Eleanor Mills' soulful and precise vocals can be heard on the flawless cover of Jimmy Webb's "This Is Your Life" and the funky and refined "Wouldn't You Like to See." By the late '70s, and perhaps due to lessened jazz content, Connors' hitmaking acumen began to wane. Although most are familiar with Jean Carn, Phyllis Hyman, the collection also highlights many other of Connors' vocalists. Tracks like "You Are My Starship," "Valentine Love," and "Betcha by Golly Wow" with its poignant reading from Phyllis Hyman, created the blueprint for Connors' sophisticated and emotional productions. After the relative failure of his early '70s efforts, Connors finally attained the jazz/R&B mix that suited him best. Unlike other compilations on similar artists, The Best of Norman Connors: Melancholy Fire centers on what made Connors such a popular and enduring artist and zeroes in on his skill as a bandleader and a hitmaker. During the mid-'70s to the '80s he was leader of the fusion of jazz and R&B during its most influential and successful era. Though there is melancholy in such losses, my album is intended to celebrate, not just mourn.This excellent 1999 set is an overview of drummer and producer Connors' 1975-88 work. “Vade Mecum contains pieces dedicated to a few of these. “It’s a fact of life that as we age, we’ll lose people we love,” concludes Jones. Jones summons luminous detail from the complicated web of emotions intrinsically bonded to memories of loved ones, unfamiliar places, and elusive feelings alike. Vade Mecum revels in the profoundidiosyncrasies and contradictions inherent to the act of remembering and the people remembered. Glenn Jones’ music draws from a deep well of reflection and memory. The challenges and triumphs of a world recapitulating but altogether changed is thoroughly interrogated in the liminal spaces highlighted by Jones throughout the album. New pieces that spoke more to Jones’ moment emerged and shouldered out others. After delaying the recording for a full year and bringing on Azevado to fill the shoes of Jones’ usual engineer, Laura Baird, the album took altogether different shapes than what Jones had initially intended. “Forsythia” moves with the lanquidity of a persistent winter keeping the spring flowers from blooming. The crisp, thin Atlantic air seeps its way into Jones’playing. Vade Mecum was recorded in March of 2021 on Mount DesertIsland in Maine with longtime collaborator Matthew Azevado. Jones’ recordings are indelible to his surroundings. Exploring the complexity of personal experience, emotions, and our shared histories, Vade Mecum finds Jones painting his music in boundaryless colors, captivatingly vivid. On Vade Mecum, Jones draws on his personal history to tell stories with elaborate musical detail and emotional weight. Endlessly curious, Jones has spent the better part of four decades exploring the boundaries of expression and storytelling with the guitar and banjo. Steeped in both American Primitive guitar music as well as rock and experimental music, Glenn Jones creates rich sonic tapestries with a distinct and stirring voice. Glenn Jones is a unique player in the world of solo guitar music. Tickets are limited, so don’t sleep on getting them early. He’ll be doing an instrumental set of guitar-driven soundscapes, which ought to be wildly fascinating. This show will also serve as the first gig our good friend (and yours), Greg Baldi (of Comma fame) will play in what feels like forever.This show will serve as the album release party for Glenn’s new record, “Vade Mecum” (Thrill Jockey).There are two very important reasons to share in this intimate evening of music with us:
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