Album Reviews

The Cuban born, classically trained jazz pianist Elio Villafranca plays in a lyrical, yet not quite florid style that moves from Latin style fiery and dramatic one moment to deeply introspective and abstract the next.

Not one Hollies hit is among the twenty songs on this ten 45rpm 7" box set and that's the best part!

Street playing string bands played some of the best music I heard at this year's SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. The Carolina Chocolate Drops out of Durham, North Carolina are one of the few African-American string bands plying the trade today. The trio plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, bones (yes, bones) and other traditional instruments on this 10"  four tune EP. The group had a Grammy Award® winning album for "best traditional folk album" with their 2010 CD release "Genuine Negro Jig" also on Nonesuch.

A Ken Burns ten part PBS special will project itself onto your inner movie screen as Pat Conte plays on 19th century fiddle and banjo and occasionally vocalizes a set of old American tunes the accompanying press release describes as "old-time, primitive blues and archaic songs...". 

The prolific, smoky-voiced Irish folk/rock singer Eleanor McEvoy has had an almost twenty year recording career, first on major labels, where she enjoyed mainstream success but after getting caught in an excess of red tape, she extricated herself and began recording for independents.  

As the liner notes point out, there’s nothing inauthentic about a Swiss composer conducting a Swiss orchestra performing a ballet written by a Spaniard.

Talk about a confusing pedigree: though the jacket reproduces an "electronically reprocessed for stereo" edition of this album, the tape used is  mono, thank goodness.