Ron Trent Warm
What Do The Stars Say To You

Legendary Brazilian group Orquestra Afro-Brasileira are reborn for first new album in over fifty years, produced by Beastie Boys collaborator Mario Caldato Jr.Led by maverick composer Abigail Moura, Orquestra Afro-Brasileira were one of the most influential yet overlooked groups in Brazilian music history. Operating for almost thirty years until 1970, they released just two albums - the first of which, Obaluayê, has recently been reissued by Day Dreamer Records - and left behind a legacy of Afro-Brazilian consciousness that continues to resonate today.

Two amazing jazz-funk bullets taken from the Forty Seven Times Its Own Weight's album, 'Cumulo Nimbus'. An incredibly rare and highly sought after album, these two tracks are the pick of the album, cut on a load 45 for the first time. Essential!

One of Esther Phillips finest '70s releases, From a Whisper to a Scream is the first of seven albums the singer recorded for CTI offshoot Kudu. Arranged and conducted by Pee Wee Ellis, the December 1971 session also involved principal players such as bassist Gordon Edwards, drummer Bernard Purdie, percussionist Airto, guitarists Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale, keyboardist Richard Tee, and saxophonists Hank Crawford and David Liebman.Setting the tone for Phillips' Kudu era, Whisper offers a series of spacious, yet fully arranged ballads of burning heartache, along with a handful of relatively funky numbers that do nothing to compromise her talent, dishing out loads of classy grit. It's a definite point of departure from the likes of Esther Phillips Sings and And I Love Him, her field of contemporaries closer to Al Green and Aretha Franklin than before. She grabs onto "Home Is Where the Hatred Is," Gil Scott-Heron's most harrowing rumination on drug dependency -- which, at that point, wasn't even a year old -- as if it were her very own, and it's all the more poignant given its parallels with her own life. (It’s meaning was only compounded by her death in 1984.)Though there is absolutely nothing lacking in the album's more energetic moments, it's still the ballads that shine brightest, like the alternately fragile and explosive "From a Whisper to a Scream" (Allen Toussaint) and a staggering "Baby, I'm for Real" (Marvin and Anna Gordy, made popular by the Originals) so vulnerable yet commanding that it really should've closed the album.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk's live club appearances were usually a very engaging, casual affair, full of good humour and with a fantastically large selection of different types of music. The double album "Bright Moments" is an almost authoritative document of what you could experience in a concert by Kirk, and also his best album from the seventies.The extroverted Kirk was in front of audience in his element, constantly narrating, explaining his concepts and singing anecdotes from the history of jazz. Even if some of his long introductions, spoken in jive rhythm, may sound a bit outdated these days, you can tell from the music that Kirk greedily absorbed the energy in the room. Most of the pieces are long (seven minutes and more) and demonstrate Kirk's rich variety of solos in different styles (and of course with different instruments)."Pedal Up" is a performance - in which the air stays away - of Kirk's never copied technique to play three wind instruments at the same time, including a lot of unaccompanied passages that sound simply unfeasible. Another of Kirk's essential madness can be heard on "Fly Town Nose Blues", which features much of an instrument called a nose flute; and on the title track, Kirk offers a generous portion of another specialty of his: singing a second voice using a (traditional) flute. His repertoire typically draws from various sources: Ellington's "Prelude To A Kiss"; a groovy pop song by Bacharach: "You'll Never Get To Heaven"; a delightful version of Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"; and a stomping, jubilant New Orleans style original, "Dem Red Beans and Rice".But perhaps best of all is a passionate interpretation of the well-known ballad "If I Loved You", in which Kirk's crude, almost choked tones coming from within indirectly point to the avant-garde without ever losing the melodic basis. "Bright Moments" conjures up all the great tricks from Kirk's box of tricks, offers a pretty microcosm of his talents and shows a perfect and knowledgeable stage artist. In short, it's nothing less than a tour de force.Recording: 1973 live at Keystone Korner, San Francisco, by Biff Davies, Ed Barton & Jack Crymes