13 More Favorites of the Week

Bet you thought there would just be five favorites this week. Not a chance. Though I'm a bit backed up these days with all the work to turn out each week and the waves of CDs that keep coming in, I always catch up—eventually. Here are 13 more favorites you need to know about...

Charlie Haden and Jim Hall (Impulse). Few artists have recorded as many superb small-group albums as the late Jim Hall. The guitarist was always best in a dialogue setting, conversing musically with another jazz giant. This is true of Jim with Sonny Rollins (The Bridge, What's New), Paul Desmond (Take Ten, Glad to Be Unhappy, Bossa Antigua), Ron Carter (Alone Together) and plenty of others. Now we have Charlie Haden and Jim Hall to add to the vast collection. Recorded at the 1990 Montreal International Jazz Festival, this album is only surfacing now, which is puzzling given how important it is. You get to hear Charlie Haden's big warm bass and Jim's sophisticated and pesky guitar free and clear of drums, piano or horns. They're naked as jay birds, and the sound of the recording is spectacular. For now, it's my favorite jazz album of the year. 

Ruthie Foster, Promise of a Brand New Day (Blue Corn). Foster is one of those singers who knocks you out in two notes. Foster should be a household name but I'm convinced she will be soon enough. On this album, the blues and folk singer-songwriter uses her church-trained, Tina Turner-esque voice to belt out mostly blues, but there's plenty of gospel here as well. Her original songs, like My Kinda Lover, have plenty of punch while her take on Bonnie Bramlett's The Ghetto and Willie King's Second Coming lifts them to new, warm places.

Mark Elf, Mark Elf Returns 2014 (Jen Bay). Hurricane Sandy made many people's lives miserable in the New York City area in 2012, include guitarist Mark Elf's. Two years later, we have a new Elf studio effort. Joined by pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash, Elf has a big, round sound and knows how to swing large and let juicy chords run the show. He's had plenty of experience, recording with Charles Earland, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy McGriff, “Groove" Holmes and the Heath Brothers as well as small-group leadership sessions. Here he takes on tasty tunes such as Time on My Hands, Michelle's Mambo and The Sandy Effect.

Somi, The Lagos Music Salon (OKeh). A fascinating album that combines Somi's glorious soulful voice with a mash of music styles, including jazz, soul and West African bass lines and beats. Somi was born in Illinois but her parents emigrated from Uganda and Rwanda, so there's plenty of African and American idioms here to catch the ear. Dig Ginger Me Slowly, Still Your Girl and Four African Women.

Toco, Memoria (Schema). Brazilian vocalist Toco teams with singers Nina Miranda, Selton and Ligiana Costa and a host of brilliant musicians to produce a beautiful soft samba album featuring songs about his home in Brazil's northeast region. As soon as I put this one on, I couldn't take it off. It has been richly recorded, so all the musicians seem to be in the room with you, and Toco's voice and arrangements are instantly seductive. If you want to know what joy sounds like, this is it.

Don Pullen, Richard's Tune (Delmark). Pianist Pullen, who died in 1995 at age 53, could shift easily between classic jazz playing and the avant-garde—and everything in between. All of which can be heard on this re-issue of a 1975 Sackville solo recording. From the title track, which is dedicated to Muhal Richard Abrams, to Song Played Backwards, you hear a passionate artist at work, wrestling with himself and his history. Suite (Sweet) Malcolm (Part 1: Memories And Gunshots) is another superb showcase for a pianist who today who should be better known.

Pete Magadini, Bones Blues featuring Don Menza (Delmark). Back in the 1960s, when big bands featured guys with long hair, lambchop sideburns and tinted aviator glasses, tenor saxophonist Don Menza was a monster. Anyone who loved Buddy Rich's band of the decade recalls his rivetting solo on Channel One Suite. Menza is still a powerful force on the scene today. Here, in 1977, on another re-issued Sackville release, Menza is with Wray Downes on paino, Dave Young on bass and the ripping drummer Pete Magadini. Old Devil Moon, Solar, Freddie Freeloader, I Remember Clifford and other songs are a sharp reminder of Menza's crystal-clear, chainsaw attack back then. 

Steve Heckman Quintet, Search for Peace (Jazzed Media). If you remember Prestige's soul-jazz sound of the 1960s, you'll be swept away by this one. Bossy saxophonist Steve Heckman is framed by Howard Alden on guitar, Matt Clark on the organ, Marcus Shelby on bass and Akira Tana on drums. All of the '60s pump-and-drive is here, with take-charge Heckman flying smoothly on up-tempo numbers like Grantstand and delivering plenty of heart on ballads like Autumn in New York, which he plays on the baritone sax, giving the standard a hefty, Serge Chaloff feel.

Brenda Earle Stokes, Right About Now (Magenta). Stokes is a beautiful singer-songwriter and pianist. This is a jazz album, and Stokes' voice soars like a paper plane. Her song In September should be a jazz standard, and the others have a fine balance of lyricisim and jazz heft. Dig what she does with Ron Sexsmith's Right About Now, with a voice that's a happy marriage between Flora Purim and Laura Nyro.

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood: Juice (Indirecto). Guitarist John Scofield adds a metallic cry to this popular funk-groove trio as they take on originals and rock standards like Light My Fire, Sunshine of Your Love (using a reggae beat!) and These Times They Are a Changing. Many of the tracks have a Caribbean club feel that's charged with John's singular fusion attack and the group's eclectic musical corkscrews and layering instrumentation.

Italian jazz in the late 1950s and early '60s is well represented on two re-issues by the Rearward label—Piero Umiliani's Da Roma A New York from March 1957 and Quartetto Di Lucca's Quartetto from 1959 and '61. Both were originally on Italian RCA. The jazz has a cool feel but is coyly romantic in its swing. Umiliani was an arranger and pianist who scored many Italian films. Quartetto di Lucca was formed in 1957 and backed Chet Baker and many other American jazz musicians who visited Italy for festivals and club dates. Gorgeous music that I'd love to try out in a red-orange Alpha Romeo Spider.

Ruthann Friedman, Chinatown (Wolfgang). Folk guitarist and singer-songwriter Friedman is best known for writing the Association's '60s hit Windy while living in David Crosby's basement. Her last album (Constant Companion) was recorded in 1970, though she has continued to write songs over the years. This new album has all the tenderness and earthiness that marked San Francisco in its folk-rock heyday. Listening to the music, you feel transported to the front of a fireplace. The music's intimacy and thoughtfulness reaches out and touches you. Dig Our War, iPod and The Tides.