Cannon Re-Loaded •••••
All-Star Celebration of Cannonball Adderley
Produced by Greg Field & Tom Scott, Concord Music
Anyone familiar with the music of Cannonball Adderley will want to grab this CD. This superb and insightful album offers a rare opportunity to hear Mr. Adderley’s influences (witness Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and Milestones) from a stellar cast of contemporary musicians like Tom Scott (sax), Terrence Blanchard (trumpet), George Duke (piano), Marcus Miller (bass), Steve Gadd (drums), Larry Goldings (organ), Dave Carpenter (bass) and Nancy Wilson (vocals). According to the producers, “The greatest part of making “Cannon Re-Loaded” was not simply introducing his music to a new generation of jazz fans, but also having the opportunity to hear the best musicians in the world play at the height of their prowess.” From an eclectic list of memorable songs, our love affair starts with Nancy Wilson’s rapturous renditions of “Save Your Love For Me” and “The Masquerade Is Over” (from her classic 1961 recording Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley), followed  by the signature elegance of Mr. Blanchard on “I Should Care,” and the sizzling passions of Mr. Scott’s “Stars Fell On Alabama.” Other highlights include the hipster vibe of “Jive Samba” (which features one of Mr. Duke’s most colorful acoustic piano improvisations), the rich and bluesy “Mercy, Mercy Mercy” and the front porch classic “Country Preacher,” whose cool and moody Scott-Blanchard performance is seasoned and cooked with Mr. Golding’s brimming B-3 harmony. Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Scott honk and wail brightly over Mr. Gadd’s hypnotic skinning on “Sack O’ Woe,” and Mr. Miller drives the groove crazy through the funky doors of “Inside Straight,” opening the gate for some of Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Scott’s highest octave individual soloing.

Rabo de Nube ••••
Charles Lloyd, ECM 2053
I keep looking up at Charles Lloyd, as if he were on a mountain top, every time I hear his music. The man simply canonizes his music, without the preaching rhetoric, from lofty grounds where purity and faith reign supreme. How is it possible to hear such music? Trust and the unflinching belief that life is an evolutionary journey of hope, commitment, and betterment — a journey that we all like to take out of our past and into our future. This is saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s odyssey, and his gift of music as one of life’s richest experiences. “Rabo de Nube,” is an achievement that celebrates the end of a journey. From the opening track, “Prometheus,” followed by “Migration of Spirit,” to “La Colline de Monk,” and ending with the title track, “Rabo de Nube,” this is ecclesiastical music from the revelation of the jazz world delivered with humility and forgiveness. But wait a minute, for heaven’s sake! You’ll be smiling as you stroll through “Booker’s Garden” with Mr. Lloyd on alto flute. This piece is a truly remarkable and uplifting discovery, and one that makes clear his musical greatness. The album is enriched by the sheer brilliance and commanding support of pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer and percussionist Eric Holland. The recording quality is exceptional.

Some Other Time •••
Diane Schuur, Concord Music
Vocalist/pianist  Diane Schuur celebrates the music of her parents’ generation: Motown, the Beatles, forces of the ‘60s, along with the likes of Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole and other great performers of mid-20th century jazz. Performing with Randy Porter (piano), Don Balmer (guitar), Scott Steed (bass), and Reggie Jackson (drums), Ms. Schuur opens with “Nice Work If You Can Get It” plus “I’ve Got Beginner’s Luck” (two classics by George and Ira Gershwin), a beautiful rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” two of Cole Porter’s icons “It’s Magic” and “The Good Life,” followed by “September In The Rain,” and “Danny Boy.” Although this an album that fans of Ms. Schuur will find entertaining, it will become more personal when you understand Ms. Schuur’s reasoning behind the track selection. Here’s what Ms. Schuur had to say: “On the 40th anniversary of my mother’s death, this is a celebration of the music she introduced to me when I was growing up. After enough time goes by, everything your parents ever told you, everything they ever tried to teach you starts to make sense. You find out how they grew up and how they looked at the world in the context of their generation and their times. And I am grateful that she was able to instill in me a love of music.”

Setting Standards
New York Sessions ••••
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette, ECM 2030-32
Recorded January, 1983 at Power Station in New York, “Setting Standards” is a purist album of truly refined music for dedicated jazz lovers. Heck, let’s be fair and just admit that this kind of music is food for good health. Rich, sumptuous and deliciously calorie-free, the music undulates with collective brilliance from musicians in peak form. Accurate, unalloyed and sweetly tempered for good taste, this 3-CD set is a collector’s item for lasting listening pleasure. This reissue of the first days of Keith Jarrett’s “Standards” project with Gary Peacock (double-bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums) brings together the albums “Standards Vol.1,” “Standards Vol.2” and “Changes,” recordings made in 1983, and now released to celebrate 25 years of the Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette trio. In his book “Keith Jarrett, The Man and his Music,” Ian Carr writes that “The whole session seems pervaded with unbridled joy, and each piece seems to get its quintessential performance. Jarrett overflows with new musical thoughts, Peacock plays the roots and also creates dynamic counter-lines, while DeJohnette seems to create a new rhythmic and textural vocabulary for playing standards.” This boxed set includes liner text by noted Swiss critic Peter Ruedi (in English and German), and previously unpublished photos from the recording session by Deborah Feingold.

Distances ••••
Norma Winstone, ECM
Vocalist Norma Winstone is surely at home with her interpretative jazz standards of Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye” on her latest album. Her voice reminds us in ways of Dianne Reeves, Nina Simone, Tierney Sutton, and of course, the beautiful Shirley Horn. After all every jazz singer is different except when the emotions that they bring out of us connect us to other performers. We become part of a larger jazz world and we get that sophisticated feeling that Duke Ellington called “the swing.” Yeah, and that’s jazz along with that “Take ‘A’ Train” ride. Crisp, sweet, and alluringly sensuous vocal phrases with piano notes like spring’s first raindrops heralded by crystalline saxophone sounds (reminiscent of Jan Garbarek) tells a fortune story of Peter Gabriel’s “Here Comes the Flood.” A simply beautiful song from a beautiful voice. Other standouts include “Giant Gentle Stride” and “Gorizia,” pieces that offer a glimpse of a pianist who plays with emotion but with authority. The recording is spacious and remarkably detailed and flawless.

Vignettes •••
Marilyn Crispell, ECM
On the piano Marilyn Crispell is intimately graceful and seductive with those gorgeous piano strokes of hers. The strokes are not only just soft and teasingly sparse, but there is a feeling of inevitability  — something is brewing, a plot, a hidden surprise, an impending storm of emotions as the music builds on itself. Ms. Crispell is a master storyteller and as the title suggests, the pieces fit seamlessly for a beautiful tapestry of blissful joy. That the album overall celebrate a life of fine living is largely due to the her masterful performance of on the piano and the intoxicating culture of the jazz mystique.

Get On Board ••••
Eric Bibb, Telarc
All Eric Bibb albums have one thing in common; at some point the blues will make a grown man cry. Mr. Bibb’s latest album, fittingly titled “Get On Board,” featuring Bonnie Rait and Ruthie Foster, is a heartbreaker. “I want people to get onboard, not only with me as an artist, but with the spirit of what drives this record — the spirit of unity,” he says. “We’re living in a time when we really need to try to walk a mile in another’s shoes. We really are more alike than we are dissimilar.” From the opening track, “Spirit I Am” followed by the “Promised Land,” to the lovely “If Our Hearts Ain’t in It,” a gospel-flavored ballad that features emotional slide guitar accents from Ms. Rait, the music simply connects with resounding clarity and joyful deliverance. But this is not an album to write about. “Get On Board” is an album that deserves your listening attention. And while you’re at it, try listening to other songs like “River Blues,” “Conversation” (a duet with Ruthie Foster), and then reach deep into your soul and follow your heart with “Step By Step.”

All CDs reviewed in this article are heard through Bowers & Wilkens 802D Speakers and ASW 4000 subwoofer, and Rotel Preamp 1070, amplifier 1092 and CD player1072. For more information about this column, please email your questions to fagon@hillrag.com