SOUND CHECK.DR.JOHN: "Right Place, Right Time: Live at Tipitina's Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (mär`dē grä), last day before the fasting season of Lent. It is the French name for Shrove Tuesday. Literally translated, the term means "fat Tuesday" and was so called because it represented the last opportunity for '89" (Skinji Brim/Hyena) - Four stars Here's a real thriller - pianist-singer Dr. John caught at the height of his powers 17 years ago on Mardi Gras night at the hallowed Big Easy venue Tipitina's. Blasting into the "jailbird beat" of the New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded standard "Junco junco or snowbird, small seed-eating bird of North America closely related to the sparrows. Juncos have white underparts and gray (sometimes also brown) backs. They travel in flocks. Partner," the good doctor, backed by a superbly funky homegrown outfit, sets the mood for a full-tilt boogie 'n' blues party that shows why N'awlins r&b is the greatest pop music ever invented. Another powerful highlight here among many is a voodoo-drenched "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" that summoned whatever spirits didn't already have a ticket to the show. - Fred Shuster LOU RAWLS: "The Best of the Capitol Jazz & Blues Sessions" (Blue Note) - Four stars The late, great Rawls could wrap his smooth voice around anything and make it sound good. The man was the essence of elegance, and this new, spectacularly remastered collection showcases his versatility, including commanding cuts of blues, jazz, big-band swing and gospel-tinged standards. The draw for longtime fans is the inclusion of three previously unheard tracks that Rawls cut with Texas tenorman Curtis Amy's sextet. These blues numbers - "Fine and Mellow" among them - drip with soul and make this an essential purchase. And if you want a disc that includes Rawls' Capitol hits - "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," "Your Good Thing (Is About to End) among them - we suggest the 25-song import "I Can't Make It Alone: The Axelrod Years" (available online through Amazon) that, remarkably, does not duplicate one cut from the new Blue Note reissue. - Glenn Whipp NEKO CASE: "Fox Confessor CONFESSOR, evid. A priest of some Christian sect, who receives an account of the sins of his people, and undertakes to give them absolution of their sins. 2. Brings the Flood" (Anti-) - Three stars The most powerful and one of the most eccentric voices in alt.music unleashes another gorgeous-sounding, head-scratchingly impressionistic im·pres·sion·is·tic adj. 1. Of, relating to, or practicing impressionism. 2. Of, relating to, or predicated on impression as opposed to reason or fact: impressionistic memories of early childhood. compilation of girl-group emotion, traditionalist spiritualism spiritualism: see spiritism. spiritualism Belief that the souls of the dead can make contact with the living, usually through a medium or during abnormal mental states such as trances. and Valkyrie reverb re·verb Informal n. 1. A reverberative effect produced in recorded music by electronic means. 2. A device used for producing this effect. intr. & tr.v. . Case's lyrics paint vivid scenes and zero in on specifically observed feelings, but these delights come in isolated swatches rather than crescendoing song narratives. Regardless, she's the Patsy Cline of the 21st-century space set, and anything she sings about breeds pleasurable spine shivers. - Bob Strauss GRANT GEISSMAN: "Say That!" (Futurism futurism, Italian school of painting, sculpture, and literature that flourished from 1909, when Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's first manifesto of futurism appeared, until the end of World War I. ) - Three and one half stars If the term "contemporary jazz" has any meaning, it must include the sound of Sherman Oaks guitarist Geissman's latest, a musical missive to jazz radio stations - smooth, straight-ahead and otherwise. Ever since his landmark solo on Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good" (that was 1977, folks), Geissman has been a distinctive voice in jazz guitar, rooted in the instrument's tradition but sounding like nobody but himself, and that continues on this disc. There's great Latin playing on "Siete," all-out bebop bebop or bop Jazz characterized by harmonic complexity, convoluted melodic lines, and frequent shifting of rhythmic accent. In the mid-1940s, a group of musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker, rejected the conventions of on "Below the Radar" and the funkier-than-Montgomery "Wes Is More." And it's not just the Hammond organs that place "Say That!" in the tradition of 1960s Blue Note soul-jazz. If anything, Geissman has always been about the groove. - Steven Rosenberg YEAH YEAH YEAHS  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. : "Show Your Bones" (Interscope) - Three stars New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs manage to bring their edge-of-disaster sound right up to date without losing any of the exuberance that made previous efforts such a delight. The from-the-garage trio is in fine form in this successful 11-track sophomore disc, which catches fire with "Fancy," featuring guest keyboardist Money Mark, and "Way Out," a thundering mini-anthem. - F.S. CAPTION(S): 6 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Dr. John) (2 -- 6) no caption (CD covers) |
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