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By JUDITH BUHRMAN and PHILIP BOOTH
Published June 26, 2005

IMANI WINDS, CLASSICAL UNDERGROUND (KOCH INTERNATIONAL CLASSICS) "Imani" means faith in Kiswahili. "Furuha," which means delight, exhilaration, lies in every (figurative) groove of Classical Underground, the second release by this young and adventuresome woodwind quintet. Though the bold cover photo might give you pause as to the contents of this CD, don't pause for more than a millisecond - buy it and listen.

There's a perfect arch to the program, which starts off with a toe-tapping, shoulder-shimmying arrangement of Piazzolla's Libertango, ascends to the stratosphere with the seventh of Cuban clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera's Aires Tropicales and gently descends to earth with the final notes of French horn player-composer Jeff Scott's Homage to Duke. Along the way, you'll encounter an interesting and provocative work by flutist Valerie Coleman, Concerto for Wind Quintet.

To me, Aires is the pearl at the center of this recording. Like most of Cuba's treasures, natural and cultural, D'Rivera enjoys no mainstream recognition in the States. That he is well-known to American musicians of eclectic tendencies is our good fortune. Aires Tropicales is a seven-course banquet of felicitous combinations: European classical, American jazz, the wonderful curries of South and Central American African and Indio fusions, all served up by Chef D'Rivera into a succession of treats for mind and ear. Scott has arranged the last aire, Afro, as a tour de force for jazz singer Rene Marie and percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos, who join the quintet here. Complex rhythms, vocal fireworks, pungent blends of voice and instrument, and deeply engaging musical ideas make this as exciting a nine minutes of music as I have heard in a long time.

I wonder what they do with Beethoven. Asante, Imani! (Thank you, Imani). Grade: A

- JUDITH BUHRMAN, Times correspondent

Imani will perform July 16-20 as part of the Florida International Festival in Daytona Beach. For more information, go to www.fif-lso.org/miniconcerts.htm

ROBBIE FULKS, GEORGIA HARD (YEP ROC) It has been four long years since alt-country iconoclast Robbie Fulks last treated fans to a full album of original material with the independently released Couples in Trouble, available the same year as covers collection 13 Hillbilly Giants. During the interim, the Chicago-based singer and songwriter has popped up on tributes to Johnny Paycheck, Webb Pierce and Wanda Jackson and reportedly spent $40,000 on a set of - gulp - Michael Jackson songs. We can't wait.

Georgia Hard is yet another collection of full-on Fulks gems sure to please the Americana crowd and raise others' eyebrows, from the simultaneously funny and sad musings of middle-finger breakup anthem It's Always Raining Somewhere to the laid-back countrypolitan shadings of the weepy Leave It to a Loser. I'm Gonna Take You Home (and Make You Like Me), a giddy, silly duet with wife Donna not far from Loudon Wainwright terrain, must be the only time the German word gemutlichkeit has been paired with pedal-steel guitar.

There's no reason that country radio couldn't or shouldn't embrace the blue collar woes of the fiddle-decorated title track, the banjo- and mandolin-flecked Where There's a Road, and the sad-goodbye song I Never Did Like Planes.

Then again, Fulks' choice of thematic material doesn't quite fit in: A country star and absentee father pays the ultimate penalty for his sins in the moody Coldwater, Tennessee; an up-from-poverty man goes to prison for murdering his adulterous wife in the delicate ballad If They Could Only See Me Now; a married businessman turns down sex with a stranger for the sake of preserving his career in Doin' Right (for All the Wrong Reasons).

Several other tracks, including All You Can Cheat and Goodbye, Cruel Girl make one wonder: Does this guy love or loathe his chosen genre? Maybe a little of both?

Fulks' intelligent lyrics and layered instrumental work are richer and more authentic than any half-dozen slick hat acts. It's no coincidence that Sam Bush and Alison Brown, on mandolin and banjo, respectively, were invited to the party.

But with the honky-tonking Countrier Than Thou, North Carolina-bred Fulks pokes fun at any such litmus test. A

- PHILIP BOOTH, Times correspondent

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 09:10:04]