Elektra Kurtis Ensemble Elektra, AFROdite's Smile

I was very happy when Elektra Kurtis send me some of her CDs to investigate. I am equally happy to post this review of yet another, the third I've covered (one is covered here; another is on the Gapplegate Music Review Blog). Here is yet another Ensemble Elektra offering, from 2004, entitled AFROdite's Smile (Milo 107).

As the liner notes for this one spell out, Ensemble Elektra devotes itself to the interrelations of musics from Greece, Egypt and the Middle-East, along with jazz, rock and blues influences. This one succeeds as do the others. There may be a touch more of Elektra's special violin playing to be had on this one, and that is just great because she has a beautiful sound and her own way. But the ensemble remains critical. This version includes Spiros Exaras on electric guitar, Lefteris Bournias on clarniet and ney, Brad Jones on electric and acoustic basses and Reggie Nicholson on drums. Everyone not surprisingly is very capable and each has a good deal to do with the ensemble's special sound.

As is the case on all the albums Elektra's compositions have a special flare and make important use of the capabilities and artistic personalities of the individual members in the creation of the sounds and modalities of the music.

Fusion, yes, but a most particular fusion unique to Elektra and the band. This is another very good outing that has muscle and finesse, great compositional frameworks, Elektra in an outgoing mood on violin, and a band that has power and depth.

This might not be the first album to get of hers, but it is excellent nonetheless.

Hear this one!

Jaro Milko & the Cubalkanics, Cigarros Explosivos

Is there such a thing as punkish Latin? Not that I am expressly aware of. But if there could be such a thing, Jaro Milko & the Cubalkanics come close to it on their humorously titled album Cigarros Explosivos. It's a band from Switzerland playing an enigmatic but infectious blend of Cuban son, rock and a bit of Gypsy swagger.

Jaro's guitar is out front and electric in ways that suggest Santana without actually channeling the Carlos way. Jaro goes where he hears it but there is hardness and strength that the Latin rhythms underpin and make for the urge to move your feet. Plus oddly enough there is a psychedelic surf element there, too. But if it works, and it does, who is to judge what belongs together? The artists do ideally. And they do here, certainly.

Instead of bass guitar the trombonist lays down bass lines with an octave divider, as I understand it. It makes things slightly different underneath but the percussion and keys make it all seem inevitable.

The tunes are varied and cool. If you are looking for "true Latin" this is a bit beyond that. They go their own way. If you let loose your expectations, that ceases to become an issue. So relax and let the music do its quirky thing.

Recommended!

Mamani Keïta, Kanou

The contemporary world of African music is exploding. Strong traditions unite with electricity lately on a series of albums that are nothing short of extraordinary. We've dealt with several here in the past year and there is another I must tell you about. Mamani Keïta, a fully nuanced singer in the best of African vocal arts traditions, hailing from Mali, has put together a group that combines West African traditional instruments, such as the stringed ngoni (played beautifully by Moriba Koita) and percussion, with the electricity of bass guitar and the spectacularly right-on electric guitar of Djeli Moussa Kouyaté.

All this on her latest album Kanou (World Village).

The combination of the natural bluesiness of the tradition, the call-and-response vocals and the strong groove conjoins with a rock-blues presence that is near irresistible.

Ms. Keïta sings with complete command and authority. The band takes control of the groove in ways that reminds us that musical Africa has always been and remains central to the world's music. In the updated electric versions all the power of tradition remains but the added jolt of modern wattage gives us a new map of what is possible. Highlife was one way that Africa connected with the world, Afrobeat was another. Whatever you may call this new synthesis, when it's done as excellently as it is here, it is calling to us, reminding us of our universal homeland and what has beautifully become of it in music.

Excellent album! Very recommended.

Tom Griesgraber, Bert Lams, Unnamed Lands

Unnamed Lands (ThosSounds) is a beautifully created dual acoustic (and electric) guitar album by Tom Griesgraber and Bert Lams. It begins with Walt Whitman's thought: "Of all those men and women that fill'd the unnamed lands, every one exists this hour here or elsewhere, invisible to us."

This is about our pre-history, our migrations in musical terms in a way, the life that existed for humanity before we gave much thought about it all, about posterity, enough to write down what was happening and how. And of course perhaps about things happening to those who could not write yet, or very well, to our often anonymous forebears.

It is a singularly beautiful album. The intricate guitar work, sometimes seemingly enhanced by a bit of overdubbing, has a sound that is a cross between contemporary folk and the contrapuntal sound that Robert Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists favored. There are synth parts now and again that fit right in without taking away from the essentially homespun sound of the music, though there are moments that take on an ambient soundscape-ish quality.

So in other words there are at times some formally worked out compositional elements and at other times or alternatingly a folkish informality, an improvisational front-porch recital. But then again all of it seems pretty thoroughly worked out regardless of how it comes across. That of course is not a bad thing, especially when it works well as a totality, as it does here.

The fact that it all works and does so well has to do with these two player-inventors and their vision. They get a program together here that has real merit. It is all cosmically mellow, but never vapid or un-contentful.

So for these reasons I do recommend you hear it!

The Young Mothers, A Mothers Work is Never Done

Unless you already know, you never know. And none of us know it all. So it feels like that with acoustic and electric bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and his band, the Young Mothers. It's not exactly what you'd expect. I've been listening to the latest, A Mothers Work is Never Done (Tektite), and it frankly surprised me. It starts off in a hip-hop bag and then gets plenty outside.

The band is interesting. Of course Flaten is on the bass. Chicago's Frank Rosaly is in the drum chair and rises to the occasion with grooves and freedom as called for. Then Jason Jackson plays a key role on reeds, as does Jawaad Taylor on trumpet, electronics and vocals. Jonathan F. Home plays electric guitar. Stefan Gonzalez takes up the vibes and appears on drums, too, in his special way. He's Dennis Gonzalez's son and a member of Yells at Eels as well as appearing in his role here.

It's a group effort all the way. There are nice arrangements, hip compositions, good soloing and a mix between out jazz, electric jazz and hip-hop that is unusual but also works well because of Flaten's leadership and the entire band's commitment.

Once you get past what you do or don't expect from this band, you can relax and appreciate. It goes at it and succeeds by taking the music to places that feel right, with conviction and fire. It is cutting-edge yet it incorporates something of what is happening outside the realms of free music in the insular sense. That's healthy when it works. It works.

Glass House, Long Way Down

After 23 years working together, the duo known as Glass House comes through with a new album that has the songs and the delivery. Long Way Down (self-released) gives us Mark Vickness on guitars and David Worm on vocals with some carefully wrought arrangements that feature a good mix of guests that includes the Turtle Island String Quartet, a very capable tabla player, the help in production of Jon Evans and a good deal else besides. You may think of Sting or Peter Gabriel as influences. And of course that suggests what is the case, that Glass House have a sort of prog-rock art-song approach.

After a continual deluge of all kinds of music for review, sometimes I need some good songs to bring me back to earth. Long Way Down has just that something that refreshes my ears without pandering to whatever base instincts such a package often encourages--the easy-peasy, I mean.

This is not easy-peasy pop. There is substance, from the subtle finesse of Vickness on acoustic or the blaze of his electric, the vocal sincerity and substance of Worm's vocals, the arranged hipness and, yes, songs, real songs.

It's not what I might ordinarily listen to, but I felt very much at home hearing this one a bunch of times.

These guys are good. Here's to 23 years more!

Doug MacNaughton, Guitarias

Something today a little unusual: a collection of modern compositions for voice and guitar in the new music classical zone, nicely played and sung by Doug MacNaughton.

Guitarias (self-released) is the name of the offering. It's one of those albums you need to listen to a few times to get acclimated. Once you do, there is plenty of artistry in MacNaughton's classical guitar playing and his singing has real credibility and poise in the modern classical way.

There are four composers, each with a song or song cycle well represented. John Beckwith gives us two "Beckett Songs" based on Samuel B's texts; Leslie Uyeda provides us with "Flower Arranger" on a poem by Joy Kogawa; William Beauvais comes through with a four-song "The Truth of Matter" with poetic texts by Linda Hogan; and lastly John Rutter furnishes his eight-song cycle "Shadows" set with poetry from the 16th and 17th centuries.

This is music with a kind of contemplative aura about it, modern but rather quiet and sophisticated, tonal in an evolved sense. The pieces feature lyrics that evoke imagery that the vocal and guitar parts extend and make concrete in music.

If you aren't into contemporary classical song, you may be a bit at sea with this music. On the other hand this is a chance to hear some good examples, some excellent guitar-vocal part combinations and get yourself into the contemporary classical ethos.

I found the album charming, memorable, and after a while, rather haunting. If you put in the listening work, this one will come through with something excellent, and all told, rather different. Recommended.