Audio Files

By GINA VIVINETTO and JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 10, 2002

ART BLAKEY'S JAZZ MESSENGERS, A NIGHT IN TUNISIA (BLUEBIRD) Could A Night in Tunisia be any more frenetic and fantastic? Dynamic jazz drummer Art Blakey, a consummate ensemble player, knew what he was doing back in 1956, when he collected hard bop saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Jackie McLean to record some tunes written by all three, as well as others by Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins. Thank goodness, we now have a fine reissue of the album, with special bonuses.

A Night in Tunisia cooks -- there's no other word for it -- with an exotic Afro-Cuban vibe, a hodgepodge of beats -- I guess scholars would call that polyrhythms -- and groovy, hypnotic sound patterns.

Blakey is in rare form here, bashing the skins with glee. The horns are mighty and bright. Check out Lee Morgan's superb trumpet lines on Yama. Breathtaking. The title track, one of Gillespie's finest, finds Blakey and his sidemen banging on maracas, cow bells, claves, bongos, whatever was handy, and the joyous clanging is inspired. This is ensemble playing. This is musical generosity, the give and take between players, a gift to listeners. You want spontaneity? Joy? You want to feel alive for 75 minutes? Hear this. A+

-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic

WILLIE NELSON, THE GREAT DIVIDE (UNIVERSAL/LOST HIGHWAY) Give Willie Nelson his guitar and his Family, and listen as he turns even the most classic song into his own (if he didn't write it anyway).

Add any of his cadre of megawatt friends and followers to the mix and win a special treat as Willie weaves their sounds into his distinctive brand of anticountry country music.

But throw in sappy background vocals, undulating strings, synthesizers and other trademarks of overproduction, and you've got the unfortunate Great Divide.

Lots of critics are comparing Willie's latest offering with Carlos Santana's 1999 smash Supernatural, mainly because he has collaborated with a bunch of semipopular pop stars (Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, Brian McKnight, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow).

They've missed the boat. Willie has done it before, with bigger names and better results.

He released the vastly superior Across the Borderline in 1993, featuring songs penned by the likes of Paul Simon and Lyle Lovett and vocals by Sinead O'Connor, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan. Milk Cow Blues, a fantastic collection of classic blues and Willie songs, came out in 2000 with a brilliant cast, including Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi and more.

This CD can't touch those.

Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me), written by Thomas, attempts a Brazilian carnival sound complete with flutes and whistles, yet has the feel of a 1980s Lionel Richie tune. The first single, Mendocino County Line with Lee Ann Womack, is as icy as the sanitized pop country that Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton gave us years ago (remember Islands in the Stream?).

Kid Rock's appearance on Last Stand in the Open Country proves once and for all that he can't sing. And Crow's vocal barely registers on Be There for You. Getting the point?

The Great Divide does have its gems. Thank goodness for the introspective Willie-written title track, Thomas' charming Recollection Phoenix and the lovely, perfectly underdone Bonnie Raitt duet You Remain, which leaves a pleasant taste as the final tune on an otherwise mediocre album. C-

-- JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times staff writer

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