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Van Morrison: “Moving On Skiffle” | Joe Lovano: “Our Daily Bread” | Carmell Jones: “The Remarkable Carmell Jones”
May 2023
Van Morrison: Moving On Skiffle
Exile / Virgin Music 2448191410
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
If you’re a Van Morrison fan, you get used to the singer’s crankiness, but he probably pushed a little too hard on two recent outings—Latest Record Project, Volume 1 (2021) and What’s It Gonna Take? (2022). Van was mad that he couldn’t tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic and went after everyone from government officials to the media. He released the first album during the worst of the pandemic and received some blowback; some of it deserved, some unfair.
Even a longtime Van devotee has his limits, though, and while I’ll acknowledge that What’s It Gonna Take? was well crafted, I was worn out by the pandemic and didn’t really want to hear another LP’s worth of Morrison’s grousing about it. I was very pleased that with Moving On Skiffle, Morrison has decided to leave behind the fact that COVID-19 inconvenienced him.
Skiffle is a combination of folk music, blues, country, and jazz, played on acoustic instruments. The genre became very popular in the UK during the 1950s and inspired many of the musicians who later became part of North America’s British Invasion. Morrison has revisited the genre before, on The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast (2000), which featured guests Lonnie Donegan (Scotland’s “King of Skiffle”) and English jazz trombonist Chris Barber.
That album followed the skiffle traditions by using mostly acoustic instruments, while Moving On Skiffle uses the genre as a point of inspiration. Morrison has reimagined the 23 tracks on the album, arranging them for his band and molding them to his own style. “Freight Train,” an American folk song written in the early 20th century by Elizabeth Cotten that was taken up by skiffle artists, becomes a swinging blues rave-up driven by Richard Dunn’s Hammond organ. “Careless Love,” on the other hand, is old-style C&W and features a sterling slide-guitar solo by Dave Keary.
Of the 23 songs on Moving On Skiffle, roughly half are traditionals, while the others are old blues and country tunes that became part of the skiffle movement. Morrison interprets all of them in ways that embrace his varied influences. Leroy Carr’s “In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down” is medium-tempo, gospel-infused blues here, while “Worried Man Blues” becomes a Jerry Lee Lewis–style rocker with a wailing piano from Stuart McIlroy.
Morrison and his musicians do a take on “I’m Movin’ On” that leans toward Ray Charles’s cover of the song rather than the Hank Snow original, while they turn Jimmie Rodgers’s “Travelin’ Blues” into honky-tonk country. Morrison’s affection for Hank Williams shows itself in two of the great singer-songwriter’s tunes. “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” takes a page from Nashville’s past, while “Cold Cold Heart” is western swing. The band’s versatility is on display throughout Moving On Skiffle, and the backup singers switch gears easily between rock, country, and gospel.
Morrison rewrote the lyrics to the traditional folk song “Mama Don’t Allow” and changed the title to “Gov Don’t Allow.” He avoids the anger of his last couple of albums, though, and the song shows a light touch and even some humor. Morrison’s playful vocal is propelled by the band’s enthusiastic backing. Van Morrison began a solid run of albums in 2016 with Keep Me Singing, and not only is he back on track with Moving On Skiffle, he even seems to be enjoying himself.
Joe Lovano: Our Daily Bread
ECM Records ECM 2777
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Our Daily Bread is Joe Lovano’s third album for ECM Records as leader of Trio Tapestry, which includes pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Carmen Castaldi. Lovano’s liner notes for the group’s previous album, Garden of Expression (2021), describe its methods: “This is not a band that starts from the beat. The momentum is in the melody and the harmonic sequence. And rhythm evolves within each piece in a very free flowing manner.”
Crispell opens “All Twelve” on the new disc with a sequence of minor-scale lines. Castaldi falls in behind her, adding counterpoint rather than a firm rhythmic foundation. As Lovano begins to play, Crispell gives harmonic shape to the music as she weaves chords into her melodic lines. The three musicians build on the core themes stated in the opening, varying their playing in intensity and force.
Castaldi uses cymbals and temple bells on “Grace Notes” to set a spiritual, meditative mood. Crispell’s arpeggios and chord runs carry suggestions of a raga, but veer occasionally into American gospel music. Lovano plays both tenor sax and tárogató, an Eastern European reed instrument that has some of the tonal character of a soprano sax. The piece moves through several motifs, each creating a unique emotional space.
Each of Lovano’s compositions on Our Daily Bread follows a different path. The title track is airy, pastoral, and bright, with Crispell’s melody lines floating effortlessly. “The Power of Three,” on the other hand, is jagged and emphatic. “One for Charlie” is Lovano’s tribute to the great bassist Charlie Haden. Lovano plays the piece solo, and he expresses a sense of deep respect, as well as grief at the loss of a musician with whom he had a long history.
The three musicians interact intuitively, letting Lovano’s evocative compositions guide them. Castaldi provides color and shape for the pieces, and Crispell alternates between expansive chording and simpler intervals that provide firm support for Lovano’s excursions. Her own solos are also affecting and well developed.
The sound on Our Daily Bread is outstanding, in keeping with ECM’s high standards (the album is also available on LP and CD). The trio recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano, Switzerland, and the level of detail is often breathtaking. Lovano’s saxophone is three-dimensional and vivid, Crispell’s piano resonates soundly, and the smallest details of Castaldi’s percussion and drums are easily audible.
The music on Our Daily Bread, which is improvisational but hard to classify, is at home at ECM; the label has a long history of allowing musicians like Joe Lovano to take risks.
Carmell Jones: The Remarkable Carmell Jones
Pacific Jazz / Blue Note /UMG Stereo-29/B0034579-01
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Carmell Jones is probably best known to jazz fans as the trumpet player on Horace Silver’s 1965 jazz classic, Song for My Father. He appeared as a sideman on several recordings in the early to mid-1960s, and released four albums as a leader: three for Pacific Jazz, and one for Prestige. He chose to move to Europe in 1965; had Jones stayed in North America, he likely would have enjoyed wider popularity.
The Tone Poet release of The Remarkable Carmell Jones brings his 1961 debut for Pacific Jazz back into circulation. Jones is accompanied on the session by tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Frank Strazzeri, drummer Leon Pettis, and bassist Gary Peacock.
“I’m Gonna Go Fishing,” an 11-minute exploration of a Duke Ellington song, gives the LP a strong lift-off, with Jones and Land stating the theme before Jones launches into a beautifully developed solo. His tone is clear, his ideas well developed and confident, and every note is firmly articulated. Land’s solo is exciting and bold, and Strazzeri’s is flowing and bluesy. Peacock’s feature is energetic and fiery, and the piece then moves into a satisfying exchange between Jones and Land before returning to the opening theme.
Jones wrote the solidly swinging “Sad March” and the beautiful ballad “Stellisa.” The first is reminiscent of Lee Morgan’s hard-bop writing for Blue Note. Like Morgan, Jones plays with strong technique and a steady flow of ideas that are both smart and deeply felt. Land’s solo is animated and gritty, while Strazzeri’s is understated and melodic. “Stellisa” demonstrates Jones’s melodic inventiveness and sensitivity with a ballad. His clear statement of notes and his firm hold on even his quickest lines are often astonishing, but he never loses sight of where he is heading melodically.
When I compared this new pressing with my CD copy of The Remarkable Carmell Jones, which is included in a 2003 Mosaic Select set of Jones’s recordings for Pacific Jazz, I was struck immediately by the amount of room Kevin Gray’s new remaster gave to individual instruments. The soundstage was wider and allowed each player’s contributions to reach my ears better. There was also much more low-frequency power—I felt as if I were truly hearing Peacock’s extraordinary bass work in its full glory. I also noted that the channels were reversed. A quick email to UMG confirmed that Gray’s master was correct in this respect.
As with all Tone Poet releases, The Remarkable Carmell Jones is beautifully pressed at RTI and packaged in a heavy-cardboard cover with tipped-on artwork. What’s most important about this release is that it restores a vital piece of jazz history.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
An Interview with Producer Joe Harley
May 2023
If you want a good example of vinyl’s healthy return as a format, take a look at Blue Note’s Tone Poet reissue series. Jazz lovers have embraced it, despite the slightly higher costs. The Tone Poet LPs are mastered to an audiophile standard and the packaging reflects the care everyone has taken in presenting the great Blue Note and Pacific Jazz titles in the series. The covers are made of heavy cardboard, with tipped-on, laminated artwork prepared by Stoughton Printing. Most of the covers are gatefolds, with photos from the original sessions. Record Technology Incorporated, one of the best vinyl plants in the world, presses the 180gm LPs.
How Good Can the Focal Utopia Headphones Make Remarkable Recordings Sound?
May 2023
For most of my “Art+Tech” columns so far I’ve led with the music. More often than not, I’ve used the art to see how well a piece of technology can reproduce it.
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GoGo Penguin: “Everything Is Going to Be OK” | Vince Mendoza and the Metropole Orkest: “Olympians” | En Attendant Ana: “Principia”
April 2023
GoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going to Be OK
XXIM Records
Format: 24-bit/48kHz WAV download
Musical Performance
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GoGo Penguin’s new album, Everything Is Going to Be OK, arrived April 14 on CD, LP, and download, about nine months after the band’s EP Between Two Waves was released. Like that EP—the band's first record since moving to Sony’s XXIM Records—the LP features the band’s new drummer, Jon Scott, and integrates the occasional synthesizer in the mix. The trio has used studio technology to alter and process its sound in the past, but now it has embraced electronic keyboards to help it move in some new directions.
Looking Back 50 Years with Wadada Leo Smith and the NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
April 2023
Composer Wayne Shorter died on March 2 this year, at the age of 89. Along with the release of a massive, career-capping biography of fellow saxophone giant Sonny Rollins, this is a landmark—the symbolic end of a jazz era studded with remarkable iconoclasts. Miles. Monk. Trane. Wayne. Sonny. We all know their unique sounds; hearing them in our heads as soon as those single names pass the lips.
James Brown, Curated
April 2023
“James Brown was born to lose. He refused to accept that fate.” Those words begin the biography of the Godfather of Soul included in the booklet that accompanied Star Time (1991), a four-CD anthology that presents a comprehensive overview of Brown’s career. Harry Weinger and Cliff White continue the story: “Brown was determined to be Somebody. He called himself ‘Mr. Dynamite’ before his first Pop hit, and ‘The Hardest Working Man in Show Business’ before the business knew his name.”
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Ralph Towner: “At First Light” | Ralph Alessi Quartet: “It’s Always Now”
March 2023
Ralph Towner: “At First Light”
ECM Records / Universal Music
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
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Ralph Alessi Quartet: “It’s Always Now”
ECM Records / Universal Music
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV download
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
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Although ECM Records has released its share of music by European jazz musicians, the label has also given exposure to American musicians since it was established by Manfred Eicher in 1969. The label’s first release was pianist Mal Waldron’s Free at Last (1970). Keith Jarrett’s solo piano recordings for the label increased his popularity and ensured the label’s financial viability, and his Standards Trio recordings with ECM reaffirmed his place in the jazz pantheon. Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Charles Lloyd, and Peter Erskine all made fine recordings for ECM.
Vinyl's Growing (or Not Growing) Pains
March 2023
I’m on the email list for the writer Ted Gioia, who maintains a Substack blog publication called The Honest Broker. Gioia’s list of accomplishments is long—he is a music historian whose many books, including The History of Jazz (in its third edition as of 2021) and Music: A Subversive History (2019), are well regarded. Gioia has also written many music reviews, and, for a time, owned a record label. His fiction reviews are also well worth reading, but they seem to have migrated to The Honest Broker, which is a pay site.
Vintage Improvisation Meets Contemporary Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 Powered Speakers
March 2023
This is a story about creativity, power, and choice. It’s also about breaking from what’s expected and taking a risk in new territory.
Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding: "Alive at the Village Vanguard"
February 2023
Palmetto Records PM2208CD
Format: CD
Musical Performance
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Esperanza Spalding is a genre-defying musician with a strong foundation in jazz. Fred Hersch is a pianist and composer with an extensive discography as leader and sideman. His playing shows great sensitivity and beauty, and he brings a unique interpretive touch to the work of other composers. He asked Spalding to join him at the Village Vanguard for four nights in October 2018. He assumed she would be playing bass, but instead Spalding chose to focus on singing, with Hersch accompanying.
Experience "Xperience" Anew
February 2023
Music is the reason for high-end audio. I still recall the first time I heard music on something that was better quality than the stereo console my parents owned. When I was in high school, I knew a keyboard player who worked part-time in an electronics supply shop. He convinced the owner, who might have been his dad—we’re going back quite a few years so the details are a bit fuzzy—to let him set up an audio shop in a section of the store.
For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
February 2023
When the user’s manual for a desktop DAC has 68 pages—68 pages of very small type—you know you’re not dealing with just another digital-to-analog converter. At $1299 (all prices in USD), RME’s ADI-2 DAC FS isn’t priced like most of its competitors, either. I slid it into the place normally filled by my $199 iFi Audio Zen DAC V2, between my iPad Pro and my Focal Alpha Evo 50 studio monitors.
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Uni Boys: "Do It All Next Week"
January 2023
Curation Records
Format: 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC download
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Uni Boys is a rock’n’roll quartet from Southern California whose crunchy, guitar-based power pop combines sophisticated songwriting with garage-band edginess. The group recorded two DIY albums that gained a following and impressed Los Angeles label Curation Records, which intended to give those recordings an official release. The group instead persuaded the label to release an album of new recordings, and Do It All Next Week hit streaming services a couple of months ago. Vinyl and CD releases will follow this month.
Making Records: Blue Sprocket Pressing Plant Tour
January 2023
Harrisonburg, Virginia, is a city of 52,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, about two hours from Washington, DC. Roughly an hour from Charlottesville, Virginia, where you can visit Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and another Jeffersonian attraction, the University of Virginia, Harrisonburg itself is home to two well-established colleges: James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University. James Madison is a public university of over 21,000 students, while EMU is private and has about 1200 students.
