Records To Die For

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía: Passion, Grace & Fire
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, acoustic guitars
Columbia 38645 (LP). 1983. Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, prods.; Dennis MacKay, others, engs. AAA. TT: 31:49

Fusion guitar connotes amps cranked to 11, but John McLaughlin was deep into an all-acoustic phase when he partnered with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía for this studio session. It's more than just some of the most pyrotechnic playing you'll hear—there's a wondrous precision and nuance in every light-speed run, contrapuntal flourish, and rippling arpeggio. The compositions (two by each player) all have an enigmatic, chamber-like beauty; McLaughlin's "Aspan" and de Lucía's "Chiquito" are particularly fetching and full of surprise, with echoes of jazz, flamenco, tango, and more. It's a genuine collaboration, not a shredding contest.

Esperanza Spalding: Emily's D+Evolution
Esperanza Spalding, bass, synth bass, piano, vocals; Matthew Stevens, guitar; Justin Tyson, drums; Karriem Riggins, drums, percussion; Corey King, synth, trombone, backing vocals; Emily Elbert, Nadia Washington, others, backing vocals
Concord 7238265 (CD). 2016. Esperanza Spalding, Tony Visconti, prods.; Kyle Hoffman, Tim Price, engs. DDD. TT: 45:44

She could be making perfectly respectable, straight jazz albums, but Esperanza Spalding always shoots for bigger, with steadily more impressive results. This ambitious epic for power trio has a theatrical conceit that adds to its allure. What makes it a masterpiece, however, is its uncanny balance of earworm melodies and thorny musical twists, a feast for both the casual listener and the devotee. The brash, dissonant rock of "One" and "Good Lava," the restrained, grooving lilt of "Rest in Pleasure" and "Judas," the nod to Willy Wonka with a warped "I Want It Now": expression this deep and well conceived is a rare thing. (Vol.39 No.6)

Finzi: Introit: Orchestral Works & Arrangements
Amy Dickson, soprano & alto saxophones; Nico Fleury, horn; Thomas Gould, violin; Tom Poster, piano; Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Collon
Decca 0289 478 9357 8 (CD, 24/96 AIFF files). 2016. Alexander van Ingen, prod.; Andrew Mellor, eng., mix, mastering; Robin Hawkins, Claire Hay, asst. engs. DDD. TT: 76:33

"A musical portrait of Finzi without the words he loved so much is no portrait at all," was how one Gramophone critic dismissed this album, echoed by another: "If you're one of those unenlightened souls who dismiss Finzi as a purveyor of generic 'smooth classics,' these arrangements will do nothing to change your mind." Yet since I bought the hi-rez download of Introit, this collection of short instrumental pieces and specially commissioned instrumental arrangements of songs, produced in collaboration with the Finzi Trust "to aid wider appreciation of one of England's best-loved composers," has been in constant rotation. I've been a fan of this very English composer since I first heard the 1964 recording of his cantata Dies Natalis, featuring tenor Wilfred Brown and the ECO conducted by Christopher Finzi, the composer's son. And yes, while Gerald Finzi did have a supreme gift for setting words to music, the soloists in the arrangements of vocal works on this album, saxophonist Amy Dickson in particular, shine a light on his genius from a different, no less worthy direction. Her performance of "Come away, come away death" sends chills down my spine. Musically, this collection succeeds on its own terms. Recorded in the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, England, a few blocks from my office when I edited Hi-Fi News & Record Review in the 1980s, the sound is lush, luminous, and richly detailed.

Brahms: Complete Piano Trios
Piano Trios No.1, Op.8 (rev. 1889 version); No.2, Op.87; No.3, Op.101
Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tanja Tetzlaff, cello; Lars Vogt, piano
Ondine ODE 1271-2D (2 CDs, DSD128 files). 2015. Christoph Franke, prod.; René LaFlamme, eng. DDD. TT: 83:05

In 1990 I produced Intermezzo, one of Stereophile's first recordings: Robert Silverman playing Brahms's Piano Sonata 1 in f, Op.5, and Three Intermezzi, Op.117. As you can see from the opus numbers, the sonata is an early work, the Intermezzi from close to the end of the composer's life, and I was struck by the contrast between them. The sonata is bombastic, filled with notes; the Intermezzi are sparsely written and, as a result, deeper in meaning and, paradoxically, more emotionally powerful. All three of the piano trios on this set are late works—although the original version of the Trio Op.8 was written when Brahms was a young man, the revised version dates from 1889, eight years before his death. And, as in the Intermezzi, the scoring is no more complex than it need be. The performances are intimate rather than overblown, and the recording—I listened to the DSD128 download—sets the three musicians in a richly supportive acoustic, with satisfyingly neutral tonalities and a weighty but not overbearing left-hand piano register. Delicious, Romantic music-making.

Hank Williams Jr.: Almeria Club Recordings
Curb 78725 (CD). 2002. Hank Williams Jr., Chuck Howard, prods.; Jeff Watkins, eng. DDD? TT: 52:45

My Alabama family has a history of sorts with the Hanks Williams, on both sides. My father grew up on a dirt farm in Banks, Alabama, down an iron-ore–strewn clay road from the Sheppard place, where Audrey Sheppard lived before she married Hank Sr. When he wasn't plowing or pulling peanuts, my father babysat proto-Bocephus (Hank Jr.) once or twice.

On my mother's side, the old homestead—it's still in the family—is a short walk down the street from the Almeria Club, the converted schoolhouse where, at one early performance, Hank and Audrey climbed out a window to escape a brawl. It's where my grandfather's 80th birthday party was held, and many family reunions. It's also where, in early 2001, Hank Jr. made Almeria Club Recordings.

This is not your typical Hank Jr. It's a country/bluegrass jam featuring the great (the entire Nickel Creek lineup of Chris Thile and Sean and Sara Watkins) and the famous (Kid Rock, who, like Bocephus, has a deer-hunting ranch up the road). The playing is superb, including Hank's own, on banjo and dobro: the old boy can play. The whole thing is amazing good fun, and seriously good in the way country blues/bluegrass jams can be. Then the terrorists attacked.

As the album neared release, 9/11 happened, and Hank decided to go into the studio and record "America Will Survive," a remake of his 1981 hit, "Country Boys Can Survive." It's a cringe-worthy song in terrible sound that doesn't belong on this otherwise superb album. It's easy to find used, and was reissued in October 2011.

Jerry Jeff Walker: ¡Viva Terlingua!
MCA MCA-919 (LP). 1973. Michael Brovsky, prod.; Martin Lennard, eng. AAA. TT: 37:43

I'm not in London and haven't spent much time in Texas, but New York City is similar enough, and south Alabama and rural Florida have armadillos, too. This is the album that contains the definitive live version of Ray Wiley Hubbard's "Up Against the Wall, Red Neck." There's nothing fancy here—no mandolin virtuosos or fiddlers who can also play Bach—just drunken revelry and homesick lonesome fun. Listen on LP if you can—or, better still, on the AM radio in an old pickup truck. The latter might be hard to arrange, but used copies of the LP still pop up in record stores.

The Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons
Decca SKL 4852 (LP). 1967. Andrew Loog Oldham, prod.; no eng. listed. AAA. TT: 38:42

The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet
Decca SLK 4955 (LP). 1968. Jimmy Miller, prod.; Eddie Kramer, Glyn Johns, engs. AAA. TT: 39:47

Let's call it preventive record buying. As the toll from the musician death-plague year of 2016 mounts, several similarly obsessed friends and I have begun buying new and vintage LPs by music icons over 65—just in case. Sir Paul and Ringo, Stevie Wonder, Jagger and Richards—all fit squarely in that category. Listening to Stones records sent me back into the band's late-1960s catalog, to a time when Between the Buttons and Beggars Banquet bristled with fascinating clues about what the band was about to become: rock superstars who'd make a trio of classic records between 1969 and 1972—Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. This pair of LPs also features some of the last audible contributions of the then increasingly troubled Brian Jones. Both records have been remastered several times for various reissues, but I still prefer the sound of the original British LP pressings. The 2002 SACDs, digitally remastered by Steve Rosenthal and mastered by Bob Ludwig, are also very good.

Frequently slagged for being too faux psychedelic (fuzz guitars, odd percussive effects, lots of arty open space) and trying too hard to emulate the Beatles—which perhaps was true—Between the Buttons is still a sort of secret pleasure for serious Stones fans. Almost folky in spots, it's the last record where you can hear the '60s band struggling to find their groove and the sound that would make them '70s rock royalty. The original UK version of the album contained no obvious hits (the US edition includes "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday"), but greasy, sloppy, rocked-up numbers like "All Sold Out" presage "Midnight Rambler," not to mention such Exile fare as "Tumbling Dice." While "Connection" is the rocker, the album's star track is "My Obsession," with its great fuzzed-out bass riff. In "Who's Been Sleeping Here?," Jagger finds the voice and loud/soft delivery that would later make "Sister Morphine" so effective. And the band's ode to a groupie, "Miss Amanda Jones," with its Kinks-like chorus of "Round and round she goes," is the first of the many Stonesy portraits of females in song that were to come.

Beggars Banquet opens with the African drums and Jagger's primate yowls of "Sympathy for the Devil," and it's immediately clear that a new confidence and more aggressive attitude are suddenly ascendant. "Dear Doctor" is one of the band's best country honks, a subgenre that would continue until "Faraway Eyes." "Jig-Saw Puzzle," with its jaunty piano and keening guitars, is a forerunner of the otherworldly sound that makes Exile such a classic. "Salt of the Earth" is the rare Stones number in which both principals sing. While the cover of Rev. Robert Wilkins's "Prodigal Son," a traditional blues, is heartfelt, the Jagger-Richards original "Stray Cat Blues" is a first-class blues-rock tune that's been covered by numerous other artists. Then there's "Street Fighting Man," the first of many Stones anthems that would elicit fist pumping, hip shakin', and adoration for a band that, despite a lot of shaky records in their catalog, have made their share of masterpieces and continue to write and record music even as the Glimmer Twins enter their mid-70s. Wasn't it Jagger who said he'd prefer death to singing "Satisfaction" at age 45?

The Seeds: The Seeds
GNP Crescendo GNPD 2023 (CD). 1966/2005. Sky Saxon, Marcus Tybalt, prods.; Chuck Britz, Lanky Linstrot, Mike Durrough, engs. ADD? TT: 34:44

Poised somewhere between garage and acid rock, this Los Angeles–based quartet, augmented by a studio bassist, packs a raw, raunchy punch in its debut album. Fuzz-tone guitar vamps, oddly tinkling keyboards, pummeling drums, and a chorus of wailing band members frame songwriter Sky Saxon's gritty, yelping lead vocals as he aggressively bemoans his love/hate relationships with women. Included is the group's only national hit, "Pushin' Too Hard," but similarly bitter, angry songs—"No Escape," "Excuse, Excuse," and the fierce "Evil Hoodoo"—are no less potent. Unfortunately, The Seeds comes packaged with the band's second album, the mellower Web of Sound.

Count Basie: The Complete Decca Recordings
Decca Jazz 611 (3 mono CDs). 1937–39/2015. Bob Stephens, Orrin Keepnews, prods. A–D. TT: 3:05:28

Perhaps the ultimate early Basie collection, this one extends from January 1937, shortly after the bandleader's arrival in New York from Kansas City, to February 1939, whereupon he switched labels, from Decca to Columbia. Tracing his musical evolution from riff-driven head arrangements to sleekly polished charts, it features such big-band classics as "Honeysuckle Rose," "One O'Clock Jump," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," and "Cherokee," along with several bluesy small-combo sides. The star soloists include saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, trombonists Eddie Durham and Dickie Wells, and singers Jimmy Rushing and Helen Humes. The rhythm section—Freddie Green on guitar, Walter Page on bass, Jo Jones on drums, and Basie himself on piano—virtually defined swing.

Francesco Cafiso: 3
Francesco Cafiso, alto saxophone, flute; 33 members of the London Symphony Orchestra; 21 others
Artist First ALF 007-8-9 (3 CDs). 2014. Alfredo Lo Faro, prod.; Ricardo Piparo, Gary Thomas, Tony Maimone, engs. DDD? TT: 2:04:28

At 15, Francesco Cafiso was an astonishing child prodigy of the alto saxophone who made otherwise rational people think about Charlie Parker and reincarnation. But critics worried whether he could grow beyond bebop. It happened in 2014, when Cafiso was 25, with this epic three-CD set. He had never been a notable composer, but 3 contains 29 vivid new songs, many inspired by the traditional music of his native Sicily. It also contains new levels of virtuosity, passion, aggression, and freedom in his saxophone playing. This album allows Cafiso to assume his rightful place as the best alto saxophonist in jazz.

Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra: Coming About
Maria Schneider, composer, arr., conductor; 18-piece orchestra
Enja ENJ-9069 2/ArtistShare AS0087 (CD). 1996/2008. Maria Schneider, prod.; Jim Anderson, eng. DDD. TT: 67:48

In the new millennium, Maria Schneider's albums have won numerous "Record of the Year" and Grammy awards, and have established her as the foremost composer and jazz-orchestra leader of our time. Her second recording, Coming About, made before she was famous, has a fresh magic all its own. By 1996, her touch with pastel colors was already flawless. Her pieces already unfolded with extraordinary patience, as unhurried as looming clouds. In a three-part suite like Scenes from Childhood, she was already able to employ orchestral sweep and complexity to render intimate autobiography. And she already had world-class soloists, the greatest of whom is Rich Perry.