Here are some of the CDs sitting on my desk today.
Might as well start at the top and that means Horace Silver's "Live at Newport ‘58" (Blue Note), a live date recently unearthed by producer Michael Cuscuna in the Library of Congress' collection of tapes. It's a marvelous find. As a bandleader and as an integral part of The Jazz Messengers, Silver was perhaps the leading composer of the hard bop era, bringing R&B and gospel feel to modern jazz. This group -- with trumpeter Louis Smith, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Louis Hayes -- was new when it took the stage at Newport, but you wouldn't know it from this swinging 44-minute set featuring great Silver compositions like "Cool Eyes," "Senor Blues," "The Outlaw" and "Tippin'."
Of all the new post-punk revivalists so far, I might like These New Puritans best. Maybe because they sound most like Gang of Four and maybe because unlike a lot of the others, they're clearly more than simple copycats. The Southend, England band's Domino Records debut, "Beat Pyramid" draws a lot on the vocal and lyrical style of Gang of Four frontman Jon King, but the music isn't much like the angular, jagged guitar-driven music made by Andy Gill, Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen. Both bands, do, however, share a passion for funk. But, these 19-year-olds have a wide-ranging sound that is their own.
Heidi Talbot is an Irish folkie -- you know her as one of the Cherish the Ladies gals -- that drew my attention because her disc "In Love and Light" (Compass) is produced by Boo Hewerdine and includes performances by Eddi Reader, John McCusker and others who make just about the only kind of folk music I really like. While Talbot doesn't have the kind of immediately recognizable voice of a Reader or a Kate Rusby, who does? Still, she's got emotive pipes, top-notch support and fine material from which she rings every germ of passion. A cover of Tom Waits' "Time" is lovely, as is a fabulous reading of the Scottish ballad, "Glenlogie."
"Those Things," the 2007 disc from San Francisco DJ and producer Miguel Migs, gets the once-over on "Those Things Remixed" (Salted Music). The likes of Cottonbelly, Crazy P, Faze Action, Simon Gray and others put a new spin on soulful vocal club tracks that would have felt right at home on 12"s bearing New York's Prelude label in the late ‘70s or a Chicago DJ International one a few years later. Smooth, slick and thumpin' this is club music with soul.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
