Value Village Find: Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderley

Looked like someone was cleaning out their Nancy Wilson collection at Value Village -- several of her albums were available.

I should probably make clear this is NOT Heart's Nancy Wilson, but I'm sure a quick glance at the album cover made that obvious. This Nancy Wilson had a career as a jazz/pop singer, though I'm afraid I'm not the least bit familiar with her. And I'm not even sure why I spent the $2.99 for this disc; somewhere in the dusty reaches of my brain, I must have recognized it from somewhere.

But praise be to the gods of first impressions, because this is a fine album. Nancy sounds a bit like Dinah Washington, with a tartness to her vocal delivery. Cannonball is great as always, and actually the bulk of the album is Cannonball and his band without Nancy Wilson. One of the delights of this album for me is the "traditional" piano style of Joe Zawinul, he of Weather Report fame. I knew his classic performance with Cannonball, the amazingly concise "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", but to hear him here sans Weather Report-era synthesizers is a revelation. Gives me a more complete picture, I guess.

Call of the Sea Witch

Nothing Halloweeny here; instead, "Ranarop: Call of the Sea Witch" is a Finnish album by Gjallarhorn. I first heard it when it was released on Finladia Records, and I think it eventually got released stateside.

It's very much in the vein of Steeleye Span, traditional (or traditionally inspired) music ramped up a bit. Gjallarhorn throws in the occasional didgeridoo (certainly not native to Finland!) as a background drone. The woman vocalist veers into keening once in a while, giving me shivers. There's something lonely and foggy and just plain unsettling about much of the music.

There's also a faint influence of Jefferson Airplane in the harmonies (and the icy pitch reminiscent of Grace Slick.) Fairport Convention initially thought of themselves as the British version of Jefferson Airplane, and I'd wager there are many other bands similarly influenced. I don't think the Airplane have received proper credit for their sound; maybe it's because most of us only know them from their '60s singles. And then there's the Starship thing to live down...  But the way the voices of Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner interweaved was really groundbreaking work at the time. And it seems the echoes still resound, even in Finland.

Happy Birthday, Nonesuch Records

A bit late to blow out the candles, but recently there have been a spate of articles (yes, a spate!) about Nonesuch Records' 50th birthday. Capsule bio: Nonesuch featured new classical and electronic music, and most importantly, repackaged recordings of far-flung music from around the globe, budget-priced them in their Explorer series-- and then slowly conquered the music world. Okay, "conquered" is too strong a word, but Nonesuch managed to get this type of music into the conversation. Eventually, pop and rock musicians were sharing their stories about how they first heard the music of Vietnam or Haiti or the Bahamas -- all courtesy of Nonesuch.

 Maybe the prime example is "Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares", (or the less prosaic "Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir"). Released in the mid-80s, musicians like Robert Plant and David Byrne (Talking Heads) sang its praises. Byrne even adapted one piece for Robert Wilson's opera production of "CIVILwarS" , found on the album "The Knee Plays". Wow, I'm getting all Comic Book Guy here. Gotta pull back.

The Bulgarian Choir features some very different harmonies, and I was especially struck by Volume Two -- amazing, unearthly (to our Western ears, yet actually grounded in tones from another part of the globe --)

"Bali: Music from the Morning of the World" was also a favorite of musicians, and this album featured the famous "Monkey Chant" -- which has to be heard to be believed. A variant title is "Kejak", and that sounds like what they're chanting. Imagine "Row Row Row Your Boat", but with only the word "kejak" sung faster and faster. That's a lame description but hopefully you get the idea.

Nonesuch is now probably more well known for acts like Buena Vista Social Club, and rock bands like Wilco, but Explorer is where they firs made their name. Glad to see they're still plugging along!