Ted Garber - Live at Strathmore

I’ve got the love/hate thing going on with today’s singer/songwriters. For me, it seems there’s a lot of something going on, but there’s really no substance. Almost like the soul has been sucked out of the songwriter. A lot of ego, a lot of faux sensitivity, a lot of rubbish. By today’s standards, it seems that a singer/songwriter simply needs to know how to or attempt to tap into their sensitive side. Ted Garber takes that standard and crushes it, bringing back the elements of the craft that have been forgotten . . . storytelling that contains vivid imagery, emotional conveyance, pure and honest integrity, and a touch of humor that reminds us that the guy singing is still human. Garber crafted a near perfect album with American Rail, capturing the soulful essence of each tale he told, and handing it over to the listener like a snapshot from every roadside haunt that he visited. Now, with Live at Strathmore, we get the opportunity to hear a brand new set of songs played by a group of world class musicians and the tales have never been more uplifting! 

The Strathmore music program is one of those great programs that can enhance a musician’s songwriting abilities, but I’d rather spend time focusing on the end result . . . the music of Ted Garber. When I heard the rumblings across cyber space that this live album was being crafted, I naturally figured it was going to be a live recording of select tracks from American Rail with a few hidden surprises. What I got was actually the opposite . . . a live recording of hidden surprises and a single re-interpretation of one of American Rail’s gems. Bold, Mr. Garber. Very bold.

Opening with “Sunshine In Your Heart”, we get re-introduced to the soulful, Americana groove that Garber captured on his first release. It’s a little blues-y, very upbeat, and packed with a positive message about cutting the crud from our lives. In classic (yes, classic . . . it’s his fingerprint on the music) Ted Garber fashion, the man crafts lyrics in a way that’s reminiscent of someone like Jim Croce. Clever and witty, never clichéd, and always thoughtful, the lyrics are the strength of the man’s songs. Add that soulful voice and artistic integrity, and listening to Garber croon, you’ll think you’ve known the man all of your life. It’s a real voice, not something mechanized, orchestrated, or produced . . . a voice with such gravity that you can’t help but be pulled closer to it, to understand where this soul actually comes from.  

“Plastic Bag” is the track that probably hits me the hardest on an emotional level. Introspective and powerful, Garber showcases that one doesn’t need a million notes and a million fancy words to convey a message. Stripped down and performed in a jazzier tone than most of his past material, “Plastic Bag” is the song I’ve been toting around of late as a constant reference that I gotta’ remember to check my own nasty baggage at the door if I want to live to my fullest, and I guess . . . you could say this review is a personal thanks to Ted Garber for arming me with yet another weapon on my war against self destruction. Yeah . . . it’s that strong of a tune. Don’t believe me? Buy the record.

For a good hour, Ted Garber entertains a sold out crowd with his fusion of soulful jazz meets blues-y troubadour songs, self described as BluesAmericanaRock. Who am I to disagree? “Achilles’ Heel”, “Sunshine In Fog”, and the heart-warming reinterpretation of “A Lot Like Me” (it’s deep . . . it’s in a fortune cookie) are prime examples of a singer/songwriter who has mastered that balance of tapping the vein of sensitivity without coming across as sappy and trite. Like Van Morrison or the aforementioned Jim Croce, Garber can write a hell of a love song and he sings these songs with a masculinity that gives them an immediacy and power that can’t be ignored. Plus, on this live edition, Garber’s between song banter is priceless and I found myself unapologetically laughing out loud.

“Third Time’s a Charm” features a duet with fellow Strathmore resident Chelsey Green and it’s one of those fun time, happy jazzy romantic songs that is so well crafted and performed that it’s an immediate attention getter. Garber and Green have a natural chemistry on this sultry groove, and the lyrics are so compelling that I find myself taking sides with both characters. Then the trumpet solo . . . sigh . . . it’s a thing of beauty, and by the songs final notes I want to jump to my feet and clap enthusiastically with those in attendance. And then . . . there’s “Don’t Want To Make A Baby, Baby”. Garber enlisted the aid of Philly rapper Jason Ager to pen this hip-hop tinged gem of a funky rocker. It’s an instant classic, filled with humorous and intelligent lyrics about getting down and doing the nasty. It would have been easy to write this one in a crass fashion, but hat’s off to Garber and Ager for injecting a level of class to the tune. Hell . . . the song is so funky that it makes me want to go out and practice my own technique!  

While the songs are naturally the focal point of this performance, Ted Garber’s easy going and fun natured charisma adds an element of familiarity to the recording. You may have just met him, but you’ll think you’ve known him your entire life, and by the end of the performance, you’ll simply love the guy. These tracks are an open door to the intricate weave that makes up the tapestry of the man . . . bright and colorful, full of life, rich in humor, and deep with wisdom. If you don’t find yourself laughing, (maybe even crying), clapping, and cheering along throughout this outstanding set of genre jumping music, then you’re simply dead inside. Live at Strathmore is a slice of true Americana that absolutely can’t be missed!

--Pope 

http://www.tedgarber.com/

http://www.strathmore.org/

Robinson - England’s Bleeding

The bastard great grandson of Lord Burgess is England’s conscience. He attempts to prove it with his debut album “England’s Bleeding.”

I’m making somebody really rich

While he pays me peanuts

Well, ain’t it a bitch.

I’ve got to get out of here.

-  a verse from the track “Forget About It All.”

Andy Robinson, also known simply as “Robinson” expertly blends disparate musical styles - Klezmer, Folk, Jazz, Blues, Country, Alternative Rock - as he plays clarinet, saxophone, guitar, banjo, glockenspiel, accordion and percussion. Yet, what could have been a cacaphony of harmonies is a smooth and successful combination of melodies all for one purpose - to make you think about the human condition.

Always talk to strangers

Because they are always lonelier than you

Always talk to strangers

Because you never know when you’ll need a friend

- chorus form the track “Always Talk To Strangers.”

This son of a son of a son of a bastard knows what he wants and is not shy about telling us what it is.

Some people just want some money.

They believe it’s going to make them happy

I can understand but it’s not what I need,

What I need is much cheaper than this

I want a place by the sea with a record player

and an old beaten up guitar

with a pub down below

Just to stumble back home

and that’s all that I really want

and that’s all that I really want

and that’s all I thats all I really want

Some people just want a woman

And some kids just want a baby

They both bel;ieve that family’s the answer

But for me I want simplier than this

I want good clean fresh air and brand new cigarettes

A good pair of shoes and a comfortable bed

Girls come and go but this smile remains

and that’s all that I really want

and that’s all that I really want

and that’s all I thats all I really want

    - excerpt from the track “That’s All I Really Want.”

Robinson is the whole package.  He can play, arrange and write.  He is from coal mining stock and echos British working class indignation.  

Hip hip hooray for our new Governor

England’s joy is MacDonald’s big brother,

I don’t care for one or the other

In the pocket of America’s mother.

Our children are pregnant and drunk

Our fathers are useless scraps of junk

Johnny Rotten who sang without a key

Is nothing but a sold-out punk.

England’s bleeding now

England’s bleeding now

England’s bleedng everywhere

    - excerpt from the track “England’s Bleeding.”

He writes folk songs like Bob Dylan.  A faint echo of “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again” can be heard in Robinson’s track “Stuck In Town.”  Yet, his approach is never as raw as Dylan’s approach.  It is polished and it sparkles with Robinson’s emotive voice.  It is the perfect combination for love songs such as “Dance,” “In A Whisper,” “Little Ms. Darling” and the album’s poppy “First Time.”

We smoke cigarettes,

We drink in the park

We always go out after it gets dark

We drink until three

She’s smiling at me

With her red wine lips

And her sweet french kiss

Yeah, I’m so happy I can almost cry

I don’t want this feeling to fade, Oh no

Maybe this could be the first time

Maybe this could be the first time

Maybe this could be the first time

I felt love

- first verse and chorus from the track “First Time.”

For Robinson it is all about the message.  Whether the topic is a melancholy story about an on and off romance, such as the track “In A Whisper,” or a soul-searching exposition on life, such as the track “Happiness,”  Robinson’s choice of syntax and cadence are used as formidable weapons.

I want something else

I want something else

Happiness should be caressed, not depressed by the sorrow

Happiness should be caressed, not depressed by the sorrow

Fat cats rule

While us dogs drool

And we bark at each move they make

They think that we’re small

That we don’t care

But I can tell you that our eyes are more open than theirs

I want something else

I want something else

Happiness should be caressed, not depressed by the sorrow

Happiness should be caressed, not depressed by the sorrow

- excerpt from the track “Happiness.”

Robinson ends England’s Bleeding with an introspective look at what he hopes the future holds. “Someday, Somewhere.” is a sweet  ethereal nursery rhyme but is the least enjoyable song of the whole lot.  That may be by design.. Robinson rails against the present but ends it all with a hope for a better future.  

The album is music-based poetry with a message.  It is a viseral and formidable debut effort. It will make you think. Turn it on, turn it up and listen.


- Old School

Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond

Cool jazz alto saxophone. A sultry air of smooth and slick.  It bounces off the walls and ceilings of train stations and into hotels and nightclubs.  Like Lisa Simpson as she blows off orchestra for be-bop, it is enticing.  Rock and blues guitarists created the wah-wah pedal to try to emulate the wail of the alto sax and failed brilliantly. In its purist form the alto sax finds voice in cool jazz.

Ask any professional jazz saxophonist, any street-corner smooth jazz wannabe with a sense of history and hearing, “who is your musical hero?”  You will hear one name over and over - Paul Desmond.  That Desmond is the master and the benchmark some 34 years after his death is rather amazing. Although best known for penning “Take Five,” the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s greatest hit, his alto sax epitomizes West Coast cool jazz.

CTI has done aficionados of the great cool jazzmaster a favor with release of their Master Series remastered reissue of Desmond’s1975 Pure Desmond.  Here is Desmond near the end of his life playing with admirers and aspirers removed from the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  On this release Desmond plays with a living legend, jazz double bassist Ron Carter; the late Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay; and Canadian jazz guitarist Ed Bickert.  The album is precise and contains beautiful instrumental cool jazz renditions of Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Django Reinhardt and Antonio Carlos Jobim gems.  In addition, the quartet preserves the sound of the seventies in its rendition of Johnny Mandel’s and Mike Altman’s hit, the “Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless),” which opened and closed each episode of the top TV show of the time.   

What does one say about Desmond?  Around town he was a ladies’ man chemically dependent on Dewar’s Scotch Whisky and Pall Mall cigarettes.  He dabbled in psychedelics with Timothy Leary and Jack Kerouac, and he created some of the best alto sax smooth jazz recordings ever made.  Desmond died of lung cancer at the age of 53.  His life, and this album, are best exemplified by this saying attributable to Anonymous:

The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave with a well-preserved body, but rather to Slide in Sideways, completely used up, yelling and screaming, what a ride!

Thanks Paul wherever you are.

- Old School

Buy here:  Pure Desmond (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)
Buy here mp3: Pure Desmond (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition - Original recording remastered)

George Benson - White Rabbit

I was standing in line at the North American Music Makers (NAMM) Convention to get George Benson’s signature on a pickguard.  There were dozens of people in front of me and hundreds behind me.  As we waited people in the queue reminisced about Benson.  Many fans appeared to be about my age and had stories about how they “discovered” him back in 1976 when his hit crossover album “Breezin’” was released.  Some also recalled his hit single “On Broadway” from 1978 - a cover of a 1963 hit by The Drifters.  Others recalled his 1969 album of “Abbey Road” Beatles covers called “The Other Side of Abbey Road.” 

By 1969, Benson had fallen in with some amazing musicians and his music reflected it.  On “The Other Side of Abbey Road” Herbie Hancock played keyboards, Ron Carter played bass and, among the cast of “A” list sidemen, Hubert Laws played flute.  Benson had found a niche of doing covers of other people’s hit music with a top notch jazz band and had cemented his relationships with the “creme de la creme” of modern jazz.  These artists would frequently sit in with George on his later albums.

As a modern jazz guitarist George Benson is unparalleled.  His music often takes rock of the day and gives it smooth jazz class.  He is a guitar virtuoso and this has allowed him to crossover and meld genres.  He has recorded jazz versions of the Monkees’ hit “Last Train To Clarksville,” Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade,”  War’s “The World Is A Ghetto,” Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze,” Eric Clapton’s “Let It Rain,” and Darryl Hall’s “Everytime You Go Away” in addition to dozens of other rock tunes.  He has also recorded jazz standards by Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, James Moody and a host of other jazz masters.   Benson has written and recorded his own music. Best of all, for us, he has been doing it since he was 8 years old in 1951 and has a large library of recordings.

It is funny how there is so much you want to say to an artist, especially one like Benson whose musical skills leave you in awe, but when approached you cannot put a simple sentence together. When I met him I could only come up with praise and niceties.  The man is a gentleman.  He helped me calm down and then we slowly discussed why I wanted him to sign a pickguard.  It was for Guitars not Guns to auction.  That is how the organization funds its not for profit work. Guitars not Guns is an organization that provides guitars and guitar lessons to foster kids and at-risk youth as an alternative to violence.  Benson was impressed.  He wanted to know more and he wanted to help.  He signed the pickguard as I blathered on almost incoherently until my time with the guitar hero was up.

I left the line and made my way to the Ibanez guitar exhibit.  Benson has been endorsed by Ibanez guitars since the 1980’s.  I walked around in a fog, sat down next to a display of Ibanez acoustic guitars, and listened to another guitarist who was trying the guitars out.  The guitarist asked me what I thought about the guitar he was playing.  I again blathered on about just having met George Benson and that I hadn’t really been listening too closely.  He seemed amused and he asked if I played guitar.  I told him I did and he handed me the guitar and again asked my opinion.  I played a little bit and nodded with approval giving the instrument the “Old School” endorsement. I asked him who he was and what type of music he intended to play on the instrument.  He laughed a bit and told me he was Michael O’Neill, the rhythm guitarist with Benson’s touring band.  I went from blathering to dumbstruck.  We spoke for several minutes about Benson, his music and the band.  He told me that I should really listen to some of Benson’s more obscure releases.  He has recorded 35 or so albums.  O’Neill advised  that the obscurities is where you truly hear the guitar master.  Our conversation ended. We shook hands and went our separate ways.  

I returned home and, shortly thereafter, a re-issue of George Benson’s 1971 album release “White Rabbit” appeared in my mailbox.  Talk about obscure.  Here was Benson performing jazz versions of “White Rabbit,” the hit by the Jefferson Airplane written by the the San Francisco rock band Great Society; “Theme From Summer Of ‘42,” the Michel Legrand instrumental from the 1971 hit movie; “Little Train,” a masterpiece by the early 20th century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos; “California Dreamin’,” the 1965 hit by The Mamas and the Papas; and “El Mar,” a George Benson original. I had never before heard this album.

Michael O’Neill was absolutely right.  Forget the hokeyness of the particular selections.  This is jazz played by the masters.  The song titles are merely suggestions for where Benson starts his instrumental explorations.  He is accompanied by some of the best jazz musicians to ever grace the planet.  Jay Berliner, a jazz guitarist with a penchant for Spanish guitar who played for Charles Mingus, Stephane Grappeli and Milt Jackson, and on recordings for everyone from Frank Sinatra to Andrea Bocelli, accompanies Benson on acoustic guitar and gives the entire recording a classical Spanish feel.  The guitar master Earl Klugh also plays acoustic on Benson’s “El Mar.” Ron Carter plays bass. Herbie Hancock plays piano. Billy Cobham mans the drum kit. Percussion master Airto Moreira adds his talents and occasional vocals. Phil Kraus plays vibes and helps out on percussion (Kraus is a xylophone legend who can be heard on many a Percy Faith, Hugo Wintherhalter, and Benny Goodman album. and whose musical career dates back before his appearances on “Your Show Of Shows,” “Ed Sullivan” and “Jackie Gleason.”)  Benson also employs the late classical harp master Gloria Agostin; a woodwinds section that includes Phil Bodner, Hubert Laws, George Marge, Romeo Penque and Jane Taylor; and a brass section that consists of Wayne Andre, Jim Buffington, John Frosk and Alan Rubin.

This album focuses on a side of Benson rarely heard in his hit music.  Gone is his smooth jazz persona.  This is exploratory jazz performed by virtuosos. It precedes Miles Davis’ 1972 “Bitches Brew” by a year but is clearly a precursor and inspiration for that historic album. 

Listen to this album.  Afterward, you too may find yourself blathering as you stand in line for an autograph.

- Old School 

buy here: White Rabbit

Dave Holland Pepe Habichuela – Hands

Words.

We have these things called words.  They’re supposed to aid us in communication.  Make the abstract concrete.  Reach across the gaping chasms of interpersonal space and convey ideas, facts, thoughts.  But what do we do when words fail us?  How do you describe the indescribable?  How do you make concrete the abstract?

While all that may seem to be a weighty introduction for a CD review, I still can’t help but wonder how I’m supposed to use words to describe what my ears hear, what my soul feels.  How do I make concrete the beautifully abstract work of Dave Holland and Pepe Habichuela.

I guess I should begin at the beginning.  Dave Holland is a masterful jazz bassist.  Pepe Habichuela is a Spanish guitar legend.  They live in two separate worlds, the impenetrable fortresses of jazz and flamenco.  Those worlds are not meant to collide, not meant to integrate, to fuse.  But they have.  And the results may just be one of the more remarkable releases of the year.

After meeting and forming a soul brotherhood, Holland and Habichuela sat down to make music together.  Flamenco is the foundation, but there being no room in flamenco for bass, Holland was left to search and feel his way into each piece.  What results is an album unlike any I’ve heard before.  Forget what you know about flamenco.  With Holland’s bass finding it’s own expression, searching and diving into nooks and spaces, this is unlike any flamenco I’ve heard.  The bass adds texture and resonance, bring out an inherent drama and moodiness in the pieces that simply wouldn’t be expressed otherwise.

 Yet, it’s not jazz either.  Habichuela’s playing (as is his son Josemi Carmona’s, who also plays flamenco guitar on the album) is never short of breathtaking.  Feeling and emotion are cajoled from his guitar the same way Michaelangelo unveiled the figures hidden in the marble he sculpted.

Never is this more abundantly clear than on the stunning “Camaron (Taranta),” where Holland's bass takes the position of the traditional vocal while Habichuela’s guitar fills the space around him.  Talk about drama. Talk about impact.

The album swings through various moods, some more upbeat and festive, other more pensive and powerful, without ever repeating itself.  “The Whirling Dervish,” is a light-hearted display of magnificent guitar while “Joyride,” brings the bass back into prominence with a gorgeous halo of guitar. 

I can’t go into each song here.  I don’t have the words.  I can’t describe what these two masters are doing with their instruments, the emotions they illicit, or the impact they have.  I can only listen.  It’s only in my soul that the abstract of their music becomes concrete, and in my soul it will remain.  Suffice it to say, Hands is a remarkable album, and if you’re a fan of flamenco guitar or willing to explore a new take on jazz, it’s an album you simply must hear.


--Racer


Buy here: Hands
Buy here mp3: Hands