The Essential Recordings (Primo/Planet) Although born in New York Harry Belafonte spent eight childhood years living in Jamaica, and these would prove pivotal in his subsequent career. Long before words like “world” and “roots” had been inanely splattered across musical idioms Belafonte was exploring his Caribbean heritage alongside jazz, gospel,…
Category: Album Reviews – Archive
Gathering Rains (Kimnara) Simon Barker unveiled this band last year in an unforgettable concert at Campbelltown Arts Centre. While the music is improvised, it is he who “composed” the band, assembling the collective brilliance of these six musicians. Korean Pansori singer Il Dong Bae has previously collaborated extensively with Barker…
Billie Holiday: The Centennial Collection (Columbia) Cassandra Wilson: Coming Forth by Day (Sony) Ben Goldberg: Orphic Machine (Bag) How did a woman with a smallish voice and modest range come to be celebrated as one of the twentieth century’s greatest singers? It seems unthinkable in the era of TV talent…