World Music - CD Reviews (427)
Ten Tunes is a loose and playful recording. The band hints at a multitude of styles; they touch on rock, country and funk, as well as Middle Eastern and Latin music, all within a jazz context. Despite the group's eclectic influences, Ten Songs works well as a cohesive whole. This…
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In a day and age when most musical artists become prisoners of stilted genre-defining labels, Argentinean Florencia Ruiz eschews categorization. On her first U.S. release Luz de La Noche (Light of the Night), a studio recording from Adventure Music, Ruiz blends rock, jazz, and MPB elements to forge a truly…
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In a day and age when most musical artists become prisoners of stilted genre-defining labels, Argentinean Florencia Ruiz eschews categorization. On her first U.S. release Luz de La Noche (Light of the Night), a studio recording from Adventure Music, Ruiz blends rock, jazz, and MPB elements to forge a truly…
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"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." Sometimes you just need to get away... Oscar Peñas lives the musical irony having left his native Spain and come to what is fast becoming the epicenter of global jazz in order to compose for From Now On.…
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Often cited as Egypt's Ambassador of Rhythm, all-universe percussionist Hossam Ramzy assembles a true, world-fusion gala, featuring virtuoso percussionists integrating Eastern and Western modalities into an all-inclusive celebration. Framed by alternating personnel on a per-track basis, Ramzy is the central force behind these sessions. Augmented by instrumentalists employing keys, guitars,…
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Any duet album featuring Brazilian string masters Yamandu Costa and Hamilton de Holanda is worth taking note, and for enthusiasts who have been following these two consummate instrumentalists, the 2008 São Paulo recording "Live!" on Adventure Music represents another gem to add to the Brazilian duet canon.
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If one plays the sitar, pygmy sitar, electric sitar, tanpura, as well as the guitar-zither, piano and Fender Rhodes, a career as a jazz musician is usually not the first thing an audience would expect to hear. That is, however, precisely the direction Jonathan Mayer has embarked on. Mayer is…
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Composer, guitarist, harpsichordist, performer on the chumbuz and langspil, as well as music conceptualist Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson is from Reykjavik, Iceland. His background includes time studying composition at Mills College with forward thinkers Alvin Curran, Fred Frith and John Bischoff, as well as time studying in Iceland with Atli Ingólfsson…
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Featuring a stellar cast of Brooklyn-based musicians, G.R.A.S.S.—the Gowanus Reggae and Ska Society—take on the challenge of reworking the classic sounds of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Their self produced release, G.R.A.S.S. on Fire brings an instrumental, jazz leaning perspective to Marley's 1973 major label debut Catch a Fire. Although…
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Unsung is a music collaboration between vocalist Vanessa Fernandez and guitarist Steve Wright. Wright sound have influences of smooth jazz guitar players like George Benson. Vanessa’s voice sounds at time like singer Sade especially on songs like Thinkin it lately, an interesting composition with African percussive rhythms of Steve Wright…
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Prana Trio is actually the duo of vocalist Sunny Kim and multi-percussionist Brian Adler. Their stunningly original CD, “The Singing Image of Fire,” is one of the best things I've heard in the music + poetry realm in many years. I was going to call this a 'spoken word' CD,…
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Unsung is a music collaboration between vocalist Vanessa Fernandez and guitarist Steve Wright. Wright sound have influences of smooth jazz guitar players like George Ben…
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Prana Trio is actually the duo of vocalist Sunny Kim and multi-percussionist Brian Adler. Their stunningly original CD, "The Singing Image of Fire," is one of the …
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Dorival Caymmi, one of the best brazilian songwriters, is to samba what Tom Jobim is to Bossa Nova. Some of the best sambas ever written are from Dorival Caymmi, and I c…
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In the world of Jazz some artists dedicate their careers to keep the tradition recording new versions of jazz classics. Others, like Martin Loyato keep pushing the genre…
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Airborne appears again in the spotlight with his recent, New Horizons, an original patchwork of classic pop forms and world music. Its language is constructed, …
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Dorival Caymmi, one of the best brazilian songwriters, is to samba what Tom Jobim is to Bossa Nova. Some of the best sambas ever written are from Dorival Caymmi, and I can …
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The new release from the notable contemporary jazz group Airborne is titled New Horizons and features smooth jazz guitar, keyboards, and reed instruments in conju…
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Percussionist and composer Brian Adler has worked with artists like Gene Bertoncini, Ran Blake, Frank Carlberg, Anat Fort, Dave "Fuze" Fiuczynski, Erik Lawrence, Kate Mc…
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Progressive-rock and jazz drumming legend Bill Bruford might be basking in retirement, yet continues to operate his Summerfold and Winterfold record labels amid reissues…
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