Past Programs
Soul - 2008
CD of the Week - Taj Mahal
17/11/2008
40 years as a significant figure in the diverse worlds of blues, soul, reggae and world music is no mean feat, and rather than just compiling a greatest hits retrospective, Taj Mahal has celebrated this milestone by putting out a brand new album Maestro.
In keeping with recent trends, he has decided to include many tracks which are collaborations, and so has joined up with a very fine list of well-known acts for this record, including Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Toumani Diabate, Angelique Kidjo, Los Lobos and Ziggy Marley. As you’d expect, the result is a CD which covers everything from hard-edged blues through reggae and soul to West African sounds.
Janiva Magness
05/08/2008
Janiva Magness lost both her parents to suicide and grew up on the streets and in foster homes until she found her salvation in the power of the blues. She calls her latest CD What Love Will Do, ‘a testament to the power of love’. Her commanding, totally committed voice drives a band that cleverly blurs the lines between soul music and rootsy blues.
Jeff Turmes’ guitar, bass and saxophones and Stephen Hodges’ fat drums lay down great grooves as Detroit-born Janiva radically reinvents songs previously done by Al Green, Annie Lennox, Bill Withers and Marvin Gaye with her hard-edged sound of hope. Her turning point was seeing Chicago West Side Bluesman Otis Rush perform in Minneapolis; she said: ‘Everything he played was with such complete commitment. I knew when I left that club that morning in the wee hours that whatever it was that happened to me that night, I had to have more of that experience.’
Tina Harrod
28/07/2008
Like a Nina Simone recording, Tina Harrod’s album Worksongs reinvents songs by Dylan, Nick Drake, Stevie Wonder and Portishead for Tina’s distinctive voice and a fine trio.
Tina’s second album is stripped down to basics - Jonathan Zwartz’s double bass, Hamish Stuart’s drums, Matt McMahon’s piano and Tina, whom John Shand described as having ‘A dark-hued, womanly voice; assured in pitch and as powerful as a train when called upon, it also has little chinks of vulnerability, so one feels wooed by it.’ Tina also refigures two songs from her first album which she co-wrote with the late Jackie Orszaczky who first suggested she record this album.
Bakelite Radio
24/04/2008
On his new CD, Bakelite Radio Vol. IV, Joe Camilleri, the chameleonic master of beautifully produced roots music, takes on the colours of New Orleans R&B, with a couple of Allan Toussaint and Dr. John numbers each and some Camilleri/Nick Smith originals.
The tenor sax is king with Joe and Wilbur Wilde sharing the crown, with Joe Creighton taking up the bass roles as the band steers away from country and towards soul with a touch of rock and roll. Joe is so good at such a large range of roots music and records it so tastefully and prolifically that we’re in danger of taking the Melbourne hipster-entrepreneur empire that he’s created for granted.
