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JUDY DYBLE Earth Is Sleeping Acid Jazz AJXCD447
Judy Dyble, often overlooked in the Fairport story, has found rehabilitation through Cro- predy reunions and cemented her name once more with those of an open mind. Let it not be forgotten that her forward thinking and desire to be different led her to an early ver- sion of King Crimson; add in Trader Horne and there’s a whole lot more to her than meets the eye or ear.
Earth Is Sleeping comes on the heels of
the recent Summer Dancing and by all accounts she was eager to get weaving fol- lowing a decent media reception for that pre- vious work. Here pulling together threads once abandoned, fresh or lain aside she’s con- jured an album which gives structure and a form that has been missing from previous outings. This is far more of an easy listen as musicians and writers like Michael Raphael (Kiss & Rage Against The Machine) as well as the long-ago Martin Quittenton (Rod Stew- art) fall within the Dyble sphere. The subjects of thirteen slices extend her observations and ruminations to granddaughters, phone mes- sages causing grief on hearing the voice of someone no longer here, frosty winter morn- ings and the dizziness that is everyday life. You may not want to hear things that make you think upfront, but Judy’s technique plants a seed and lets it flower within afterthought. I couldn’t get the lyric for Take Me Dancing out of my head and had to play White Dress with Sandy Denny’s vocal just for the sake of comparison: now there’s an irony!
Earth Is Sleeping is a warm, heartfelt album with expansive settings and arrange- ments, which acknowledges where Judy Dyble began but hints at some fascinating destina- tions to come. Time to acknowledge her again.
acidjazz.co.uk Simon Jones
ARCHIE LEE HOOKER & THE COAST TO COAST
BLUES BAND Chilling Dixiefrog DFGCD8804
While not in quite the same league as his uncle, blues vocalist Archie Lee Hooker still makes a pretty strong showing on Chilling, aided and abetted by his band of European musicians, who play as good as any Ameri- cans. Archie doesn’t possess the resonance of John Lee, but uses the vocal range he has effectively, getting the songs across with his pleasant throaty tones. He’s a good story- teller too, using his resonant natural speak- ing voice to tell about his background and upbringing on four segments interspersed between music tracks.
Drummer Yves Ditsch does double duty as he has also produced the album, the good result obviously being a product of thought, care and collaboration. Writing credits on all the material is shared between Archie, Yves and the other main band members: guitarist Fred Barreto who plays some stunning acous- tic guitar (as well as electric) and bass player Nicolas Fageot. Three different pianists add contributions as well as saxophonist Fred Homain and vocalist Irina Holzinger.
Whereas Mud Morganfield, Muddy
Waters’ son, tries to replicate his father’s music… apart from advice, the only thing that Archie has taken from his uncle is the name of John Lee Hooker’s long-time touring band. Archie Lee Hooker is his own man, and with his Coast To Coast Blues Band and this new album, Archie provides further proof that the blues is still alive and well.
archieleehooker.com Dave Peabody Ágnes Herczku
ÁGNES HERCZKU Hozomány, Visa Fonó FA 413-2
Ágnes Herczku’s latest tour de force is pack- aged so modestly and unassumingly (“the lyrics of the collection will be available on the official Facebook page due to space con- straints”) that the cursory listener might be forgiven for passing it by. But this unique and wonderful two-CD collection is an important milestone and archive in the story of tradi- tional Hungarian music from Transylvania, and it deserves wide attention.
Commencing with intensity, Lassú Cigánytánc És SzökŒs is a long “slow couple dance and leaping dance”, its funereal pace eked out by beautiful strings while Herczku’s evocative, urgent singing ushers in a rapture of controlled disruption and energy.
The project is a grand tribute to the work of recently deceased master collector and ethnographer, Zoltán Kallós, who should certainly be mentioned in the same breath as Bartók and Kodály, having devot- ed his entire life to the collection and preservation of the folklore and traditional music of Transylvania. Fifteen thousand melodies, all told. Playing and arranging the power of a specific locale within a unique history, Herczku travelled to the tiny village of Visa in the Mezoség heartland of Transyl- vania, armed with the collection of field recordings made on just one street there in 2005 that is re-presented here – all amiable storytelling and mischievous aside.
Building upon these original recordings, Herczku has quietly brought her own innate understanding to the project for the second disc, reimagining, respecting, connecting. Seprik Az Erdei Utat – KatonakísérŒ shows this, her purity within a huge range flitting sympathetically between awesome moments, translating specific local stories and laments through language, despite language, in unmistakable emotion. Where other inter- preters might linger upon the maudlin, she finds the contradictory light and shade. And
whether in wild csárdás or soulful lament, she and her superb band bring a serious sublimity to the material.
fono.hu John Pheby WILL FINN & ROSIE
CALVERT Beneath This Place Haystack HAYCD0012
Readers may be familiar with Will Finn and Rosie Calvert as one half of a capella singing quartet The Teacups. Beneath This Place fea- tures sounds you would not normally expect to find on an album labelled folk, such as the steel pan. While ‘English-folk-does-steel- band’ may start setting alarm bells ringing on the tweeness barometer, we actually find a unique and captivating range of sounds here.
“Just as I sing in different styles,” explains Calvert, “I play folk tunes differently on the steel pan than I would calypso.” Open- ing with Banks Of The Sacramento, which documents that initial wave of euphoria sweeping over swathes of North America dur- ing the gold rush, Calvert’s use of the steel pan in such an unexpected setting immedi- ately grabs your attention. On other tracks the instrument takes on an altogether more mournful and reflective tone, however.
The duo’s harmonies, of course, are as delightful here as they are with The Teacups. Suitable accompaniment from Evan Carson (bodhran and percussion), Matt Downer (double bass), Sam Partridge (flute and whistles) and Seth Tinsley (guitar) all help to make Beneath This Place a really rather pleasing listen.
With so many excellent duos competing for attention on the contemporary folk scene these days, Will Finn and Rosie Calvert really do offer something that little bit different.
haystackrecords.co.uk Darren Johnson
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