worlds of childhood, first loves, laughter and melancholy, lace gowns and Venetian carnival masks, where the solemn and the naive blend like voice and breath, banjo and concertina. What words, what novels, have been written to the sounds of "Dérives", "Steppe" or "Après la pluie" ? What secret connections exist between music and writing, both nourished in mysterious ways, both with the power to make the heart vibrate like a plucked violin string ?
We should thank these enchanters, who restore enchantment to the world ; we should welcome them gladly, telling them over and over again that they give meaning to our existence and that, without them, our long and only road would be that much more strewn with brambles and tears.

Yves Simon

Bear Family Novita' Gennaio 2011

Due produzioni che, in modi diversi ma con risultati analoghi, testimoniano l’unicità di questa label tedesca amata come poche da collezionisti e revivalisti in genere

Next Stop Is Viet Nam – The War On Record : 1961 – 2008 Box di 13 cd e libro di più di 300 pagine con la guerra che ha segnato l’America e gli americani vista non solo attraverso gli occhi dei politici, ma soprattutto dai musicisti e dagli uomini dello spettacolo




13-CD set, LP-sized slipcase with 304page hardcover book. 334 tracks, playing time: more than 16h:49min). The most comprehensive anthology of music inspired by the Vietnam War ever released. Over 330 titles covering all facets of the war and its aftermath featuring The Doors, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Country Joe McDonald and dozens of other artists. Rarely heard documentary material including patriotic Public Service Announcements, field news reports and intercepted North Vietnamese radio transmissions of Jane Fonda and Hanoi Hannah. A heavily illustrated, full-colour 304-page book containing extensive artist/song notes, Vietnam War history and recollections by vets on their favourite songs. Two discs of music exclusively by Vietnam veterans. Never-before-released tracks recorded during the war by in-country soldiers. Mister, Where Is Vietnam ...NEXT STOP IS VIETNAM: The War On Record, 1961-2008 is a stunning, years-in-the-making anthology of the Vietnam War's musical legacy. Presented on 13 CDs with a 304-page book illustrated with numerous archival photographs, this collection examines the war in a powerful and unprecedented way. Over 330 music and spoken word tracks take the listener through a guided tour of this epochal period of modern history. From America's first, na‹ve impressions of a country called Vietnam through the spirited musical debate over the morality of the war to the healing meditations on the conflict's lengthy aftermath, this set captures it all and more. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez,Merle Haggard, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, The Doors, Country Joe McDonald and dozens of other artists including many Vietnam veterans are the tour guides through this enlightening and entertaining journey. - The full-color book that accompanies the music is packed with information on the songs and the artists who recorded them by music scholar Hugo A. Keesing; a history of the war by Vietnam historian Lois T. Vietri; and an oral history of the tunes that 'incountry' vets loved best by authors Doug Bradley and Craig Werner. The introduction to this remarkable tome is written by the legendary Country Joe McDonald. Strap in for a long and fascinating ride ...NEXT STOP IS VIETNAM.


- Johnny Horton & Johnny Cash – I’m Fishing Man (Johnny & Johnny andavano a pescare insieme, singolo di 3 brani sul tema dei due più uno di Hank Williams ed uno splendido quadro metallico con foto inedita corredato da spille magnetici. Al solito, molto curata ed originale la confezione)

A metal bulletin board with magnetic keyholders A rare, never-before-seen photo of Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton printed on a metal base to accompany an amazing CD single of Cash and Horton together! The photo comes with four attached magnets, so you can hang your keys! The CD has Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton on Rock Island Line and Hank Williams' I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Livin'. Plus there's Johnny Horton's demo of I'm A Fishin' Man.
AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Dodicilune Novita' Gennaio 2011

Emanuele Cappellotto & Gianluca Sabbadin - Four Clockworks For Mandolin & Guitar Ben 17 duetti per chitarra e mandolino con due virtuosi quali Emanuele Cappellotto, mandolin, e Gianluca Sabbadin, guitar.

Mariano Di Nunzio Trio Barracina - Sonata a 3+2 Trumpet virtuoso con un originale line-up. Feat. Massimo De Stephanis, double bass Daniele Fusi, drums, Sandro Marra, alto sax, clarinet, Andrea Rellini, cello.

Roberto Marino – Trasparenze Piano solo da un talento emergente!



- Angelo Lazzeri Trio – Pipelettes Guitar trio da un virtuoso. Feat. Daniele Mencarelli, contrabbasso, e paolo Corsi, batteria.

- Sergio Armaroli Axis Quartet – Prayer And Request Vibrafonista alla guida di un quartetto con Claudio Guida, sassofoni, Marcello Testa, contrabbasso e Nicola Stranieri, batteria.

Xiomara - La Voz

Al secondo album di Xiomara ci rendiamo conto che ci troviamo sempre di piu' di fronte ad un fenomeno unico. Xiomara Laugart nella sua carriera è stata piu' volte paragonata a Celia Cruz, Diana Ross, Macy Gray e di volta in volta accostata ad altre "divinita'" del jzz vocale. Premesso che tali paragoni sono piu' che giusti per quanto riguarda la caratura del personaggio vi è anche da aggiungere che Xiomare è unica nel suo genere per le sue virtù peculiari e per la sua maestria impossibile da manipolare o limitare. Qualità vocali che trovano piena espressione in questo nuovo cd “La Voz” dove rivela in modo inequivocabile una flessibilità e sensibilità espressiva accompagnate una grande estensione vocale, “liquida” e fluente, che ben esaltano le influenze jazz. A impreziosire l’opera casa Chesky ci regala una registrazione in SACD superba per ascoltare questa latin-jazz o cuban-jazz cercando anche nell'incisione quell'emozione e quel brivido che solo gli audiofili piu' esperti sanno riconoscere.

- Xiomara – La Voz Feat. Axel Tosca Lougart, piano, Chris Smith, contrabbasso, Pedro Martinez, percussioni, Yosvany Terry, sassofoni.



They compare her to Celia Cruz, to Diana Ross, to Macy Gray, and to many other divas and music legends.

One thing for certain is that Xiomara Laurgart awakens a particular passion among her admirers and critics alike.

Xiomara Laugart is a diva, period. Xiomara can only be compared to Xiomara: she has her own spotlight, charisma, and a singular voice.

Considered by many as one of the most exceptional Cuban singers of all time, Xiomara is well versed in many genres: rumba, mambo, son, danzón, danzonete, merengue, guaracha, guaguancó, cumbia, hip-hop, the enormous gamut of Brazilian sounds, plena, tango, bolero, ballad-pop, rap, reggae, and even reggaeton... Her voice lets her get away with anything.

Some people, such as singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés recognize her as one of the best Latin American singers. Some go even further and make a place for her in the history of international music.

Those that go to her concerts are left amazed at how she carries herself with such grace, charisma, at what she puts into her songs, and the moving voice of the singer who could do the impossible with the range of her voice. While there is a lot to say about this woman who fills auditoriums anywhere she goes in the world, the majority of people prefer to save their breath and call her simply Xiomara Laugart.

Greg Tropper - Upside Down There

Siamo orgogliosi di presentare il nuovo album di questo songwriter di Little Silver, New Jersey, che, a dispetto della visione musicale a 360° gradi sulla musica americana, è stato costretto ad autoprodursi (dopo aver conosciuto le produzioni di Dan Penn, Eric Ambel e Buddy Miller). Arrivato alla terza decade di attività e con una nutrita discografia alle spalle, Greg, che come pochi sintetizza la trinità della musica “Americana” (Memphis soul, Greenwich Village folk and Nashville twang.) ed ha scritto canzoni riprese da Steve Earle, Vince Gill, Billy Bragg, Robert Earl Keen, si ripresenta con “Upside-down Town” dove esprime tutto il suo talento in chiave di un attualissimo folk-rock. Per chi ha nel cuore le sonorita' alla Otis Redding, Bob Dylan e Hank William non potra' fare a meno di scoprire questo cd e soprattutto questo geniale cantautore.

- Greg Trooper - Upside-down Town Uno degli album più attesi di un grande songwriter Usa!



Rarely has there been a more aptly named singer/songwriter than Greg Trooper. Over three decades, the New Jersey native has soldiered on through the victories and setbacks unique to a career dedicated to music, proving through gestures large and small that he's one of our best. It's evident in the company he keeps, the critics who praise his recordings, the fans who invest in his shows and the artists who learn his songs, wishing they'd written them.

Raised in the shore town of Little Silver, NJ Trooper became enthralled by the greater New York area's rich music scene. He discovered a sort of holy musical trinity in the work of Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams, with their guiding lights of passion, literary dexterity and plainspoken honesty. It's one reason Trooper's music feels equally informed by Memphis soul, Greenwich Village folk and Nashville twang.

Trooper has made an impact on the music scenes in all the places he's lived since leaving home after high school: Austin, Texas, Lawrence, Kansas, New York and Nashville. His albums have demonstrated creative vision as well as a collaborator's heart. Americana star Buddy Miller produced 1998's 'Popular Demons' album, while soul legend Dan Penn steered 2005's extraordinary 'Make It Through This World'. In the studio and on the road, Trooper's colleagues have come from roots music's most rarified circles: Larry Campbell (Dylan), Garry Tallent (Bruce Springsteen), Kenneth Blevins (John Hiatt), as well as headliners like Maura O'Connell and Bill Lloyd. His songs have been recorded by Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg and Robert Earl Keen, among others.

In a review of his live album 'Between A House And A Hard Place', music critic Barry Mazor said that Trooper "sings with a clarity of purpose and a variety of effect that few in the acoustic world match." Billboard magazine has called him "an artist of considerable insight and passion." Nashville music critic Robert K. Oermann has said Trooper's "songs and delivery grab you by the throat." Fans know a voice of grit and experience signing songs in which they recognize themselves. They also know that come the proverbial hell or high water, Greg will still be forging forward, trooper that he is.

Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust

Dopo una lunga attesa, resa spasmodica dal bene che si è scritto sulla stampa specializzata, ecco finalmente disponibile “Tin Can Trust”, il nuovo album dei Lupi di Los Angeles. Un paio di canzoni latine molto belle circondate da grande rock in the finest Lobos tradition. Un album di grande sostanza, corposo e ben suonato, che lascia trasparire la forza della più popolare band di East L.A. L’incontro di due mondi, due culture, che cercano di amalgamarsi attraverso uno dei più affascinanti progetti di sintesi musicale lungo ormai un quarto di secolo.

- Los Lobos - Tin Can Trust Con una cover dei Grateful Dead (West LA Fadeaway), e canzoni come “Burn It Down” con Susan Tedeschi, “Yo Canto”, “27 Spanishes”, “Mujer Ingrata”,”Do The Murray”, “On Main Street”. La coppia Hidalgo-Perez in gran spolvero!



More than three decades have passed since Los Lobos released their debut album, Just Another Band from East L.A. Since then they’ve repeatedly disproven that title—Los Lobos isn’t “just another” anything, but rather a band that has consistently evolved artistically while never losing sight of their humble roots.

For Tin Can Trust—Los Lobos’ first release for Shout! Factory (due August 3) and first collection of new original material in four years—the venerable quintet reconnected directly with those roots by returning to East L.A. and recording at Manny’s Estudio, “in a rundown neighborhood,” says Los Lobos songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Louie Pérez. “That took us out of our comfort zone and allowed us to do what we hadn’t done in quite some time: to play together in the same room, as one. This was not about putting your feet up; this was about working.”

This was a no-frills studio,” adds David Hidalgo (guitar, violin, accordion, percussion, vocals). “We didn’t even have a couch to sit on; we had to bring one in.” We went into that studio and the first day everyone was asking, ‘Does anyone have any material?’” recalls guitarist/vocalist Cesar Rosas. “So I said, ‘Well, I have a couple of songs.’ Then Dave started hitting the keys and he came up with something, and then Louie followed. That’s the way everything worked out; that’s the way we made this record.”

What I liked about making this album,” says Hidalgo, “was the spirit of it: nobody said no to anything. If you had an idea, OK, try it. Just go for it and see where we end up.” It felt more like a group effort,” agrees bassist/vocalist Conrad Lozano. “We went into the studio with no ideas and worked some out. Before, everybody would come in with a finished product.” That unified vision and strong work ethic are evident in each of the 11 tracks comprising the self-produced Tin Can Trust, but so is something even greater, “an intuitiveness,” says Pérez, “that happens only from being in a band for so long.”

A rare example of longevity in a volatile music world that stresses style over substance, Los Lobos’ lineup has remained uninterrupted since 1984, when saxophonist/keyboardist Steve Berlin joined original members Pérez, Hidalgo, Rosas and Lozano, each of whom had been there since the beginning in 1973.

“This is what happens when five guys create a magical sound, then stick together for 30 years to see how far it can take them,” wrote Rolling Stone, and indeed, Los Lobos is a band that continually redefines itself and expands its scope with each passing year, while never losing sight of where they came from. Through sheer camaraderie and respect for one another’s musicality, they’ve continued to explore who Los Lobos is and what they have to offer, without succumbing to the burnout that plagues so many other bands that stick it out for any considerable length of time. Their influence is vast, yet they remain humble, centered and dedicated to their craft. Each new recording they make moves Los Lobos into another new dimension while simultaneously sounding like no one else in the world but Los Lobos. As All About Jazz raved, “The genius of Los Lobos resides in their innate ability to find the redemptive power of music, no matter the style they choose to play.”

“We’re long haul guys,” says Berlin. “If you’re in it for the long haul it makes staying together a lot easier. It’s a challenge, but the thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve never rested on our laurels. We keep trying to make every record feel like the first one and try to do the best we can and not tread on territory we have already trod on. What you hear is exactly what we wanted to do.”

Tin Can Trust, like so much of Los Lobos’ previous work, is an album that speaks to the time and place in which it was conceived. But it wasn’t until the songwriting and recording process was well under way that it occurred to the band that an underlying theme was trying to make itself heard. The phrase that ultimately became the album’s title can be traced back more than a century, but for the band it’s apt for the rickety state in whichso many of us find ourselves—and our world—today.

The characters that populate Tin Can Trust are often anxious and hurting yet they remain resilient and proud. The scenarios in which they find themselves and the emotions they are experiencing are all familiar. It wasn’t until Pérez and his songwriting partner Hidalgo had crafted the title track and another highlight of the album, “On Main Street,” that the album’s focus started to come into view. Says Pérez, “I usually have to find the direction everything wants to go. I try not to resist because as soon as you start fighting and move it in another direction, it just doesn’t work.”

A number of tracks on Tin Can Trust are Hidalgo-Pérez collaborations, including the album’s opener “I’ll Burn It Down,” with blues-rocker Susan Tedeschi offering a guest vocal harmony, and “Jupiter Or the Moon” – both of which feature Lozano on the upright acoustic bass. Hidalgo and Pérez are also behind “Lady and the Rose,” which Berlin calls “incredible, one of my favorite songs on the record, with great lyrics”; the dance instrumental “Do the Murray,” whose curious title is a tribute to Hidalgo’s recently deceased dog; and the album-closing “Twenty Seven Spanishes,” which attempts to encapsulate in one song nothing less than the entire tale of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, “blow by blow,” as Pérez says.

Of the remaining four tracks, three were written in whole or in part by Rosas, and the other is a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “West L.A. Fadeaway.” Lobos and the Dead have a shared history that extends back into the 1980s when the Angelenos befriended and opened shows for their northern peers. Los Lobos previously covered the Dead’s “Bertha” for a tribute album, and as Tin Can Trust took shape it occurred to the band to tuck “West L.A. Fadeaway,” which originally appeared on the Dead’s most successful album, 1987’s In the Dark, into their own new project.

We were fooling around with it live for awhile,” says Pérez, “and then when we got into the studio I think it was Cesar who said, ‘We’ve been messing with “West L.A. Fadeaway” for a while in our live shows. Why don’t we try learning it?’

We said, ‘That would certainly light up a lot of lives,’ because the Dead fans and Lobo-heads have always asked, ‘Why don’t you do another Grateful Dead song?’” Astute Dead Heads will also notice the co-authorship credited to Robert Hunter, the Grateful Dead’s chief lyricist, on “All My Bridges Burning,” which he wrote with Rosas. Amidst soaring, fuzzed-out guitars, spiritual organ from guest Rev. Charles Williams, rock-solid drumming and Lozano’s dependably in-the-pocket bass grooves, Rosas delivers Hunter’s words with heart and soul.

Rosas supplied the two Spanish-language numbers on Tin Can Trust, the cumbia “Yo Canto” and the norteño “Mujer Ingrata,” both of which forge a connection to the Mexican folk songs played by Los Lobos in their formative years and on their classic 1988 album La Pistola y El Corazón. “‘Mujer Ingrata,’” says Rosas has to do with a relationship gone bad. The title means ungrateful woman. And ‘Yo Canto’ is about seeing different people and looking at some nice chicks! These aren’t social comments about anything,” he adds with a laugh. “I write the plain songs and the traditional songs.”

It was during their earliest years that the particular hybrid of traditional regional Mexican folk music, rock and roll, blues, R&B, country and other genres began finding a sweet spot in the music of Los Lobos. “In 1973, when we first formed,” says Pérez, “we were four guys from East L.A. who were friends from high school who played in local rock bands. Then once we got out of high school you still had four guys who were just hanging out together. So the natural progression of things is to just start playing music again. You’d think that we’d form a rock band but then out of nowhere somebody got this idea of ‘Let’s learn a Mexican song to play for somebody’s mom for their birthday’ or something. Mexican music was largely just wallpaper for us—it was always in the background, and we never paid much attention to it. We were modern kids who listened to rock and roll. Then when we finally dug up some old records to learn a couple of songs, that was a real revelation to us that this music is actually very complicated and challenging. So at that point we were off and running.”

To sit around in the afternoons and play these old songs we had heard when we were kids, it felt good,” adds Hidalgo. “We’d get some Budweiser and some flatbread and string cheese and hang around. It was cool. Then it grew. The old folks were blessing us and thanking us for playing this music. That’s why we’re still here, because of moments like that.”

Their first several years, says Pérez, were a “chapter,” as Lobos began discovering who they were as a creative unit. The band’s 1978 Spanish-language debut found only a small audience, and quality gigs were few. “We ended up doing happy hours strolling in a Mexican restaurant. That wasn’t what we had in mind,” says Hidalgo.

By 1980, though, they began to turn up the volume, returning to rock music. At first, acceptance was evasive—at one notorious gig, Los Lobos was rejected by a hostile hometown crowd while opening for John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd. Before long though, Los Lobos had begun to build an audience within L.A.’s punk and roots-rock world. An opening slot for hometown rock heroes the Blasters at the Sunset Strip’s legendary Whisky A-Go-Go in 1982 was a breakthrough, and that band’s saxophonist Steve Berlin took a special interest in Lobos, joining the group full-time for 1984’s critically acclaimed Slash Records debut, How Will the Wolf Survive?

As the ’80s kicked in for real, Los Lobos’ fortunes quickly turned in a positive direction, and they became one of the most highly regarded bands to emerge from the fertile L.A. scene. “It was one of those places and times, like ’67 in San Francisco or Paris in the ’20s,” says Berlin. “A lot of really superlative creative energy was focused in that place at that time. It was a very collegial atmosphere because everybody was experimenting with everything: with their identities, with their music. It was a very exciting time to be in a place where everybody around you was doing really interesting stuff. To this day I think that ethos informs a lot of what we do.”

One of the most momentous events in Los Lobos’ history arrived in 1987, when the band was tapped to cover “La Bamba,” the Mexican folk standard that had been transformed into a rock and roll classic in 1958 when it was recorded by the ill-fated 17-year-old Ritchie Valens. Valens, the first Chicano rock star, was catapulted to legendary status the following year when he died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and it was a natural choice that Los Lobos be asked to remake his signature hit for the forthcoming biopic of the same name. Little did anyone suspect that the remake would spring to number one on the charts!

We had met Ritchie’s family and they had asked for us,” says Pérez. “Of course, our emphasis at that time was on making our next album, By the Light of the Moon. Then ‘La Bamba’ came out and when the other record came out a few months later it was, By the Light of the Moon, what’s that? It was completely pre-empted by this massive hit. We had no idea what was going to happen.”

What happened was that Los Lobos was now reaching a vastly larger audience. “We were opening up for bands like U2 and the Clash and traveling around the world,” says Lozano. “You’d walk into an airplane and some little kid would be singing ‘La Bamba.’ It was a great time.”

Rather than capitalize on the elevated commercial profile that “La Bamba” had given them, Los Lobos instead chose to record as a followup La Pistola y El Corazón, paying tribute to their acoustic Mexican acoustic music roots. The next breakthrough came in 1992 with the release of Kiko, an album cited by many—including all of Los Lobos—as one of the best of their career. Bringing together all of the elements on which they had previously drawn and taking more liberties than in the past, Kiko “demonstrated the breadth of their sonic ambitions,” as the All Music Guide website put it. Comments Rosas, “With that album we didn’t want to be tied down to all the conventional ways of recording, so we started experimenting and making up sounds.”

Since then, on equally stunning albums such as 1996’s Colossal Head, 2002’s Good Morning Aztlán and 2006’s The Town and the City, Los Lobos has continued to deliver dependably solid and diverse recordings, a live show that never fails to disappoint, and just enough side trips—a Disney tribute album and a couple of live ones, solo and duet recordings (among them Hidalgo and Pérez’s ’90s diversion Latin Playboys), Berlin’s many production and sideman gigs—to keep their creative juices flowing. Tin Can Trust pushes Los Lobos ahead a few more notches while retaining everything the band’s loyal fans have come to expect.

There’s this thing that still happens, this musical thing,” says Pérez. “But if you took everything away, even the music, you’d still end up with four guys who were friends and hung out and grew up in the same neighborhood. And you can’t take that friendship away from us.”

We’re brothers and we all equally recognize that,” says Rosas. “That’s what keeps us going, knowing that we need to help each other and we need to get through this and we work well together. And we keep it real.”

We’re incredibly lucky,” adds Berlin. So are we—lucky to have Los Lobos.

Graham Parker - The Official Bootleg

Graham Parker non ha bisogno d’introduzioni, si tratta di uno dei migliori cantautori ed interprete inglesi di sempre come testimonia la sua discografia anni ’70 dov’era accompagnato da una delle migliori bands del periodo, i Rumour. Questo box di 6 cd per la sua etichetta Up Yours in edizione privata ed ora disponibile anche in commercio grazie all'attenta Floating World ad un prezzo più che accessibile per i suoi numerosi fans rappresenta un evento per i cultori del rock d’autore. 6 cd di materiale inedito o “live” dai suoi archivi personali rappresentano un’attrattiva unica per tutti i suoi ammiratori e non solo. Personaggio più maturo e complesso dell’intero pub-rock movement che racchiude ”il soul sanguigno di Van Morrison, il folk arrabbiato di Dylan, il country introverso di Neil Young e la veemenza proletaria di Springsteen”. E come ogni buon vero (official ) bootleg che si rispetti ricordiamoci che è in tiratura limitata.

- Grahama Parker – The Official Bootleg Splendido box di 6 cd in edizione digipack, graziosa ed originale, dall’aspetto di un vero e proprio bootleg contenente: “Graham Parker & The Figgs – Live From Somewhere”, “The Bastrd Of Belgium’s Bastard Brother”, “Yer Cowboy Boot”, “Platinum Bastard”, “Graham Parker And The Small Clubs – Burning Bridges” e il ricercatissimo “Graham Parker & The Rumour Live At Newlands Tavern 1975”.



Track List

Disc 1: Graham Parker and The Rumour, Live at Newlands Tavern 1975

1.Chain of Fools 2.You Silly Thing 3.Between You and Me 4.Nothing’s Gonna Pull It Apart 5.The Raid 6.Don’t Ask Me Questions 7.Rockin’ Hawk (instrumental) 8.Gypsy Blood9.Not If It Pleases Me 10.Express Delivery 11.Back to Schooldays 12.Soul Shoes

Disc 2: Graham Parker and The Twang Three, Yer Cowboy Boot

1.Over the Border (to America) 2.Anything for a Laugh 3.Sugaree 4.Force of Nature 5.I Don’t Know 6.Success 7.Cruel Lips 8.You’ve Got to Be Kidding 9.Love Gets You Twisted 10.Tornado Alley 11.Almost Thanksgiving Day 12.Crying for Attention 13.Three Martini Lunch 14.Mr. Tender 15.Fool’s Gold 16.Nation of Shopkeepers 17.You Can’t Be Too Strong 18.Crawling from the Wreckage (Revisited) 19.Tell Me 20.She Never Let Me Down 21.High Horse

Disc 3: Graham Parker and The Small Clubs, Platinum Bastard

1.Nothing’s Gonna Pull It Apart 2.Back Door Love 3.Clear Head 4.Saturday Nite is Dead 5.Empty Lives 6.Dark Side of the Bright Lights 7.Canned Laughter 8.I Don’t Know 9.Dancing for Money 10.Brand New Book 11.Long Stem Rose 12.Oasis 13.Short Memories 14.Yesterday’s Cloud 15.Release Me 16.Mr. Tender 17.Platinum Blonde 18.Worthy of Your Love 19.Love is a Burning Question

Disc 4: Graham Parker and The Small Clubs, Burning Trousers

1.Three Martini Lunch 2.Anniversary 3.Here It Comes Again 4.Love is a Burning Question

Disc 5: Graham Parker and The Figgs, Live Cuts from Somewhere

1.No Holding Back 2.Devil’s Sidewalk 3.High Horse 4.Discovering Japan 5.Love Gets You Twisted 6.Jacksonville Intro 7.I’ll Never Play Jacksonville Again 8.Tough on Clothes 9.That’s What They All Say 10.Love is a Burning Question 11.Get Started, Start a Fire 12.If It Ever Stops Raining 13.That’s When You Know 14.Hotel Chambermaid 15.Shake Your Hips 16.Big Fat Zero 17.Sheena is a Punk Rocker 18.Fool’s Gold 19.Syphilis and Religion 20.Local Girls 21.Dark Days 22.Soul Shoes

Disc 6: Graham Parker, The Bastard of Belgium’s Bastard Brother

1.Over the Border (to America) 2.Watch the Moon Come Down 3.Guillotine of Guadalupe 4.Devil’s Sidewalk 5.Anniversary 6.White Honey 7.Soul Corruption 8.Stick to Me 9.Don’t Ask Me Questions 10.You Can’t Be Too Strong 11.Discovering Japan


GRAHAM PARKER needs no introduction, one of the UK'Sbest ever singer, songwriters and performers has a careergoing back into the 70’s with one of the hottest bands of
the day THE RUMOUR.
This box set from GP’S personal archive contains 6 discs from his own UP YOURS Label and is now widely available for the first time.Each disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve, looking just like a proper bootleg and features live and rare material.

Particular interest must be the 1975 recording LIVE ATNEWLANDS TAVERN with THE RUMOUR.

An essential purchase for any GP fans

Stefan Grosman's Guitar Workshop ( Gennaio )

Da casa SGGW abbiamo il piacere di presentare le prime uscite in cd della storica etichetta di Stefan Grossman, personaggio che i cultori della chitarra acustica in stile folk, blues e ragtime ben conoscono ed apprezzano. Ecco in versione cd, con tanto di file PDF con le tablature visibili su qualunque computer , ( abbiamo indicato i brani con le tablature con un asterisco ) quanto aveva prodotto in vinile per la Kicking Mule/Sonet. Un must per i cultori della chitarra acustica e per tutti coloro che amano la chitarra



- Stefan Grossman & John Renbourn – Same Primo album di duetti datatp 1978 per John Renbourn l’ English-folk guitarist, e Stefan Grossman an American-blues guitarist. ( tutti i brani di questo cd ad esclusione di "Spirit Levels" contengono il file con le tablature )

Tracks
1. Snap A Little Owl 2. Bermuda Triangle Exit 3. Theme from Charles Mingus' The Shoes Of The Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers 4. Luckett Sunday 5. Why A Duck 6. The Drifter 7. Looper's Corner 8. Luke's Little Summer 9. Spirit Levels 10. The Way She Walks 11. Woman From Donori

“To label John Renbourn an English-folk guitarist, or Stefan Grossman an American-blues guitarist, amounts to the same: nothing. Renbourn, who's best known for his Pentangle association and fine solo albums, has played medieval, early classical, traditional, blues, regional English folk and contemporary jazz compositions. Stefan Grossman, who's also cut a pile of solo albums, has played classic and contemporary ragtime, delta blues, boogie, and regional American folk compositions, among others. Yet the performers and last Tuesday night's capacity crowd at the Other End shared a single mindedness that makes one music of all this eclecticism: a passion for the acoustic guitar and its infinite expressive possibilities. The evening was not only one of the most musically exhilarating in my experience, but one of the most educational as well – a relaxed class on styles and technique and a distillation of British and American sensibilities...

...They included a few numbers from their elegant new hybrid album, Stefan Grossman & John Renbourn. The album is all instrumental, all – except for a Mingus composition – original. Though it's much more bluesy, lilting, and sly, it reminds me of John McLaughlin’s acoustic album, My Goal's Beyond, with its gentle-jazz whispers and dramatic pauses. If one has ever picked or, plucked, the album is an invitation to figure out new ways to contort the fingers. If one hasn't, the liner notes skillfully decode who is playing which guitar line and when, As the concert did, the album pulls together the improbable and comes up with a surprising complement, rather like ordering a measure of ordering mead to quaff with your hot dog. And why not?”
– Jan Hoffman – The Village Voice


- Ton Van Bergeyk, John James, Dale Miller & Sam Mitchell – I Got Rhithm (Jazz compositions and rags da questi guitar-virtuosi)
The music that was popular from the turn of the century to the 1940's offers the guitar player some fascinating sounds to arrange. This album is a collection of pop standards, novelty instrumentals, serious jazz compositions and rags. There are many ways to approach this wide spectrum of music. This album features four of the finest acoustic guitar players. From the United States we have Dale Miller, from Holland the Dutch Wizard, Ton Van Bergeyk, from Wales John James and from England Sam Mitchell.

Each guitarist has his own individual sound and ideas for arranging. It is interesting to hear the differences in texture and feel that these four guitarists bring to their music. As well, this album shows the strength of the guitar as an instrument for capturing the sounds of a bygone era. From Sam Mitchell's slide guitar to John James' well thought out duets to Dale Miller's delicate combo like approach to Ton Van Bergeyk's complete sounding six string orchestra we get a glimpse into how one can try arranging and performing this music on the guitar. This album also has a certain humor. You can hear this clearly in Anno 1926 or (Who's That) Knocking At My Door or even the surf like Sophisticated Slide.



Tracks

1. I Got Rhythm*
Ton Van Bergeyk
2. Under The Moon
John James
3. Sophisticated Slide
Sam Mitchell 2
4. Medley For the Duke:
Jubilee Stomp & Take It Easy*
Ton Van Bergeyk
5. Anno 1926*
Ton Van Bergeyk
6. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Dale Miller
7. Sugar*
Ton Van Bergeyk
8. The Cat And The Dog*
Ton Van Bergeyk
9. (Who's That) Knocking At My Door
John James
10. Frog-I-More Rag*
Ton Van Bergeyk
11. Dirty Dozens
Sam Mitchell
12. Ain't Misbehaving
Dale Miller
13. Stumblin'*
Ton Van Bergeyk
14. Ballin' The Jack
John James
15. These Foolish Things
Dale Miller


- John Renbourn & Stefan Grossman – In Concert
To label John Renbourn an English folk guitarist, or Stefan Grossman an American blues guitarist, amounts to the same: nothing. Renbourn, who's best known for his Pentangle association and fine solo albums, has played medieval, early classical, traditional, blues, regional English folk and contemporary jazz compositions. The obstreperous Grossman, who's also cut a pile of solo albums, has played classic and contemporary ragtime, delta blues, boogie, and regional American folk compositions, among others. Yet the performers and last Tuesday night's capacity crowd at the Other End shared a single-mindedness that makes one music of all this eclecticism: a passion for the acoustic guitar and its infinite expressive possibilities. The evening was not only one of the most musically exhilarating in my experience, but one of the most educational as well – a relaxed class on styles and technique and a distillation of British and American sensibilities.

John Renbourn performed solo opening with several traditional tunes from the British Isles. Renbourn looks the part – like Robin Hood's Littlejohn perhaps: a big-boned frame; broad ruddy cheeks; short, curling fair hair and beard; small, amused blue eyes. When he sings about Glasgow town and fair maids, we followers of traditional music believe him largely because of the songs’ simple beauty, but we also, I think, harbor a bad case of merrie olde anglophilia. Renbourn doesn't sigh wistfully for a lost world simultaneously bawdy and innocent – he recreates that world. He also played some instrumentals. Whether he's doing an alehouse blues or a 16th-century Italian dance, Renbourn's guitar style is characteristically delicate and controlled. He took a swig on his beer bottle and bent over Booker T. Jones's Sweet Potato, which opens with a taut bluesy little riff and then builds almost in spite of itself. Renbourn couldn't hold it in check, and the piece burst open at the seams as he leaned into it, the chords and fingerings hurtling faster and faster. Finally the tune receded into the neat, unassuming opening tiff, and ended. "You're amazing, John," somebody blurted out. The audience laughed and applauded, agreeing.

Enter Grossman, sporting a bright colored ukulele shirt and an uncompromising New Yawk accent ... Grossman is a wild, funny carny man. He banged and pulled at his bass strings, occasionally flatpicked, and sang-talked old blues and rags. Both guitarists commanded immediate respect. But while the audience was awed by the modest Renbourn's music-sculpting, they stamped and rebel-yelled for Grossman, who seemed antsy just to spit the songs out, playing strident delta blues and Reverend Davis ragtime like nobody's Aunt Sally. Grossman's brand of Americanism is as mythic as the world of traditional British balladry: red hot dogs and red hot mamas, a restless, cheerful braggadocio.

They played together for a final set that included the loopiest rendition of Candy Man I've ever heard, and a few numbers from their elegant new hybrid, Stefan Grossman & John Renbourn CD (SGGW119). The album is all instrumental, all – except for a Mingus composition – original, and a good deal more studied and dreamy than anything I'd have thought Grossman would put his hand to. Though it's much more bluesy, lilting, and sly, it reminds me of John McLaughlin's acoustic album, My Goal's Beyond, with its gentle-jazz whispers and dramatic pauses. If one has ever picked or plucked, the album is an invitation to figure out new ways to contort the fingers. If one hasn't, the liner notes by Karl Dallas of Melody Maker skillfully decode who is playing which guitar line and when. As the concert did, the album pulls together the improbable and comes up with a surprising complement, rather like ordering a measure of mead to quaff with your hot dog. And why not?

CD One:
1. Looper’s Corner 2. The Shoes Of The Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers 3. Twelve Sticks 4. Cocaine Blues 5. Pretty Girl Milking A Cow 6. Tightrope 7. Make Believe Stunt 8. Medley: Sheebeg An Sheemore/Drunken Wagoner 9. The Assassination of John Fahey 10. Medley:Cincinnati Flow Rag/New York City Rag/Hot Dogs

CD Two:
1. Medley: Judy/Angie 2. Lindsay 3. Medley: Lament For Owen Roe O’Neill/Mist Covered Mountains of Home/ The Orphan 4. So Early In The Spring 5. The English Dance 6. Great Dreams From Heaven 7. Sweet Potato 8. Medley: Bonaparte’s Retreat/Billy In The Lowgrounds 9. Goodbye Porkpie Hat 10. Candyman 11. Midnight On The Water 12. Spirit Levels 13. Mississippi Blues

DVD:
1. Looper’s Corner 2. The Shoes Of The Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers 3. Struttin’ Rag 4. The Assassination of John Fahey 5. Tightrope 6. Medley: Judy/Angie 7. Whitehouse Blues 8. Medley: Trotto/The English Dance 9. Goodbye Porkpie Hat 10. Candyman 11. Spirit Levels 12. Take A Whiff On Me


- Stefan Grossman – Shining Shadows (Album di blues anni ’20 e ’30 datato 1984)

Stefan Grossman's life story unfolds like the plot of a fantastically farfetched novel studded with mythical and mystical characters and music at every turn. You can look at it like this: At age 15 Stefan began his tri-weekly pilgrimages from Brooklyn to a shack on Park Avenue in the heart of New York City's Bronx to take lessons from a legendary bluesman, the late Rev. Gary Davis. He then became a dedicated member of the "Blues Mafia" - a group of researchers intent on rediscovering the great bluesmen who had performed on the race records of the '20s and '30s - where he became close friends with Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other great black American bluesmen and songsters. Never one to rest on the oars, Stefan has authored many music books that present these styles to pickers worldwide.

Before moving to Europe in 1967 Stefan gigged with the Even Dozen Jug Band, an early counterculture rock band known as the Fugs, and Mike Bloomfield in the band Chicago Loop. While living in Italy several years later, Stefan decided that there was a shortage of good guitar records, so he co-founded Kicking Mule Records in 1973. With a lineup of artists that included guitarists Dave Evans, Ton Van Bergeyk, Happy Traum, Duck Baker, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Davey Graham. Stefan was instrumental in promoting and preserving the best in blues, ragtime and contemporary picking. And in addition to his record producing, personal recordings, instructional writings and other projects, Stefan has kept up his live appearances.

Tracks (ogni brano contiene la tablatura )

1. Blues For The Mann 2. Requiem For Patrick Kilroy 3. Logan’s Water 4. Lemon’s Jump 5. Ms. Josephine Ayres 6. Beyond The Pleasure Principle 7. Sparkling On The Wind 8. Shining Shadows 9. Capricorn Five 10. Just a Closer Walk With Thee 11. Lament For A Goodman


- Duck Baker – King Of Bongo Bongo (Ancora Fingerstyle guitar playing su noti blues anni ’20 e ’30.)
Duck Baker plays all types of music. His playing combines genres as varied as rags, blues, country, gospel, cajun, bluegrass, Celtic music, ballads and jazz, swing, New Orleans jazz and free jazz.
In this album he joins with Mike Piggott on fiddle and Stefan Grossman on guitar to offer an
exciting excursion in to the music of the 1920s and 1930s. Fingerstyle guitar playing with the Duck touch!

Tracks

1. New Righteous Blues 2. Crazy Rhythm 3. I Found A New Baby 4. No Love 5. There'll Be Some Changes Made 6. See You In My Dreams 7. I Ain't Got Nobody 8. Mama's Getting Younger, Papa's Getting Older Each Day 9. Immaculate Conception Rag 10. River Blues 11. Chicken Ain't Nothing But A Bird 12. King of Bong Bong 13. Business As Usual


- Rev. Gary Davis – At Home And Church (Box 3 cd di Religious songs, folk tunes, blues, rags)
In 1962 I started to take guitar lessons from Rev. Gary Davis. Each weekend and school holiday I would take two trains from my home in Brooklyn up to Park Avenue in the Bronx. Rev. Davis’s home was hidden behind a worn out tenement building, down a flight of stairs where the garbage cans were kept and then up another small flight of stairs to a single dwelling that was surrounded on all four sides by apartment buildings.

To say it was “different” would be to understate the effect it had on me. But once the screen door was opened and the scent of White Owl cigars hit my nose I knew I was at home. The warmth, generosity and education that I found in this “country shack” in the midst of the great New York City has lasted me a lifetime.

This set of three CDs captures Rev. Davis at home and church - teaching, talking and philosophizing. The first two CDs are material recorded at his Bronx home. Religious songs, folk tunes, blues, rags and memories are included. The music ranges from the heavenly to the bawdy. The third CD features a service I recorded where Rev. Davis plays and delivers sermons.

Tracks

Disc One (At Home):
1. Twelve Sticks 3 2. Sally, Where’d You Get Your Liquor From 3. Babylon Is Falling 4. What Could I Do 5. Children of Zion 6. Hesitation Blues 7. Candyman (on 5 String Banjo) 8. Steal Away And Pray 9. Goin’ To Chattanooga 10. Packing Up, Get Ready To Go 11. Untitled 12. You Cry Because I’m Leaving 13. Don’t Let My Baby Catch You Here 14. Lord Let Me Live Longer 15. I Want To be Saved 16. Waltz Time Candyman 17. Little Boy Who Made Your Britches 18. Talks about Verses Not Sung 19. C Rag 20. Two Step Candyman

Disc Two (At Home):
1. Piece Without Words 2. Lord Search My Heart 3. Slippin’ To My Gal Comes In Partner 4. Sun is Going Down 5. Raise A Ruckus Tonight 6. Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockefeller, Put the Panic On 7. Soon My Work Will All Be Done 8. You’re Gonna Need King Jesus
9. I’m Going Back To Jesus 10. Blues in C 11. Saddle It Around 12. People Who Use To See 13. Italian Rag 14. Candyman 15. Nobody Don’t Care For Me 16. Fox Chase 17. Talk on Blind Boy Fuller

Disc Three (In Church):
1. Amazing Grace 2. Sermon 3. I’m a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord 4. Sermon 2:40 5. Lord, I Feel Just Like Goin’ On 6. Steal Away 7. Can’t Make This journey By Myself 8. Sermon 9. I Will Overcome Someday 10. God Be With You

From the Mariposa Folk Festival:
11. I Got Religion I’m So Glad 12. I’m a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord


- School Of Ragtime - 10 Classic Rags

by Scott Joplin. Feat. Duck Baker, Lasse Johansson, Ton Engels, John James and Tim Nicolai arrangiamenti per chitarra di ragtime di scott Joplin)

In the early 1960's guitar players from the cities started to tackle arranging classic rags onto the guitar. Prior to this period there was no recorded evidence of guitarists attempting to do this. At the turn of the century Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps successfully transcribed classic rags for the five-string banjo. But the role of the guitar was dormant until David Laibman and Dave Van Ronk started to experiment with these ideas.
This album presents ten Scott Joplin classic ragtime arrangements. They illustrate the fascinating approach that a guitar can take when playing ragtime. Plus they are great challenges for guitarists to master. In the world of fingerpicking these type of instrumentals are left for the "advanced pickers."

Tracks ( ciascun brano contiene la propria tablatura )

1. Maple Leaf Rag
Duck Baker
2. Solace - A Mexican Serenade
Lasse Johansson & Claes Palmqvist
3. Nonpareil (None To Equal)
Ton Engels
4. The Favourite
Lasse Johansson
5. The Strenous Life
Ton Engels
6. The Rosebud March
John James
7. Eugenia
Lasse Johansson & Claes Palmqvist
8. Weeping Willow
Ton Engels
9. Scott Joplin’s New Rag
Tim Nicolai
10. Elite Snycopations
Ton Engels


- The Entertainer – The classics of Scott Joplin rags arranged for six string guitar Featuring Ton Van Bergeyk, Leo Wijnkamp Jr., Jim McLennan, Bob Evans, Tim Nicolai, David Laibman & Dick Fegy.
The 1960s ragtime revival was the coming of age of a generation of fingerpicking guitarists. In ragtime, they found a music that was vastly challenging, great fun to play, and one that adapted well to the instrument. These were, for the most part, players who had taken up the guitar during the '60s folk revival and learned how to fingerpick Elizabeth Cotten or John Hurt tunes and were looking for more demanding material. Ragtime more than filled the bill - even 'easy' guitar ragtime is a workout.

The first guitar ragtime recording, by Dave Laibman and Eric Schoenberg, was released in the late 60s and shows how high a level of skill young fingerpickers had reached in their attempts to master the idiom. This present collection features arrangements by a slightly younger Europeans inspired by Laibman, Schoenberg and Stefan Grossman. The Swedish team of Johansson and Palmqvist are possibly the most accomplished guitar duo to play ragtime. As with tennis, playing duos requires a particular skill.

Two Dutch soloists are presented here - Ton Van Bergeyk and Leo Wijnkamp Jr. - two of the finest fingerpicking virtuosi of the day. The United Kingdom is represented by Welshman John James, who has gone on to a very active career on the British folk scene and Englishman Ton Engels, who has, like most of the performers here, gone off into other pursuits. This is also true of the fine Canadian guitarist, Jim McLennan. Dick Fegy has remained very much on the scene as David Bromberg's most dependable bandmember over the years, playing mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic and electric guitars. He is also a first-rate solo fingerpicker, as you will hear. He must toss off Paganini encores in his spare time!


Tracks

1. The Entertainer*
Jim McLennan
2. Magnetic Rag*
Ton Van Bergeyk
3. Paragon Rag*
Tim Nicolai
4. Heliotrope Bouquet*
Jim McLennan
5. Scott Joplin Medley: Fig Leaf Rag/Bethena - A Concert Waltz/ Maple Leaf Rag*
Bob Evans
6. Sycamore - A Concert Rag*
Leo Wijnkamp Jr.
7. Kismet Rag*
Dick Fegy
8. Wall Street Rag



- Ton Van Bergeyk – Lulu’s Back In Town (Ragtime music)
Ton Van Bergeyk is a guitarist's guitarist. That is not to say that his playing is at all over-technical or hard for non-guitarists to appreciate. To the contrary, his music is quite direct and engaging. Ton has absorbed elements of a great many widely varied guitar stylists and is himself already a major influence among younger players.

Ton's first record, FAMOUS RAGTIME GUITAR SOLOS (SGGW104) remains a classic in the field. With FAMOUS FINGERPICKING GUITAR SOLOS FROM THE GOLDEN ERA OF AMERICAN POP MUSIC (SGGW124) and his tracks on I GOT RHYTHM (SGGW133) Ton expanded his interests to include swing tunes of the 20's and 30's. The present release evinces his still widening tastes and abilities, including modern jazz, blues, contemporary pop, more swing tunes and even Mexican serenadas. The range of guitar styles and sounds (Ton uses a nylon-strung as well as a steel here) is extraordinary and makes for great listening.

Tracks ( ciascun brano contiene la propria tablatura )

1. Georgia On My Mind 2. Black and Tan Fantasy 3. Nobody's Sweetheart 4. Mexico Bonito 5. The Boogie Dance 6. Rocking Chair 7. Between The Lines 8. We're All Alone 9. The Fabulous Rosina 10. Blue Monk 11. Cry Me A River 12. Hombre Mio 13. Lulu's Back In Town 14. Rosa De Castilla 15. Lady Madonna 16. March Of The Hoodlums

- Bert Jansch Conundrum – Thirteen Down (Album del 1979 per l’ex Pentangle. Feat. Martin Jenkins, Nigel Portman-Smith, Luce Langridge e Jacquie McShee)
Bert Jansch formed the Bert Jansch Conundrum in the late 1970s as a touring unit for his solo performances following the breakup of the original Pentangle. Thirteen Down, recorded in 1979, was the only studio album by this aggregation. Joining Jansch here are multi-instrumentalists Martin Jenkins and Nigel Portman-Smith along with drummer Luce Langridge. In addition, Jansch's Pentangle vocal mate, Jacquie McShee, guests on "If I Had a Lover."

The selection of tunes offered on Thirteen Down is uniformly strong. Several tracks could best be described as "funky folk music," especially the instrumental, "Una Linea di Dolcezza." Other standout tracks include "Down River," "Time and Love," "In My Mind" and "Sweet Mother Earth." The blend of British Isles folk, jazz and pop will be familiar to fans of Pentangle, and Jansch's vocals and guitar work are as unique as ever. Jenkins' violin and flute provide the textural colors that keep the arrangements varied from song to song. Ranking with the best work of Bert Jansch's lengthy career, Thirteen Down is a must-have for folk and acoustic music enthusiasts.

Tracks

1. In My Mind 2. Sovay 3. Where Did My Life Go? 4. Bridge 5. Time and Love 6. If I Had a Lover 7. Una Line di Dolcezza 8. Let Me Sing 9. Down River 10. Nightfall 11. Ask Your Daddy 12. Sweet Mother Earth 13. Single Rose

(Gennaio 2011)