Album Reviews

Samara Joy, a mere 25 years old, has ascended to extraordinary heights in the jazz world — and rightly so. Raised in a family of gospel singers but nurtured on a diet of contemporary pop and jazz, Joy’s vocal prowess is astonishing. Her contralto-to-soprano range — soaring from hushed whispers to clarion calls — is as breathtaking as a hummingbird darting from flower to flower. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see how Portrait, her second LP on Verve, showcases her singular vocal talent on vinyl. . .

In the mid-‘70s when Joni Mitchell applied the glossy red lipstick and abandoned the bucolic but spent Laurel Canyon hippie scene, it was the end of an era, and for some fans, the end of the their love affair with Joni Mitchell. Many felt betrayed—as if she’d decided to grow up while they desperately clung to their youthful, Peter Pan-ish ‘60’s idealism. The sense of abandonment and estrangement was palpable. Thirty years later artists like Neil Young prove it is possible to maintain the ‘60s zeal and ideal—at least esthetically—while this superb DVD documenting Mitchell’s musical growth and her ability to keep up with and indeed lead some of the best jazz artists of the time, proves that it’s also possible for an artist to shift musical directions 360 degrees while remaining true to core values.

This 1957 set spotlights the obscure Chicago alto sax hard bop player John Jenkins who led but one Blue Note session and three altogether in his short recording career, which he ended in the early '60s. 

“Any chimp can play human for a day/and use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform/and run for office on election day/and fancy himself a real decision maker/then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker,” Jenny Lewis sings with a droll lilt on “It's a Hit,” this album's catchy opener. Hmm. I wonder who she's singing about?

If you�re not yet familiar with him, Matisyahu is a 28-year-old white, Chassidic Jewish reggae-rapper/rocker from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Now read that over a few more times, do you have a mental picture yet? He dons the traditional dress of The Hasidic Jews, wears a long beard and sounds a bit like �Jr. Gong� Marley. In addition he�s a self proclaimed former-Deadhead, loves Phish and is an adept beat boxer. Now that I�ve got you scratching your head wondering if I�m making this all up, it would be a good time to add that he�s also a talented songwriter, and his album, Youth is quite the unique musical experience.