Documents from Gilberto Gil's Private Archive

POP ALBUMS arious Artists/Compiled by David yrne. Brazil Classics 1/Beleza Tropical." ly/Sire. trumpeters Oscar Brashear and Snooky Young, saxophonists/flutists Ernie Watts, Harold Land, Jerome Richardson, Buddy Collette and Hank De Vega, guitarists Bob Conti and Shuggie Otis and pianists/key- boardists Mike Wofford, Gerald Wiggins Milcho Leviev and Harold Land Jr. Most of these top players have worked with Wilson for a long time, and Young's relationship goes back 50 years to when they both were members of Lunceford's trumpet section. showcased on Ellington's "Don't Get Young's distinctive plunger mute work is Around Much Anymore." Other highlights include Brashear's soaring trumpet on "Lomelin" and the tenors of Watts, Land and Richardson on "Triple Chase." Wofford, a superb pianist who is a favor ite of many jazz musicians, salutes Wilson on "Gerald's People." Wofford composed the title selection, but the other numbers were written by Wilson for his orchestra. "Triple Chase" and "Lomelin" are from the "Love You Madly collection while most of the others such as "You Better Believe It," "Blues for Yna Yna" and "Moody Blue" were first recorded by Wilson in the '60s. Rufus Reid on bass, Carl Burnett on drums and, on some cuts, Richard Garcia on congas supply the support. -Jay Roebuck As the man who made art school angst 4 and African music safe for suburban onsumption, Talking Head David Byrne is ow turning his attention to South America. he last T. Heads album, "Naked," was rimming with Latin rhythms, and now yme indulges his latest passion even nore with this 14-track compilation of Bra- ilian artists. But anyone expecting 14 vari- tions on "The Girl from Ipanema" is in for surprise. Not that Antonio Carlos Jobim's Copaca- ana adult-contemporary classic is a bad lace to start. As Byme says in his liner otes, "the "lightness of much Brazilian COUNTRY ALBUMS Cowboy Junkies. "The Trinity Sessions." RCA. There's country rock and country punk, but the Cowboy Junkies may be the first post-punk country band. This Canadi. an quartet led by siblings Margo and M- chael Timmins combine country with the dirge-like gloom-and-doom-sound made famous by the late English band Joy Divi- sion. op music is often mistaken or confused for Caetano Veloso, left, and Milton Nascimento are featured on 'Beleza Tropical.' merican middle-of-the-road bland radio ballads. It is a mistake that can blind us to much of the world's great music." Certainly, there's nothing outwardly heavy on this album. In fact, the main mu- sical theme here is the style called tropica- lismo, a pre-worldbeat blend of Latin, Afri- can, European and American Indian mu- sics. From the R&B-influenced funk of Jorge Ben's "Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma)" to Gilberto Gil's jazzy "Quilombo, o el Dorado Negro", Milton Nascimento's dreamy "Anima" and Cae- tano Veloso's exquisite meshing of African, Latin and gospel influences in "Um Canto de Afoxe Para O Bloco do Lle (LleAye)", tropicalismo is indeed a mesmerizing blend. Byrne had two decades worth of material with which to work - the oldest track, Jorge Ben's "Fio Maravilha", dates back to 1971 - so there's no variation in quality between songs. Of course, the one objec tion, which also taints Byrne, Brian Eno and Malcolm McLaren's previous attempts at African music, is that "Beleza Tropical" is just so much cultural slumming. Byrne addresses this in his liner notes, in which he states that he wants to release future com pilations of such other Brazilian styles as samba, pagode and forro. But who knows? Next year, he may have moved on to the +-music of Lapland, and these Brazilian art ized audience. Still, "Beleza Tropical" is ists will be forced back to a small, special one hot record. - Cary Darling erald Wilson is one of the great jazz big-band composers and arrangers. A "A Show of Hands." Mercury. deep feeling for the blues runs throughout his work, as does his love of Spanish and This Canadian trio has never had much bum recent years, Peart has found a Latino music and they tentures and mange their own excellent original songs, the Cow ments contain rich textures and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart's admittedly and relate it to his audience as in the soar Ayn Rand influenced individualist leaning "Subdivisions," which rails against Wilson joined Jimmie Lunceford's leg- ings, which are at odds with the middling suburban peer pressure, or the anti-nucle liberal sentiments of much of the rock in- ar "Manhattan Project." It may come as a trumpet and/or composed and arranged for dustry. Another is the group's brocaded, shock to many that Rush could write a Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke El- technically correct, progressive rock style, lyrical pop song, yet the band did just that lington. which is often written off as being refuse with "Time Stands Still," which features Wilson formed a short-lived band 1946 from another, more pompous era. The final "Til Tuesday's Aimee Mann on backing vo- and then revived the idea in the early '60s, reason could be that Rush's early albums when he started recording a series of -featuring bloated conceptual pieces and Of course, this is still a Rush album, and lent albums for Pacific Jazz. He still re- vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee's cat-scratch it's full of busy instrumental flourishes, cords and leads the orchestra at concerts vocals – made for very difficult listening. raging crescendos and "The Rhythm Meth- and festivals. This approach didn't stop the band mem- od," a Neil Peart drum solo. For non-Rush This album comes from dates in 1981 and Naabers from becoming arena rock titans with fans, it gets tedious by side three, but even 1982 and features six Wilson originals in a out the benefit of much radio airplay, and Rush-haters will be surprised by the 10-tune program. As usual, the band is 20 they could have kept recycling the same group's current melodiyism. And then - toaded with heavyweight-talent, such as Gilberto Gil, left, and Jorge Ben perform songs in the tropicalismo style. profitable formula. Yet, in the early '80s, there's the cover, a humorous band por- the band made a stylistic change which tralt called "The Rockin' Constructivists." allowed it to show off a much-needed sense It's difficult to imagine the Rush of the '70s of humor and an intelligence which had being so teasingly self-deprecating. before been buried underneath the empty - C.D. prog-rock rubble. Perhaps influenced by that other popular three-piece, the Police, the members of Rush cut their hair, started wearing more down-to-earth clothes, add. ed synthesizers to flesh out their sound, and dog-whistle range. Most importantly, they Lee brought down his vocals from out of the began writing songs instead of concepts. "A Show of Hands," a two-record live set, is Rush's third live album, because it concentrates on material written after 1982, it's also the band's best concert al- JAZZ ALBUMS Gerald Wilson. The results are better than you might think. In fact, the results are terrific. Rath- er than some jarring amalgam of disparate styles that might alienate the average country listener, the Cowboy Junkies weave a magical, haunting web of influ- ences that is deeply affecting. Lead singer Margo Timmins has a voice you won't easi- ly forget, and the band, augmented by a host of traditional instruments such as do bor, fiddle, mandolin and accordion, builds around her to devastating effect. "Love You Madly." Discovery CD. Mike Wofford. "Gerald's People." Discovery CD. Rush. Although the Cowboy Junkies' sound highly original, it feels almost organically right. Whether reworking country classics such as "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Walking After Midnight" or doing . In boy Junkies amaze and delight. It could be argued that country music in the 180's doesn't get any better than Randy Travis, but it's refreshing to see that there still are some new places that country can go. Coun- try fans shouldn't be put off by this group's name. The Cowboy Junkies are definitely worth checking out, even by those who prefer the traditional side of country: They come much closer to capturing the lonesome spirit of Hank Williams than do any of the country pop or crossover acts. It would be a shame if they were ignored by the country audience. -Noel Davis cals. P38 The Orange County Register Friday, January 13, 1989