Kind of blue? Perhaps you need a new Jazz album..

Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus is aptly named - Rollins assumed the mantle during the 1950's of pre-eminent saxophonist in Jazz, and this album shows why. The leader's tenor is not the only marvel on display here, since we are treated also to a tremendous display of Max Roach's god-like talent on drums.


The 1950's was a stabilising period in Jazz. The thrusting, determined modernity of Bebop became integrated into a more lyrical, accessible conception (although hot, tough music persisted in the hard-bop style, the jam session phenomenon, etc.), and Saxophone Colossus is a key work in that development. Jazz history aside, it is quite simply an amazing album of music.

First up is St Thomas, a calypso which Rollins turns into a swaggering display of rhythmic mastery and easy-going improvisational invention. Next, You Don't Know what Love is is a superb ballad showcase - Rollins plays a magnificently querulous extended solo that never runs out of great ideas. Moritat (a.k.a. Mack the Knife) is warm and lyrical (perhaps a tribute to Louis Armstrong, who revived the tune in 1954?). Blue Seven is a brilliant extended track on which Rollins and Roach both shine.

Superlatives don't do this one justice. Every music-lover deserves it.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To...

Hugo (eyeing Yan's apartment): "You've got everything..."
Yan: "You can't have everything. Good thing, too..."

Here's a very nice, moody crime flick from 1970's France, a slice-of-underworld-life if you will. Alain Delon puts in a great titular performance as "Le Gitan" ("The Gypsy"), a melancholy thief with a deep love of his dispossessed people. Delon is reunited with Renato Salvatori, with whom he starred in Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers" plus several other films, although a bigger part (that of the well-off jewel-thief Yan) is played here very well by another top actor, Paul Meurisse.


"Le Gitan" contains plenty of action and suspense, but what's memorable here is the gritty tableau, a dark vision of the lives of two extraordinary men, the little touches that reveal character, the philosophical asides, and not least the lovely soundtrack which features Django Reinhardt's peerless guitar.

"Le Gitan" is available to English speakers as part of the Region 1 "Alain Delon - Five Film Collection", and the Region 4 "Best French Crime Flicks" box from Australia's Madman Studios. The latter features only dubbed English audio for this film, but I can recommend the result (also the video transfer to DVD).

The Other Late-Period Masterpiece from Kurosawa

I've just watched Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha (The Double) for the nth time, and continue to be moved by a wonderful film. The central characters are the feared warlord Shingen, and the petty thief who, by virtue of his uncanny resemblance, is co-opted as a strategic double and ends up with the weight of an entire clan on his shoulders. A rich and thought-provoking work which may be many things to many people, it is to me above all a rumination on society's need for individuals, and individuals' need for society.


Kurosawa portrays superbly the brutality and cunning on which power has always depended - the struggle between Shingen, Ieyasu and Nobunaga (not to mention Shingen's son) provides a compelling milieu. Tatsuya Nakadai is marvellous as both Shingen and his hapless double, and shines in some truly unforgettable scenes. Music relies heavily on a single motif but is highly effective, if without the brilliance lent by Takemitsu to the soundtrack of Ran (a film that begs comparison with this one).

This is essential viewing for lovers of life, art and cinema.

I have the 2002 Region 2 DVD, which has a more than decent transfer of the film. The image is very stable (with some very minor artefacting), but there is a persistent lack of definition which makes the film look far older than its 30 years. Criterion have issued a Region A Blu Ray edition, and a Region 1 DVD, both of which are supposed to be typically excellent.

EDIT: Kagemusha shared the Palme d'Or with All That Jazz at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.

Downtown New York City Avant-Funk-Lounge-Rock-Surf-Jazz-Thrash

John Zorn’s band Naked City was what all the cool kids were listening to in the early 90’s, and myself in the late 90’s. Their album Radio is a great showcase for this marvellously entertaining, true fusion band., The quality of the playing is immense – huge talents executing with brio, and the kind of timing found on the best jazz records. No surprises there... Naked City contained some of New York's best jazz musicians! Remember though: the cutting edge is also the bleeding edge – some of the more avant-garde aspects of this record may not be for the faint of heart. Very highly recommended for adventurous listeners.

Cuban Music So Good It'll Send Shivers Down Your Spine

Don’t let the butt-ugly cover-design put you off. Eliades Ochoa's "The Lion is Loose!" is amongst the richest, most powerful recordings of Son Cubano, the style with which the Buena Vista Social Club swept the world off its feet. Ochoa leads a crack traditional group in this worthy updating of the Son, his guitar solos impressive showcases for his feel for this music and his technique, his rich, husky vocals very fine indeed. Ochoa is in fact guitarist for the Buena Vista group and this was recorded several years earlier than the famous BVSC release. This would be an excellent follow-up purchase. In fact, I’d very much recommend it first!


Next up, Duo Los Compadres! This group is one of the immortal ones, and these early 50’s recordings of Cuban Son capture a kind of perfection, a sound that feels as if it could be no other way. The disc features the two principals (Lorenzo Hierrezuelo, and Francisco Repilado) singing and playing mostly their own now-classic (and often achingly beautiful) compositions, always accompanied by two or three other musicians on bass and percussion. At some point you'll hear them exhorting each other towards greater musical heights: "Olé, Compay Primo!", "Olé, Compay Segundo..!" - YES, Francisco Repilado is none other than that much-loved musical ambassador who became a global phenomenon 40 years later!
This is _very much not_ a CD only for the historically inclined, but it is interesting to compare a few of these original versions with more recent recordings (e.g. Ochoa’s – see above) of the same songs.

Death, Sex, and Honour in post-war Japan

Here's an obscure cinematic gem that is latterly, unfairly, being marketed as a sexploitation classic: Slave Widow! In fact, while the prurient aspects of the film likely caused a stir on its release in 1967, the work is unfailingly artistic, evocative, and beautiful throughout.


The story concerns a widow who is tempted and bullied into sexual servitude by her recently-deceased husband's chief creditor, a suave and amoral businessman. She is subsequently fallen for by the man's son, who possesses far greater sensitivity than does his brutal father, and events are thus led to an inevitably tragic conclusion.

The acting ranges from naturalistic to somewhat stylised, but is always highly effective. Cinematography (in B&W) is striking throughout. This is a superb and distinctive film.

Cinema Epoch have produced an anamorphic NTSC transfer of the movie onto DVD (region 1) that is really quite good. There is considerable damage to the source material (scratches, dirt, etc.) which has not obviously been cleaned up, but the image is stable and detailed enough to provide a pleasant viewing experience. Digital compression artefacts are not noticeable, a major plus in my book.

Highly recommended for fans of art-house cinema.

Sublime, Late Solos from a Master

Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes, both deceased, are giants of Brazilian cultural life. They were at the heart of the Bossa Nova boom that swept both men to fame in the 1960's and, contrary to the light-hearted work that often represents that movement, they have each produced work of great depth and sensitivity - Powell as guitarist and composer, and de Moraes as composer, lyricist and poet.



"Baden Plays Vinicius" features Baden recorded solo just months before he died in 2000 (Vinicius de Moraes had passed away 20 years earlier). Here we have deeply personal arrangements and playing, by a truly masterful, unique guitarist, of great popular compositions written by a long-time collaborator and friend. There's a richness of tone and expression, and a profundity of feeling here that make this record quite sublime.



Additional recommendations: "Os Afro Sambas", an important 1966 collaboration between the two men, and a seminal reaffirmation of the African roots of Samba; "Mares Profundos", a gorgeous modern reprise, by black Brazilian vocalist Virginia Rodrigues, of those same recordings; plus too many other Brazilian recordings to name!