Shopping List: The New and the Notable
James Brown, "The Singles Volume Four: 1966-1967" (Hip-O Select.com)
The hardest-screaming man in show biz delivered something for everybody during the period represented on this remarkable 42-track double album. In addition to many smoking R&B hits with his Famous Flames, James Brown also released big-band instrumentals, Floyd Cramer-influenced Christmas songs, his own simmering organ grooves, and Nat King Cole-like crossover bids such as "I Loves You Porgy." And then there's "Cold Sweat," the loose-limbed rhythm explosion that turned soul music on its ear and introduced the phrase "Give the drummer some" into the funk lexicon.
Levon Helm, "Dirt Farmer" (Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard)
Following a long battle with throat cancer, and a serious studio fire, The Band's former drummer-vocalist survives to sing about miners, train robbers, farmers, and farmers' daughters, on his first solo album in 25 years. Concentrating on traditional tunes, such as "False Hearted Lover Blues" and "Poor Old Dirt Farmer," which 67-year-old Levon Helm learned growing up in Arkansas, "Dirt Farmer" also includes twangy takes on Steve Earle's "The Mountain" and Julie and Buddy Miller's "Wide River to Cross."
Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette, "My Foolish Heart" (ECM)
According to his liner notes, this 2001 Montreux Jazz Festival concert marks the apex of pianist Keith Jarrett's 25-year involvement with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette—at least in terms of "swinging, energy, and personal ecstasy." From Miles Davis's "Four" to the "Only the Lonely" encore, these two CDs overflow with invention while offering a crash course in jazz history.
Youssou N'Dour, "Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take)" (Nonesuch)
In addition to adding tinges of blues, reggae, and Cuba to his primary regional style, mbalax, Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour draws from other parts of Senegal on a record that combines virtuosic singing with complex skittering rhythms and jazzy improvisations. His Super Etoile band is nothing short of dazzling, and Youssou himself marvelously displays the strength and resilience of African culture to the world at large.