Category: Album Reviews

June 29, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

THE CHILD BALLADS (Lamplight) 9/10 It took an American to systematically compile hundreds of English and Scottish ballads from across the centuries. In so doing Francis James Child (1825-1896) performed not only a massively important task in preserving the cultural heritage of the British Isles, he provided composer Andrew Robson…

June 27, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

THE BROLGA (Rouseabout Records) Marcus Holden’s musical vision is so complete that it has become a prism through which almost any music that passes is refracted into his own likeness. His version of O mio babbino caro from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, for instance, melts all the high drama of a…

June 22, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

TURN UP THE QUIET (Verve) 8/10 Diana Krall is growing up. If that sounds an odd statement about a woman who somehow is already 52, I not talking about her age. I’m talking about her artistry. The way she sings these love songs from the Great American Songbook was inconceivable…