Here’s part two of a journey through the stack of CDs on my desk. Part one appeared in the Sound Check section last weekend and there’s more to come, so stay tuned.
Amsterdam’s Lefties Soul Connection is about to release “Skimming the Skum,” a mostly instrumental collection of gritty funk, in the style of New Orleans’ legendary outfit The Meters, with some guitar work that Steve Cropper would be proud of. At times, you might even think of ‘80s Brits The Brand New Heavies. But this organ-fueled music gets just about the best praise possible; The Meters’ Leo Nocentelli says, “This group receives the stamp of approval from me, Leo Nocentelli, guitarist of The Meters, and also, I think they should receive the stamp of approval from the world.” Out in June on Melting Pot Music (via Caroline).
Jack Grassel and I talked about Andrew Hill’s “Compulsion” reissue on Blue Note last week, but the label also reissued five other discs at the same time. Most interesting to me is Jackie McLean’s “New and Old Gospel,” a mix of “the new thing” and some slightly left of center gospel-fueled numbers on which Ornette Coleman controversially appeared playing trumpet. It’s an interesting 1968 record that exists on the borders of “the old thing” and “the new thing.”
I also enjoy Thad Jones’ “Detroit-New York Junction,” a 1956 session, especially for Kenny Burrell’s always tasteful and always bluesy guitar playing. With Monk’s Shadow Wilson on drums, veteran bassist Oscar Pettiford and pianist Tommy Flanagan joining trumpeter Jones and tenor man Billy Mitchell, this was really an all-star date.
Art Taylor’s 1960 “AT’s Delight” and Donald Byrd’s “The Cat Walk” from the following year are solid, if not landmark, Blue Note sets and are required listening for all jazz fans for their fine musicianship and tight selection of material.
Finally, this batch of Rudy Van Gelder Series discs wraps with a reissue of a 1965 Dexter Gordon session first issued in 1979. “Clubhouse” finds Dexter alongside trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Barry Harris, drummer Billy Higgins and bassists Ben Tucker and Bob Cranshaw. If the music elicited doubt on the part of label bosses Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, it remains a document of where Gordon was during the first few years of his residency in Europe (he left the U.S. in ’62) and it has some fine moments, such as on the opener. “Hanky Panky”
“Terrestre,” the most recent studio effort from Turin, Italy’s Subsonica was a pitch perfect mix of melodic rock and roll wedded to technology and dance music. The band took to the road in support of it and recorded at least some of the dates to create the new “Terrestre Live,” a budget-priced two-disc set. The first has live readings of (mostly) songs from “Terrestre” and they’re spirited but not necessarily as essential as the originals. The real gems are on disc two. Acoustic versions of “Tutti i miei sbagli” and "Preso blu” are fabulously evocative and the latter, along with a cover of Lee Perry’s “Chase the Devil,” show that these European rockers are not too shabby when it comes to reggae, either.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
