Bloggerhythms

After Midnight was Nat King Cole's last jazz album and it was a beautiful return to form for the piano playing genius jazz fans dearly missed after the star decided to become a lounge singer/pop balladeer, a genre he also excelled at. The trio included Cole on piano and vocals, John Collins on guitar, and Charlie Harris on bass. Lee Young (brother of Lester) was added on drums. What makes this album so special is that Cole's regular group is joined by several guest soloists, all of them all-stars, who are featured on different songs: Harry "Sweets" Edison (formerly with Count Basie) was the trumpeter, Willie Smith (Harry James and Duke Ellington) checked in with his alto sax, Juan Tizol (Ellington again) played valve trombone, and Stuff Smith, one of the first jazz violinists, completed the guest list. The expanded lineup allowed Cole to add color to arrangements that his drummerless trio could not and the album is all the better for it. As usual, the leader...

On Joan Osborne's major label debut, Relish (1995), she sold herself as a blues queen and she had some success with it although she often came on too strong in the process. It felt as if she was trying too hard. Later, on Pretty Little Stranger (2006) she took a turn towards being a singer-songwriter, again with only modest artistic success. Recently, she teamed up with rocker Jackie Greene to form Trigger Hippy and they released their new quintet's debut CD in 2014. Once again she gave us some very good moments but, as it turns out, both Greene and Osborne are more rewarding separately than they are together. Those albums are worth mentioning because it's time to reiterate something that I've written before: Osborne's greatest strength is as an outstanding interpreter of other R&B artists' work. There aren't many singers who are more comfortable with someone else's material more so than with their own but Osborne is one of the rare exceptio...

There is a reason Apple created iTunes Radio. Recently, I was listening to one of their stations as I was surfing the web. When "California (Cast Iron Soul)" by newcomers Jamestown Revival blared out of my speakers I became instantly addicted and was compelled to flip over to the store to search for more. What I found was a gem of an album. The modern folk music revival currently producing an abundance of great work is epitomized by groups such as The Lumineers, The Lone Bellow, The Head and The Heart, and The Avett Brothers but all of these artists are clearly different from the pure folkies (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio, etc.) who regularly raided the charts fifty years ago or more. The difference now, fifteen years into the 21st century, is that instead of rock 'n rollers being influenced by folk as they were back in the 60s, the new folk bands are influenced heavily by both rock and pop. Jamestown Revival's harmony filled, ear...

Whenever Harry Chapin took the stage you realized how much more dynamic he was live than on record. That is where he earned his reputation as one of the great musical story tellers of all time. His rapport with the audience was virtually unequaled and you could tell he loved every second of it. Often his records, regardless of subject matter, just didn't convey the same emotion. People who happily saw Chapin live knew they were in for a treat even before they heard his 1976, double disc LP, Greatest Stories Live , because it included all of his best known work. Featured are "Taxi" and his biggest hit, "Cat's In The Cradle." There is also "W*O*L*D," a song that "snuck onto the charts for about fifteen minutes" according to Chapin, and the wonderful concert opener "Dreams Go By." He also included "Mr. Tanner," "I Wanna Learn A Love Song" and much more. The singer also closed with a lengthy and very fu...