• This page is added to as new records come in... If you want more to read more reviews, many others are archived nearby, and there are separate sections for various kinds of world music that you might like exploring as well.

Antonio Adolfo & Carol Saboya "Ao Vivo" (Kuarup/Points South, 2007)
A fixture on the Brazilian jazz scene since the early 1960s, pianist Antonio Adolfo demonstrates his continued vitality on this fine live performance, recorded in collaboration with his daughter, vocalist Carol Saboya. Backed by a compact, modest ensemble, the two delve deep into the richness of mainstream bossa nova, delivering warm, joyful versions of classics by Tom Jobim, Carlos Lyra, Vinicius De Moraes and Baden Powell, with dips into oldies by Ary Barroso and Dorival Caymmi and Pixinguinha, and just one little song by Adolfo himself, although he is quite an accomplished composer in his own right. The main thing is the vibe here: it's a classicist's reading of old-guard Brazilian pop, but hardly a museum piece... Performing in front of a festival audience in Miami, Florida, Adolfo and Saboya play with expressiveness and verve... I was actually a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this one!

Boca Do Rio "Boca Do Rio" (Vagabundo, 2007)
A slick, playfully funky mix of Brazi-latin jazz and sugary pop... These San Francisco Bay Area artists take up the banner from younger, pop-friendly artists like Charlie Hunter, Peter Apfelbaum and Martin Medeski & Wood, who make jazz more accessible and less remote to mainstream listeners... The approach may be too soft for some (including myself) but for the right listeners, it'll be like aural catnip. Included in this crew are guitarist-singer Kevin Welch and pianist Jacob Aginsky (who once tickled the ivories at a local breakfast joint used to frequent...) The style isn't my cup of tea, but I'm not the only arbiter of taste in the world... If you like smooth-sounding world-jazz, this might really grab you.

Ceu "Ceu" (Six Degrees/Urban Jungle, 2006)
Fluid, honeyed samba-synth-soul, in the same tradition as other Six Degrees Brazilian crossover divas such as Bebel Gilberto and Cibelle. Originally released on a Brazilian indie label, Urban Jungle, this is a smooth set of modern pop-electronica, impressively packed with over a dozen original compositions, and just two cover tunes, one by Joao Bosco and one by reggae legend Bob Marley. Hailing from Sao Paulo, Ceu ably represents the unrepentant pop sentiments of the city's musical scene, and while few of these tracks stand out as the kind of song that will get stuck in your head all day long, the album itself is quite lovely, a disc that you can leave in the stereo for weeks on end and never tire of... Definitely worth checking out.

Hamilton De Holanda "Intimo" (Adventure Music, 2007)
A lovely all-instrumental album by Brazilian bandolim (mandolin) player Hamilton De Holanda, performing (as the album title implies) an intimate set of solo meditations on various bossa nova and samba-cancao standards. Classics by Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, Dorival Caymmi, Noel Rosa and others share space with a trio of original tunes by De Holanda, all played at a creeping, unhurried pace, sort of a subtle, slowed-down version of the normally breakneck choro style. De Holanda's jazz background comes into play in the soft, improvisational nature of these recordings, which were made without formal arrangements, just a talented player and a 10-string mandolin, lingering lovingly over some favorite songs. Very nice -- jazz, choro and new acoustic fans will find a lot to appreciate about this gentle, inventive album.

Ibrahim Ferrer "Mi Sueno" (Nonesuch/World Circuit, 2007)
Before he passed away in 2005, the superlative Cuban vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer was working on an album of Latin American boleros, the slow, lachrymose romantic ballad style that once typified corniness and excess in Latin music. Although his voice was notably diminished by the time of these recordings -- his phrasing was occasionally halting and stiff, lacking the nimbleness and drive of his older guaracha recordings -- Ferrer was still a masterful singer of song. Indeed, the creaky moments on this album underscore the emotional vulnerability that runs throughout the genre, introducing a humanity and fragility that is a welcome contrast to the bombastic, belting approach favored by many bolero performers. This set also includes an older track from 1998 produced by ethnomusicologist Ry Cooder, who brought Ferrer to global fame as part of the Buena Vista Social Club project. The first time you listen to this album, you might be a little put off by the flaws -- but as you listen more intently and are drawn in, they will become part of the enchantment that Ferrer wove for this last great effort. Worth checking out!

Bebel Gilberto "Momentos" (Six Degrees, 2007)
On her latest full-length album, Bebel Gilberto branches out and widens her repertoire beyond the ultra-cool chill-room electro-bossa that has made her a household name... There's still plenty of the gorgeous smooth-groove stuff on here, but there's also a teensy bit of Clara Nunes-y, 1970s-style pagode-samba ("Os Novos Yorkinos") and a salsa-samba fantasia ("Tranquilo") that shows Bebel not simply stretching out into new styles, but also into a new textures, placing organic, analog elements such as batucada drums and acoustic guitars in a more prominent position than in earlier work. On "Tranquilo," she also works with new musicians, the far-flung Orquestra Imperial, which includes Moreno Veloso and his musical cohorts, Domenico Lancellotti and Kassin (three friends known collectively as "+2"), as well as vocalist Thalma De Freitas, whose earlier, bouncier recording of "Tranquilo" in 2004 is well worth tracking down. Bebel croons through a languid, English-language version of "Night And Day," and some self-penned material as well. On the downside, she indulges in one truly dreadful house-disco number ("Bring Back The Love," made with the New York-based band, Brazilian Girls) but other than that track, I've found this to be a nice new record, and a welcome indication that Bebel will continue to grow as an artist, and not just settle for being a clubland icon. Check it out!

Francoise Hardy "(Parentheses)" (Virgin, 2007)
Now... I'm not entirely sure, but I think Francoise Hardy is still on the mutually-agreed on "list" of celebrities that it's okay for me and my wife to have affairs with, should the chance arrive. Granted, Jen says she'd want to time travel back to 1967 or so, when Francoise was at her most ultimately babilicious, but I dunno... Madame Hardy is still looking pretty fine these days, in a dignified-but-been-down-and-dirty kind of way, ala Helen Mirren. Crass, salacious fantasies aside, Hardy also sounds amazingly good... Pushing close to 64, she still has the gorgeous, crystalline voice of her youth, when she wants it. However, she also can summon a soulful, resonant raspiness that shows her maturity in full flower, a true, genuine expression of the world-weariness she sought to project in her youth. In brief, this amazing album of electronia-drenched duets is one of the finest, most accessible albums of her entire career, featuring one stunning, lulling down-tempo gem after another. Working with the cream of the French indie-cabaret scene (Benjamin Biolay, Arthur H and others) as well as actors (Alain Delon and her own hubby, Jacques Dutronc), fellow rockers such as Alain Bashung and jazz old-timers like Henri Salvador, Hardy has created a masterpiece. If you thought other recent "comeback" albums such as Le Danger and Clair Obscur were good, check this one out: it's stunning. I could listen to it for day on end... and did!

Joyce "Passarinho Urbano" (WEA/Continental, 1976)
A delightful early album by Brazilian jazz-bossa guitarist Joyce, recorded in 1975 when she was on tour in Italy as a member of Vinicius De Moraes and Toquinho's concert show. The sound is compact and more traditional-sounding than many of her more jazz-oriented albums, with a distinctive samba flair throughout... Joyce borrows a couple of percussionists from Toquinho's band, as well as an Brazilian expatriate living in Rome (Marcia Guimaraes) to help with the vocals. The producer is Italy's Sergio Bardotti, who had worked on albums-in-exile by Chico Buarque and Vinicius -- here, he mostly seems to have stayed of the way, letting Joyce lay down one of her simplest albums to date... The songs include a number of well-known songs that were censored by the Brazilian military junta -- songs by Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Sidney Miller, Ze Keti and others, as well as historical samba numbers, notably Donga's "Pelo Telefone" (a prime candidate for the Ur samba song) and a lovely version of Geraldo Figueiredo's "A Historia Do Samba," as well as, at album's end, a lone original composition by Joyce, "Passarinho." Although in some ways this could be seen as a less adventurous album, it is also quite lovely, one of the most accessible and pleasant records of her career. Definitely worth checking out!

Karine Polwart "Scribbled In Chalk" (Spit & Polish, 2006)
A beautiful modern folk set from Scottish folk singer Karine Polwart, whose work with Celtic trad groups such as Malinky and Battlefield Band established her as one of the rising stars in the traditional music scene (and as a personal favorite of mine...) Here, Polwart leaps into the 20th, if not 21st, Century with a lushly melodic folk-pop set that prompts favorable comparisons to artists such as Mary Black, Loreena McKennitt, Linda Thompson and Kate Rusby. The songs are introspective, inspirational, self-affirmatory and uniformly quite lovely, with captivating melodic hooks that wrap around one of the warmest and inviting voices in the contemporary British/Celtic folk scene. Although the stylistic shift takes her miles away from the trad material that many fans revere, it's a sure bet most fans will be happy with the change... This is a very listenable, lulling album -- definitely recommended!

Rodrigo y Gabriela "Rodrigo y Gabriela" (ATO, 2007)
An impressive debut by this much-celebrated Mexican duo, in which the dizzying acrobatics of acoustic flamenco guitar brushes up against the thumpy rhythm of hard rock. R&G wrestle the pop-flamenco tradition away from modern bands such as Gypsy Kings and give it a puckish, punkish twist... Their attack is somewhat unremitting, but there are lots of wild creative twists under the surface. Although the first half of the album feels a bit static, after their jokey rendition of "Stairway To Heaven," they loosen up a bit in the second half and get spacier and free. The addition of a second disc, a video DVD, is a welcome bonus: where R&G really shine is in live performance, and being able to see them winds up being more powerful than hearing the finished product. Worth checking out!

Ricardo Silveira "Outro Rio" (Adventure Music, 2007)
A very sweet, very mellow set of acoustic guitar instrumentals by Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Silveira, with light percussion-bass backup... The relatively sparse, low-key production i a real plus as far as I'm concerned -- the simpler, the better, and with the exception of a few tunes, Silveira keeps it pretty simple on here. Several guest appearances as well: Joao Donato adds some lovely, understated piano on "O Sol Na Janela," cellist Jaques Morelenbaum plays on "Moonlight In Rangiroa" and Maria Rita sings on "A Medida Do Meu Coracao." It's the trio work, with bassist Andres Rodrigues and drummer Renato Massa, that really stands out, though, and best highlights Silveira's strengths as a melodic composer. Folks who dig mellow, relaxing "smooth jazz" will definitely want to check this out... it's a very strong record for the style!

Socalled "Ghettoblaster" (JDub, 2007)
A densely-layered, kooky audio montage, mixing traditional and contemporary Jewish music, hip-hop and avant-garde tomfoolery. Socalled in the alter-ego of Canadian-born Josh Dolgin, who has a fairly fearless approach to cross-cultural mashups. I wouldn't really say that this is music that I would listen to recreationally, but it is certainly clever and continually surprising. If you're into the new Jewish renaissance, and particularly into artists who are tapping into pop sounds outside of the klezmer orthodoxy, you might wanna check this guy out. Also, this disc represents a big leap forward from his previous work -- definitely worth checking out.

Yamato Ensemble "Japanese Music By Michio Miyagi, Vol. 1" (Arc Music, 2007)
Elegant, stately Japanese instrumental music from early 20th Century composer Michio Miyagi, one of the best acknowledged masters of the koto, or Japanese zither. The ensemble plays traditional instruments such as the koto, shakuhachi flute, and the 17-string "bass koto" or jushichigen, which was invented by Miyagi himself, as well as a smidge of (rather shrill) vocals. The music sounds stereotypically "Japanese," that is, it is exactly what you would expect to hear in, say, a Hollywood film from the 1950s or '60s when a Japanese theme was introduced. This familiarity doesn't diminish it's beauty or power, though: these recordings are lovely and meditative, starting off with a perfect rendition of Migayi's most famous piece, "Haru No Imi," and working through a half dozen of his other numerous works. Two of the tracks are very long -- thirteen and sixteen minutes each -- contributing to the unhurried, lavish feel of the album. If you want some rich, contemplative music, this disc is a fine, rewarding set. Recommended.

Various Artists "LE POP, v.4: LES CHANSONS DE LA NOUVELLE SCENE FRANCAISE" (Le Pop Musik, 2007)
Another fascinating, richly rewarding collection of contemporary French indie/pop. The electro-tinged cool of Dominique A and Francoiz Breut hovers over this set -- Dominique A contributes one song, but the entire album echoes his work, a doleful, syncretic mix of dark cabaret and joyful, sassy rock-pop. Maybe a bit of Marc Almond and '80s synthies in there as well? Naturalment. It all sounds lovely, though after a while, also all rather similar. The one track to break ranks is "Torticolis," a giddy, handclappy powerpop tune by Bernard Lallemant. There are many enticing tracks on here -- by Pierre Lapointe, Vincent Delerm, Jeanne Cherhal and others, but Lallemant is the artist I most want to further check out. As with the previous volumes, this album is a fine guidepost for further exploration of new French pop: you'll be glad you checked it out! (Also, if you like htis disc, you'll want to check out the Tot Ou Tard record label, where many of these gems came from... One of the best French pop labels around!

Various Artists "PUTUMAYO PRESENTS LATIN JAZZ" (Putumayo, 2007)
A swinging set of Latin jazz classics, featuring tracks by heavyweights such as Chocolate Armenteros, Ray Baretto, Machito, Manny Oquendo, Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz and Tito Puente... It's a pretty solid collection and, interestingly enough, it concentrates on the slinkier, more groove-oriented "Latin" side of the equation, lingering on the hypnotic phrasing of salsa/son, rather than the big bandish blare of the "Jazz" camp. That's just fine by me -- other than the album's closer, a long track by Eddie Palmieri and Brian Lynch, nothing on here is "too jazz" for me, so it mostly sounds like a cool son set. Definitely worth checking out.

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