We bless this week with both a studio and a live version of Pharoah Sanders gracing us with "Let Us go Into The House Of The Lord." Vocalist Heidi Vogel serenades us with brilliant interpretations of Brazilian music. We close with 15 takes on the gospel classic, "There Is A Balm In Gilead" featuring Donna Weaver, John Blake Jr, Nnenna Freelon, Kamau Daaood, Sunny Sumter, Courtney Bryan, Larry Willis, Mahalia Jackson, Archie Shepp, Rhoda Scott, The Clark Sisters, Karen Clark-Sheard, Soweto Gospel Choir , and Nina Simone .
Sometimes in baseball you're in the batter's box, you've been having a pretty good day, one homer, a double and two walks. You begin to believe that this is one of those days, by hook or by crook, there's nothing they can do to stop you, the substitute relief pitcher who threw four outside balls when he first faced you wasn't even a small bump in your road to glory. You check with the batting coach and he signals for you to take the first pitch. Mr. Relief fires one staight down the middle, a fast ball that [...]
I don't remember how I came to do this particular Mixtape but its stylistic breadth and spiritual seriousness is uplifting beyond anything I could have foreseen. Once I got into pulling together different versions, especially when I delved into selections I had forgotten or had never previously heard, I began smiling. The mix of jazz and gospel, both genres ranging from straight ahead to way out, from historic to contemporary, I was mighty, mighty pleased with the result. I doubt that anyone has heard all of these fine versions, each of which bring their own specialness to the [...]
After Trane, Pharoah Sanders was the tenor saxophonist who most startled me, made me rethink the sound of the saxophone and re-appreciate what could be done with the horn. Trane, of course, was the brightest light in the constellation of sounds I knew as jazz. There were many others whom I liked but none of them were a North Star, a guide to what was possible, to where we could go when we were free to go wherever we wanted to go, wherever we were capable of going; or, as we said critiquing our own limitations: we can do anything [...]
We open with a classic celebration of Etta James , who quiet as it was kept was one of the most versatile singers of her generation. We continue with a brilliant tribute to Gil Scott-Heron put together by Sandra Nkake with the help of a bevy of musicians. South African rappers Tumi and Zubz recall and reinterpret their Kwaito roots with a new Mixtape to close out the week.
A Paris-based, bad sister from Cameroun has done it again. We wrote about her back in June 2009 and she is about to drop a new album, Nothing For Granted , within the next month or so, but late last year she birthed a stunning Gil Scott-Heron tribute and then midwifed 8 remixes. The tribute used Gil's riff on "Inner City Blues" and lyrics from "I Think I'll Call It Morning." Had she stopped there, that would have been aplenty, but being the bad somebody she be, Sandra contacted a slew [...]
Kwaito is a form of South African popular music that represents the generation of the 1990s, the first major post-apartheid musical statement. It has elements of diverse influences as wide-ranging as house music on the one hand and traditional forms associated with the different tribal and regional groupings of South Africa. If you're interested in classic Kwaito the CD to get is Phat Joe Presents 3650 Days Of Kwaito . (Back in May 2006 we at BoL wrote about Kwaito here .) This week [...]
The article below, praising the life work of Etta James, is the first repeat article we have ever posted on Breath of Life. Etta deserves our kudos and our admiration. For those who missed the first go round on August 31, 2009, we present a second chance to dance. Oh, and a quick trivia note: Obama crooning a few bars of Rev. Green's "Let's Stay Together" is part of the back story. By now, I'm sure most BoL fans have seen it, if not, go here . Peace. +++++++++++++++++++ [...]
We're back on track with the New Year 2012. After a serious hack, a system upgrade, software upgrade, and a short illness, Breath of Life returns looking forward to a year of beautiful music. We begin 2012 with bossa nova legend Nara Leao , and follow up with an album's worth of music from Black Star courtesy of DJ Lt. Dan . We close out with installment #4 of Stevie Wonder covers featuring Dee Daniels, Caron Wheeler, Cedar Walton, Kaoma, Gal Costa, Sandra de Sa, Sergio Mendes & Brazil '77, Roberta Flack, Dave Pietro, Sunny [...]
Here is number four in a projected eight or more series of Stevie Wonder compositions and covers. By now most every music lover has recognized this man's genius, yet even those of us who lionize him sometimes don't realize the immense breadth and depth of Stevie's musical accomplishments. You could throw away 50 Stevie Wonder songs and still have over half a hundred hits to go, still be working your way through unforgettable compositions. Throw away a hundred and there's a hundred more lurking in the wings waiting on you to get back from the dump. Not that [...]
Damn near ten years ago in June 2002 an album appeared: Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star . Most hip hop heads whom I know rank it pretty high in the constellation of all time absolutely no contest best of hip hop EVER. Even old heads like me were not only impressed many of us actually liked the album. Anticipation was high for the follow up. We waited. And we waited. And waited. And are still waiting. Even though the pressure to put out a second album [...]
Nara Leao's story is an old story, oft repeated: the backbone attracts much less attention than does the breast, yet what keeps us upright? If you like bossa nova, you would do well to listen to Nara Leao, who was sometimes known as the muse of bossa nova. A middle-class Brazilian woman born 1942, she was not only a musician but also a professional journalist and sometimes an actor. In the early years of bossa nova, the spaciousness of her apartment is where many informal sessions were held: musical ideas floated and [...]
The week begins full force with John Coltrane from 1963 in Stuttgart, we follow up with new music from Betty Wright backed by The Roots , and conclude with 14 versions of "Felcidade" featuring Tom Jobim with Astrud Gilberto, Tania Maria, Juju Duarte, Gal Costa, Antonio Serrano and Jose Reinoso, Cris Deanno, Martinho da Villa, Maria Creuza, Baden Powell, César Camargo Mariano, Miucha, Nara Leao, Group Som Brasil , and Maria Bethania .
I don't know what's wrong with me—this is the third time I'm doing a Felicidade Mixtape, and guess what, there are no repeated tracks. Sure a handful of these artists were included before but here we have different versions, and in the case of Martinho da Villa with Tom Jobim, it's a club-based remix that samples their voices over a completely contemporary version. Music by Tom Jobim and words by poet Vinicius de Moraes, "Felicidade" is one of those classic songs that will never grow old precisely because it's stated premise remains true for most of [...]
I have a lot to say about new music from Betty Wright but only need a little space to say it. Bessie Regina Norris was born December 21, 1953 in Miami, Florida. She was popular R&B artist of the seventies who continues to be a force on the modern music scene in this new millennium. Not only are many of her songs sampled in modern music, she is often employed for behind the scenes vocal work, vocal coaching, and vocal arranging. Appearances on her new album by rappers Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg are based in part on her previous [...]
This is the quantum physics of jazz—music of explosive power that shatters preconceptions and forces whole new formulations of what the music can and should sound like. All who knew Coltrane describe him as a gentle man, and no one ever described him as angry or "militant." Coltrane's music however, especially during the sixties, was often anything but gentle, and because of the stylistic firestorm he created, Trane was often accused of destroying the basis of modern jazz. In fact, articles and interviews in Downbeat , the leading jazz magazine of Coltrane's era, sometimes described Coltrane's music [...]
Cannonball Adderley live kicks us off, Concha Buika boosts us into the stratasphere, and 12 versions of "You Are Too Beautiful" gently brings us back to earth featuring Thelonious Monk, Joe Williams, Chico Freeman, Ernie Andrews, Red Garland, Sarah Vaughan, Oliver Jones, McCoy Tyner with Jose James, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Kurt Elling, Harold Mabern , and of course John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman .
This is a 1932 Richard Rodgers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyrics) composition from the minor show Hallelujah, I'm A Bum . As is the case with many other show tunes, jazz musicians rescued the song from obscurity. In 1963 Johnny Coltrane recorded the song featuring vocal work by Johnny Hartman for an album that is now considered the gold standard of vocal with horn, jazz ballad albums. The Coltrane/Hartman combination is so effective that that it not only established the song as a major jazz standard, the duo's version also made any other arrangement unable [...]
Regular BoL readers already know that Kalamu is a huge fan of Concha Buika—and if you don't know, you can go here , here , and here to get in the know)—so it is no surprise that I'm featuring her new album. Funny, my first impression was between lukewarm and low-heated; partly because I had already heard a number of the tracks and partly because there is a widely sampling of genres and styles so there is no consistent sound anchoring the 26 tracks. Indeed, I ended up making my own playlist of tracks. [...]
Cannonball Adderley was not only a popular jazz musician, he was also a populist in that he spoke to and about the working people of the black community. He was eloquent, often witty and able to engender a feeling of unity among his audiences. Although he was definitely a "race man" in that he championed the causes and culture of black people, he was not a racial essentialist, hence some of Cannonball's most popular and most enduring soul selections (for example "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Country Preacher" ) were written by and featured on piano the Viennese [...]
breath of life
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
My Funny Valentines
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
