Comfort Items

I’m bewildered when pals proudly share current playlists consisting of nothing but dusty vinyl albums.  To each his own, but discovering innovative new sounds is my lifeblood.  I prize surprise.  Even my ongoing opera obsession during the quarantine is rooted in enlightenment.  Last night I learned I loathe Franz Lehár’s “The Merry Widow.”  I’m disappointed, consequently, by my recent regression into the sort of sentimentality I mock in my friends.

I was lying half-naked in the sun on the nicest day of the year when I first listened to Shelby Lynne’s new self-titled album.  Complemented by the warm sun and cool breeze, Lynne’s barely-concealed recasting of her classic 1999 album I Am Shelby Lynne elevated me to cloud nine.  Subsequent plays revealed Shelby Lynne to be as innovative as a McDonald’s combo meal.  That’s precisely why I adore it.

After catching Lionel Loueke’s show with bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth at the Blue Room in 2009, I figured the guitarist could do no wrong.  His 2012 album Heritage met the high standard I set for the artist who blends rock, soul and jazz with West African dance music.  Since then, his previously hidden propensity for corniness has repeatedly disappointed me.  Gilfema’s Three, Loueke’s reunion with Biolacati and Nemeth, is a familiar and comforting return to form.  Here’s the trio’s interpretation of “Little Wing”.

Jazz Is Dead’s name implies a revolutionary sensibility, but the project overseen by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad specializes in painstakingly accurate recreations of timeworn variations of jazz.  Released today, the Roy Ayers vehicle “Synchronize Vibrations” is a nostalgic update of the cosmic soul of Ubiquity’s “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.”  Alas, I’m smitten by the blast from the past.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)