Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows ( Tributo To John Prine )

Quale maggior tributo si poteva dare ad uno dei più grandi autori della nostra musica? Che la musica di John Prine sia realmente "senza tempo" lo dimostra il fatto che a rivisitare le sue canzoni non i soliti noti ma i più grandi interpreti del nuovo rock USA dai My Morning Jacket ( ospiti con lo stesso Prine al Letterman show )a Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band da Josh Ritter a Justin Townes Earle da Avett Brothers ai Old Crow Medicine Show da Sara Watkins ai grandissimi Drive-By Truckers da Deer Tick a Those Darlins da Justin Vernon e Lambchop a Justin Vernon dei Bon Iver. Se tutta una nuova generazione di rocker Usa hanno sentito l'esigenza di dar omaggio a questo misconosciuto nonnetto del meglio del songwriter americano qualcosa dovra' pur significare....

- Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows – The Songs Of John Prine



Tracklist

1) Justin Vernon of Bon Iver – “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)"
2) Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band – “Wedding Day In Funeralville"
3) My Morning Jacket – “All The Best"
4) Josh Ritter – “Mexican Home"
5) Lambchop – “Six O'Clock News"
6) Justin Townes Earle – “Far From Me"
7) The Avett Brothers – “Spanish Pipedream"
8) Old Crow Medicine Show – “Angel From Montgomery"
9) Sara Watkins – “The Late John Garfield Blues"
10) Drive-By Truckers – “Daddy's Little Pumpkin"
11) Deer Tick featuring Liz Isenberg – “Unwed Fathers"
12) Those Darlins – “Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian"

In the songs of John Prine, there exists a near-perfect intersection of understatement and insight. Prine does not trumpet his truths: they just emerge, crawling out of sparse, carefully arrayed and encapsulated moments, presented with unflinching, unsentimental clarity. Assumptions are neatly overturned with a disarming, almost casual turn of phrase, while long-accepted aspects of human nature are brought to light in unexpected contexts that only reinforce their universal nature. It's devastating stuff, yet strangely uplifting. The contrasts and paradoxes Prine uncovers – combined with his unquestionable abilities as a craftsman – have insured that his music continually influences generation after generation of maverick artists.

Among Prine's earliest supporters were controversial, innovative figures such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash. Today's avant-roots renaissance owes a great debt to Prine's laconic, ever-questioning poetic quality – a debt that is warmly repaid by Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, available June 22nd on Oh Boy Records. Featuring twelve newly-recorded versions of classic Prine songs, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows boasts an enviable roll call of lauded, inventive musicians and songwriters, including My Morning Jacket, The Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lambchop, Josh Ritter, Drive-By Truckers, Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins, Deer Tick featuring Liz Isenberg, Justin Townes Earle, Those Darlins, and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. That Prine's perspective flourishes so vividly in these modern recastings is testament to not only the sheer power of his songs, but to the subtly defiant undercurrent that runs throughout Prine's oeuvre.

Since his first, self-titled album was released in 1971, former Illinois letter carrier Prine has been slowly distancing himself from musical movements and institutions: simultaneously defining and defying the post-Dylan singer-songwriter movement from which he sprang. Bolder and stranger than the rest, yet beguilingly old-fashioned, Prine functions on his own timetable and by his own rules, going so far as to found his own label with longtime manager Al Bunetta, Oh Boy Records, and thus liberating himself from the cat-and-mouse pressures of major label recording. Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows was born in the Oh Boy offices, as a group of staffers at the five-person company were discussing their favorite artists and wondering how some of these newer acts would go about interpreting John Prine's music. From there, inquiries began to be made...

“We took a fair amount of time putting this thing together," said Oh Boy staff member and compilation producer Josh Talley. “We left the album in the hands of the artists. Each artist picked the song they wanted to do, and we made no suggestions or demands as to how they should make it sound. We also didn't give many of them a due-date – we felt like if we put a deadline on it, the artists wouldn't have a chance to really get inside the songs. Consequently, this took over two years to all come together."

Astonishingly, despite the various perspectives, studios, personnel, and voices, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows holds together as a compelling unified statement. More of a heartfelt thank-you note than a tribute (after all, Prine is still creating some of the best music of his career), Prine's irreverent spirit permeates every note here, while the range of textures and styles reflects Prine's own wide-ranging influences, which encompass everything from vintage country and stringband music to stinging, snarling R&B.

Justin Vernon of the underground sensation Bon Iver opens the set with an expansive version of the title track to Prine's 1978 classic “Bruised Orange" that preserves the original's gentle sway, yet embroiders it with rich harmonies, swelling organ, and thick, cavernous reverb. The song's bittersweet core persists, shimmering through the undulating waltz rhythm and glassy electric guitars. From there, Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band's take on “Wedding Day in Funeralville" (from 1975's Common Sense) arrives like a headlong rush: a compact country-rock joy ride clocking in at barely over two minutes yet resoundingly complete. Those first two cuts immediately set up the range of possibilities – from hauntingly sparse to rollickingly thick and ragged.

Steel guitar and glimmering synthesizer make for unlikely bedfellows on My Morning Jacket's winsome, wining stroll through “All the Best," which hails from Prine's 1991 Grammy-winning disc The Missing Years. Similar in its respectful revisionism, Nashville country-soul iconoclasts Lambchop reconstruct 1971's haunting “Six O'Clock News" with a gently propulsive backbeat laced with gurgling synth loops, topped by Kurt Wagner's chillingly distressed vocal. Tennessee punk/pop/country alchemists Those Darlins provide a dose of humor and sly insouciance with their swaggering, throbbing turn on “Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian." Equally rousing is the Avett Brothers' “Spanish Pipedream," resurrected from Prine's seismic 1971 self-titled debut.

Even Prine's most familiar material is reborn with visceral, aching intensity. The gritty, punk-inflected stringband Old Crow Medicine Show approach “Angel from Montgomery" with clearheaded resolution and deliver a stunning performance that captures the song's inherent weariness and wistful destitution with immediacy and soul. “Far From Me," cited by Prine as one of his own personal favorites of the songs he's written, is rendered equally plain and pure by Justin Townes Earle, with just thumping finger-picked guitar, upright bass, mandolin, and wheezing reed organ for accompaniment.

Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows echoes with both appreciation and adventure, implying that – above all – the confidence and freedom to play by your own rules is Prine's most precious lesson. “After all the years gone, you wonder if John Prine feels a distance between the songs and the listeners. If these old songs seem folded over by now," writes Justin Vernon and author Michael Perry in a perceptive sleeve-note. “But then it's back to another element of Prine songs – humility. A delicate humility, not to be confused with weakness. And that is how we offer these songs, Mister Prine: humbly, with gratitude, our tuppence to honor you and your life's works. Your songs are still here, John, beautifully breathing and beating us up."

Fausto Cigliano - L'Oro Di Napoli II

Da casa PoloSud, un’altra concept opera destinata a lasciare il segno. Una delle più belle voci napoletane di sempre, il bravo cantante-chitarrista Fausto Cigliano, interpreta i classici della canzone napoletana. E' una sorta di song-book dedicato alla sua Napoli dove emerge la sua sensibilità espressiva e il suo magico feeling con questo repertorio.

- Fausto Cigliano – L’Oro Di Napoli 2 (14 storiche canzoni napoletane che sono proprio “l’oro” di questa città.) In più è presente nel cd “Catarì” il brano che Fausto interpreta nel film Passione di John Turturro.

Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues

Ad essere onesti la prima cosa che abbiamo pensato alla notizia di un disco del figlio di Steve Earle è stata : Eccone un altro. Grazie al cielo il nostro scetticismo è stato tradito e proprio come gia' accaduto per il figlio di Dylan prima e per la figlia di Greg Brown poi ora possiamo tranquillamente goderci questo nuovo songwriter risplendere di luce propria. Il cognome che questo ragazzo porta non è da poco, ma ad aumentare l'attesa è lo stesso nome Justin Townes, un omaggio al grande idolo di Steve, quel Townes Van Zandt che tanto ne ha influenzato l'arte. Ecco allora che con orcoglio che da casa Bloodshot, alternative country label di Chicago, presentiamo questo figlio d’arte con il suo album più completo e maturo dopo il promettente esordio di “The Good Life” ed il più recente “Midnight At The Movies”. “Harlem River Blues” in effetti è la miglior produzione di questo country folk singer Nashvilliano che si ispira a Woody Guthrie. Album autoprodotto con Skylar Wilson, e il supporto di Brian Owings on drums, Paul Niehaus (Calexico) on pedal steel guitar, and Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show) on harmonica.e Jason Isbell.



That hard working earnestness has paid off, to say the least. Justin won the Best New and Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards. His record, Midnight at the Movies, was named one of the best records of last year by Amazon, received four stars in Rolling Stone and found a sweet spot in the blackened hearts of fans and critics alike. GQ Magazine named him one of the 25 best dressed men in the world in 2010. He also appeared on HBO’s Treme with his dad, troubadour Steve Earle, on whose Grammy Award-winning Townes record Justin also guests.

The aforementioned Woody Guthrie once said, “Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” On Harlem River Blues, Justin chose the simple route. The record’s not a wall of sound produced to the rafters. It’s rockin’ and reelin’ at times, sweet and slow at others—and it’s great. Like good fried chicken, a well-cut suit and a handmade guitar, there’s heaven to be found in the beautifully crafted simpler things.

Compared to the much-lauded Midnight at the Movies, Harlem River Blues is more mature and increasingly nuanced, while still embracing the raw voice and clean sound of previous standout tracks like “Mama’s Eyes.” Harlem River Blues kicks off hot with the title track’s choir of backing singers and electric guitar, slow dances through a decrepit tenement on “One More Night in Brooklyn,” and swings à la Jerry Lee Lewis on “Move Over Mama.” “Working for the MTA” is a modern day railway ballad, embracing the labor movement in classic folk singer style over some heartbreaking pedal steel from Calexico’s Paul Niehaus. With percussive guitar, killer standup bass lines by Bryn Davies and a guest appearance from Jason Isbell, this record hums along like a 6 train jumpin’ the tracks and heading straight for the Tennessee state line.

Harlem River Blues straddles not only the Mason-Dixon, but time itself. As versed in Mance Lipscomb as he is in M. Ward and sporting Marc Jacobs suspenders, Justin Townes Earle is a man beyond eras. With Harlem River Blues, a record that’s perfect for late Indian summer nights on either the front porch or fire escape, Justin’s found yet another way to be a timeless original.

Aarone Neville - I Know I've Been Changed

When the storm of life is raging Lord

Stand by me

When this old world is tossing me like a ship on a raging sea

Will thou, Mary’s baby…Shelter in the time of storm…

Stand by me.

—–Charles A. Tindley




In his opening notes on I Know I’ve Been Changed, the artist known to millions of devoted fans worldwide as Aaron Neville stands before the microphone not as a musical legend, but as an ordinary man appealing to an eternal God. His signature vibrato rises and dips in a musical prayer full of passion, utterly sincere.

It is perhaps the most powerful moment on a uniquely moving album—his first gospel recording since Hurricane Katrina ripped through the city he cherished, destroying his personal home, and forever altering so much of the life he knew.

Despite that tragic backdrop, the project plays not as a mournful reflection, but rather as a hopeful celebration of the three things that have shaped Aaron Neville most of all—his hometown, his music and his faith.

In grand New Orleans style, I Know I’ve Been Changed celebrates Aaron Neville’s 50th year in recorded music. The album brings the artist’s career full circle, returning him to the music he loved first—gospel music—and reuniting him with Allen Toussaint, the legendary songwriter, musician and producer who produced Aaron’s first recording session in 1960.

Toussaint, who grew up in a nearby New Orleans neighborhood and attended the same school as the Neville brothers, has been a frequent collaborator with Aaron over the years. “Aaron gives the song, the arts, the fullness of his heart and soul every time,” Toussaint says. “He has always been that way. It’s good to know that when something is that good, it’s good forever—the velvet voice of Aaron Neville.”

Producer Joe Henry and Neville recorded I Know I’ve Been Changed over a period of five days, using a stripped-down production approach to showcase the strength of the twelve handpicked songs, as well as the beauty of Neville’s unmistakable vocals.

In true old-school fashion, the musicians played along with Neville’s vocals in-studio to capture the feel of a live set. Arranging and recording such a large amount of material over such a short period, required masterful focus and teamwork. “When I go to the gym, I go to work out. When I go to church, I go to pray.When I go to the studio, I go to sing,” Neville explains.

To handle the challenge of that level of performance, the producer assembled some of the top players. “I call them hard hitters at the bat,” Neville says. “With them playing, there weren’t too many mistakes.”

After four days of working on the instrumentation and lead vocals, Neville pulled together a group of singers who had worked with him on tour and in-studio for many years. They followed Aaron’s vibe, creating classic background arrangements to match the era in which most of the songs were originally recorded.

“It was like a labor of love for everybody. They loved all the songs and they put their all into it,” Neville explains. “It was a fun album, working with those guys.”

Over the past five decades, the indelible spirit of New Orleans has been synonymous with the musical dynasty known as the Neville Brothers. For Aaron Neville the solo artist, there is an equally intimate connection between his music and the faith that has sustained him for his entire life. Through challenge and tragedy, he’s managed to thrive, protecting both his heart and his voice. Ask him how and he says simply this: “He who sings once, prays twice.”

“My Momma, Amelia Landry Neville, always taught the golden rule to us—to treat others as we would like to be treated,” he shares. “One of her favorite sayings was this: ‘I’ll only pass this way once.Therefore any goodness or kindness I can show let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.’”

That perspective served him well in the months after Hurricane Katrina. “Right after the storm we’d go places to perform and run into displaced people from New Orleans everywhere,” Neville reflects. “So when we go sing we’re singing for them and letting them know they’re not by themselves. There’s hope.”

The spirit of New Orleans is marked by an undying hope. On this project Aaron Neville captures that spirit—reflecting the hope of his hometown, drawing hope from his faith, spreading hope through his music.

Robbie Robertson

E' ufficiale, l'ex leader di The Band, dopo dodici anni di silenzio, torna con un nuovo lavoro discografico che dovrebbe essere pubblicato in Aprile. Nell'attesa Moonlight Records è lieta di farvi ascoltare il nuovo brano When The Night Was Young. ( Clicca qui ) Il titolo del nuovo progetto dovrebbe essere How To Become Clairvoyant e all'album dovrebbero partecipare in qualita' di ospiti Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph, Rage Against the Machine’s, Tom Morello, Taylor Goldsmith, Nine Inch Nails mentre la line up dovrebbe essere

Robbie Robertson-Vocal, Guitar
Angela McCluskey-Vocal
Angelyna Boyd, Daryl Johnson, Rocco Deluca- Backing Vocals
Martin Pradler-Wurlitzer piano
Pino Palladino-Bass
Ian Thomas-Drums

Che dire...aspettiamo aprile per scoprire tutto.

Joey De Francesco - Never Can Say Goodbye

Jazz has a long history of taking popular songs of the day and making them vehicles for improvisation. Joey DeFrancesco's current exploration of the music associated with Michael Jackson is merely the latest addition to the list. Though this music is linked with the undisputed "King of Pop," this is jazz at its finest — complex and virtuosic yet easily accessible, at times intense, at others fun-filled, and always with the feeling of the unknown that comes with truly spontaneous and inspired improvisation. Without sacrificing a whit of the popular groove of these tunes, Joey and his cohorts give them fresh color and new and different life. Jackson and his music have become part of the American landscape every bit as much as the singers that preceded him and the songs, as DeFrancesco's spirited readings bear witness to, give themselves smartly to an improvisatory approach.

Joey DeFrancesco, organ & trumpet
Paul Bollenback, guitar
Byron landham, drums
Pat Bianchi, keyboards
Carmen Intorre, percussion
Ann Fontinella, violin (on "She's Out of My Life")
Annie Sciola & Samantha Auriello, background vocals

TRACKLIST
Tracks: Thriller; Never Can Say Goodbye; Beat It; Human Nature; Rock With You; She's Out of My Life; The Way You Make Me Feel; Lady in My Life; Billie Jean

Afrocubism, il cd world del 2010

AfroCubism è il World Circuit's dream project. In effetti le intenzioni originali per realizzare Buena Vista Social Club erano quelle di riunire i musicisti del Mali e di Cuba in una sorta di stellare collaborazione. Con “Afrocubism” il piano originale si è realizzato ed un incredibile cast di musicisti dei due paesi è stato messo in grado di esprimere quel mix di contaminazione e musica che fa di questo cd qualcosa di veramente unico. In questa sorta di “Cuba meets Mali” possiamo avere il piacere di ascoltare, riuniti in diverse formazioni e situazioni, i talenti di: Eliades Ochoa, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkara, Toumani Diabaté, Grupo Patria, Kasse Mady Diabaté and Lassana Diabaté. Come scrivono i produttori nelle note di copertina si tratta di “The original idea for the project that became “Buena Vista Social Club”.

***ELIADES OCHOA guitar and vocals (born Songo la Maya, Cuba 1946)
With his trademark cowboy hat and penchant for wearing black, Eliades Ochoa has been dubbed 'Cuba's Johnny Cash'. There's more than a fashion statement in the comparison to America's greatest country singer, too, for Ochoa is a 'guajiro' (from the countryside) and a champion of rural Cuban styles such as son and guararcha.

One of the younger members of the Buena Vista Social Club, at 63, he's now become something of an elder statesman himself and has been a professional musician for almost half a century. For many years he was a regular at Santiago's famous Casa de la Trova and in 1978 he took over the leadership of Cuarteto Patria, a Cuban institution which by then had already been performing for almost 40 years. He recorded two albums with the group for the Mexican Corason label and in 1986 met the veteran singer Compay Segundo, who joined Cuarteto Patria for a time. While with the group Segundo recorded the album 'Chanchaneando' which featured the original version of 'Chan Chan'.

A decade after their first meeting, Ochoa and Segundo famously reunited to perform 'Chan Chan' as the opening track on the Grammy winning 'Buena Vista Social Club'. To that album Eliades also contributed lead vocals and guitar on El Cuarto de Tula, and his own guajira showcase on El Carretero. Since Buena Vista, he has recorded several fine albums under his own name including 'Cubafrica' (1998) with the great Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango; 'Sublime Ilusión' (1999); 'Tributo a Cuarteto Patria' (2000) and 'Estoy Como Nunca' (2002). He continues to lead Grupo Patria and tours regularly around the world.

***TOUMANI DIABATÉ kora (born Bamako, Mali 1965)
One of the most significant musicians in Africa, Toumani Diabaté is the leading exponent of the West African harp known as the kora. Born in Bamako, he inherited his musical gifts from a long family lineage of kora masters. A child prodigy, he recorded his debut album 'Kaira' in London in 1986 at the age of 21. Playing bass, rhythm and solo simultaneously on the instrument's 21 strings, it was the first ever album of solo kora music and the start of a remarkable international career.

As an innovative and experimental collaborator, he recorded the two acclaimed 'Songhai' albums with the Spanish flamenco group Ketama and has worked with Damon Albarn, Björk, and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). His collaboration with Taj Mahal on 1999's 'Kulanjan' explored the connections between West African music and the blues and was cited by Barrack Obama as his favourite album during the presidential election campaign.

In the more traditional vein, he has recorded widely with most of the greatest names in Malian music, both on his own albums and as a guest on releases by singers such as Salif Keita and Kasse Mady Diabaté. In recent years, he has recorded a series of thrillingly diverse releases for World Circuit, including two albums of kora-guitar duets with Ali Farka Touré, including the Grammy winning 'In the Heart of the Moon' (2004); 'Boulevard de l¹Indépendance' (2005) with his groundbreaking Symmetric Orchestra; and the acoustic solo kora collection 'The Mandé Variations' (2008).

***BASSEKOU KOUYATE ngoni (born Garana, Mali 1966)
Descended from a long line of griots, Bassekou Kouyate was born in the Segu region of Mali, where his mother was a famous singer and his father was a celebrated player of the ngoni ba, (banjo-like lute) on the local wedding party circuit. At the age of 16, Bassekou took his father's place and by the end of the 1980s he had joined Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra.

Since then he has revolutionised the playing of the ngoni (an instrument dating back to the fourteenth century), adding extra strings to give him a wider melodic range and inventing new plucking methods to allow faster runs and more versatility. He also became the first ngoni player to use the instrument like a guitar, performing standing, instead of in the traditional seated position. As an accompanist, he went on to record with a wide variety of performers, including Taj Mahal, Ali Farka Touré, and the second Songhai album, before forming the ngoni quartet Ngoni Ba and making his debut as a band leader on 'Segu Blue', which won the 2007 BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music as best album. He followed it in 2009 with a second album, 'I Speak Fula', which was similarly praised, and he's very much in demand on the live circuit, as well as being an important collaborator with Africa Express.

***KASSE MADY DIABATÉ vocals (born Kangaba, Mali 1949)
Now in his early 60s, the veteran griot singer Kasse Mady Diabaté began performing with the Super Mandé orchestra more than 40 years ago. He went on to become lead vocalist with National Badema (previously known as Las Maravillas de Mali). The band originally consisted of Malian musicians who had been sent to Cuba by the Mali government to train in Havana's music conservatoires. After nearly eight years there, they returned home to find Mali under a policy of cultural authenticity under which the Maravillas were encouraged to develop a more indigenous rather than Cuban repertoire, and to take a Malian name, thus becoming National Badema (national family). And to help them create a more local sound, they recruited the traditional griot singer Kasse Mady, although their sound remained infused with a strong Cuban flavour.

He recorded his debut solo album 'Fode' in Paris, in 1989. An electric, dance-based recording produced by Ibrahima Sylla, he followed it a year later with a contrasting album of acoustic griot songs, 'Kela Tradition' (1990). He also sang on the fusion album 'Songhai 2' (1995) with Ketama and Toumani Diabaté. After almost a decade in Paris, he returned to Mali in 1998 and joined Taj Mahal, Toumani Diabaté and Bassekou Kouyate on the recording of 'Kulanjan' and became lead vocalist with Toumani's Symmetric Orchestra on the 2006 album, 'Boulevard de l'Indépendance'. AfroCubism is not the first time he has worked with Cuban musicians, for the late Buena Vista Social Club star Cachaíto López guested on his 2003 solo album 'Kassi Kasse'. His most recent solo album 'Manden Djeli Kan' appeared in 2009.

***DJELIMADY TOUNKARA guitars (born Kita, Mali in 1947)
Arguably the finest guitarist in Africa, Djelimady Tounkara was born in Kita and grew up playing drums and the xalam (lute). His parents wanted him to become an Islamic cleric but the plan was abandoned as soon as he saw and heard his first guitar. After early success playing in the Kita regional; band, by the mid-1960s he had moved to Bamako, where he joined Misra Jazz before he was promoted to join the state-sponsored Orchestre National as rhythm guitarist.

After the orchestra was disbanded, he joined the now legendary Rail Band in the early 1970s in what became known as their second period, playing at the Buffet Hotel de la Gare, next to Bamako's train station in a line up that included the singers Salif Keita and Mory Kante. He remained the Rail Band's arranger and lead guitarist throughout its glory years and in its later revival as the Super Rail Band, and continues to perform with them in Bamako to this day. In addition to appearing on all the Rail Band's recordings, he has also released the solo acoustic albums, 'Sigui' (2001) and 'Solon Kono' (2006) and 'Big String Theory' (2002) with his trio Bajourou.

***FODE LASSANA DIABATÉ balafon (born Conakry, Guinea, 1971)
Lassana Diabaté is recognised as the outstanding balafon (ancestor of marimba) player of his generation. Born in Guinea into a family of virtuoso balafon players, he grew up studying the instrument in the country's traditional style before moving to Mali where he took advantage of the greater freedom with which the balafon is played there. He became a protégé of the great Kélétigui Diabaté from whom he learned the technique of playing two balafons simultaneously, the additional instrument possessing the equivalent of the black keys on the piano.

He has appeared on albums by Salif Keita, Bassekou Kouyate, and Kasse Mady Diabaté among others, and has been a long-standing member of Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra. He also played on 'Kulanjan', Toumani's celebrated collaboration with the American bluesman Taj Mahal.

***BABA SISSOKO talking drum (born Bamako, Mali, 1963)
Not only a master of the tamani (talking drum), Baba is equally adept at playing the ngoni, kamelngoni, bala and calabash. In the mid 1980s he was part of the prestigious Instrumental Ensemble of Mali orchestra, playing the tamani and ngoni. In 1991 he founded Baba Sissoko & Taman Kan, incorporating traditional Malian influences with blues, jazz and rock; they have toured extensively and released a number of albums. At the same time Baba forged a rather successful career collaborating with a whole host of musicians from both Mali and abroad, most notably his acclaimed 12 year relationship with Habib Koité.

Over the years Baba has released several solo albums and has worked with artists as diverse as Art Ensemble of Chicago, Angá Díaz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rokia Traoré, and AKA Moon. He also has taught traditional drum in Brussels, Belgium, and led conferences for the University of Calibre's Art, Music, and Spectacle Centre in Italy.

***JOSE ANGEL MARTINEZ double bass (born Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 1977)
Studied double bass at the Conservatorio Estaban Salas, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, winning prizes at various city-wide and national Amadeo Roldán competitions. His first full time professional job was with Eliades Ochoa's Grupo Patria, joining several months after graduating in 2000.

Over the past decade has recorded and toured worldwide with Eliades, but has also recorded some tracks for the Grammy nominated album "Tributo al Cuarteto Patria" as well as playing on the album "Aires" by the famous Spanish singer José Mercé.

***JORGE MATURELL congas, bongos, cowbell (born Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 1963)
Studied music at the Escuela de Nivel Medio Superior de Superación Profesional. In 1984 founded the Septeto Turquino, recording many albums including "Son para los Rumberos", which won the EGREM Prize in 1996, the prize of Bienes de Fondos Culturales, and special mention in the Opera Prima category in the Cubadisco Festival in 1997. In the late nineties he recorded "Amor a Santiago" with singer-songwriter Alberto Tosca, and "La Banda" with Francés Cirius Martínez.

In 2000 he joined Grupo Patria with whom he played on "Estoy Como Nunca" and "Tributo al Cuarteto Patria". He also played on "Aires" by José Mercé, and recorded with "Eliades Ochoa y la Banda el Jigüe". As well as being a percussionist he doubles as manager/administrator for Grupo Patria.

***ONSEL ODIT chorus vocals, rhythm acoustic guitar (born Granma, Cuba, 1965)
Was a long term member of Septeto Turquino with Jorge Maturell from 1984-2000. During this time he also performed and recorded with a variety of Cuban artists, and also won first prize in the OTI performance competition in 1998 and represented Cuba in the International event in San José in Costa Rica.

Over the past decade he has been a member of Grupo los Olivos, Grupo AKAN, and since 2005 has been a member of Grupo Patria. Onsel's own compositions have been performed by Sexteto Moneda Nacional, Morena Son, Adalberto Álvarez, Roberto Torres, Tamara, Eduardo Sosa, Oscar de León, amongst others. His music has also appeared in the film 9911 and in the hit US TV series Alias.

***EGLIS OCHOA maracas, guiro, chorus vocals (born Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 1972)
Began his musical studies at Esteban Salas Conservatory as a violinist, although as a student would play periodically with Quinteto Oriente and Grupo Patria. At the end of his studies in 1994 he joined his father Eliades Ochoa as a full time member of Grupo Patria as vocalist and percussionist, where he has remained until this day.

As one of the longest serving members of the group, performed on the trio of Grammy nominated Eliades Ochoa albums at the start of the last decade, and toured extensively worldwide with the Buena Vista Social Club Star, enjoying the Cuban music boom that the project kick-started

Gaia Cuatro feat. Paolo Fresu

Gaia Cuatro is a reality that has already conquered half the world. Their music,full of charm, has a intensity and pleasantness that gets straight to the heart as it rarely happens. Listen to a concert or an album is a compelling experience. The union of two diametrically opposed cultures, that Argentinian and Japanese, creates to a sensational mix where the passion, warmth and rhythm of Latin music / American blend masterfully with the refined elegance of Asian musical tradition. The result is breathtaking. Haruka is further enhanced by the extraordinary participation of Paolo Fresu, who adds an additional note of class and expressiveness. Their previous work with Abeat (Udin, catalog Abeat 054) has had a great resonance between lovers audiophiles. Even that record will not betray the expectations of most demanding palates.

Gaia Cuatro are :

Carlos Buschini : bass, doublebass
Gerardo Di Giusto : piano
Paolo Fresu : trumpet on tracks 3,8
Aska Kaneko : violin,vocals
Tomohiro Yahiro : drums, percussions

Charlie Musselwhite - The Well

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite è l'emblema di ciò che noi chiamiamo bluesman: nato in Mississippi, cresciuto a Memphis ha fatto la propria gavetta e creato il proprio sound nella Souithside di Chicago. Dal 1967 la sua voce e la sua armonica sono sinonimo di blues. Ha registrato 30 albums in carriera, di cui tre dei più significativi su Alligator tra cui questo affascinante “The Well”, primo album di cui Charlie è autore o co-autore di tutti i brani interpretati che ha il sapore ed il profumo di un “ritorno a casa”. Posisamo quindi considerare The Well una bella produzione Losangelena fortemente autobiografica dove Musselwhite è accompagnato da musicisti importanti quali Dave Gonzalez (Paladins, Hacienda Brothers), chitarra, John Bazz (Blasters), contrabbasso, Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples) batteria. La produzione è di Chris Goldsmith (Ruthie Foster e Blind Boys of Alabama). Imperdibile e nominato ai Grammy

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite’s life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country blues guitar work flawlessly accompany his often autobiographical and always memorable original songs. Living Blues says, “Musselwhite’s rock-solid vocals creep up and overwhelm you before you know it. He plays magnificent harp with superb dexterity and phrasing. The results are amazing.”


Over the last 43 years Musselwhite has released over 30 albums. Three of those — 1990s Ace Of Harps, 1991’s Signature and 1993’s In My Time — were recorded for Alligator Records and remain among his best-selling titles. Now, Charlie Musselwhite returns to Alligator with The Well. With musical flavors from Mississippi to Memphis to Chicago, The Well is steeped in the music of Charlie’s youth — country and city blues as well as rockabilly and gospel — the music that inspired his signature sound. The fresh, new songs speak from his decades of experience, hard living, and his triumph over adversity.

The Well is the first full-band recording in Musselwhite’s long career for which he wrote or co-wrote every track on the album, and it is the most personal and the emotionally deepest cycle of songs he has ever created. The Well was recorded at Los Angeles’ legendary Sunset Sound with guitarist Dave Gonzales (Paladins, Hacienda Brothers), bassist John Bazz (The Blasters) and drummer Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples), and was produced by Chris Goldsmith (Ruthie Foster, Grammy-winning Blind Boys of Alabama). The revealing, autobiographical songs recall specific events and places in Musselwhite’s amazingly colorful life. His conversational vocals and masterful harmonica work are perfectly matched with the stories he tells and the near-telepathic musicianship behind him. Simply put, The Well is Charlie Musselwhite at his very best.

Central to the album are stories looking back at hard times and personal healing. “Dig The Pain” recalls his drinking days, while “The Well” tells of his recovery. In “Cook County Blues,” he wryly remembers his short stint behind bars. The most poignant song on the album, “Sad And Beautiful World” — a duet with Charlie’s close friend, legendary vocalist Mavis Staples — is his response to the tragic murder of his 93-year-old mother in her own home (and the house Charlie grew up in) during a burglary. Each track on The Well is a chapter from Charlie’s life, and in the liner notes to the CD he offers some very personal insights into the meaning behind the songs.

Musselwhite’s personal history is the kind of story a novelist would sell his soul for, but his indomitable spirit is crafted by him alone. Tough times have been a huge part of his life, and have shaped him into a true working-class hero. His fans include young hipsters, Vietnam veterans, convicts, bikers, jazz aficionados, aging hippies and hard-core blues fans. He is a larger-than-life musical legend, writing and singing what he calls, “music from the heart.” According to Musselwhite, “It’s about the feeling, and about connecting with people. And blues, if it’s real blues, is loaded with feeling. And it ain’t about technique, either. It’s about truth, connecting to the truth and communicating with the people.”

Born into a blue collar family in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 31, 1944 and raised by a single mother, Musselwhite grew up surrounded by blues, hillbilly and gospel music on the radio and outside his front door. His family moved to Memphis, where, as a teenager, he worked as a ditch digger, concrete layer and moonshine runner. Fascinated by the blues, Musselwhite began playing guitar and harmonica. It wasn’t easy growing up a poor, white boy in Memphis, even among the rich musical influences the city offered. He felt like an outcast and a stranger (themes that have informed, inspired and haunted his music to this day). As a teen, Musselwhite attended parties hosted by Elvis Presley and hobnobbed with many of the local musicians, including Johnny Cash and Johnny Burnette, but the celebrities young Charlie sought out were Memphis’ veteran bluesmen like Furry Lewis, Will Shade and Gus Cannon.

Following the path of so many, Musselwhite moved to Chicago looking for better paying work. While driving an exterminator truck as a day job, Charlie lived on the South Side and hung out in blues clubs at night, developing close friendships with blues icons Little Walter, Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Williams, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Before long, he was sitting in at clubs with Muddy and others, building an impressive word-of-mouth reputation. Soon after, Charlie was being paid to play in the same South Side neighborhood. Noted blues journalist Dick Shurman says, “The black Chicago blues artists all liked Charlie as a person. They felt that he was one of them — a southern country boy with a deep affinity for the blues.”

His first recording, under the name Memphis Charlie, was with Big Walter Horton on the famous Vanguard Records series, Chicago/The Blues/Today!. Signing with Vanguard, Musselwhite (along with Paul Butterfield who was as urban as Charlie was rural) brought the amplified harmonica blues to a new audience of young, white rock and rollers, who discovered that Charlie personified the cool and hip counter-culture icons they admired.

After the release of his first full-length LP — Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite’s South Side Band — he was embraced by the growing youth counter-culture and the newly emerging progressive rock FM radio stations, especially on the West Coast. His iconic status established, he relocated to San Francisco, often playing the famed Fillmore Auditorium. Over the years, he has released albums on a variety of labels, ranging from straight blues to music mixing elements of jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, Cuban and other world music, winning new fans at every turn. He has been touring nationally and internationally for four decades and is among the best-known and best-loved blues musicians in the world.

Musselwhite has guested on numerous recordings, as a featured player with Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, INXS and most recently Cyndi Lauper. He has shared stages with countless blues and rock musicians. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010, has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has won 24 Blues Music Awards. The San Francisco Chronicle says, “Charlie Musselwhite’s harmonica playing shows taste, bite, restraint and power. He’s one of the best, and as a bluesman, he’s as real as they come.”

Charlie Musselwhite today is as vital and creative as at any point in his long career. DownBeat calls him, “the undisputed champion of the blues harmonica.” In addition to his always-busy schedule, he hosts a weekly radio show, “Charlie’s Backroom,” on KRSH-FM in Santa Rosa, California (streamed at KRSH.com Sundays at 10:00am PST). He considers himself a lifelong learner and is constantly perfecting his craft. With The Well, Charlie Musselwhite returns with the strongest, most intimate album of his career — a powerful, personal collection of songs. Musselwhite’s blues, imparting his hard-won knowledge and working class wisdom, are a window into the deep well of his Mississippi soul.

Ecm Novita dicembre 2010

 
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