Shopping List: The New and the Notable
Brandi Carlile, The Story (Columbia); Kendel Carson, Rearview Mirror Tears (Train Wreck)
Do you prefer your emotionally vulnerable, country-tinged singer-songwriters fancy or plain? T Bone Burnett produced Carlile's new album with a fat, full live sound that adds resonant layers of catgartic suffering to lines such as, "I'm the rain in a downpour/ I wash away what you long for." Undersung duo Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez are the sound shapers behind young singer-fiddler Kendel Carson's stripped-down and very listenable debut, which also features former Van Morrison guitarist John Platania.
E.S.T., Tuesday Wonderland (EmArcy)
Pianist Esbjorn Svensson's trio solves the problem of how to bring the piano trio into the present (without stripping it of its natural elegance) by adding surging rock and skittering electronic moves to the mix. The Swedish threesome's dynamic sound also contains a tinge of mythical Scandinavia.
Sly and the Family Stone, The Collection (Epic/Legacy)
Funk, soul, and psychedelic rock all came together in the music of Sly and the Family Stone, whose seven best albums, from 1967's A Whole New Thing to 1974's Small Talk, have been crisply remastered, packed into this box, and also released separately. Rediscover how much musical nuance Sylvester slipped into hits like "Higher."
Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste; Marsalis Music Honors Bob French (Marsalis Music)
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis both produced and performs on these albums by two highly esteemed New Orleans musical veterans, clarinetist Alvin Batiste and drummer Bob French. Batiste, who has played with Ray Charles and Chick Corea, is an exceedingly nimble instrumentalist, and his album is a great example intergenerational synergy. The more traditional of the two, French is the driving force behind a richly arranged selection of such uniquely New Orleans staples as "Basin Street Blues" and the ubiquitous "Saints."