A battery of reviews...

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been very quiet this last month or so. I guess life has caught up, in between buying a new house, trying to sell an old one and tons of work, I haven’t found much time for my hobbies…

Still, the backlog of CDs to review, amongst other things, prompts me to try a new format of review :the grouped mini-review! In today’s instalment, you will find reviews of Olivier Ker Ourio’s Siroko, Little Story, by Jim Conway’s Big Wheel, Greg Szlapczynski’s Varsovie and Joe Powers and Lewis Childs’ World of Songs.

Siroko is a an intimistic jazz record, and representative of a new direction in Olivier Ker Ourio’s musical development, one focused less on groove and harmonic intricacy and more on melody and respiration. On this record, Olivier is backed by famous Californian guitarist Ralph Towner and double-bassist Heiri Kaenzig. Although such acoustic line-ups are common in the world of blues harmonica, they’re a lot more unusual in jazz, but despite an overall sound that doesn’t relate to classic jazz, the record is nonetheless a great aural experience: Towner’s guitar playing, especially when he’s using the 12-string guitar, has a definite earthy quality which is in sharp contrast with the aerial sound of Ker Ourio’s harmonica. The compositions are interesting and varied, from the oriental Bellydancing to the revisited standard Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. On the whole, the mood of Siroko remains fairly subdued, if not somber at times, so it’s not exactly an all-terrain record: you’ve got to be in the mood for such intimate music to appreciate it. I would have liked some of the tracks to be a little more concise, but I guess that’s one of the side effects of a reduced line-up: it’s harder to keep things varied for long... Still, Siroko is an enjoyable record, and a more accessible and organic one than Olivier’s previous full-blown jazz opus A Ride with the Wind. To my mind, Olivier has emerged as one of the singular voices of jazz chromatic, an artist who has digested his influences and found his own path. Siroko is, in that respect, a very good way to discover this voice.

Jim Conway is one of the diatonic luminaries of down under, a blues player of reference based in Sidney, Australia. Big Wheel is a band he put together featuring renowned blues and jazz musicians from the Australian scene. The line-up is classic of blues (drums, double-bass, guitar, piano & Hammond, sax and harmonica) as is the repertoire, mostly “jump” with bits of zydeco and jazzy stuff thrown in for good measure. Before going any further, I must confess that I’ve never been moved by what I consider to be pale imitations of the great musicians who, in the 40s and 50s, blended urban blues and early jazz into this loose genre sometimes referred to as jump. By ways of George Harmonica Smith, it’s become a staple of harmonica blues, but I’ve never found it to be a very interesting take on the original genre, certainly nowhere comparable to the  Louis Jordans, Louis Primas and other Charles Browns... Unfortunately, to my ears, Little Story is no exception. It’s not that there's anything horrible about it and I suppose it's enjoyable in its own right, but I can’t help but feel it sounds derivative and lacks some take on the material that would make it stand out. Mind you, I think the same of all of Rod Piazza’s work, most of Paul Lamb’s and what I know of Kim Wilson’s solo stuff. So really, if you’re moved by these guys, you’re very likely to enjoy this Little Story. The playing is fine, Conway’s harp is powerful and fluid, the rest of the band definitely knows what they’re doing. It’s just totally not my bag…

Greg Szlapczynski is one of my favourite players, both for his amazingly precise and clean playing and for his compositional inventivity. To say that I was eagerly awaiting for Varsovie would be an understatement, and if you’ve read my review of La Part du Diable you will know that it’s one of my all-time favourite harmonica records. Varsovie features a new, guitar-less line-up and the weak spot in his old band which used to be the keyboards is now filled by a very competent player, Johan Dalgaard. The record opens on a mellow bass and harmonica duet entitled Pour Alice, and follows with a truly great jazz instrumental, Nowa: it’s upbeat, the theme is great and unusual, with a minor part at first that modulates into a major section. Later on the album features decidedly blues numbers (Lou’s Boogaloo), jazz covers (Nuages) and more or less everything in between. All of Greg’s defining features (gorgeous acoustic tone, interesting themes, etc.) are present, and yet after a few listens, I’m left with a slight feeling of frustration. I can’t really put my finger on the reason why, I guess maybe it’s a combination of a certain sameness between the various tunes and the feeling that Greg doesn’t take many risks here. Always, in his previous releases there has been some element of getting away from what could safely be done, of pushing the envelope. Apart from a couple of tracks on Varsovie, I don’t hear Greg taking the hard road here. Not that the easy road for Greg wouldn’t be a damn hard road for most other players out there, but still, he’s not pushing his incredible talent hard enough to truly satisfy me here. It’s still a very good album, and less blasé harmonica enthusiasts than me might in fact feel that it’s a much easier step into his musical world than the previous one. Still, I feel there’s a spark missing here and for that I can’t quite give it top marks…

Joe Powers is a young chromatic harmonica player from the West Coast whose main focus is tango but who touches on other styles as well. World of Songs is meant more as a sample of the styles he’s able to tackle (and, I suspect, as a means to get gigs) than as a fully conceived album. As expected, the 11 tunes presented here are very varied although they all refer to folk traditions from around the world: Brazilian, American, Celtic, Japanese, Blues, Russian, etc. You’re probably thinking that it’s impossible for an artist to shine in so many varied styles, and you’d be right, to some extent, although it must be said that Powers and his guitarist acolyte Lewis Childs do a pretty good job at sounding good in each of the styles featured. The fact that all of the tunes that were originally songs are actually sung (and with reasonable good accents too) and not done as instrumentals, helps. I’m sure specialists would find a lot to criticise, but to the layman, this is an agreeable collection of folk tunes from around the world. Joe Powers’ strength is his tone, precision, and a very pleasant, soft vibrato. Even the one song he plays on diatonic features these characteristics. Where I think his youth shows is in improvisations. Improvised sections often sound less fluid and a little hesitant, as well as not very inventive. Joe's playing shows a lot of promise though, and I'm really dissapointed I didn't manage to catch him live when he played in Paris in November. I hope he gets to record a tango record soon, so that I can hear him playing to his strengths in the style that he loves the most.

Comments

[Sylvain Guehl]

I can only agree with your review of Varsovie, Ben. Though it's nice to listen to, I was disapointed, waiting for I don't know what.

[Christophe Minier]

Greg is my favourite harp player too. Varsovie is a good record, but it is more conventional jazz music than "la part du diable". I agree with you, I think Greg can create very higher inventive composition.
If I hadn't have listen to "La part du diable" I would have say that one is one of my favourite record.
I'm waiting for the next...