Top Ten Cds of 1999
by Micah Holmquist
12-24-99

10) Brad Jones AKA Alias Uncivilized Poise (Knitting Factory Records, 1999)

Uncivilized Poise runs hot and cold. There is some very good stuff here and other material that should never have been released even if on the Brad Jones box set in 20 or 30 years. My initial review distinguishes the good from the awful.

9) Townes Van Zandt A Far Cry from Dead (Arista, 1999)

The late Townes Van Zandt may be best known as the mentor of Steve Earle and the author of the Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard hit "Pancho and Lefty." Van Zandt, who dies in January of 1997, wrote a number of great songs and was also a fine performer as A Far Cry from Dead shows.

The discs consists of 13 tracks that Van Zandt did the primary recording for between 1989 and 1996. He had recorded most of these songs before their are some new ones such as "Squash," the wonderfully whimsical closer. Other stellar cuts are "Sanitarium Blues," a deep and unconventional tune based on Van Zandt’s real life experiences and "To Live is to Fly." The title of that song sums up what he was getting at but the most interesting element is that Van Zandt wraps up the number in lustful packaging. The real highlight, though, is "Tower Song" which sums up Van Zandt’s relationship with his wife. It was full of commitment but also very distant and rocky. As the refrain goes:

You built your tower strong and tall
Can’t you see, it’s got to fall someday

8) The Robert Cray Band Take your Shoes Off (Rykodisc, 1999)

In contrast to 1993’s A Shame and a Sin and 1995’s tremendous Some Rainy Morning, Robert Cray and his associates are in full r&b mode here. The results are far from perfect but I’m a Robert Cray mark so it can’t be all that bad.

The best tracks are "Pardon" and "Won’t you Give Him (One More Chance)." Not surprisingly both cover Cray’s virtually exclusive topic of love.

7) Don Byron Romance with the Unseen (Blue Note Records, 1999)

My earlier review of this disc was too glowing. Don Byron has a fine release here but Romance with the Unseen does not age as well as I expected it to. Bill Frisell’s guitar, in particular, gets a bit tiresome as does the Beatles cover "I’ll Follow the Sun." Still "Bernhard Geotz, James Ramseur, and Me" is superb and most of this disc is quite enjoyable.

6) Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy The Odyssey of Funk & Popular Music Vol. 1 (Atlantic, 1999)

(The following is partially from my review in the September 1999 issue of Agenda.)

Lester Bowie is best known as a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC), a legendary jazz group that began performing and recording in the second half of the 1960s and continues to do so up until the present. AEC has always had the ability to seamlessly combine various jazz styles. On his own -or more precisely as the leader of Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy- the trumpeter has recorded many pop hits with results that are equally stellar and unexpected. The Odyssey of Funk & Popular Music Vol. 1 is no exception.

The cd begins with the burlesque standard "The Birth of the Blues" and moves on to cover Marilyn Manson’s "Beautiful People" and the Spice Girls hit "Two Become One." The latter song is performed sans embellishments until about mid way through at which point Tuba player Bob Stewart begins to mutate his playing as a segue into a cataclysmic yet still tasteful ending. Along the way the group does a somewhat conventional version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Don’t Cry for Me Argentina" as well as two songs of tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. Lester Bowie’s son Joseph co-wrote, raps, and performs a trombone solo on the most interesting of the pair, a tune called "Next." The best cuts, however, are versions of the r&b standards "In the Still of the Night" and "If You Don’t know Me by Now." Both soulful tracks feature excellent solos by Bowie that experiment with the well-known tunes but do not lose sight of why they are so popular in the first place.

Tragically this would be Lester Bowie’s last disc in his lifetime. He died in early November of this year. I am just getting in the music of Bowie so don’t have much to add. This is a good and fun disc.

5) Matthew Shipp Duo with William Parker DNA (Thirsty Ear, 1999)

(The following is partially from my review in the September 1999 issue of Agenda.)

DNA opens with pianist Matthew Shipp playing a standard, and thus unexpected, version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Bassist William Parker does the exact opposite by hacking away at his instrument as if the goal was to produce the most awkward and agonizing sounds possible. It works beautifully.

There is a great deal of thematic similarity between a traditional and mournful tune about war and unorthodox bass playing. Both essentially express agony but putting them together takes a daring spirit like Shipp. DNA is the 15^th album that Shipp has released in less than a decade. In addition to solo recordings, the pianist has maintained a busy touring schedule and served as a sideman on various project, including Roscoe Mitchell’s Nine to Get Ready. (For the record, Parker also joined Mitchell and Shipp for that session.) Shipp developed a unique style during this period that draws equally on blues, classical, and jazz influences. Some critics have lauded him as a unique voice, perhaps the most original and innovative piano player in jazz since the 1960s.

Shipp shows that he deserves this praise on this cd. No other musicians appear on this album except Shipp and Parker. The two take advantage of this sparse instrumentation by playing intricate parts. After the opener, Shipp shows some of his blues roots on "Cell Sequence." That tune is the first of three "scientific" cuts. The powerful and nearly 13 minute long "Genetic Alphabet" is next and then the mini-trilogy ends with the title cut. At times it sounds as if Shipp is plunking random combinations of keys or making a large number of mistakes. Similarly, brief snippets from this album might suggest that Parker lacks the ability to play the bass or is just doodling for really long periods of time. The interactions between the two musicians that appear on pieces like "Mr. Chromosome" brush aside such thoughts, however. At those moments the rapid flinging of notes appear perfectly natural and it becomes apparent that a great deal of intelligence went into the making DNA.

Both Shipp and Parker demand a lot of intelligence from the listener as well. A half-hearted listen just won’t cut it. But those who do spend the time will find that DNA is both great fun and great stimulation.

Shipp has said that this will be his last solo recording for foreseeable future. He is still more than a year away from 40 -fairly young by jazz standards- but does not know what else to do or what direction to go in. The cd marks this occasion by ending with a rendition of "Amazing Grace." Shipp gives the tune a treatment that is as straightforward as the opener and this time Parker does not clash with keyboardist's sentiments. The outcome is a moving statement of personal and artistic self-fulfillment.

4) Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band The Mountain (E2 Records, 1999)

So this is what you get when you cross a country outlaw and, by most accounts, the finest group in bluegrass today. The Mountain tells the stories of working class life that Steve Earle likes to tell. The backing comes from the Del McCoury Band who give the disc a historical quality. This is first rate stuff!

3) Kris Kristofferson The Austin Sessions (Atlantic, 1999)

(This following is from my best of the 1990s piece.)

I feel a bit strange about including this here. There is not a new song in this bunch. Instead it is just Kris Kristofferson doing new versions of the songs that made him into the acclaimed songwriter that he is. The Austin Sessions showcases these songs along with Kristofferson’s performing limitations. His guitar playing was never exceptional and his voice only occasionally hints at greatness and then only briefly. The joke about Kris -as his friend Willie Nelson calls him on stage- is that his own persons of his songs pale in comparison to what people like Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin have done with them.

None of this matters on The Austin Sessions. The passable voice seems rugged as the result of hard living. Even the most talented vocalists could not duplicate the experience the Kris shows here. "Sunday Morning Coming Down" overflows with pain and regret as it should. "Help Me Make It Through the Night" sounds not like a call to lust but a moment of clarity. And "Loving Her was Easier (The Anything I’ll Ever do Again)" is more a look back life than a remembrance of any one relationship. There are also odes to the devil in various incarnations. "To Beat the Devil" presents the title character as the individual who trys to derail dreamers. "Why Me?" is a celebration of how lucky Kris has been.

The instrumentation of this disc varies greatly but is primarily acoustic. A number of guest stars like Jackson Browne and Steve Earle show up to do harmony vocals but never distract from the star. As the disc progresses to the final two tracks, it becomes clear that this disc is putting Kris’ life in perspective. "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33" is a semiautobiographical tail that concludes by saying that the life with all its highs and lows is, in the end, worth it. The journey has not ended, however, as the final track is "Please Don’t Tell me How the Story Ends."

2) Corey Harris Greens from the Garden (Alligator, 1999)

(This following is from my best of the 1990s piece.)

Perhaps the truest measure of any artist is how they develop. Or better yet, how they development in unpredictable but logical ways. In 1995, Alligator released Between Midnight and a Day, the debut album of Corey Harris. The disc was fine from start to finish and showcased unvarnished delta style acoustic blues. Then in 1997, Harris an Alligator released Fish Ain’t Bitin’. Harris kept the acoustic style but added a brass horn section for certain tunes and seemed to be expanding musically. Furthermore Harris began to write more of his own songs and start speaking about social issues.

Greens from the Garden continues that tradition but adds electricity to the mix. Cool bass lines from Victor Brown and drum grooves by John Gilmore abound on this disc. Harris plays the electric guitar over this in a way that captures in a way that is reminiscent of John Lee Hooker. It is not Hooker’s sound that Harris imitates so much as it is the style of a funky groove. On tunes like "Basehead," Harris and company getting carried away with speed and humor and put out some really entertaining music. Listeners will find other influences from people like Muddy Waters on this disc. But what stands out most clearly is that Harris is producing blues music that is thoroughly modern yet respectful of the past. I have not doubt that with a bit of luck, some tracks like "Wild West" could be r&b hits.

1) Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory Nine to Get Ready (ECM, 1999)

(This following is from my best of the 1990s piece.)

This is only the second disc from Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory but it is the second classic from the ensemble. Like This Dance is for Steve McCall, Nine to Get Ready only burns hot in certain places. Mostly it stays in the meditative range. The following is excerpted from my original review which appeared in this past September’s issue of Agenda.

The cd booklet quotes Mitchell as saying that "Nine to Get Ready is the coming together of a dream I had many years ago of putting together an ensemble of improvising musicians with an orchestral range." And such is the Note Factory, an eight piece group (add one, namely Mitchell, and you have nine, hence the album title) that includes Jaribu Shahid on bass and Gerald Cleaver and Tani Tabbal on drums and percussion. All three are from Michigan and Cleaver and Tabbal have played many times in the Ann Arbor area.

The disc begins with haunting harmonizing on a piece called "Leola" and moves from there to cover much terrain in a somber, delicate, and relatively quiet fashion. The only breaks in this are a blues inspired song called "Bessie Harris" and the blowing session that is "Hop Hip Bip Bir Rip." But there is enough thoughtfulness behind both of those recording so that the focus is not lost. In these and the other tunes it is Mitchell that sets the mood with his horn playing but all of the other musicians are also improvising and adding essential elements. The musicians show a great deal of discipline and style on a piece called "Jamaican Farewell," as they show Jamaican influences but avoid getting bogged down in them.

Mitchell’s comment about wanting a group with an orchestral range is especially astute because much of this music could easily come from a classically trained orchestra. Probably the biggest difference is that Nine to Get Ready is the result of improvisation whereas classical musicians tend to shy away from that sort of thing. Don’t take this music too seriously though. The album ends with short and funky number called "Big Red Peaches" that features only a groove. After over 50 minutes of serious and thought provoking music, it is a wonderful pie in the face.

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