Abe Schwartz, "The Klezmer King," Columbia Legacy CD

Abe Schwartz (1881-1963) was in the 1920s New York's most prolific and probably most well-recorded klezmer bandleader. The music was generally for a larger ensemble that might have gigged at a Lower East Side wedding, and the arrangements were more involved and broadly dense than would be expected outside the studio. His bands were sparked by clarinet virtuosi Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarris. And he not only recorded klezmer proper, but also Yiddish theater, novelty, comedy songs and folk strains from the Eastern European diaspora that woud be quite familiar to New York Jews of the generation that installed victrolas in their living space and bought the records.

There's a nice anthology of some of his 78s that's been out for a number of years and still available: Abe Schwartz, The Klezmer King (Columbia Legacy 86321). It gives you a generous 25 selections, about half klezmer proper, half in the other categories mentioned above.

Those who have only heard Klezmer in its revival form may find the thick textured, old technology feel of the records a little unexpected. It takes some getting used to. But once you've gone beyond an adjustment period there is some wonderful music on this album. A few of these cuts have emerged here and there on revival releases since the 1970s, but not all that many and never in such concentrated form. This one is a very good Schwartz retrospective, well worth your time and around at a good price. Listen, enjoy, learn.

James Lee Stanley and Cliff Eberhardt, All Wood and Doors: Doors Songs Acoustically Transformed

Who would have thought of an acoustic remake of Doors hits? Pickers-singers James Lee Stanley and Cliff Eberhardt have. All Wood and Doors (Beachwood 2010667) takes 12 well-known Doors songs and rethinks them thoroughly, sometimes recomposing them, for acoustic guitar, lead vocals, vocal backing and ensemble elements. They are joined by Doors bandsmen John Densmore and Robby Krieger as well as Peter Tork, Timothy B Schmidt, Laurence Juber, Paul Barrere, and others.

It provides alternative fare--a somewhat reflective, quieter rethinking of what Doors fans have heard for decades. The powerful Morrison baritone and rock electricity of the originals get put aside for a folkie-pop vocal-harmony thing and some tasteful strumming and picking. It's not meant to replace the originals and it most definitely does not. Instead, at its best, it gives a refreshing, heightened immersion in the songs and the lyrics themselves, which bear the new scrutiny well.

If you've lived with the Door originals you have a personal feeling for them, an experience of them. And you will react to the new versions in whatever ways you will. I am saying that not everybody is going to like this, possibly. Those who don't wont want to get past the originals; people who do will doubtless see this as an extra bonus, a supplement, not a replacement of the originals. I fall into the second camp.

It is quite well done.

The Four Bags: "Forth," with Trombone, Accordion, Electric Guitar and Reeds

Don't think there's nothing new under the sun. Some days there isn't much sun, but if you seek it out there is always something new. The Four Bags quartet has a new one called Forth (NCM East 40132), and it is something out of the ordinary.

The quartet has been on the New York scene since 1999. They have the unusual instrumentation/lineup of Brian Drye, trombone, Jacob Garchik, accordion, Sean Moran, electric guitar, and Mike McGinnis on clarinet and bass clarinet. They are perhaps even more notable in their compositional approach than they are as improvisers, though all are quite respectable players, certainly. All four contribute pieces and there are some unusual covers as well--of an electronic piece, a Persian classical song, and a Brazilian Forro.

With the instrumentation a kind of avant cabaret spirit prevails. However they cover a wide spectrum of influences, from the world, as we note above, avant jazz, classical and a sort of folk flavor, all kept very much alive through very interesting arrangements and four-part writing. They manage to capture a kind of post-Weillian something that has been in the air for a while and transform in into something that seems very New York and, if you will, hip Downtown-like.

It's enough I hope to say that this is one of the more refreshingly musical disks I have heard this year. They carve out a group sound carefully, almost note-by-note.

This is definitely one of those new things under the sun. Check it out by all means!

George Benson, Guitar Man, 2011

George Benson can, if he so chooses, play rings around most jazz plectrists out there. He doesn't always so chose. There have been many albums for him in his career, and for many of them he has hitched his star to the commercial muse (a contorted metaphor, but you will forgive me because it's 7 AM here). It seems that George would rather communicate to a general audience and incidentally reap the rewards of strictly commercial success than he would pull out all the stops and get a more limited following of strictly jazz aficionados. That's fine and it is indeed his choice. You get a glimmer, every once in a while, of what a monster player he is.

Take for example on his latest, Guitar Man (Concord Jazz). Yes, it has a pop veneer. There are sometimes those sweetener strings, a little of the disco beat, and he has that lounge lizard vocal thing happening on a few cuts, and he IS an excellent singer. . . . He gets into all kinds of accessible material too. Norah Jones's "I Don't Know Why," "Tequila," "My One and Only Love," but also "Naima."

And if you listen to the whole disk, which is a not unpleasant experience, George's brilliance breaks through here and again, with some stunning unaccompanied moments, some amazing lines just sort of thrown in there like a "yeah, I am great by the way."

I do not fault his tryst with success. That is not an easy thing. And I don't blame him for his pop orientation. With Guitar Man you hear in those moments where he lets loose that he still has that amazing facility and imagination that's been there all along. So if that's what we are going to get, then this is a good example of what he does and can do nowadays. I would love to hear him cut loose in a small group and take some long solos, etc. Maybe he'll do that next time? If not, we have this one, a document of the man today and a pleasurable listen.

John Scofield, A Moment's Peace: Sco' Goes the Ballad Route

No artist should feel obligated to follow a set of dictates of what he or she should cover for repertoire. Cover standards, pop, or don't. It's a matter of what works best for the artist at a particular point in the music. John Scofield, a guitar-playing institution in the jazz realm for so long, felt the need to express himself with a set of ballads and gentle music. A Moment's Peace (Emarcy) came out late last month to that end. It shows you what a master improviser and an excellent quartet can do when they work their way inside a set of songs and get into what makes the music tick.

So it's Scofield with Larry Golding on piano and organ, Scott Coley on bass and Brian Blade at the drums. It turns out that everyone has embraced the music, tuned themselves finely and honed in on the beauty and power of the material. In so doing they have lost none of the artistry that makes then jazz musicians of the first rank. It's almost to the guitar quartet what Coltrane's album Ballads was for the famed tenor quartet. Scofield bends and soul-phrases his way through each gem. A late-night, after-hours quiet intensity prevails, like the audience has gone home and there are only a few friends and the musicians to get inside the songs.

Lennon & McCartney's "I Will," the perennial "I Want to Talk ABout You," "I Loves You Porgy," these are the heavy-hitting standards. Scofield sounds totally inspired by it all. Goldings, Colley and Blade get on the same beam and they are off. It's a monument to Scofield's depth of feeling and nuance of expression. A masterwork of Scofieldism at its best and most profound.

Do not hesitate to get with this one. It has it!

The New Universe Music Festival 2010 CD or DVD Set: McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Lenny White, etc.

The 2010 edition of the New Universe Music Festival (Abstract Logix 2-CD ABLX030, 2-DVD ABLX 031) was a gathering of the tribes, so to speak, an extended look at the current state-of-the-art for fusion artists, mostly from the roster of Abstract Logix records. Fortunately the film and audio crew were well placed and captured the whole thing, the best of which is available as a 2-CD or 2-DVD set from the record label. I've spend some time looking and listening closely to these sets and I emerge with a good feeling about it all.

Whether listening to the CDs or looking-listening to the DVDs you get the same basic program. Alex Machacek, his trio and his advanced guitar work, drummer Ranjit Barot with a six-piece outfit, Scott Kinsey's keys and quartet, Jimmy Herring's guitar and quartet, Wayne Krantz's alternate guitar vision with a trio, famed drummer Lenny White leading a two-guitar quintet, and last but not at all least, John Mclaughlin with his quartet and a special appearance from tabla master Zakir Hussain. For the DVD version you get a bonus series of excerpts from the Tribute to McLaughlin, which includes many of the artist appearing previously. You also get interviews from some of the key players in the festival.

This is an excellent, stimulating program and the highlights are many. I would single out Alex Machacek for his spacey guitar work, Ranjit Barot's drum solo and Indo-Fusion, Jimmy Herring's guitar work throughout, Matthew Garrison's wacky de-tuned bass solo and very hip ensemble playing on the Scott Kinsey set, Lenny White's excellent performance, and the John McLaughlin finale and its stirring duets and trios with McLaughlin-Hussein and Hussein and the two McLaughlin drummers Mark Mondesir and Gary Husband, all of which brings home (as does the festival as a whole) how much Indian classical form and sophistication have become a mainstay in contemporary fusion. The segment also, to say the least, exhilarates with its dynamic interplay. Hussain of course is one of the foremost percussion masters of today and through his finely honed, rhythmically superlative performance he spurs McLaughlin and the drummers on to some of their most inspired playing in years.

The interviews are not uninteresting but ultimately dispensible, as are the highlights of the McLaughlin tribute. But they are bonus material only found on the DVD, so they are an additional reason why the DVD is the best bet if you have a good audio connection to your DVD system. Sound is excellent in either format and the camera work is very good as well.

So there you have it. The New Universe is populated with a consistently high-level set of performances. Guitarists, drummers, bass players, keyboardists and just plain fans will find much to like here. It is a bit of a scorcher! Highly recommended.

Bruce Arnold and Dusan Bogdanovic, "Aspiration": Advanced Acoustic Guitar Duets

Aspiration (Muse Eek 129) is an interesting series of free improv acoustic guitar duets that came about when Bruce Arnold and Dusan Bogdanovic chanced to jam together and realized their affinities. The result is a wide ranging set of 18 duets that reference everything from early music lute to Spanish classical to the nether realms of advanced jazz.

Sometimes the music has the periodicity of rain falling, gentle notes sounding interesting combinations, drawing together and pulling apart as scattered punctual points on a broad field. Other times there are motives that one may suggest and the other react to.

Throughout the course of the set Arnold and Bogdanovic enter some rarified aural realms in excellent fashion. There is a sheer visceral element, an obvious love for the simultaneous double melody line and the variety of sounds the two acoustics can express in the duet situation.

The music is of such an unusual caste that it defies easy description. It is broadly tonal, brilliantly spontaneous and thoroughly open ended. There is a gentle freedom that will make this an accessible offering for even those who tend to be put off by the more assertive variety of free improv. For the rest of us there is much to appreciate as well.

Not your everyday fare and all the more interesting for it. Give it a listen by all means.