Cynthia Felton Sings Nancy Wilson

This article was first published at Blogcritics

Dr. Cynthia Felton is the founder and artistic director of the Ethnomusicology Library of American Heritage, an educator, a producer and an arranger—and to complete the package, this is one lady who can sing. Check out her website and listen to what she does with just a sample of “Time Out,” or better still listen to her latest album Save Your Love For Me:  Cynthia Felton Sings the Nancy Wilson Classics. Following up on previous tribute albums to Oscar Brown, Jr. and Duke Ellington, she has gathered a dynamite list of musical talent to work with her on ten of her favorite songs culled from five Wilson albums recorded in the sixties, and she does the singer proud.

She opens the album with a short, evanescent a cappella version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” serving as an invocation, before getting down to the business at hand. “The Old Country” begins with a piano intro from Donald Brown, and although a Nat Adderley, Curtis Lewis composition, in her arrangement there is no saxophone. There’s some sweet trumpet work from Wallace Roney, but no saxophone. She includes four more from Wilson’s album collaboration with Cannonball: “Save Your Love For Me,” “A Sleepin’ Bee,” “Never Will I Marry,” and “The Masquerade is Over.” Clearly, like the artist she is, her versions are not imitations—she honors Wilson by building on what she has done. Compare her version of the title song with Wilson’s and you can hear the emotional difference, and this time she does have a saxophonist, Jeff Clayton. 

“Dearly Beloved,” is an up tempo gambol which features some fine scatting from Felton and has pianist Cyrus Chestnut and bassist Robert Hurst working their magic. Wes Montgomery’s “West Coast Blues,” which follows the ballad “Only the Young,” offers a change of emotional pace, besides a jazz singer absolutely needs to sing the blues. “Guess Who I Saw Today” is a masterful interpretation of the tune’s misdirection. “I Wish You Love” concludes the set on a high note.

A note to Cynthia Felton—Ethnomusicology is certainly important, but keep the albums coming.

Music Review: Sharon Isbin and Friends-Guitar Passions

Article first published as Music Review: Sharon Isbin and Friends - Guitar Passions on Blogcritics

Equally at home whether she's playing "The House of the Rising Sun" as part of the "Joan Baez Suite" or the Vivaldi Concerto in D major, celebrated classical guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin has never limited herself to any one particular repertoire, and that's a lucky thing for music lovers of all tastes. Her eclecticism has produced an awful lot of spectacular music that might never otherwise have seen the light of day, and her latest effort, Guitar Passions in which she joins with some of her guitar playing buddies in a kind of homage to the instrument, is just one more joyful expression of the woman's enviable range. It is a recording, she explains in the liner notes, in which "I pay tribute to my guitar heroes, artists that I admire from the classical, rock and jazz worlds. . . . It is our shared passion for the guitar and for musical discovery that brings us together."

Joining her on various tracks in this tribute to the guitar are Stanley Jordan, Steve Morse, Romero Lubambo, Nancy Wilson, Steve Vai, Rosa Passos, Guadencio Thiago de Mello and Paul Winter. Sometimes in collaboration, sometimes on her own, Isbin offers twelve tracks inspired by South American and Spanish roots, seven of which are premieres. All in all it is a collection of a dozen pieces, each one a gem.

That said, if one has to pick out favorites, the world premiere of Laurindo Almeida's arrangement of the absolutely transcendent Adagio from what is probably the greatest piece for the classical guitar, certainly the best known, Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez played by Isbin, Lubambo and Morse stands out. It is a fusion of classical, jazz and a pinch of rock that is indeed a tribute to the great composer. Isbin's acclaimed lyricism is on display in the Wilson sisters "Dreamboat Annie" with a vocal by Nancy, the two pieces from "La Catedral, and in Jorge Cardoso's soulful guitar setting of "Alphonsina y el Mar." Andrés Segovia's transcription of Isaac Albéniz's "Asturias" with its flamenco flavors gives her an opportunity to showcase the dynamic power of her playing.

She and Jordan join in a premiere of a two part guitar setting of "Sonidos de aquel dia" a solo guitar piece by Quique Sinesi, an Argentinian composer. De Mello's jaunty uptempo "O Presidente has a folk quality which she says "evokes the colorful sounds of the rain forest." She is joined on the track by Paul Winter on soprano sax and de Mello's organic percussion. Organic percussion refers to instruments de Mello has fashioned out of materials found in the jungle and is also featured on "Carinhoso." Singer/ guitarist Rosa Passos who does the vocal also wrote the guitar accompaniment. The guitar solos which open and close the song were arranged by Carlos Barbosa-Lima. Steve Vai improvises on Paraguayan composer Augustin Barrios Mangoré's "Allegro" and Romero Lubambo collaborate on adapting and performing Barbosa-Lima's arrangement of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Chovendo na Roseira."

Guitar Passions is an album filled with the work of some of the finest composers and arrangers for the instrument. Sharon Isbin and her friends not only play with skill, they imbue that work with passion and excitement. This is an album that won’t grow old.

DVD Revivew: Heart, Night at Sky Church

Article first published as Music DVD Review: Heart - Night at Sky Church on Blogcritics.

If the March 2010 Heart concert, Night at Sky Church now available on DVD is any indication, the seventies rocking sisters may be showing their age, but they can still rock with the best of them. Ann Wilson's voice can be as thrilling as it ever was, and Nancy is equally adept playing the band’s hard rock standards as well as its softer departures. The eighty eight minute concert features a nice mix of the group's classic hits and new songs from their 2010 album, Red Velvet Car, along with a guest appearance by blue grass diva Alison Krauss. Besides the Wilson sisters, the band includes Craig Bartock on guitar, Kristian Attard on bass, Debbie Shair, keyboards, and Ben Smith on drums.

They open the set with a hard driving "Baracuda" followed by "Never" and close with a crowd pleasing trio of their other major hits: "What About Love," "Alone," and "Crazy On You." They save "Magic Man" for the last of two encores. The other encore is "Sand," a quiet duet for Ann and Nancy which was written back in the '90's for the sister's acoustic group, the Lovemongers and is included on the new album. Earlier they had played four other pieces from that new CD, the title song, "Red Velvet Car," "WTF," "Hey You," and "Safronia's Mark." Alison Krauss and Ben Mink joined with the band on the fiddle on the last of these. Krauss comes on to sing Heart's "These Dreams" and then they back her up in a high powered rendition of her own "Your Long Journey." "Straight On" and "Mistral Wind" from the Dog and Butterfly album and "Love Alive" complete the concert. There are two bonus songs: "Back to Avalon" and "Kick it Out." Both seem to have been shot from the concert and I'm not clear about why they were separated. The first features a vocal by Nancy. The second is a rocker for Ann.

Highlights include "Mistral Wind" which begins with a discordant guitar solo introduction and a soft folksy vocal and builds to a hard rocking crescendo, and the ballad "Hey You" which features Nancy Wilson singing and playing the autoharp. Ann's work on the classic hits is electric. It is impossible to single one or two out for praise. Each one is better than the other. She has a voice that thrills and the concert audience eats it up. It is clear why Heart was so popular back in the day; it is clear why they are so popular still. Krauss, as one would expect, does a beautiful job with her two songs.

There are those concert films that are very static. It is as though it were simply enough for a camera or two to be pointed at the band on the stage to capture the essence of the performance. Night at Sky Church is not one of those. The camera work here is in a word fantastic. There is constant movement, movement that echoes the excitement of the music and the excitement of the audience. The camera moves between long shots of the band to close ups of individual musicians. Camera angles change: they shoot from above, from below, from the side. They zoom in; they zoom out. There are split screens and super imposed shots. It is camera work that truly enhances the experience of the concert and the two men credited with the photographic direction, Champe Barton and Steve Gibby, deserve some love.

Publicity for the DVD release includes this from pop singer Katy Perry: "Ann and Nancy have always been and continue to be the best female rock vocalists I've ever heard live. They could sing the phone book, and I would still listen." Perry is right. This concert is proof. Get out the Yellow Pages and let's see what these hard rocking ladies can do.