Plenty of good music out there these days

Whenever I hear someone say there's no good music being made anymore - and I hear some variation on that pretty regularly - it makes me think I'm not doing my job. I only wish I had enough time to listen to all the good music that's out there.

Yes, there's plenty worth listening to. Not everything below will be to everyone's tastes. (Some of it isn't even to my taste.) But don't give up on music just yet.



Robert Randolph & the Family Band, "Colorblind" (Warner Bros.)

Robert Randolph is aptly described as a gospel singer and steel guitar player. (The roots of both his gospel style and choice of instrument are traced to the House of God church, whose signature sacred steel music is a gospel form based around the steel guitar.) But on his second studio album, the 20-something New Jerseyan scales back both the gospel and his guitar skills in favor of a foot-stomping, mood-lifting, Sly Stone-like soul that will capture those who don't care about the gospel or insane technical ability. Both Christ and Randolph's steel haven't exactly been packed away. Songs like "Angels" and "Blessed" express a general sort of faith in a benevolent spirit; more specific is a version of "Jesus Is Just Alright" (featuring God - make that Eric Clapton - on guitar). And while Randolph's guitar is proclaimed, it is more in the context of the song, rather than extended soloing.



Solomon Burke, "Nashville" (Vanguard)

Joan Osborne, "Pretty Little Stranger"

Solomon Burke and Joan Osborne are both known best as soul singers, and each has taken a side trip into countryish territory on their latest CDs. Neither adopts a twang in their voice (thankfully); the country feel comes from the material and the instrumentation. Apart from that, the results vary quite a bit.

From the opening song of "Nashville," a take on Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got to Memphis," Burke takes command here. At times, it's reminiscent of Dusty Springfield's blend of country and soul. At other time, it even transcends that high-water mark, with producer Buddy Miller giving Burke's authoritative voice all kinds of settings, from lonely acoustic guitars to full honky-tonk arrangements. Burke and Miller choose the duet vocalists superbly (Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris) and the songwriters (Welch, Jim Lauderdale, George Jones) even better.

There's nothing wrong with Osborne's voice on "Pretty Little Stranger," nor the concept of her fooling with country sounds. But the arrangements here are plain, to the point of unimaginative. And while she covers the Grateful Dead, Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell and more, she can't make the songs, almost all about lost love, stand out. Her own writing has its moments - "Who Divided" is a clever look at how time passes for the heartbroken - but doesn't always measure up.

Or maybe it's just that everything this year is going to pale in comparison Burke's trip to "Nashville."



Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood, "Out Louder" (Indirecto Records)

So can the avant-jazz forces of guitarist John Scofield and the trio of Medeski, Martin & Wood match the groove they laid down on their first collaboration, 1998's memorable "A Go Go?" Yes, and then some. For one thing, "A Go Go" was largely a one-groove record - a great groove, but little of the outside thinking these four are accustomed to. Much of that can probably be chalked up to the fact that the original was a Scofield recording, with MMW his sidemen. Here, it's all four at the fore - "Out Louder" is the first release on MMW's own label - and that means all kinds of sounds: the frenetic "Miles Behind," a tribute to '70s-era Miles Davis; the mesmerizing avant-Latin of "Tequila and Chocolate"; and a thoughtful, Scofield-led take on John Lennon's "Julia."

Bob Dylan, "Modern Times" (Columbia)

Produced by Jack Frost

Bob Dylan's been on a hot streak - with the pen, in the studio and on the road - and Dylan has converted that roll into a palpable, music comfort zone. He has turned the croak into high art, and developed a band that complements his voice and mood to perfection.

Inside that zone, Dylan is having fun like never before. On "Modern Times," his first CD in five years, that sense of fun includes making jokes, referencing pop culture (Alicia Keys?!) and, more than anything, taking on the guise of a frisky, warm-hearted lover. From the thumping "Thunder on the Mountain," to the elegantly chiming "Spirit on the Water" to the charging "Rolling and Tumbling," Dylan is either chasing women, or being chased by the memories of women. This sort of activity inevitably comes with pain, but "Modern Times" has a lightness and humor that comes from somewhere other than the blues. Bad love is inescapable even here, but Dylan breezes through it on nothing more than the line of a song: "This woman so crazy, I swear I ain't gonna touch another one for years," he sings, and you can almost hear him laughing. In the impossibly sweet-tempered "Beyond the Horizon," Dylan concludes "I've got more than a lifetime to live lovin' you."

Sounds to me like Dylan is pitching some considerable woo. It may not be directed, exactly, at Alicia Keys. But whoever she is, she's lucky to get this incarnation of Dylan, who at 65 is eager-to-please, thoroughly at ease, and down on his knees.



Beck, "The Information" (Interscope)

Produced by Nigel Godrich

So who or what is Beck? The dance-floor party boy of "Midnight Vultures?" The bummed-out folkie of "Mutations?" The ultimate postmodernist of "Odelay," the 1996 pastiche classic that attempts to make use of most every sound known to man?

The one-name wonder's latest, "The Information," not only unites all those Becks, but also raises the mad scientist facet up a notch. The album is a triumph of sonic sculpture, integrating sounds from every stop on our information superhighway-to-nowhere. It's everything from funk riffs (the one in "Cellphone's Dead" happens to be ripped from the Headhunters' "Chameleon") to mad percussion beats over a techno-rap ("1000BPM") to the expansive pop of "Strange Apparition." The final stroke is the closing medley, "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton," 10 and a half minutes of cut-and-paste starts and stops, blues guitar and spoken word.

Virtually all of it "The Information," even the most hip-shaking moments, have a downbeat vibe, thanks to Beck's distant, robotic vocal phrasing. Beck may be taking a swipe at our hyper-informed way of living here. That he does so using every bit of technology at his command is his juiciest ironic statement since his breakthrough "Loser."



Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "Long Walk to Freedom" (Heads Up)

Produced by Joseph Shabalala

Creating an album of duets in a meaningful way is a tricky thing. Oh, how many "So-and-So and Friends" CDs I've filed in the dark recesses, dismissed as ill-considered stabs at publicity and widening one's audience base.

Bringing a long guest list to a Ladysmith Black Mambazo is especially fraught. The South African a cappella group makes such a unique sort of music - known as isicathamiya - that finding a way to blend outside voices into the intricate style seems difficult to do without altering the group's essential character. But on "Long Walk to Freedom," Natalie Merchant, Taj Mahal and Emmylou Harris are folded comfortably and without compromise into the Ladysmith way of singing. On a version of Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes," Melissa Etheridge sings the lead vocals, while Ladysmith expands what it did on Simon's original. On "Hello My Baby," African-European vocal group Zap Mama meets Ladysmith for a gorgeous choir duet.

Ladysmith digs into its own past with Sarah McLachlan joining the group on their signature song "Homeless," and they explore American gospel, a medley of "Amazing Grace" and "Nearer My God to Thee," with Emmylou Harris.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo performs Nov. 9 at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen



Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau, "Metheny Mehldau" (Nonesuch)

Produced by Metheny

Guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau are contemporary giants of their instruments. But that is no assurance that a meeting will yield great results. The two never played together before making this recording, and guitar and piano is not the most common duo pairing. (Most of the album is duets of Metheny compositions; Mehldau's rhythm section of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard joins for two tunes.)

Talent and collaborative will win out. On this collection of mostly introspective pieces, Metheny Mehldau sounds, as the name suggests, as one musician with four hands.

Metheny & Mehldau perform March 16 at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen.



Del McCoury Band, "The Promised Land" (McCoury Music)

Produced by Del & Ronnie McCoury

The Del McCoury Band is - inarguably, to me - the best and most creative true bluegrass band in the land. Gospel is close to their hearts and they do it so well; their version of "Get Down on Your Knees and Pray" brings me as close to the Christian God as I ever get.

So recording an all-gospel album - including seven tunes by Albert Brumley, a prominent and prolific musican born in 1905 Oklahoma - seems almost too easy, too confining for the McCourys. Sure it sounds great, but lacks the broader approach that brings in blues, honky-tonk and even instrumental flashiness of their secular albums. "The Promised Land" is a great gospel album, but only a very good Del McCoury Band effort.



Jason Moran, "Artist in Residence" (Blue Note)

Produced by Jason Moran

The latest from pianist Jason Moran opens with "Break Down," on which a sampled vocal repeats, "Break down the barriers/ Break down misunderstandings/ Break down the art world." It is a straightforward, even simplistic, statement of intention for what follows - a complex, ambitious construction that uses the building blocks of jazz, classical, blues, gospel and fusion. The track that follows "Break Down," "Milestone," also uses vocals - but this time it is soprano Alicia Hall Moran, providing a concert-hall sound. The spirit of adventure runs deep here, from the rhythms (see if you can put your finger on the beat to "Refraction 1" and "Refraction 2") to the instruments (the scratching sound heard sporadically is pencil on paper), and the message ("Artists Ought to Be Writing" features a spoken word lecture arguing that more writing about the artistic process would make art more accesible).

"Artist in Residence" actually was born of artistic crossovers. Several tunes were commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and inspired by the museum's permanent collection; others were commissioned for a performance piece at the Dia:Beacon museum in upstate New York.



Madeleine Peyroux, "Half the Perfect World" (Rounder)

Produced by Larry Klein

Happy news for fans of vocalist Madeleine Peyroux: "Half the Perfect World" trails her last album by just two years, roughly one-quarter of the time between her debut, "Dreamland," and its 2004 follow-up, "Careless Love."

More good news: "Half the Perfect World" follows, more or less exactly, the template of "Careless Love": same producer (Larry Klein), same mixture of impeccable songwriters (Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits), and best of all, Peyroux's same way of getting under the skin of a song with languid, mellow phrasing. If it weren't for a somewhat broader instrumental pallete, and a greater emphasis on original songs (by Peyroux, Klein, and Jesse Harris, who also writes for Norah Jones), this could well be called "More Careless Love."

"Half the Perfect World" even pays a weird homage to Shawn Colvin's "Cover Girl," just as "Careless Love" did. Peyroux's previous album had a version of Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go," which Colvin had covered on her album. This one has Waits' "(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night," also featured on "Cover Girl." The bassist on "Cover Girl?" Larry Klein, who should be made aware that there are other Dylan and Waits songs to tackle.



Audra McDonald, "Build a Bridge" (Nonesuch)

Produced by Doug Petty

Any jazz-oriented female singer can take some well-selected rock tunes, reinterpret them as vocal jazz, and strike gold. (See Madeleine Peyroux, above, and Cassandra Wilson.) So why not a musical-theater singer?

One listen to "Build a Bridge," on which musical-theater queen Audra McDonald tackles Neil Young, Laura Nyro, John Mayer and more, provides the definitive answer: Because, that's why! McDonald's pipes are amazing, but this rickety bridge between musical theater and rock should be burned before someone gets hurt.



David Grisman Quintet, "Dawg's Groove"; and the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, "DGBX" (Acoustic Disc)

Produced by David Grisman

Thirty years ago, mandolinist David Grisman grabbed the attention of the acoustic music world by launching his quintet, an ensemble that played jazz with a Brazilian twist on bluegrass instruments. It was the new thing in acoustic music, and the DGQ's 1977 debut album opened the door for experimental picking.

In 2006, the DGQ's "Dawg's Groove" doesn't seem so new anymore, not after New Grass Revival, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and Nickel Creek. But it still manages to sound fresh, or better yet, timeless. The quintet continues to conquer new lands and eras; "La Grande Guignole" recalls early 20th century France, while "Ella McDonnell" takes on Celtic themes. The album closes with "Blues for Vassar," a lengthy, melancholy remembrance of Grisman cohort, the late fiddler Vassar Clements. The playing is magnificent and the recording quality exceptional, a reflection of Grisman's high standards.

If Grisman wanted to tread new waters, the place to do it would have been in bluegrass. Though he has maintained a bluegrass combo for decades, "DGBX" is the recording debut of that on-and-off group. Instead, Grisman heads in the other direction. "DGBX" is all old-school, from the songs (by A.P. Carter, Flatt & Scruggs, Carter Stanley and the like) to the harmony vocals to the short, concise solos. About the only thing new here is Samson Grisman, David's teenage, bass-playing son. I suppose breaking new ground once was enough for Grisman.



Jas. Mathus & Knockdown South, "Old Scool Hot Wings" (219 Records)

Produced by Jimbo Mathus and Miss Olga

James Mathus is best-known as leader of the swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers; he also earned acclaim for collaborating on blueman Buddy Guy's outstanding 2001 CD, "Sweet Tea," which Mathus produced and played on. But with "Old Scool Hot Wings," the Mississippi native stakes a claim that his finest niche is as an old-timey Delta bluesman. Joined by a cast that includes North Mississippi Allstars Luther and Cody Dickinson, and adding washboards, kazoos and tubas to string instruments, Mathus shows a rare knack for tapping into that raw, otherworldly mud that produced Charlie Patton, R.L. Burnside and Fred McDowell.



Jerry Garcia Band, "Coliseum, Hampton, Va.; Nov. 9, 1991" (Jerry Garcia Estate)

Produced by Jerry Garcia

The only thing that seemed to give Jerry Garcia pleasure in his final years was keyboardist Bruce Hornsby, a parttime member of the Grateful Dead in the early '90s. When Hornsby was onstage, Garcia's mood was noticeably happier.

That extra lift to Garcia's voice on the album-opening "How Sweet It Is" - in fact, the overall X factor present on this full-show recording - can be credited to Hornsby's one-night-only membership in the Garcia Band. The Virginia native Hornsby's electric piano isn't always a factor in the sound (and on more than one occasion, it is a likely factor in the band getting lost mid-jam). But I'll gladly sacrifice fumble-free versions for an extra rush on Jerry's guitar solos.

The big payoff comes at the end of this two-CD set: Hornsby finds his place in the long, deep jam of "Don't Let Go," and the band roars its way through "Midnight Moonlight." And no one can fault a set list that includes such rarities as "Ain't No Bread in the Breadbox," Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," and the Van Morrison pair, "Bright Side of the Road" and "He Ain't Give You None."



Vail Daily, Vail, Colorado