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Wizz Jones and Ralph McTell
Mor Karbasi
RALPH MCTELL & WIZZ JONES About Time Leola Music TPGCD37
JOHN RENBOURN & WIZZ JONES
Joint Control Riverboat Records TUGCD1095
Wizz Jones first brought Ralph McTell to Cornwall in 1966 when, according to Ralph, he “would have walked there for the oppor- tunity.” Fifty years later the pair reunited in Cornwall to make the aptly-titled About Time. Deliberately evocative
of their summer busking days as “two Croy- don boys who only ever wanted to be Woody Guthrie or Jack Kerouac,” this is an album that harks back to their shared roots.
Honey Babe Blues is one of several tracks that features the high-impact sound of two flat-picked guitars, Ralph’s harmonica and two voices – with Wizz taking the high part under Ralph’s lead – a combination worked to spellbinding effect on Guthrie’s Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos).
Both men are in fine voice throughout, with Ralph excelling on a You’re Gonna Quit Me Baby that knocks the Dylan version into a cocked-hat, and Wizz delivering an affecting- ly wistful I Never Did Sing You A Love Song.
Unlike the John & Wizz album, this isn’t purely a guitar album and Wizz’s banjo and Ralph’s harmonica and mandolin are exciting and welcome additions to Old Rattler’s Pup and Morning Blues. Like the Wizz & John album, it’s a record born out of lifelong friendship and mutual admiration.
ralphmctell.co.uk
“John and I are booked to play some of the guitar festivals…” Wizz Jones told me, in the early summer of 2014. “I think they just like the idea of us, really. We’re the last of the dinosaurs!” Less than a year later, John passed-away mid-tour, bringing a premature end to this all-too-brief musical partnership. Happily, the duo had nearly completed this album, recorded, mixed and mastered by Colin Hood.
Many of the tracks honour their contem- poraries, most notably Bert Jansch, whose title track, Strolling Down The Highway and Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning are all treated to fine versions. So too is Mountain Rain by Archie Fisher who, along with Davy Graham, was one of the originators of the UK folk guitar movement. Other songs by old friends include In Stormy Weather by (the more obscure than he should be) Al Jones and Blues Run The Game by (the not-as- obscure as he was) Jackson C Frank. Alan Tun- bridge’s National Seven is in the repertoire of every aspirant guitar-poet who ever set their mind to ramblin’ but this two-guitars- entwined version could very possibly be the best recorded version of the (very) lot.
Our heroes’ mutual hero Big Bill Broonzy is represented with the opening instrumental Hey Hey, and a crackling, Jones-sung live reading of Glory Of Love, while Renbourn gets to wrap his tonsils round songs by Bob Dylan, Mose Allison and Joseph Spence.
The John & Wizz duo was one that per-
haps shouldn’t have worked (their arrange- ments involved Renbourn assiduously tran- scribing Jones’ instinctive improvisations) but, by God, it really did. As Pete Paphides notes in the excellent booklet, “we’re very fortunate that they managed to capture it in time”.
worldmusic.net
There’s no repetition of material across the two albums, so the only sensible option is to buy ’em both.
Steve Hunt
MOR KARBASI Ojos De Novia Alama Records Alama 005
On her latest record, the much fêted Mor Karbasi delivers a traditional, but masterful testament to her diverse musical lineage.
From the richly orches- tral and celebratory opening track Bismillah – one of sever- al traditional Berber songs
aired on Ojos De Novia – to the hauntingly melodic Ahuvati Ester, this is a record that never misses a beat. Korbasi’s sublime voice, combined with the instrumentation and arrangements of collaborator Joe Taylor, ensure that justice is done to the traditional musics being explored on Ojos De Novia which span Israel, Spain and Morocco.
And while there are nods to more con- temporary arrangements, such as on the album’s more dance floor-friendly title track, the delivery is always well considered. It would have been very easy for Ojos De Novia to be a nondescript, Café del Mar-esque sum- mer record. The deep appreciation for the musical forms at hand however, and the expert delivery, ensure that it is much more than that.
Hear a track on this issue’s fRoots 60 compilation, and read her interview that starts on page 36.
www.morkarbasi.com/ Liam Thompson
Photo: Rob O'Connor)
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