{"id":6024,"date":"2016-07-29T18:19:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T18:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=6024"},"modified":"2016-07-29T18:19:17","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T18:19:17","slug":"now-playing-pick-hits-and-forthcoming-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/29\/now-playing-pick-hits-and-forthcoming-albums\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Playing: Pick Hits and Forthcoming Albums"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungPhilly\"<\/a>
\nPick Hit:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\nMarc Ribot<\/strong> The Young Philadelphians: Live in Tokyo<\/em> (Yellowbird, just released)
\nIt\u2019s hard to imagine something musical that guitarist Marc Ribot<\/strong> couldn\u2019t do\u2014or wouldn\u2019t wish to.
\nThat\u2019s not to say that Ribot is eclectic, or that he lacks discernment. Far from it; he doesn\u2019t dabble. He just likes many different styles of music for many different reasons. His technique is so sharp and profound, his sonic identity so strong, that all of his music, whatever it taps into, seems grounded in a single expansive concept reflective of these qualities: an improvisational credo drawn from jazz; a toughness and urgency that owes to punk and early rock; and a devotion to detail that can found wherever serious musicians gather.
\nRibot describes his Young Philadelphians band in his liner notes as \u201cwhere deco meets disco meets decon,\u201d in tribute to twin legacies: \u201cThe mind-blowing harmolodic punk-funk of Ornette Coleman\u2019s first Prime Time band and the sweet, optimistic pulse of 1970s Philly soul.”
\nHe\u2019s got bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma and drummer G. Calvin Weston, both Prime Time alumni, in tow here, along with fellow guitarist Mary Halvorson and a 3-piece string section.\u00a0Ribot is celebrating a moment, now some 40 years old, \u201cbefore dance went digital,\u201d reinventing hits like Silver Convention\u2019s \u201cFly, Robin, Fly,\u201d Teddy Pendergrass\u2019s \u201cLove TKO,\u201d and, yes, Van McCoy\u2019s \u201cThe Hustle.\u201d Did you have to ask? Of course, they play \u201cTSOP (The Sounds of Philadelphia)\u201d by MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother\u2014if that\u2019s really what it meant<\/em>\u2026)
\nI grew up on and danced to this soundtrack in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. This stuff was a guilty pleasure for me, long suppressed, now released from its dated trappings and its too-rigid disco beat by Ribot and company. They\u00a0isolate both the inner grit and the pleasing naivete these songs managed to balance. And they invest these worthy pop confections (I’d forgotten how lovely some of these string lines are) with fresh\u00a0fissures of noise and threads of wild invention.
\nThis is no retro shtick. There\u2019s nothing ironic about it. And why not honor both Ornette Coleman and Van McCoy at once (if you\u2019ve got the chops\u00a0and the love to do it).
\nWhat else am I listening to now?<\/em><\/strong>
\nSteve Lehman<\/strong> S\u00e9l\u00e9b\u00e9yone<\/em> (Pi, due Aug. 19): Saxophonist and composer Lehman is perfectly at home on the wonderful Pi label, in the company of conceptualists such as Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman and Tyshawn Sorey. Here, he\u2019s got a quintet, along with two rappers: Hprizm, well-known in New Yorks\u2019 underground hiphop scene, and Gaston Bandimic, who is Senegalese. Lehman’s previous music was ambitious enough; this seems to up the ante.
\nThe Fred Hersch Trio<\/strong> Sunday Night at the Vanguard<\/em> (Palmetto, Aug. 12): At 60, Hersch stands as one of jazz\u2019s defining and most distinctive pianists, and among the musicians who have made Manhattan\u2019s Village Vanguard a special home. I love his solo work, but this trio\u2014with bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson\u2014has developed into something wondrous, too.
\nHarold L\u00f3pez-Nussa<\/strong> El Viaje<\/em> (Mack Avenue, Sept. 9): Lopez-Nussa, at 33, is among a generation of Cuban pianists who seem fluent and comfortable enough with idioms from both Cuba and the U.S. to freely find their own way. I\u2019ve heard him live a couple of times, and have heard musicians in both countries sing his praises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pick Hit:\u00a0 Marc Ribot The Young Philadelphians: Live in Tokyo (Yellowbird, just released) It\u2019s hard to imagine something musical that guitarist Marc Ribot couldn\u2019t do\u2014or wouldn\u2019t wish to. That\u2019s not to say that Ribot is eclectic, or that he lacks discernment. Far from it; he doesn\u2019t dabble. He just likes many different styles of music … <\/p>\n

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