Last minute music gift guide: Neil Young, Trini Lopez, Nick Frater, Hasaan Ibn Ali

Don't let these late 2021 releases escape your notice. All are available now.

Artist: Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Title: Barn (Reprise Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Nils Lofgren, The War on Drugs

Tell me more: This has been a tough year to be sure with a burgeoning death toll from the pandemic, widespread crime, economic uncertainty and skyrocketing inflation among the challenges facing everyday Americans. One bright note was the glorious return of Neil Young & Crazy Horse via the stellar new album Barn. In summer 2021 singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Neil Young, guitarist Nils Lofgren, drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot gathered at a restored 19th century log barn to record over a few days; co-producer Niko Bolas set up an analog mobile recording truck adjacent to the barn and captured the magic with uncommon warmth via one of the year's best new albums.The 10-track collection of loose and inspired material includes the acoustic-flavored "Song Of The Seasons" (bolstered by some accordion work from Lofgren and sublime harmonies), the sweeping countrified rocker "Heading West," the autobiographical "Canerican" (Young's tale of leaving his native Canada for the U.S.), Americana-styled "They Might Be Lost," ferocious aptly-titled rocker "Human Race" and romantic "Thru The Years." Barn is available on vinyl, audio CD, cassette and digitally; there is also a deluxe edition that includes the LP, CD and Blu-ray film. Information: NeilYoungArchives.com.

Artist: Trini Lopez

Title: The Rare Reprise Singles (Omnivore Recordings)

You might like if you enjoy: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Trini Lopez

Tell me more: Early rock hero Trini Lopez enjoyed a long career highlighted by a string of recordings completed for Reprise Records during the 1960s. Now Omnivore Recordings has issued The Rare Reprise Singles, a 24-track collection of rare A- and B-sides recorded between 1962 and 1970.  One of Latin music's first major crossover stars, the talented singer-guitarist shines across the wide-ranging collection. The disc features sweet ballads ("Let It Be Known," "Pretty Little Girl"), mid tempo pop (the soaring "Made in Paris," "Mexican Medicine Man"), rock 'n' roll and pop ("A-me -RI-CA," "I've Lost My Love For You," "Up To Now," "Five O'Clock World") and even Christmas songs ("The Little Drummer Boy" and "Silent Night / "Let There Be Peace"). Sadly, Lopez died from COVID-19 complications in Palm Springs, CA in August 2020. Information: OmnivoreRecordings.com.

Artist: Nick Frater

Title: Earworms (Big Stir Records)

You might like if you enjoy: The Raspberries, Matthew Sweet, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Big Star

Tell me more: Nick Frater's new album Earworms is a exhilarating sonic trip five decades into the past; the Croydon, England-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist mines the sonic territory of 1970s melodic rock with aplomb and a master's touch. The wistful "It's All Rumours" is a tuneful blast bound together with a catchy rhythm, lush harmonies and great lead vocals.  That opening track is no fluke; subsequent originals spanning from the luxuriant "Buggin' Out" and Baroque sortie "What's With Your Heavy Heart? to the gorgeous "Desert Ships" and sweet-sounding "The Unbroken" are spectacular. While an initial listen will impress with the instantly-inviting melodious soundscape, closer and repeated listens cast a well-deserved spotlight on Frater's smart lyrics and sharp arrangements that further define the 10-song LP. Information: BigStirRecords.com.

Artist: Hasaan Ibn Ali

Title: Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings (Omnivore Recordings)

You might like if you enjoy: John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elmo Hope

Tell me more: This year has seen a slew of lost and previously-unreleased recordings from the likes of The Beatles, Colin Blunstone, Michael Nesmith and Steve Goodman released.  Add to that notable list Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings featuring jazz pianist-composer Hasaan Ibn Ali. The special two-disc, 21-track release is a dream come true for jazz lovers. The groundbreaking Philadelphia artist is primarily known for The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan released via Atlantic Records in 1965; sadly it was the only commercial recording featuring Ali's playing released during his short lifetime. Fortunately 2021 has seen Ali —  who passed away in 1980 — reintroduced to a wider audience via Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album (released March 5, 2021) and equally compelling Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings (issued on Nov. 19, 2021). The story of how Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings came to be is a tale 55 years in the making. Produced by the team of Alan Sukoenig, Lewis Porter and Grammy winner Cheryl Pawelski, the collection features mastering by Grammy winner Michael Graves and a wonderful booklet with essays and previously-unseen photos that shed more light on this important release. Ali's piano playing is breathtaking across the two discs (he is heard on a mix of originals and standards). Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings is currently available on audio CD and Digital; the title is set for release via a four-LP vinyl version in 2022. Information: OmnivoreRecordings.com.

Robert Kinsler

Sights and Sounds: Poolside and Drama, Jazz pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali, Clint Roberts

 Here is a roundup of some recent music news updates I wanted to share...Robert Kinsler

POOLSIDE AND DRAMA SHARE NEW COLLAB "I FEEL HIGH"

Poolside and DRAMA are kicking off 2021 with a new collaboration entitled "I Feel High." "I Feel High (with DRAMA)" is a lean, up-tempo dance record that features vocals from DRAMA’s Via Rosa including spoken word passages plus additional percussion, synths and production from DRAMA’s Na’el Shehade. In a world filled with chaos, "I Feel High" aims to remind us to still focus on the ecstasy of simply being alive. LISTEN TO "I FEEL HIGH (WITH DRAMA) Poolside’s Jeffrey Paradise says of the collaboration, “DRAMA transformed the song from a classic laid back Poolside vibe into a banger for the club that is essentially a celebration of this ecstatic and sometimes reckless thing we call life.”  In speaking about the theme of the song, DRAMA says, “It’s all about that invincible feeling you get when you’re young, and out with your friends. In the moment you have this undeniable sureness that no matter what ‘this is not how I die’.” DRAMA continues, “And in that you fuel each other you become fearless and confident. When I was younger me and my friends would sneak back into the house after a night of partying, the first thing we’d ask each other before going inside is ‘do I look high?’ And although I really felt the need to incorporate that into the song for ‘personal nostalgia’ I think everyone has experienced that reality.”

The song arrives with a companion animated video by Michael McAfee.

Jazz pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali's 'Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album' has been found and will be released March 5, 2021 on Omnivore Recordings

Never-before-issued 1965 recording by this contemporary and colleague of John Coltrane includes liner notes by Alan Sukoenig and Lewis Porter

Restored from long-lost acetate copies of the sessions

Hasaan Ibn Ali (Photo by Larry Fink)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – “He had ideas as deep as the sea. I mean I never heard anybody, even today, play like that,” said tenor saxophonist Odean Pope of Hasaan Ibn Ali.

 

In 1964, drummer/composer Max Roach convinced Atlantic Records to record him with producer Nusuhi Ertegun at the helm. Sessions were held in December of 1964 and the resulting album, The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan, was released three months later. Atlantic invited Ali to record again in August and September of 1965, but before mixing sessions could turn the recorded material into a releasable album, Ali had become incarcerated on a narcotics possession. Atlantic shelved the album. Thirteen years later, that tape went up in flames in an Atlantic Records warehouse in Long Branch, N.J. For years a rumor circulated, that a copy of the sessions had been made, but attempts to locate it never turned up a source ... until recently.

  

Omnivore Recordings is proud to present this long-thought lost piece of jazz history, restored and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves from a tape copy of long-lost reference acetates of the sessions, and with notes from producer Alan Sukoenig and author/pianist Lewis Porter. Street date for the package, titled Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album, and available on CD and Digital, is March 5, 2021.

 

The project, co-produced by Sukoenig and Grammy Award-nominated producer Patrick Milligan, and Grammy Award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski, features the seven surviving tracks from the album sessions along with three surviving alternate takes. Packaging includes photos from December of 1964 by notable photographer Larry Fink, who refers to Ali as “the Prokofiev of jazz.”

 

Personnel on the August 23 and September 7, 1965 sessions that took place at Atlantic Studios in New York City were Hasaan, piano; Pope, tenor sax; Art Davis, bass; and Kalil Madi, drums. All are profiled in the liner notes.

 

From the liner notes: “The pianist, Hasaan Ibn Ali, whom saxophonist Odean Pope calls ‘the most advanced player to ever develop [in Philadelphia],’ had practiced intensively with John Coltranein the early 1950s and is thought, by Pope and others, to have been the influence behind Coltrane’s so-called sheets of sound as well as the harmonic approach that underlay Coltrane’s breakthrough Giant Steps, and also, with Earl Bostic, one of the two role models behind Coltrane’s strict work ethic. Yet he was rarely employed, even by musicians who respected his playing and his knowledge, thus leaving him with little chance to develop an audience. When he sat down at the piano at the Woodbine, an after-hours club in Philadelphia, all the horn players would leave the stand for they were unable to play with him, so unfamiliar were his harmonic concepts.”

 

Track Listing:

1. Atlantic Ones
2. Viceroy
3. El Hasaan
4. Richard May Love Give Powell
5. Metaphysics
6. Epitome
7. True Train
8. True Train (Short Version) [Bonus Track]
9. Viceroy (Short Version) [Bonus Track]
10. Atlantic Ones (Short Version) [Bonus Track]

Pre-sale link: www.omnivorerecordings.com/shop/metaphysics 

Clint Roberts' 'Rose Songs' out Feb. 26, 2021 via Carry On Music

Debut full-length album produced by Ben Fowler

 

 

Raleigh, NC (January 6, 2021) – Americana singer/songwriter and musician Clint Robertswill release his debut full-length album, Rose Songs, February 26 via Carry On Music. Pre-orders are available HERE. Recorded at Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios, the 12 song record was produced by Grammy Award Winning producer/engineer Ben Fowler (Sara Evans, Jameson Rodgers, Kip Moore) and is already receiving critical acclaim.

“…a roots-rock sound that should appeal to fans of Bruce Hornsby and Bob Dylan alike…”–Rolling Stone Country

 

“Roberts is a distinctive talent with the ability to capture emotion and offer insightful commentary on the human condition and the times we struggle with…”

“…deeply enjoyable…”  

–Cowboys & Indians

 

“Roberts emanates authenticity of Americana music with the boldness of roots-rock.”

–American Songwriter

 

In addition to Roberts’ (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica), the album features a variety of renowned musicians including Gordon Mote (Piano, B3 Organ), Dan Dugmore (electric and steel guitar), Fred Eltringham (drums/percussion), Brian Sutton (acoustic guitar) and Mark Hill (bass).

 

Of the album, the Western N.C. native comments, “In some senses, this record is the end, symbolically, of some things in my past, but it’s also very much the beginning.” “There’s an elation that comes with this being my debut record, for all these years to be put into this craft, and all of these songs being a culmination of my efforts and experiences in the world. I really love this album and I hope that everyone else does, too.”

 

In anticipation of Rose Songs, Roberts released two tracks off the record—“Nero’s Waltz” and “The Drifter.” Listen HERE. 

 

Roberts is the first artist to sign both a label and management deal with Carry On Music — a partnership between the artist and the global music and management community. 

 

ROSE SONGS TRACK LIST

1. Nero’s Waltz

2. The Drifter

3. Nothing Left To Say

4. Just Like Heaven

5. Medicine

6. Annabelle

7. Amarillo

8. Broken Horns

9. Chrysalis

10. Carolina Moon

11. Nero’s Waltz (Acoustic)

12. The Drifter (Acoustic)

 

 

About Carry On Music

Carry On Music is a partnership between the artist community and a global music and management company led by music industry veteran Tom Lipsky. Carry On’s executive team has achieved success with such iconic artists as Rush, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, The Steve Miller Band, and many more. With representatives in Raleigh, New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, Carry On Music represents a diverse roster of established artists, as well as developing new artists through its record label and artist management divisions. Carry On Music LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of CHNL Holdings, Inc. (NY).