SOUND CHECK.MARIAH CAREY: ``The Emancipation of Mimi'' (Island Def Jam Here is a list of artists signed to The Island Def Jam Music Group. 0-9
Freeing Mimi - a nickname used only by her closest friends - was apparently a good move for Carey, who hasn't turned out an album this satisfying since ``Butterfly.'' Like that 1997 effort, which first saw her fluttering toward hip-hop, the new disc mixes dance-floor hip-hop and old-school-inspired r&b. With Carey in writing and co-producing roles, ``Mimi'' predictably boasts some grandstanding from the pop diva. Her tremulous tremulous /trem·u·lous/ (-u-lus) pertaining to or characterized by tremors. trem·u·lous adj. Characterized by tremor. , wide-ranging pipes in high gear, the well-tended songbird songbird Any oscine passerine (suborder Passere), all of which have a complex vocal organ, the syrinx. Some species (e.g., thrushes) produce melodious songs; others (e.g., crows) have a harsh voice; and some do little or no singing. See also birdsong. manages to create memorable tunes inspired by the drama of her widely documented life. The syncopated syn·co·pate tr.v. syn·co·pat·ed, syn·co·pat·ing, syn·co·pates 1. Grammar To shorten (a word) by syncope. 2. Music To modify (rhythm) by syncopation. two-stepper ``Shake It Off'' and r&b throwback throwback see atavism. ``Stay the Night'' find her respectively leaving and loving, while Mimi does a little playing of her own on the funky ``Get Your Number,'' featuring r&b crooner Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri also known simply as JD (born Jermaine Dupri Mauldin on September 23 1972) is an American record producer and rapper. Dupri is the youngest inductee to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. . Look for cameos by Snoop Dogg (``Say Somethin' ''), Twista (``One and Only'') and Nelly (``To the Floor''), along with the slick global smash ``It's Like That.'' - Sandra Barrera CHARLES LLOYD Charles Lloyd (March 15 1938-) is an American jazz musician. Though he primarily plays tenor saxophone and flute, he has also occasionally recorded on alto saxophone and more exotic reed instruments. : ``Jumping the Creek'' (ECM (1) (Enterprise Change Management) See version control and configuration management. (2) (Error Correcting Mode) A Group 3 fax capability that can test for errors within a row of pixels and request retransmission. ) - Four stars Lloyd's albums for the past decade have been so stellar that it's easy to take the tenor saxophonist for granted. Lloyd makes no such assumptions, challenging himself and his outstanding band - pianist Geri Allen, bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Eric Harland - in new directions here. ``Jumping the Creek'' has everything: a gorgeous Ellington ballad (``Come Sunday''), modal playing, Indian music and impassioned free blowing - sometimes with the full band, sometimes incorporating just a couple of players. The opener, a reflective 13-minute reading of Jacques Brel's ``Ne Me Quitte Pas'' (`If You Go Away'') is a stunner stunner device used in abattoirs to stun an animal so that it is unconscious when it is bled out. concussion stunner a captive-bolt, nonpenetrating device, activated by a standard bullet. , a bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. , fierce, deeply spiritual epic that may well be the best thing Lloyd has ever recorded. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Lloyd has never been better. - Glenn Whipp VARIOUS: ``The Jack Nitzsche Story: Hearing Is Believing (1962-79)'' (Ace) - Three stars Countless memorable records and moody movie scores bore Nitzsche's stamp during a 40-year composing, arranging and producing career that played out mostly in Hollywood. Arranger of Phil Spector's ``wall of sound,'' co-writer of Jackie DeShannon's ``Needles and Pins,'' close collaborator with the Rolling Stones and a first-call creator of award-winning movie music, Nitzsche was one of the behind-the-scenes heroes of popular music. This illuminating, long-overdue compilation collects 26 examples of Nitzsche's genius for imaginatively arranging frequently mediocre material. Included here are numbers headlined by Leslie Gore, the Righteous Brothers, Tim Buckley, Marianne Faithfull, Mink DeVille, Graham Parker and the James Gang, whose unexpectedly stirring ``Ashes, the Rain & I'' is given life by a remarkable Nitzsche string arrangement. The excellently designed disc fittingly closes with Nitzsche's end theme for ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'' Sadly, licensing problems nixed the inclusion of Ike and Tina's ``River Deep - Mountain High'' and other peak Nitzsche moments. - Fred Shuster YO-YO MA/THE SILK ROAD EMSEMBLE: ``Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon'' (Sony Classical) - Four stars You might at first think the fourth cut on this elegant album, ``Akhalqalaqi Dance,'' is a Celtic reel, although it's a traditional Armenian/Georgian tune whose melody is played on a duduk, a woodwind from Asia, and is accompanied by a djembe A djembe (pronounced jem bay) also known as djimbe, jenbe, jembe, yembe or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin covered hand drum, shaped like a large goblet, and meant to be played with bare hands. , an African drum. It's a reminder of both the diversity and universality of music, which we find again and again on this wondrous explorations of sounds inspired by cultures along the Silk Road, the caravan trade route that traversed Asia. While cellist extraordinaire ex·tra·or·di·naire adj. Extraordinary: a jazz singer extraordinaire. [French, from Old French, from Latin extra Ma heads the ensemble, the group's members, including film composer Zhao Jiping (``Raise the Red Lantern''), often take the lead. The disc is divided into three parts (Enchantment, Origins, New Beginnings), and a number of the cuts take a traditional melody and push it - whether by adding instruments or rhythms from other regions, giving them a freshness. The works written for the album themselves are rich melting pots of diverse musical inspirations. The result is something new, something old, something special. - Rob Lowman CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Mariah Carey) (2 -- 4) no caption (CD covers) |
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