Shopping List: The New and the Notable
Michael Brecker, Pilgrimage (Heads Up)
The hardest working tenor saxophonist in jazz for a couple of decades, Brecker succumbed to leukemia in January but not before recording one of his very best albums. With Pat Metheny on guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Herbie Hancock and Brad Mehldau alternating on piano, Pilgrimage is (not unexpectedly) a hard-swinging, nearly irresistible force of nature from start to finish.
Richmond Fontaine, Thirteen Cities (El Cortez/Union)
Like his new novel, The Motel Life, singer Willie Vlautin's tunes for Arizona country rockers Richmond Fontaine are chock full of irresistibly bleak stories hinging on poor decisions, bad luck, and dubious karma. Titles such as "$87 and a Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse the Longer I Go" and "I Fell Into Painting Houses in Phoenix, Arizona" capture the existential funk, if not the captivating border sounds, of this great yet wretched band.
Poncho Sanchez, Raise Your Hand (Concord Picante); Various, Motown Remixed Vol. 2 (Motown/Universal)
Motown hits including Jr. Walker's "Shotgun," the Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine," and Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine" get a percussive Latin-remix makeover, with mixed results. For a more rewarding blend of salsa and soul, check out conga maestro Poncho Sanchez's Raise Your Hand, which features the likes of Booker T. Jones, Maceo Parker, and Eddie Floyd multiplying the beats of "Knock on Wood," "Shotgun" (again), and the title track, all in real time.
Loudon Wainwright III, Strange Weirdos: Music From and Inspired By the Film Knocked Up (Concord)
Can't vouch for Judd Apatow's follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but singer-songwriter-actor LW III's music consists of honest, funny, and really well played ruminations on parenthood in Los Angeles and its suburban hinterlands. "When it's grey in L.A.," he sings, "it's better that way. It reminds you that this town's so cruel." Richard Thompson and Van Dyke Parks join in the bittersweet fun.