The Stanley
Clarke Band – The Message
Bassist
Stanley Clarke is right on message here – serving up the kind of cosmic sounds
and soulful styles that he first brought to his music many years back! This
time around, Clarke's got some great help onboard – keyboardist Cameron Graves,
who we've really loved from his own recent work – really soaring alongside
Stanley's always-deft work on electric bass – more dynamic here than we might
have expected, and also given some strong direction from drummer Mike Mitchell.
Beka Gochiashvili plays acoustic piano in the core quartet – and the album also
features contributions from Skyeler Kole, Steve Blum, and Trevor Wesley on
vocals – and Doug E Fresh on a bit of beatbox too! There's lots of surprises
along the way, and titles include "The Rugged Truth", "Lost In A
World", "Enzo's Theme", "To Be Alive", "And Ya
Know We're Missing You", "Combat Continuum", and "After The
Cosmic Rain/Dance Of The Planetary Prince". ~ Dusty Groove
Girl Named
Nino – Moonlight Daughter
Captivating,
genre-defying indie soul from Girl Named Nino – a girl originally from Tbilisi,
Georgia who has long called the Chicago area home, has a sound as far reaching
as her travels, but it still feels intimate and personal! Her voice is
front-and-center throughout Moonlight Daughter, in both the vocals and in the
distinctive songcraft, and it's strong on both fronts. As a singer, she has a
way of balancing classic jazz vocal influences with more modern soul,
global/multi-lingual pop and even a bit of hip hop. Likewise with the songs and
the production. Nino and partner Pablo Gordy – who together handle all of the
writing, arranging, production and instrumentation – have this knack for
layering styles and sounds, but with such strong songwriting core, they can no
doubt play even the most lushly-produced songs here in a stripped down setting
without losing the heart and soul of it. Titles include "Moonlight
Daughter (Flowers To The Moon)", "Whiskey & Cigarettes
(Chaser)", "Little Lady (Keep Your Lights On)", "Four
Letter Words (Siren)", "The Revolution (Lost At The Bazaaar)",
"Jukebox Joint (Heard You, Watched You)", "As We Love (Asa Nisi
Masa", "Valentine" and "Deda (Mother)". ~ Dusty Groove
Leata
Galloway - Tenderly
Leata
Galloway is a name you might recognize from a classic soul album in the 80s –
but here, the singer's moved into quite strong jazz vocal territory – working
with small combo backings on most numbers, and working through a set of classic
tracks that all have a very nice vibe! The shift is quite a surprise from
Leata's earlier work – and it's great to hear that raspy, crackling style in a
mode that's much more unadorned – with plenty of warm basslines from Larry
Ball, who co-produced and arranged the set with Galloway – and musicians who
include Phil Upchurch on guitar, Frank Zatoli on piano, and Ron Brown on tenor.
Titles include "All Blues", "Moondance/Fever",
"Desafinado", "I Want To Be Loved", "Yeah Yeah",
"Tenderly", "Stella By Starlight", and an excellent version
of Ahmad Jamal's "Ahmad's Blues". ~ Dusty Groove
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