[Dixielandjazz] Where is the music going?

[Steve barbone]

CAVEAT - NOT OKOM - But a fun read if you are wondering where pop music is
headed these days. Reads like sex, drugs and retro R & B. (last review)

The retro R&B comes pretty close to the retro Dixieland scene. :-) VBG.

IMO, The rough edged sex and drug (including booze) stuff is what early jazz
really was, before the revisionists made precise "art music" out of it.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Critics' Choice - New CD's - THE NEW YORK TIMES - May 8, 2006 (snipped)

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"  (WB)

Since the Beach Boys, no band has been as closely identified with Southern
California as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But since the band formed in 1983,
its vision of Los Angeles has changed considerably, from cheerfully anarchic
pleasure dome to soul-sucking dystopia where junkies lurk behind every
fruit-smoothie stand.

In 1999 they coined a term for succumbing to the glittery contradictions of
the city: "Californication." Things get even darker on their new double
album, "Stadium Arcadium." On the first track, "Dani California," a
messed-up gal last seen standing hopefully under a marquee in 2002's "By the
Way" has died. "I love my baby to death," Anthony Kiedis sings wistfully, as
if he feels somehow culpable. Moody melodies and images of decay and
train-wreck relationships haunt most of the next 27 songs. . .

On the surface it's preternaturally catchy arena rock with soaring choruses
perfect for beery singalongs. . .

the record is the Peppers' best work since the 1991 "Blood Sugar Sex Magik."
That's where Mr. Kiedis (guitarist Anthony) unveiled his vulnerable side on
the drug-sick "Under the Bridge." . . .

But unlike many of his emo rock descendants, Mr. Kiedis actually has
something authentic to mope about. His chilling 2004 autobiography "Scar
Tissue" reveals a debauched Hollywood childhood that probably should have
killed him. Even his sappiest lyrics are invigorated by a lovably flawed
voice infused with self-loathing and regret. . .

It's as if Mr. Kiedis fears that he's too damaged for anyone but the
beautifully doomed trouble dolls hogging his beach blanket.


Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere"  - (Downtown/Atlantic)

. . . Gnarls Barkley, whose debut, "St. Elsewhere," is a manic, twisted soul
album that's part nostalgia and part dementia. . .

Cee-Lo Green has a genuine Southern soul voice as well as a rapper's
articulateness, and he riffles through roles on "St. Elsewhere." He boasts,
"I transform," as Danger Mouse puts his voice through speed changes; he's a
crooner, a belter, a rapper, a comic "boogie monster," a creepy necrophiliac
and even a preacher.


The Isley Brothers - "Baby Makin' Music" - (Def Soul)

The Isley Brothers have made some of the deepest and loveliest records in
soul music; at their best, in the 1960's and 70's, there was patience,
circumspection, a truly specific masculine tenderness in their music. But
times have changed, and Ronald and Ernie Isley, the two that remain, are
settling into a protracted sunset of lust.

Having restarted in the late 90's with the help of the singer and producer
R. Kelly, they began to make songs about the daily life of an aging
lothario. Mr. Kelly's curiosity about stories of sexual intrigue runs to
mania, and so he created an alter-ego character for the singer Ronald Isley:
Mr. Biggs, a high-roller with unlimited sexual needs.

So much booty tires a man; on "Baby Makin' Music," Mr. Biggs seems ready for
a restorative nap. Here are 11 tracks of by-the-numbers slow jams, including
one written and produced Mr. Kelly (the rocket-as-metaphor song "Blast Off")
that doesn't come close to his work on the album "Body Kiss," three years
ago. That record was absurd and obsessive, full of anxieties and twisted
desire; this one, made with various producers besides Mr. Kelly including
Jermaine Dupri and Troy Taylor, just hollowly repeats dull promises of
expensive cars, romantic dinners, and underwear removal.


Jagged Edge - "Jagged Edge" - (Sony Urban)

Like the ancient rhinoceros ‹ or, for that matter, the ancient Regis Philbin
‹ all-male R&B quartets have successfully outlived their era. Four grown men
in matching outfits singing love songs together: you might think that
hip-hop would have driven this strange beast to extinction. And yet the
eager-to-please Atlanta group Jagged Edge (along with others) has thrived in
this seemingly inhospitable environment.

On the quartet's generally entertaining new self-titled album, the members
pander in all sorts of ways. In the slow-jam single "Good Luck Charm," the
members pander to their female listeners: those, at any rate, who enjoy
being compared to rabbits' feet. "So Amazing," featuring the reggaetón star
Voltio, is a winsome sop to Latino listeners. And best of all is "Stunnaz,"
with Jermaine Dupri. It's a soft-serve tribute to the raucous Bay Area form
of hip-hop known as hyphy, and a first-rate example of musical adaptation.