BY BILL BENTLEY
John Fogerty, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Verve Forecast Records
American music has no better friend than John Fogerty. From the very start, the northern Californian understood the vast sweep of sounds that swelled across the whole nation. He was able to tune them in like his soul was a big clear channel radio, open enough to allow everything to pass through him. That expansiveness spurred a very young Fogerty to create Creedence Clearwater Revival–the kind of band that comes once in a lifetime—and record original songs that still stand unequaled in how they capture the heart of America. The Blue Ridge Rangers first appeared on album in 1973, and were really just John Fogerty as one-man band. Today, over a quarter-century later, they’re a real live group that chases classic American music like mad foxes on a wild hunt. Their enthusiasm can barely be contained, and armed with songs by the likes of John Prine, Delaney & Bonnie, Ray Price, John Denver, Rick Nelson, Buck Owens, Phil Everly and a host of others, they’ve recorded an album that’s all about the promise and problems of the good ol’ U.S.A. It’s full of kick and spirit but never falls into the easy trap of reverence. These are people who have come to play, and Fogerty himself sounds like someone who’s been set free. From the haunted longing of Prine’s “Paradise” to the desperate plea of Everly’s “When Will I Be Loved” is the kind of album an artist gets to make maybe only once or twice. It’s obvious from the fire in Fogerty’s singing and playing that he’s been raring to ride this range again for a very long time. With associate producer Lenny Waronker and the roomful of stirring session hands, John Fogerty aims right at the bullseye and hits it dead on, making him a party of one who could have pulled off this prideful celebration of American music.
Joe Lovano and UsFive, Folk Art, Blue Note Records
It’s pretty obvious that those who can appreciate jazz the most are other musicians. In some ways, these sounds are like a secret code shared best by those who can also play them. But, of course, that’s not strictly the case. On Folk Art, Joe Lovano has written nine compositions that are deep in the soup. They start out strong, and then go all the way to the center of his endless creativity. The various horns and percussion instruments he performs on lets him show us how he really is one of the greatest jazzmen alive. He takes off from Charlie Parker and John Coltrane’s saxophone innovations, and even throws in some of the harmolodics of Ornette Coleman just to spice things up. At times, the music can be dizzying, then turn around and stun with its sheer beauty. This is Lovano’s twenty-second album, and by now it’s clear he knows exactly what he’s doing by bringing onboard the new band UsFive. These young players are full of fire, and fearless in how they extend the songs into another realm. Pianist James Weidman has played with Steve Coleman and Cassandra Wilson for many years, but bassist Esperanza Spalding and double drummers Francisco Mela and Otis Brown, III are relative newcomers, and bring a fresh inventiveness to kick everything up several notches. Weidman’s piano pushes the improvisations by the rhythm section into high overdrive using bedrock blues and gospel touches, and the way the drummers play off each other shows how Lovana is thinking with open ears. Between the ankle bells and gongs, not much percussion is missed. And then there’s Spalding on bass, one of the strongest finds in several years. Her skills are sure to receive special notice, and propel this music with a steady pulse. So no matter what your musical skills might be, Joe Lovano is ready to take you to the next level, and he knows exactly what folk art truly is. It’s art made by folks.
A.A. Bondy, When The Devil’s Loose, Fat Possum Records
Not many people ever heard of a group called Verbena, but if they had the name A.A. “Scott” Bondy wouldn’t be brand new. That band, based in Birmingham, Alabama, never got far from the South, and when it was over Bondy went back to his home in upstate New York and started again. Lucky us. When he was alone and looked inside himself, what the musician saw was a heart that may have looked like it had been run over by a Peterbilt truck, but actually was still beating hard and true. The songs that tumbled from him on the first album, American Hearts, were the kind that sound like America still has a fighting chance of finding its way out of the spiritual gridlock it’s stuck in. They are real and they may hurt, but they did not give up. Flash forward to album two, When The Devil’s Loose, and it is a no-brainer this young man is gripped seriously by greatness. The first clear clue is how simple everything sounds. There isn’t a wasted guitar chord, an unnecessary piano note or even a frivolous snare drum stroke to be found anywhere on these ten striking songs. Bondy’s voice may feel like he’s pleading for his emotional life, when in reality he’s pointing the way to higher ground. He is one determined young man, and knows a thing or two about survival and inspiration. “A Slow Parade” could be Boo Radley’s theme song, and Flannery O’Connor might easily have inspired “The Coal Hits the Fire.” Which isn’t to say there are literary pretensions behind this music, but rather the end effect is the same as what a great book does. It makes you believe it isn’t folly to think we just might live forever, or at least kid ourselves enough to pretend. A.A. Bondy has achieved what every artist hopes for: eternity. Hallelujah.
About Karen Young
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