Album Reviews

From his days as a Youtube sensation until now, Collier has been labelled as many things, most of which are positive. That statement of course leaves room for the negative. Despite making leaps and bounds as a producer and performer (check out the logic session breakdown for “All I Need”), there remains a fair few who long to see him fulfill his potential as a writer. After hearing Collier’s latest release, Djesse Vol. 3, I must say I share those same feelings.

A young James Taylor arrived on the crowded late ‘60’s musical scene a mature, fully formed artist. His voice was unique, rich-sounding and immediately identifiable, as was his acoustic guitar playing. His songwriting was accomplished both lyrically and melodically well beyond his 20 years.

Samara Joy, a mere 25 years old, has ascended to extraordinary heights in the jazz world — and rightly so. Raised in a family of gospel singers but nurtured on a diet of contemporary pop and jazz, Joy’s vocal prowess is astonishing. Her contralto-to-soprano range — soaring from hushed whispers to clarion calls — is as breathtaking as a hummingbird darting from flower to flower. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see how Portrait, her second LP on Verve, showcases her singular vocal talent on vinyl. . .

In the mid-‘70s when Joni Mitchell applied the glossy red lipstick and abandoned the bucolic but spent Laurel Canyon hippie scene, it was the end of an era, and for some fans, the end of the their love affair with Joni Mitchell. Many felt betrayed—as if she’d decided to grow up while they desperately clung to their youthful, Peter Pan-ish ‘60’s idealism. The sense of abandonment and estrangement was palpable. Thirty years later artists like Neil Young prove it is possible to maintain the ‘60s zeal and ideal—at least esthetically—while this superb DVD documenting Mitchell’s musical growth and her ability to keep up with and indeed lead some of the best jazz artists of the time, proves that it’s also possible for an artist to shift musical directions 360 degrees while remaining true to core values.

This 1957 set spotlights the obscure Chicago alto sax hard bop player John Jenkins who led but one Blue Note session and three altogether in his short recording career, which he ended in the early '60s. 

“Any chimp can play human for a day/and use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform/and run for office on election day/and fancy himself a real decision maker/then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker,” Jenny Lewis sings with a droll lilt on “It's a Hit,” this album's catchy opener. Hmm. I wonder who she's singing about?