IN THE ORBIT OF RA (Strut/Planet) 8/10 The Sun Ra canon is an intergalactic gold mine that keeps on giving. Some live recordings and B-sides are for completists only, but this double-album (which first appeared in 2014) is a must. Setting it apart from the plethora of compilations is the…
Category: Album Reviews
LIFE II (Baby Buddha) 7.5/10 She’s spent her career enhancing the music of Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Chaka Khan, Pink and others. But, as with Lisa Fischer, when Vivian Sessoms leads her own project, her towering voice and sensitive musicality shunts many bigger names into the shade.…
COLOUR (Sunnyside) 9/10 Some music shouts to gain attention, some whispers in your ear. Listening to Anat Fort’s 20-year-old trio is like being privy to an erudite conversation between intimates. Nothing extraneous is said: every note is pertinent to the subject at hand, those subjects being nine of Fort’s compositions,…