JONAS KAUFMANN: "L'Opéra"

Original released on CD Classical 88985390832

(EU 2017, September 15)

You might not have looked to Germany as the source of the next big opera star, but there you have it: tenor Jonas Kaufmann has reached the point where he can sing almost anything and coax beauty and even sensuousness out of it. Can big crossover albums be far off? He doesn't have quite the charisma of a Domingo, but the voice is at its breathtaking peak and seems to be well enough cared for that it could stay there a while. As the title implies, this album is devoted to French operatic repertory. Kaufmann has a good deal of experience in this field, and he sets the album up as a group of pieces that have had personal significance to him because they played a part in the development of this aspect of his career. The particulars are spelled out in an interview-style booklet note. As such, the program touches on some less-than-standard items; this may appeal to opera devotees, but the general listener might want to hear a familiar tune from time to time. There is no denying the sheer beauty of the voice, though, most of all in the quiet high notes that have become Kaufmann's specialty. You could start sampling with the opening "L'amour... Ah! Lève-toi, soleil," from Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette", with the Bayerisches Staatsoper under Bertrand de Billy setting Kaufmann up perfectly (as they do throughout) with its delicate instrumental introduction and Kaufmann caressing his entrance in a way that nobody else can quite do these days. Other pleasures involve the two guest singers, baritone Ludovic Tézier in an excerpt from Bizet's "Les pêcheurs de Perles" and soprano Sonya Yoncheva in Massenet's "Manon". This is choice Kaufmann. (James Manheim in AllMusic)

LILA DOWNS: "Salón, Lágrimas Y Deseo"

Original released on CD Sony 889854391621

(MEXICO 2017, May 26)

Lila Downs is one of the best singers on the continent. It’s not her voice, although that’s great; it’s her drama, the way she plays up the emotion in every word that passes her lips. She can begin a line controlled and reserved, then end it by soaring. Thing is, quite aside from her incredible expertise, I just like her. There’s more personality in her voice than just about anyone’s. When she sings, I want to listen, like a kid wants to listen to his mother sing. I just can’t turn the record off. On "Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo", Downs finds her equal in a band that can be stunningly gorgeous (“Urge,” “Palabras de mujer,” “Seguiré mi viaje”) and also delightfully offhand and breezy (“Querreque,” “Envidia”). The production skillfully highlights her vocal strength and has some genuine accomplishments, like making “Querreque” sound like an actual party. The album is a mix of covers and originals, but Downs uses most of the songs to make a point. She has been called “a Mexican Laurie Anderson,” which (ugh) doesn’t fit at all. But that analogy does convey this: she’s experimenting. There’s a subtle feminist message throughout the album. A classic song like “Seguiré Mi Viaje” is powerfully self-assured when delivered by a woman, channeling its machismo to new ends as she tells an unappreciative man, “Soy dolor que nunca te ha dolido... / Si no te gusta lo que traje, / adiós: que de algún modo, / seguiré mi viaje.” And the followup, “Ser Paloma,” an original, finds a dominated woman, who seems to view her husband as a hated commandant, dreaming of leaving. Maybe she won’t be able to leave tonight, but soon, and until then the dream sustains her. “Son de Juárez” deserves special mention for its lyrics. It begins with a line for the ages: “La vida es corta / Ya no me importa. / Hay tantas cosas que quiero contigo que importan más.” (“Life is short / That doesn’t matter to me / There are so many things I want with you that matter more”) The song goes on to swear loyalty to her home state of Oaxaca and all the diverse people in it, listing the incredible number of indigenous languages spoken in that state alone. It’s not a perfect album, and some of the musical touches annoy me, like the indescribably weird chipmunk trombones on “Tus Pencas” that seem to have become more common in Mexican music. But the album is mostly highs, and God do I love the highs. (in RateYourMusic)

PIAZZOLLA: "Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas"

Original released on CD Deutsche Grammophon 28948157501

(SPAIN 2017, September 15)

LUCIENNE RENAUDIN VARY Debut Album

Original released on Digipak CD Warner Classics 190295888329

(EU, 2017)

French trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary can be called a prodigy, making major concert appearances in French venues throughout her teenage years and releasing her first major-label album at 18. Her training and her debut album on Warner Classics have been notable for their mixture of classical, jazz, and pop repertory. Vary was born in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, France, on January 28, 1999. Showing talent early on the trumpet, she enrolled at the Conservatory of Le Mans in 2007, taking classical trumpet lessons from Philippe Lafitte and jazz instruction from Santiago Quintans. At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, she matriculated at first as a classical trumpet student, under Clément Garrec, but in 2017 she added jazz and improvisation to her course of study. Vary's record of strong competition showings began in 2010 with a win at the Selmer Le Parnasse contest, and in November of that year she finished third in the European Competition for Young Trumpet Players, even though the contest was for players 14 through 17, and she was only 11. Vary made her first festival appearances in 2012 at the Eurochestrie and Annecy festivals. In 2013 she appeared on French television in a tribute to trumpeter Maurice André, and by 2014 she had a busy festival schedule that included appearances in Colmar, Antibes, and Royan, performing at the last-named in a duet with star English trumpeter Alison Balsom. She also gave her first major jazz concert that year, in Le Mans at the city's Nuit de chimères event. Since then, she has divided her time roughly equally between classical and jazz appearances. Vary won a Victoire de la musique classique award in 2016 in the category of Instrumental Soloist Revelation. She made a guest soloist appearance at the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia in 2017, becoming the festival's youngest-ever soloist and making her debut in the Americas. In 2013 Vary made her recording debut on an album by French trumpeter Guy Touvron, playing a work by Benedetto Marcello and joining Touvron on two-trumpet concertos by Saverio Mercadante and G.F. Handel. In 2016 she was signed to the Warner Classics label and issued her solo debut, "The Voice of the Trumpet", the following year. The program combined classical works, few of them standards, with jazz treatments of Broadway hit (James Manheim in AllMusic)

The Warner Classics label has shown a preference for photogenic teenage artists. There's nothing wrong with this - it demonstrates the continuing vitality of the classical repertory - but it's nice when the youngsters have something to offer besides steely virtuosity. That is the case with this release by 18-year-old French trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary. She's a student at the Paris Conservatory in both classical and jazz, and she says, «My debut album shows different sides of the music I love, from Baroque to jazz with excursions into musicals and opera.» The jazz is slightly light; it consists of Broadway tunes given a lightly improvisatory treatment. The good news is that the program is plenty diverse. You might possibly find young trumpeters with a pearlier tone than Vary, but for keeping a varied program together and moving, she's unmatched. She plays trumpet pieces, she plays operatic melodies and popular songs on the trumpet, she plays opera arias with prominent trumpet parts and features guest vocalists (sample Donizetti's "Povero Ernesto," where the guest is no less than Rolando Villazón), she plays transcriptions for the trumpet, and in each case there seems to be a logical progression. The program is neatly wrapped up with Richard Rodgers' "My Funny Valentine", in an interpretation paying homage to Vary's jazz hero, Chet Baker. With a special X factor for sheer ebullience, this is a promising debut. (James Manheim in AllMusic)

"CARMINA BURANA" - Live From Belgrade

 

ALISON KRAUSS IN WINDY CITY

Original released on CD Capitol B002625002

(US 2017, February 17)

Alison Krauss is one of the artists who helped break down the barriers between bluegrass and mainstream country music, but even though country radio was willing to make room for her, Krauss never seemed to be interested in courting their favor. Krauss has always followed her own creative path and let the audience come to her with her mature and adventurous approach to acoustic music. Thirty years into her recording career, Krauss has made her most specifically "country" album to date, though it's a musical left turn into a very specific time and place in country's history. Released in 2017, "Windy City" is a polished and carefully crafted tribute to the countrypolitan sounds of the '50s and '60s, music that fused the emotional honesty and personal storytelling of country with smooth, sophisticated production dominated by pianos and strings, and the set list draws from old standards rather than contemporary compositions. Producer Buddy Cannon has designed "Windy City" as a showcase for Alison Krauss the vocalist, with her stellar fiddle work appearing on only one track. While pale shadows of contemporary country can be heard in these performances, numbers like "Losing You," "You Don't Know Me," and the title track owe far more to Patsy Cline's classic "Nashville sound" sides than anything that's come out of Music City in the past decade. 

Even when the music takes on a twangier approach on "Poison Love" and "It's Goodbye and So Long to You," Cannon's production and arrangements are steeped in the sounds of the past; while Krauss's bluegrass music always sounded fresh and contemporary in its approach, "Windy City" is the sound of her moving forward into the past. If this is a very different Alison Krauss album, it's also a good one; the accompaniment is slick, but it's brilliantly executed, and Cannon favors the clarity and emotional range of Krauss's voice. She meets the demands of the material beautifully, and she brings a warmth and subtle passion to songs like "Gentle on My Mind" and "You Don't Know Me" that makes you briefly forget the definitive recordings of these classics. It remains to be seen if "Windy City" is a brief creative detour for Alison Krauss or the first salvo of a new creative direction. But if Krauss wants to be the new voice of retro countrypolitan music, "Windy City" leaves no doubt that she has the talent and the intelligence to make it work, and this album is a richly satisfying experience. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

STACEY KENT: "I Know I Dream"

Original released on Digipak CD Sony Music 88985462882

(EU, 2017)

MON LAFERTE: "La Trenza"

Original released on CD Universal Music 5761266

(MEXICO 2017, April 28)

Después de escuchar a fondo el material de esta chica me doy cuenta que es un error subestimarla, sin dudas estamos ante un personaje único o por lo menos alguien que no es del montón. No me mal entiendan, no hablo precisamente de sus aptitudes musicales sino de la forma en la que ha construido su carrera que tiene mucho en común con los actuales “iconos” del pop latino. Con talento que no se le puede dejar de reconocer pero con mayor inteligencia arrancó con un movimiento obvio al cuadrarse ante el público mexicano que de inmediato la catapulto a nivel local. Este material “La Trenza” parece ser el siguiente paso en el que apunta a un mercado más amplio dentro de habla hispana, le elección de las colaboraciones Bunbury-Juanes-Manuel Garcia así lo indican, bastante bien pensadas y mejor construidas. Vendiéndose como “Latin Rock” o “Rock Alternativo” decidió apostar por uno de los públicos más difíciles (dentro del espectro mainstream) pero que una vez conquistados han demostrado ser de los más generosos. Como un hibrido entre Natalia Lafourcade y Calle 13 (por mencionar referentes inmediatos) el ambiente y sonido del disco en general no es malo, por momentos disfrutable y de no ser por las colaboraciones estaríamos hablando de un trabajo más uniforme y sólido. "La Trenza" el tema que da nombre al disco es probablemente uno de los puntos altos del álbum y de mayor honestidad en las letras que ratifica un poco lo mencionado, estamos frente a alguien que tiene bien claro lo que quiere y que va por todas, atención, mucha atención con Mon Laferte. (in RateYourMusic)

LOLA MARSH Debut Album

Original released on CD Barclay 575 871-4

(EU 2017, June 9)

Lola Marsh is an Israeli indie pop group led by singer Yael Shoshana Cohen and producer/multi-instrumentalist Gil Landau. With a haunting sound that's both earthy and cinematic, they claim influences as diverse as Sufjan Stevens, Tame Impala, Elvis Presley, Ennio Morricone, and Edith Piaf. Cohen grew up partly in Singapore and Kenya and was also influenced by her parents' eclectic tape collection, which included music from Southeast Asia. Landau had been writing songs on acoustic guitar and was looking for a singer, and Cohen had recently graduated from the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music when the two met at a party in Tel Aviv in 2011. When they started performing at the event, Landau was immediately drawn to Cohen's unusual but warm, conversational vocal style and she to his melodies, which suited her voice. They spent a couple of years writing and playing together, eventually bringing in other musicians to record. You're MineThe band's debut single, "Sirens," appeared in March 2015 and landed on viral streaming charts in the U.S. Their second single, "You're Mine," followed in kind, reaching Hype Machine's Top Three. Both songs appeared on their debut EP, "You're Mine", released by Anova Music and Barclay in January 2016. The same labels released Lola Marsh's full-length debut, "Remember Roses", in mid-2017. It charted in Switzerland and was supported by an international tour that included opening for the Pixies in Israel. In early 2018, they visited Israel, Europe, and North America again, including dates with Milky Chance and stops at SXSW and Treefort Music Fest. (Marcy Donelson in AllMusic)

METROPOLE ORKEST & CARO EMERALD

Original released on CD Grandmono 8 718546 200687

(EU 2017, December 4)

Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw, better known by her stage name Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer. Active since 2007, she rose to prominence in 2009 with "Back It Up". Follow-up single "A Night Like This" topped charts in the Netherlands. Emerald is often praised for her outstanding live performances. She predominantly performs in English. Her debut album "Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor" was conceived, written and produced as a studio project by Dutch songwriter/producer/creative director David Schreurs, Canadian songwriter Vincent Degiorgio and Dutch producer Jan van Wieringen, with Caro Emerald as the starring artist. In August 2010, the album spent its 30th week at number one in the Dutch album charts, setting an all-time record and beating Michael Jackson's "Thriller" by one week. The album became the biggest selling album of 2010 in the Netherlands with over 350,000 copies to date. Worldwide, approximately 2 million copies have been sold to date. On 3 October 2010, Emerald was awarded the Dutch music prize "Edison Award" for Best Female Artist. In 2013, a second studio album titled "The Shocking Miss Emerald" was released. The album entered at number one in the Dutch and United Kingdom album charts and sold over 600.000 copies. Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw was born on 26 April 1981 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to a Dutch father and an Aruban mother. She started singing lessons at age 12 with James Gilloffo in Amsterdam and joined a girl vocal group, Les Elles, under his guidance. Following high school she trained as a jazz vocalist at the Amsterdam Conservatory, graduating in 2005. During her September 2013 UK tour, she announced her pregnancy. She gave birth to a girl in March 2014. Emerald gave birth to a second daughter in August 2017.

In early 2007 Dutch producer Jan van Wieringen invited van der Leeuw to sing the vocal on a demo he was producing with David Schreurs. The song, "Back It Up", had been written by Schreurs and Canadian songwriter Vince Degiorgio and was based around a hip-hop beat created by Robin Veldman and Jan van Wieringen. Caro's jazzy vocal was considered a "perfect match" for the new song. The demo was pitched to various publishers and labels but without result. But online the demo quickly reached public notice around the world and radio stations started playing the song. Degiorgio, Schreurs, van Wieringen and van der Leeuw realised their sound had potential and started working on a studio album. Writing began in the summer of 2008 using "Back It Up"'s mix of 40s–50s jazz, easy listening, orchestral Latin, combined with infectious beats as a model. Adopting a sample based approach but with live instrumentation, the writing sessions drew from a wide range of influences including jazz organist Jackie Davis, exotica composer Martin Denny, mambo king Perez Prado, 1920s/30s jazz and van der Leeuw's own vocal inspirations of the Andrews Sisters, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. The usual method would be for Schreurs to create the ideas and backing tracks and then get together with top line writer and lyricist Degiorgio to write the songs. Van der Leeuw co-wrote several songs on the album, and van Wieringen co-created the tracks for "The Other Woman" and "Dr Wanna Do". Schreurs and Degiorgio are credited as "Creative Directors".

The Metropole Orkest (or Metropole Orchestra) is a multiple Grammy winning jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz, big band and symphony orchestra. Comprising 52-97 musicians, it is versatile across many musical forms, and is equipped with a "double rhythm section“ - one for pop and rock, and one for jazz based music.

KAREN SOUZA: "Velvet Vault"

Original released on CD Music Brokers MBB9337

(EU 2017, November 24)

Diana Krall or Karen Souza? Which one do you prefer? I think the choice is very, very difficult. Both are wonderful and georgeous ladies, both sing passionately, with fabulous voices. And their last CDs (look at the resemblance of the sleeves) are magnificent pieces of music. In 2013, Karen Souza spent two months touring throughout Mexico. While she was known for her jazz renditions of 1980s hits, her repertoire includes a number of her own songs, such as "Paris", "Break my Heart" and "Lie to Me". Her version of "Creep" by Radiohead was used extensively in the film "The Zero Theorem" (2013), directed by Terry Gilliam. Three years after the release of her successful "Essentials II", Karen Souza is back with her fourth studio album. "Velvet Vault" is the title of a collection that combine jazz standards with jazz reworks of pop classics plus two songs co-written by Karen herself. Japan's superstar Toku duets with Karen on the track "You Got That Something". Also part of the album are Robin Banerjee (Amy Winehouse guitarist) and legendary Tom 'Bones' Malone (Blues Brothers, Saturday Night Live Band). Vocals has been recorded in New York at The Orchard studios and produced by Richard Gottehrer (of Blondie, Richard Hell and Dr. Feelgood fame). The album's first single "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", was first available on November 10th. "Velvet Vault" is without a doubt, Karen Souza's most accomplished record to date and will definitely surpass the success of her previous efforts.

The Versatile VAN MORRISON

Original released on CD Exile 88985492262

(US 2017, December 1)

"Versatile" is Van Morrison's 38th album, and follows the release of the excellent R&B and blues covers collection "Roll with the Punches" by less than three months. Like its predecessor, it's primarily a covers set, but its focus is on jazz and pop standards from the Great American Songbook with six originals added for good measure. Historically, these experiments haven't worked for rock artists: Rod Stewart delivered five overblown, badly sung collections from the canon, and Bob Dylan delivered five discs of highly idiosyncratic interpretations of the stuff. Even Boz Scaggs tried them with very mixed results. Morrison fares better than his peers due to experience - standards have peppered his set lists for decades. "Versatile" is not a pillar in his catalog, but it's not a cynical cash-in, either. Morrison surrounds himself with a septet that includes saxophones, trombone, keys, guitar, bass, and drums. Most of these tracks were recorded in hotel lounges in Ireland's County Down, adding to the slippery jazz feel. The canonical material proves a real interpretive challenge. Curiously, he opens the record with a throwaway new original entitled "Broken Record," that shows off his band's fingerpopping swing quotient but little else. He quickly recovers with a fine reading of the Gershwin's "A Foggy Day," showcasing his fluid phrasing and empathic lyric interpretation. His Chet Baker worship is well known, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he takes on "Let's Get Lost." His take is jaunty, offering tinges of Jimmy Rushing-inspired R&B while retaining its identity as a jazz tune. While his muted scat groove on Cole Porter's "Bye Bye Blackbird" is overly strident, he gives a polished, nuanced performance to the composer's "I Get a Kick Out of You." "Makin' Whoopee" contains a nice bluesy chart (Dave Keary's electric guitar playing recalls Grant Green's), but Morrison's vocal is uncomfortably stilted. Among his own tunes are two new ones - the punchy, Jimmy Witherspoon-esque "Take It Easy Baby" and the contemplative, nearly spiritual, modal, instrumental "Affirmation" with Sir James Galway guesting on flute - as well as beautifully rendered rearrangements of catalog material - "I Forgot That Love Existed," "Start All Over Again," and "Only a Dream." There is also a deeply satisfying arrangement of the traditional "Skye Boat Song" that melds Celtic soul with Celtic swing as Morrison's smoky alto sax leads the rest of the horn section's lithe groove. While he could have left off "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" as it adds nothing to the the canonical versions by Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, readings of "The Party's Over" "Unchained Melody" and the Gershwin closer "They Can't Take That Away from Me" are impeccable examples of Morrison's mercurial phrasing and limpid modern arrangements that make swing their top priority. "Versatile" has its flaws and will likely appeal most to longtime fans, but Morrison fully invests himself in each tune, singing them as if he wrote them. This is head and shoulders above similar efforts by his peers and a solid addition to his shelf. (Thom Jurek in AllMusic)

KATIE MELUA: "The Ultimate Collection"

Original released on CD Digipak BMG 538433672

(EU 2018, October 5)