Christian Scott

Album: Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
Format: CD
Label/Info: Concord CJA 31412-02.
Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's classic studio. Is that a 60s-era Westrex 3D disc cutter pictured inside? Warm and trip-hoppy with hints of Tony Williams' Lifetime.

V/A - Jamaica

Albums: Studio One: Roots - The Original; Vol. 2 and Vol. 3
Format: CD (also on LP)
Soul Jazz SJR CD56, CD114, CD168








While reggae and dub fans may eat this stuff up, there is much more going on here than reverb and riddims. It's certainly Rasta to the core -- representing some of the earliest recordings from Studio One, Jamaica's influential studio -- but this is much more than reggae, with diverse world grooves could easily be found on one of those excellent comps of West African highlife from Analog Africa or Soundway. There's even some American R&B and soul thrown in this rundown (Jamaican stew).

V/A - Moroccan

Album: Gnawa Music of Marrakesh: Night Spirit Masters
Format: CD
Label/Info: AXIOM (Island Records) 314-510 147-2

I recently attended a talk with Nathan Salsburg of the Alan Lomax Archive and Twos & Fews Records who shared some incredible documentary footage of Gnawa musicians in Marrakesh made by filmmaker Caitlin McNally. (Salsburg and Twos & Fews plan to release a CD/DVD set of Gnawa performances later this year. More info here.) His presentation inspired me to track down this 1990 AXIOM disc produced by Bill Laswell, which was supposedly given 4 stars by Rolling Stone. It's all I listen to in the car right now, that is, until the Twos & Fews set comes out.

Blind Willie McTell

Album: The Classic Years 1927-1940

Format: CD

Label/Info: JSP7711A-D (4-disc set)

Indispensable American music. Surprisingly, the overall sound quality on this JSP collection is better than the more expensive Document set (DOCD-5677) covering much of the same material with the added bonus of the 1940 John Lomax recordings. Disc 3, with its bawdy hokum ("Let Me Play With Yo' Yo-Yo") and heartfelt spirituals ("Ain't It Grand to Be a Christian") contains some of my favorite sing-a-longs of all time, particularly the gospel duets with wife Kate McTell recorded in Chicago in 1935 for Decca. It so happens that I do a fairly decent Kate McTell impersonation which adds to the fun.

V/A from VA

Grammy-nominated Virginia Traditions series from the Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum College

Format: LP or CD

While all the BRI releases are worth your while, I'm particularly partial to their blues and African American offerings:

Non-Blues Secular Black Music. BRI LP 001/Global Village CD 1001

Western Piedmont Blues. BRI LP 003/Global Village CD 1003

Tidewater Blues. BRI LP 006/Global Village CD 1006

Southwest Virginia Blues. BRI LP 008/Global Village CD 1008

Granted, this is a highly idiosyncratic blog -- jumping from Q-Tip to Virginia blues -- which I do primarily for my own benefit. I own a lot of blues comps, but these are some of the best regional music collections ever put together. Included are some rare and interesting 78s from the 1920s and '30s, but it is the later stuff -- like the 1970s sessions by Kip Lornell -- that really show off that raggy Piedmont/East Coast style. Contact the good folks at the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum about availability.

Q-Tip

Album: The Renaissance
Format: LP or CD
Label/Info: Universal/Motown

I rarely listen to much new music anymore. Seems like I start to lose interest around 1970. But I really dig this record, which has been in heavy rotation in my car. My kids really like it too. Perhaps I'm just reminiscing about a more naive time when Low End Theory provided my summer soundtrack the year I finished college. Fresh summer beats for an Obama nation on the mend.

The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama

Album: Singing Songs of Praise
Format: CD
Label/Info: CaseQuarter 103

Holy-roller soul from East Central Alabama. While the lineup has changed over six decades, The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro remain one of the last working vocal groups originating during gospel's golden years of the late 1940s and 50s. Assembled from recent studio recordings and live radio broadcasts at WBIL in Tuskegee, the disc contains a good cross section of performances that borrow from the blues and soul as well as sacred influences. Check out other CaseQuarter releases for more of the real deal.

Mississippi Fred McDowell

Album: Live at the Gaslight
Format: CD
Label/Info: Grapeshot/Live Archive GRR 1001

Recorded live November 5, 1971, at The Gaslight Cafe, MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village, New York City; also featuring Tom Pomposello on 2nd guitar. The Mississippi Delta legend's last recording featuring his signature bottleneck style on electric guitar.

Washington Phillips

Album: What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?
Format: LP
Label/Info: Mississippi Records MR-006

Album: The Key To The Kingdom
Format: CD
Label/Info: Yazoo 2073

Phillips was a pioneering gospel performer in the 1920s. Born in Texas in 1880, his entire musical catalogue consists of 18 or so unique performances. Recorded between 1927 and 1929, these tracks feature Phillips self-accompanied by an instrument that sounds like a fretless zither. This instrument, which has been variously identified as a Dolceola, a Celestophone, and a Phonoharp (and also is considered by some to be an instrument entirely home-made by Phillips) creates a unique sound that is immediately charming and intriguing. For Phillips' complete recordings consult the Yazoo CD.

Archie Shepp

Album: The Way Ahead
Format: CD
Label/Info: Impulse IMPD-272 (1998 20-bit remastering). Tracks 1-4 originally issued as 1968 LP The Way Ahead (AS-9170). Bonus tracks 5 and 6 originally issued on the 1969 LP Kwanza (AS-9262).

Archie Shepp. There are so many contrasts in his playing. Bluesy. Intense. Concerned. Exuberant. Who else can play so far out while staying so grounded and earthy? This is Shepp's first Impulse session with piano, which provides the harmonic anchor for me. Fire Music, Four for Trane, and Mama Too Tight are very fine recordings, but they don't have the feeling this one does. Check out Walter Davis, Jr. (piano) and Ron Carter on "Damn If I Know." Personnel: Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone); Charles Davis (baritone saxophone); Jimmy Owens (trumpet); Grachan Moncur III (trombone); Walter Davis Jr., Dave Burrell (piano); Ron Carter, Walter Booker (bass); Beaver Harris, Roy Haynes (drums).

Album: Live in San Francisco
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse! AS-9118

A great live recording. My second favorite Shepp on Impulse. Personnel: Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone, piano); Roswell Rudd (trombone); Donald Garrett, Lewis Worrell (bass); Beaver Harris (drums). Recorded at the Both/And Club, San Francisco, California on February 19, 1966.

V/A - Nigerian

Compilations of Nigerian Afro-Beat, Afro-Funk, and Highlife from the 1970s.

Album: Nigeria70: Lagos Jump
Format: CD
Label/Info: Strut 035, 2008
***

Album: Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues, 1970-76
Format: CD
Label/Info: Soundway SNDWCD009, 2007

***

Album: Afro Baby: The Evolution of the Afro-Sound in Nigeria, 1970-79

Format: CD

Label/Info: Soundway SNDWCD002, 2004

V/A - Ethiopian

Album: Ethiopiques Series
Format: CD
Label/Info: Buda Musique, 1998-

Compilations of Ethiopian music from the 1960s and 1970s culled from singles and albums for Amha Records, Kaifa Records, and Philips-Ethiopia. Prominent singers and musicians from this era include Alemayehu Eshete, Asnaketch Worku, Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, and Tilahun Gessesse. The series editor is Francis Falceto. All 23 discs are excellent, but the following stand out:

• Ethiopiques 1: the Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music (1998)
• Ethiopiques 3: Golden Years Of Modern Ethiopian Music (1998)
• Ethiopiques 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974 (featuring Mulatu Astatke) (1998)
• Ethiopiques 7: Ere Mela Mela (featuring Mahmoud Ahmed) (1999)
• Ethiopiques 14: Negus of Ethiopian Sax (featuring Getachew Mekurya) (2003)
• Ethiopiques 21: Ethiopia Song (featuring Emahoy Tsegue-Mariam Gebrou) (2006)

James Brown

Album: Live at the Apollo (Volume II - 1967)
Format: CD
Label/Info: Universal/Polydor Deluxe Edition. Originally released in 1968 as King LP 1022.

Alice Coltrane

Album: Ptah, the El Daoud
Format: CD
Label/Info: 1996 Impulse Remaster
(20 Bit). Vinyl copies are out there, but can be quite expensive.

Chuck Berry

Album: After School Session
Format: CD
Label/Info: 2004 Geffen Remaster; originally released in 1957 as Chess LP 1426.

Favorite cut: "Drifting Heart"

Sun Ra and the Arkestra

Album: Super-Sonic Jazz
Format: LP or CD
Label/Info: 180 Gram Saturn Vinyl Reissue (left) and Evidence CD 22015 (bottom left). Also released in 1973 as Super-Sonic Sounds, Impulse AS-9271 (bottom right). Originally recorded in 1956.
Favorite cut: "Kingdom of Not"

Andrew Hill

Album: Grass Roots
Format: CD
Label/Info: Blue Note Connoisseur Series

There are more critically-acclaimed Hill records, but I come back to these 1968 sessions again and again.

Joseph Spence

Album: Good Morning Mr. Walker
Format: CD or LP
Label/Info: Arhoolie CD contains bonus tracks. Originally released as Arhoolie LP in 1972.

Thelonious Monk

Album: Monk's Music
Format: CD
Label/Info: Riverside 2004 Hybrid SACD

Blind Willie McTell

Album: Pig 'n Whistle Red
Format: CD
Label/Info: Biograph 2003 Remaster.
1950 recordings featuring Curley Weaver