1. Jimmy T99
Nelson–The
Legend
(Nettie Marie Records)
(One of the
premier blues shouters, still making great music at the age of
85, and taking on the music industry at the same time. And when
it comes to rocking out, Pearl Jam has nothing on T99. “The
Devil’s Sending a Blessing to You” could have been written
for D. Cheney.)
2. Charles
Lloyd–Jumping
the Creek
(ECM)
(Swamp-bop
in a free jazz mode from one of the last sax giants.)
3. Kris Kristofferson–Repossessed/Third
World Warrior Remastered (Oh Boy)
(KK never knew
whether he really wanted to write songs, sing or act. But he
has always been confident about his politics. These songs, reissued
by John Prine’s Oh Boy label, protest US militarism in Central
America and praise indigenous movements from Nicaragua to Guatemala.
Play it loud it enough for Bush to hear as he flies back from
Argentina.)
4. Geno Delafose
and French Rockin’ Boogie–La
Chanson Perdue
(Rounder)
(When he’s
not making the mostly deeply grooved Cajun music in the Bayou,
Geno raises
horses on his ranch in the humid heart of Acadie. In other words,
the real thing.)
5. The Delmore
Brothers–Classic
Cuts 1933-1941
(JSP)
(My pal Michael
Neumann praises the Delmore Brothers above all others. He can
be wrong, but not here. Their harmonies buckle your knees, the
notes from Rabon’s guitar call out as clearly as a spring warbler
in the Smokies.)
6. Tanya Tucker
(with Willie Nelson)–Fire
to Fire
(Capitol)
(Tanya never
had to bare her navel to demonstrate her sex appeal. She kills
you with her voice, never more devastatingly than on this duet
with Willie. She can rock, too.)
7. Willie Bobo–Spanish
Grease/Uno, Dos, Tres (Polygram)
(The Jackson
Pollock of polyrhythms.)
8. Jesse Belvin–Guess
Who: the RCA/Victor Recordings (Ace)
(A voice that
rivaled Sam Cooke’s, snuffed out in his 20s on an Arkansas road,
probably while being chased in a car sabotaged by the Klan. Oh,
yeah, the place where Belvin died–a little town called Hope.)
9. Five Blind
Boys of Mississippi-The
Great Lost Blind Boys Album (Collectibles)
(To my ear,
the greatest of the blind boy gospel groups, fronted by the incomparable
Archie Brownlee.)
10. Tadd Dameron
and John Coltrane–Mating
Call
(OJC)
(An antidote
to the over-praised and ungainly Monk/Coltrane pairing.)
David
Vest
1. Allen Toussaint’s Jazzity
Project–Going Places (Captivating Recording)
2. Walter Roland–Volume
I (1933) (Document)
3. Erskine Hawkins–Tuxedo
Junction (Classics/Windham)
4. The Chuck Wagon Gang–Looking
For A City (Music Mill)
5. Ann Margret–God
Is Love: The Gospel Sessions (Art Greenhaw) [w/ James Blackwood]
6. Little Richard–Talking
‘Bout Soul (RPM)
7. Dave Brubeck Quartet–Time
Changes (Columbia)
8. Bucky Pizzarelli & John
Vignola–Moonglow
(Hyena)
9. Rosemary Clooney Sings
The Music Of Cole Porter (Concord)
10. The Comas–Conductor
(Yep Roc)
David Vest’s new cd is Serves
Me Right to Shuffle.