Auktyon: Girls Sing
Geometriya GEO 012
Format: CD

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And now for something completely different: Russian bohemian speed rock. Frenetic, electric, hyper and hurdy-gurdist, Auktyon made such an impression on American musicians Marc Ribot and John Medeski that those two powerhouses asked to join them in the sessions for their next studio recording. And so Girls Sing was born. Along with Ribot on guitar, Medeski on keys, Frank London on trumpet, and Ned Rothenburg on alto sax, the eight Russian musicians of Auktyon display a musical sensibility that impressively blends folk forms of the old world with the funk forms of the new. While the structure of most of the songs is basically two chords, the direction the musicians then go in is one of creative chaos across the proverbial map. "Rogan Born" is all suspense with a fun, Boris-and-Natasha-esque vibe. It features Medeski on noir piano, and seemingly drunk, angry Russian threats spewed by the vocalist. Conversely, "Tam-Dam" lilts along as dreamily as a butterfly on the breeze. Apparently, Auktyon has been performing and recording, in one form or another, since 1983. I have only two questions: Why haven’t I heard of them before? What the hell are they singing?...Shannon Holliday

Holly Cole: Holly Cole
Koch Koc-CD-4404
Format: CD

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Holly Cole is the Canadian singer’s first recording to be released by a US label since 1997’s Dark Dear Heart. While Cole’s discs can be filed under "Jazz," she’s always sung whatever grabs her -- her third disc, the essential Temptation, was a collection of songs by Tom Waits, and it’s that kind of project that seems to puzzle both record labels and jazz purists. At first, Holly Cole seems like a peace offering to the latter, but Cole does things on her own terms. Her take on Jobim’s "Waters of March" uses an acoustic guitar, but it isn’t bossa nova as much as smart pop. "The House Is Haunted by the Echo of Your Last Goodbye" has the snap of Mel Tormé’s original, but the New Orleans-style arrangement adds a hint of melancholy. The arrangements, by Gil Goldstein and Marty Ehrlich, are complex and often darkly beautiful, but it’s Cole’s voice and her subtle interpretive skills that make an old chestnut like Michel Legrand’s "I Will Wait for You" sound fresh. Listen to her simple, emotionally effective version of Irving Berlin’s "Be Careful, It’s My Heart" and try to figure out, as I do, why kudos and record sales go to singers far less deserving of them….Joseph Taylor

Caribbean Jazz Project: Afro Bop Alliance
Heads Up HUCD 3137
Format: CD

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From original material by project founder and vibe and marimba player Dave Samuels, to jazz standards by Thelonious Monk, Oliver Nelson, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane, the Caribbean Jazz Project is not your run-of-the-mill Latin-jazz copy band melding bossa nova with Bill Evans in smooth-jazz style. No, Samuels and company play pure big-band bop overlaid with characteristic Latin jazz beats, mixing the two as if they’d always been together. They do this with flair, and an infectious sense of fun that will grab your attention and have you thinking they’ve somehow managed to transplant New York City to Cuba. For an example of their joie de vivre, listen to how alto saxophonist Steve Williams bristles with fresh ideas on John Coltrane’s "Naima." This big band’s various voices can each be heard in sparkling detail thanks to Bob Dawson’s superb engineering: The Project is spread out on a wide, deep soundstage, and the mix lets you clearly hear each instrument’s tone and timbre. From first note to last, Afro Bop Alliance will grab you, then have you simultaneously reaching for the Repeat button and the phone -- to call your audio buddies….John Crossett

Jamshied Sharifi: One
Ceres CER001
Format: CD

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For One, Jamshied Sharifi gathered musicians from the US, Iran, India, Africa, Ireland, and Tibet. In the studio, they erased the boundaries and oceans that separate their homelands, to create music with a message of limitless creative and spiritual freedom and sacred oneness. "One" opens the album with grace and power, the voices of Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and Malian vocalist Abdoulaye Diabaté lilting and weaving in intricate chant around an array of instruments that ranges from horns, wood flute, and oud to gourds, hand drums, and synthesizer (Sharifi’s primary instrument). Throughout, One boasts lush, layered arrangements and ambient swells as Sharifi and his collaborators explore the beauty, sadness, grace, and wonder that unite us all. The closing track, "Requiem," is a poignant tribute to those who died on September 11, 2001, while "Darfur Is Burning," sung by Diabaté, is an impassioned plea to focus awareness on a country now ablaze with genocidal war. This disc’s 11 songs tell 1001 tales, but the ultimate theme can be traced to that of just one….Shannon Holliday

Interstate Cowboy: There’s a Road
Ranch Ruckus RRR 2007
Format: CD

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On their website, Interstate Cowboy describes their music as "Great Western Swing, Americana, and Rockabilly." While the band’s music does contain all of those elements, the description doesn’t capture how original they are. Tim Champlin, the band’s lead singer and songwriter, combines American roots music in surprising ways, evoking Bob Wills one moment, Buck Owens the next, then Little Feat, yet never pinning himself down to anything but writing a good song. The rest of the band is rock-solid, especially pedal-steel player Dick Meis and guitarist Grant Gordy, who’s learned a few things from Eldon Shamblin (Wills’s great guitarist) and Wes Montgomery. The band’s instrumental version of the Gershwins’ "Lady Be Good" is full of wit and fire, and I like to think Johnny Mercer would have enjoyed their turn on his "I’m an Old Cowhand." Champlin can write a traditional country song with the best of them, but his most original tunes ("I Got Nothin’," "There’s a Road") are tougher to peg -- and, once you’ve heard them, even tougher to get out of your head. The recording is admirably clean, spacious, and dynamic. Next time around, trimming a little fat (do we really need another rendition of "Frankie & Johnny"?) will make for a more consistent disc….Joseph Taylor