Of Note: CD Reviews

In our cubicles, in front of our computers, it's hard to imagine that long ago the distinction between work and play was not as sharp as we draw it today. To pass the time while performing chores, and quite often to help set the pace and accompany the rhythm of nailing, shoving, and lifting, people sang work songs. Today we have our iPods, but long ago folks had their voices and often passed the time in shared songs.

Shanties were work songs that sailors sang while they mended sails, loaded keels, or otherwise kept the ship under sail while they made their way across the ocean or while Ahab searched for the white whale. Bill Dempsey, with his new disk Shanty Man, offers up an appealing collection of shanties that go back to the times when the great tall sailing ships crossed the open seas. Included are some of the familiar ones – "Blow the Man Down," "Shenandoah," and "(What Do You Do with a) Drunken Sailor?" – that you might remember from nights around the campfire, along with others that delight with their quirky lyrics and memorable tunes.

These songs, repeated over and over, usually lasted as long as the chores. But Dempsey knows that we're not squaring a rig on the poop deck, so he keeps the selections short at two or three minutes. The instrumentals, "Shenandoah," "Soldier's Joy," "The Sailor's Hornpipe," are especially short, clocking in at about a minute apiece, but their brevity keeps them sweet and the listener wanting more.

The men who sang these shanties were not choir boys, but men who lived hard lives and sang hard as well, their voices tempered by waves, winds, and hard whiskey. Dempsey sings in a full baritone, and his rough-hewn delivery of these shanties, no vibrato and sung with the gusto of every beer commercial ever made, keeps the music true to the way it must have been heard on the great tall ships more than a century ago. For the one or two polkas and reels, Dempsey sings with more restraint, and the effect is quite beautiful and touching. As mentioned earlier, these shanties were sung to set the pace of work, and Dempsey does an excellent job of bringing out the rhythm. Even though there is no strumming guitar, bass or drums, I found myself tapping my foot throughout the disk.

Besides an occasional banjo, harmonica, or accordion, Dempsey sings a cappella, as these songs would have been sung while setting sail or battening down a hatch or two. One only wishes that, to really be true to form, accompanying Dempsey on a few of these were a chorus of scalawags, ne'er-do-wells, and other men who would have spent their lives on the seas.

Bill Dempsey will be performing his shanties at the San Diego Folk Heritage's Sea Chantey Festival on the Star of India, Saturday, May 18, at 11am.

In some distant corner of one of those soon-to-be-gone music stores, in between show tunes and spoken word CD albums, you might still find a children's section with discounted, overly dusty, but still in alphabetical order children's CDs. There might be some wonderful children's song collections there and Patty Hall's new CD would be a perfect addition to any child's home library of songs.

Jump on Up! is a joy for both children and adults. It's a 12-track musical surprise consisting of five of Patty's original children's songs, six American traditional tunes, and an excellent original tune called "Little Dancer" by Jason Weiss. The folk songs all lend a sense of continuity and provide a historical grounding for her CD. Knowing Patty, this is not an accident of musical roulette with the tracks or style, but a way of enriching what children and even adults hear. The CD welcomes children in and invites adults to join them in a quality music experience. Jump on Up! provides kids with a wake-up call to be yourself and appreciate who you are. It's a CD with a beat and a distinct rhythm, providing a musical place where kids' differences and similarities can be universally appreciated.

The CD starts out with "Wrinkly Knee Blues," a song played as a Chicago-style blues tune that lyrically points out the uniqueness of each of us while giving voice to our own little quirks. Patty has definitely moved on with this CD by adding blues to her trunk full of musical styles. Whether doing old traditional tunes or her own wonderfully written songs, Patty performs heartfelt music. Her award-winning song, "Raggedy Candy Heart," is a complex but heartwarming song that feels very real. Patty Hall really is Raggedy Ann! In fact, she has written many books about the doll, her adventures, and her stories.

The old traditional tunes on the CD showcase Patty's core as a musician who is dedicated to the very roots of American string music and her special talent as a banjo player, vocalist and guitarist. Patty plays "The Keeper," an old camp that brought me back to when I was a kid away from home at summer camp, enjoying the comfort of a great group sing around the campfire.  

Jump on Up! is comforting, educational, and musically diverse. Unlike many children's musical CDs, it's not condescending or overly commercialized. Adults can learn a thing or two by giving this children's CD a listen. You'll definitely shake your tail feathers to this wonderful collection of timeless music.

Patty will be performing her Jumpin' Up songs at the Adams Avenue Roots and Folk Festival on Sunday, May 4, 11am on the Park Stage.

Intopaz is an unusual and interesting debut CD by the Turtle Project. It is a record that is broad in scope and incorporates advanced musical arrangements with pop, jazz, and rock compositions that should appeal to both the lay listener and the academic musician. The sonic experience is varied and fun. Tracks like "Day Five" do exceptionally well to blend digestible pop production with thoughtful and focused songwriting. The record, overall, exposes some limitations in the production and performances that the band's future releases will hopefully resolve. Nonetheless, Intopaz dares to explore territory that most independent bands are either afraid to explore or lack the necessary skills to do so. For that I believe much credit is due.

More complex timbres and strong jazz-based progressions throughout the album's 11 tracks make it hard to call Intopaz a pop record, however some songs are just too catchy for any other genre ("Taking It On" and "Miles In-Between"). Remnants of Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of Jason Yamaoka's big influences, can be heard throughout Intopaz as well as Jason's solo work. For example, "Maya and Adam" is a bouncy-feeling song written about a serious topic – alcoholism – in which the light-rock style mingles with the reflective subject matter in a manner that's highly reminiscent of Glen Phillips (Toad's former front man).

There is heavy usage of horns, which I'd like to hear tighten up considerably on several songs in which I felt that they conflicted with the vocals. But, that being said, I think the horns are an important reason why this record stands in its own musical category – for the better. They are used to great effect on specific tracks such as "Magic Eight Ball." I'd also level criticism regarding the vocal levels – I'd like to see Jason's voice take a more prominent place in a few of the mixes where they blend into the background too much to really command attention ("Growing Up Slowly"). The songwriting often offers up an interesting variety of topics, but their message is occasionally muted by overpowering and complex arrangements. Whether due to artistic direction or common oversight, I feel that the limitations on Intopaz often break even with the record's many strengths – this is the hallmark of a good musical exploration. Sometimes the music falls victim to an excessive array of instruments. Other times, the record feels clear, concise, and innovative (listen to "Miles In-Between").

In support of Intopaz, the Turtle Project will be filming a live music video on May 24 at Channel Twelve25, a sizable, all-ages venue at 172 E. Main Street in El Cajon. You can also learn more about the band online at http://www.theturtleproject.com or on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/jturtle.

It's hard to be objective about an old friend who first played music in my store in 1971 and appeared at his first San Diego Folk Festival in 1972, but I really believe this is some of the best work he has ever done. Tomcat's lyrics on the original material (particularly the title song and the one about hurricane Katrina) are exciting and memorable, and the production by Bob Corritore (who also plays some tasteful French harp that doesn't get in the way of the singer) is top rate. This is the first time in 40 some years that Tomcat has had any first-class studio time. Most of his home recorded efforts were done with portable equipment and without the care of anyone who knew about record production. Tomcat has spent all this time paying dues. So many young guitar players came into this blues business learning under Tomcat and playing with him at a myriad clubs from the old Texas Tea House in Ocean Beach to his currant assignments in more classy joints in the Gaslamp and elsewhere. It was one of his students, Chris Jones, who started playing clubs with Tom before he was old enough to do that legally, which brought him to the attention of the Blue Witch people. Chris also does some guitar work on the CD as does another of Toms old students, bass player Patrick Rynn. Drum duties are split between Brian Fahey and ex-Muddy Waters sideman Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.

The notes are informative and even give credit to an interview John Payne and I did with Tomcat back in the early '70s for Living Blues magazine (March-April, 1975). Tomcat has been one of San Diego's best kept secrets for a long time and it looks like with the release of this CD we are going to have to share him with the rest of the world.

Tomcat grew up in the tiny town of Downsville just outside of Waco, Texas. His daddy ran a juke joint and Tomcat got exposed to the blues at an early age. He joined a tent show as a tap dancer but moved on to singing and the guitar in the '40s and '50s. He spent time in Lubbock, Texas, Denver, and Flagstaff, Arizona, before moving on to L.A. in 1966 and San Diego in 1971. I don't think he was in San Diego too long when someone brought him down to a blues concert I was doing at Folk Arts and he sat in for a number or two. And that's where it started. I've forgotten how many Folk Festivals, Roots Festivals, Street Fairs, and other events I've had Tom play at, but it has certainly been a lot. It's great to see a good friend have the kind of success Tomcat will have with this CD. He's come a long way to get here and he's certainly deserving of every accolade that comes to him. You'll want to own this CD mostly for the music but also for the fine notes by Bill Dahl and some excellent photography by Nena Anderson. You can see Tomcat perform at the Roots Festival on Saturday, May 3, at 2 and 3pm in the Mansfield Beer Garden. For more information, go to www.bluewitchrecords.com.

Those Gypsy swingers sure get around and the Zzymzzy Quartet is no exception. From Django Hot Club licks by Caravan to South America and New York City, the group covers songs by major songwriters and personalities (Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and others) and do some of their own stuff too, which happily doesn't suffer by comparison. The songs range in a time capsule that covers the late 19th century, and mostly the 1930s (even the 1893 Gnossienne No. 1, Lent has a 1930's klezmer touch). Even the Dukish "Caravan" sounds a bit like these guys are hauling bagels from the East Side to Tel Aviv with a stop at the Hot Club to give Django a bite.

We are living in a time when Django Reinhardt is being revered as a minor (at least) deity and every city has a Hot Club or Gypsy swing group of its own. I only have to play Django on my "Jazz Roots" radio show (KSDS 88.3 – a shameless plug) to have the phone light up. There are quite a few people out there playing this music, but very few people playing it as well as these guys. They do all of it well, from the latin "Tico Tico," the slow standard "What'll I Do," and even a touch of Les Paul and Mary Ford on "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" although that Gypsy swing guitar creeps in here too.

The group consists of lead guitarist (and harmony vocalist where needed) Beston Barnett who is mighty fine on old time tunes and his own compositions as well. The clarinet player is Matt Gill who lets good taste keep his solos in bounds (he doesn't try to be Benny Goodman or Dave Taras, he plays what's needed). Pete Miesner is sort of in the same category with his vocals. He doesn't try to sound black or British; he doesn't mumble – just the words that you can understand presented in a pleasing format (his solid rhythm is okay too). Patrick Marion's bass is just what's needed to round out the sound. Guestings by Ray Suen (always a good choice in whatever group he plays that hot violin with) and Rob Duncan's accordion really adds that French cabaret sound. I hadn't heard Chloe Feoranzo's tenor sax before, but she really gives that Johnny Hodges-Harry Carney-Otto Hardwick sound to "Caravan." Chad Farran's doumbek is a nice touch that even Ellington didn't think of.

I only have one criticism of this group. The recording should have been issued on 78s so I could play it on "Jazz Roots." This is one I would hope is in the KSDS record library so that folks around there and other jazz radio stations will play it. The only problem is that with a name like Zzymzzy, they're not exactly going to be first up in alphabetical listings. Maybe that just means an extra special surprise when you get to the end.

The CD release will be held on Thursday, May 1 at the La Jolla Firehouse YMCA on Herschel Street in La Jolla at 9pm.