Category: English pieces (Page 7 of 11)

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Classy cat.

San Franciscan bassist/guitarist/singer John Lester lived in Paris and London, but settled in Amsterdam after that. There he recorded his eleven new songs for this third CD, but also during sessions in London and Berkeley, California.

Musically Lester exactly stays his course. He merges influences from jazz and singer-songwriter into  infectious, cleverly rounded melodies. Their moody and spacious foundation on acoustic bass and semi-acoustic guitar Continue reading

Balanced emotion.

Krista Detor made an enormous impression with her CDs Mudshow and Cover Their Eyes. Her intimate piano songs proved a huge trump card for Dutch Corazong label. However, in fifteen new songs she confirms and enlarges her reputation as a singer-songwriter in an impressive way.

She grouped her songs ambitiously in groups of three, inspired amongst others by Frederico Garcia Lorca, Dylan Thomas and Charles Darwin. She recorded that last suite in Engeland, when she was invited for the Darwin Song House workshop.

This time too, the songs are musically restrained and melancholical of strucure and contents. Continue reading

Gritty and elegant.

On Cleary’s fourth interim drummer Raymond Weber plays, and not Jeffrey ‘Jellybean’ Alexander, who previously laid down the grooves. Still that is not the biggest difference with the self-titled predecessor, because with Weber, refined in New Orleans, the Gentlemen also drive Cleary forward effortlessly, often with the aid of a percussionist.

In twelve songs the keyboardist/singer unexpectedly mixes the diverse angles of Moonburn, his second album, with his uncompromisingly swinging third, recorded almost live, to a surprising unity.

Cleary and regular producer John Porter do not shun studio effects in that process from time to time. That makes one think of influence Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson (Agent OO Funk) and even of hiphop beats in Doin Bad Feelin Good, recorded more solo. Continue reading

Chroniquer writes history.

Dr. John has never left New Orleans in the spirit. He bears witness to that with regular accompanists Herman Ernest III (drums), David Barard (bass) and new guitarist Renard Poché. In 14 songs, of which 4 were written with the late legend Doc Pomus, Dr. John once again explores the wayward but flowing rhythms of the town that shaped him.

Supported by different percussionists Ernest III, Barard and Poché roll out the cross-grained grooves tightly but interwoven, while the doctor plays the keys. Trombone player Fred Wesley’s horn section (ex-James Brown) plays fierce riffs on top of them and guests like David ‘Fathead’ Newman and Sonny Landreth take care of inspired solos. Continue reading

Feeling for the groove.

Veteran Clemens van de Ven made his previous CD Ticket To Paradise under his own name, but it was just as much hís music as that of his musicians. Now they are named after the way they sound: a compact band. Ten songs long Van de Ven and his companions again play flowing and at the same time soulful grooves: Harry Hardholt on guitar, Arend Bouwmeester on saxes, bass and percussion and newcomer Sin Banovic on drums.

In that tight line-up they evocate New Orleans in the Rhine delta. Van de Ven’s piano and growling singing are at the centre, but the propelling swing of his three musicians proves that they know how to reduce da fonk to its essence effortlessly. Doing so, they couple refinement to tradition and combine jazz, funk, rhythm ‘n’ blues and dixieland to a rootsy stew. Continue reading

Singer-songwriter Kim Richey is an American veteran that already recorded five solo CD’s. Apart from that, she wrote songs for Trisha Yearwood, James Morrison, Ryan Adams, Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

In the eleven songs on her sixth atmosphere is more important than volume in her restrained compositions, perfectly played by her live band. Her lyrics often start with an anecdote, but Richey has the ability to give them a universal validity without much emphasis.

***1/2

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