- Matana Roberts Quartet, The Chicago Project (Central Control)A former Chicagoan, reedist Matana Roberts returned from New York to make the best record of her career, working with guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Josh Abrams, and drummer Frank Rosaly (and cutting a few duets with tenor titan Fred Anderson). The rippling, muscular music pushes a postwar Chicago blues feel through ideas laid out by the AACM in the 60s, and its final stop is the present.
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Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda: Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda (Som Livre Apresenta)Olinda is in Pernambuco, Brazil, near the vital city of Recife, and this large band includes some of the area’s greatest musicians, including singers Tiné and Maciel Salú (who also plays the violinlike rabeca). Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda delivers a fantastic hodgepodge of Pernambucan styles, colored with sharply drawn touches of reggae, dub, and rock, and the fine arrangements prevent the music from sounding the slightest bit fusty or folkloric.
Maga Bo, Archipelagos (Soot)New York-based Brazilian producer Maga Bo floored me with this frothy blast of global grooves. His work is sample based, sure, but he doesn’t just cobble something together from whatever he can find on the Internet–he travels the planet collecting new beats and arranging them with great vocals from singers and MCs from places like Portugal, Morocco, South Africa, and Tanzania.
Today’s playlist:
