Don Pullen Album Bridges Jazz, Native American Music
Don Pullen “Sacred Common Ground” - Blue Note
When pianist/composer Don Pullen recorded these tracks just weeks before his untimely death last year, the common ground he was seeking bridged Native American music and his own globally informed style of progressive jazz. Pullen’s band, the African Brazilian Connection, is matched with the vocal/drum performances of the Chief Cliff Singers, drawn from the Kootenai and Salish tribes of Montana’s Flathead Reservation. “The Eagle Staff is First” turns Native American chant into a loping jazz stomp, and Pullen at his most percussively dissonant blends smoothly with Indian tradition on “Message in Smoke.” Native American vocals frame the sweetly melancholy piano theme of “Common Ground,” and the punchy “Reservation Blues” marks another abrupt transition between two disparate musics.
Andy Summers “Synaesthesia” - CMP
Well-traveled guitarist delivers one of the most cohesive, inspired works of his career in this all-instrumental album of electric-guitar music. By turns melodic, atmospheric and atonal, Summer’s dabblings range from lush textures like the ones he imparted to such Police classics as “Driven to Tears” to contrapuntal beauty reminiscent of his first collaboration with Robert Fripp, “I Advance Masked.” Highlights of a set that features drummer Ginger Baker, bassist Jerry Watts, keyboardist Mitchell Forman and other top players include the jazzy, revved-up “Monk Hangs Ten,” the Easterninfluenced “Umbrellas Over Java” and the haunting title track.
The Stylistics “Love Is Back in Style” - Marathon/Bellmark
Veteran soul collective scales back to a trio and issues sounds that immediately evoke familiar good-time feelings for listeners old enough to remember act’s ‘70s heyday. Set forges few inroads, as group’s signature music style dominates project - a plus or minus, depending on the listener’s point of view. Songs feature unchallenging melodies but should provide nostalgic satisfaction for time-warped adults. Group’s vocals remain as solid as ever, highlighted by falsetto leads that are refreshing, given pervasive climate of sameness in mainstream R&B.
Various Artists “Cattle Call: Early Cowboy Music and Its Roots” - Rounder
Riders in the Sky’s Ranger Doug returns to his scholarly roots in presenting this compilation of the development of cowboy music, volume one of Rounder’s historical series “Singing in the Saddle: Seventy Years of Recorded Cowboy Song.”
Bobbie Cryner “Girl of Your Dreams” - MCA
The closest thing country music now has to a true torch singer, Bobbie Cryner singes the grooves with her sophomore album. Not everybody can get away with covering and equaling - if not surpassing - Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” And Cryner’s self-penned songs are evocative short stories on their own.
Michael sweet “Real” - Benson
Former Stryper front man, Michael Sweet’s second solo effort is a more earthy, acoustic-based outing marked by his vocal passion and his penchant for strong songs. Longtime fans will be drawn to the rootsy energy of such tracks as “Second Chance” and “Remember Me,” while Sweet is sure to make new fans on such textured ballads as “Heaven Waits For You” and “The River.”
Riley Lee, Michael Atherton, Michael Askill “Shoalhaven Rise” - Black Sun
This is a promising collaboration between three Australian musicians. Lee Riley, Michael Atherton, and Michael Askill are interested in a global sound, bringing together world percussion, oud, santoor, didgeridoo, the Japanese shakuhachi, and a host of other exotic instruments. They deploy them across a series of compositions and improvisations, including the groove-oriented “Looking South” and the impressionistic melodies of the title piece. They avoid the ethno-kitsch trap, but too much of Shoalhaven Rise has a loose collaborative feel, with some gorgeous instrumental combinations begging for structure.