Best small group jazz, with vocals and two bass players at once:
Tierney Sutton Band-American Road
There is just so much to love about this record. First, Tierney is one of the most inventive singers working today. The band functions like a band, it is not Tierney with a backing band, this group is the Tierney Sutton Band or TSB. They have been a functioning unit for a decade or so now, and you get the kind of rapport you just can't manufacture over a week in a studio. This entire recording is a textbook case on how to take a song and make it your own. The grammy-nominated cover of "On Broadway" uses a shifting harmony to tell the story in a whole new way. The disjointed early harmony sets in sharp contrast the optimistic youthful dreams of Broadway stardom. I'm given a sense of the trepidation that goes along with moving to the city to pursue your dreams. Then the harmony shifts to a more "happy" vibe, so I guess there was a happy ending after all.
"Amazing grace" opens with a solo setting, and then really uses some inventive harmony, and even a change to the melodic phrasing to turn the song into something new. "The Eagle and Me" is an amazing example of what you can do with two bass players in one band. The roles switch back and forth so much and the interplay between them and Tierney's vocals is just amazing.
Best classical/americana fusion
Y0-Yo-Ma, Chris Thiele, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan-The Goat Rodeo sessions.
I know some of you gangsta wannabes with your loud car radios think you have bass. You don't. Nobody alive or dead has the tone Edgar Meyer has when he hooks into a low sustained note. Which comes into play about a minute in to the opening track "Attaboy". At times it's tricky to tell the parts between Edgar and Yo-Y0. Yo-Yo has certainly made quite a career out of exploring music of other cutlures. While he may never have learned how to improvise (which I really don't understand), he plays his parts in such an expressive manner you'd think it was improv. So much modern classical is devoid of any real emotion. It's great there are players like Yo Yo who break that mold.
"Quarter Chicken Dark" is a very fun tune that grooves about as hard as anything else I've heard all year. The album isn't a huge chop-fest as you might expect, but if you're looking for that sort of thing, the track "13:8" delivers plenty. Aofie O'Donovan guests on vocals for a few tracks, and she and Chris Thiele provide some memorable moments on "Here and Heaven" and "No One But You"
Best R&B Duo performance with Wah-Wah Bass pedal
Kira Small and Bryan Beller-Live at the White house
This music, recorded in an intimate setting has so many personal moments, at first listening it was almost voyeurism. I felt like "should I be listening to this?" at times. But I got over it. Clearly these two love each other a lot, and don't mind letting us in on the fun. I have absolutely no idea why "Shouldn't we be in Love?" isn't a hit record. Shows what I know- and more to the point, what the rest of the world doesn't know. You all should find out. Bryan Beller plays a ton on this record. Most people would settle for one solid bass tone. There's countless tones used, and lots of toys. They all work great, and really help filling up the sound of just two people. Don't let his spoken intro to John Pattituci's "Backwoods" fool you. He can play plenty of Jazz. Kira's "I Will Raise My Voice" is another song that deserves a ton of airplay. It's just as solid of an R&B ballad-anthem as you could hope to hear. And there's a line from "Hootchie Mama" that's just stuck in my head. Kira's "24/7 365 Ho Patrol". Aren't we all?
Best Large-Ensemble Jazz/World fusion happening
Vince Mendoza-Nights on Earth"
From the opening Brazilian rhythms of "Otono", south american rhythms loom large on this side. Luciana Souza sings beautifully on "Ao Mar". There is a reason all the hip kids have her sing vocals on their projects. "Lullaby" is a Cello/Bandeon duet that is as beautiful as anything you might ever hear. I had to look up what a Bandeon is, it's like an accordion, and that's what I thought I was hearing at first. I always like a record that has instruments on it I've never heard of.
So that's it at last. I certainly took every opportunity to pickup sides this year due to the unfortunate Borders bankruptcy. I still really miss them. But I got a lot of great music this year. Oddly enough, none of the top 4 bought from them, and all of the top 4 bought online. But cutting inventory of records to carry posters and knick-knacks certainly dried up the amount of money I could spend there. I guess they figured nobody would illegally download a knick-knack.
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