Tuku, Camp & Montana

Tsoka itsimba – Oliver Mtukudzi (28 Aug 07, Heads Up)
Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi hails from a group of people in Zimbabawe (formerly Rhodesia) who speak the Shona language. He has been singing professionally for three decades. On Tsimba Itsoka (means "No Foot, No Footprint" in Shona) Tuku uses the smokey timbre of his voice combined with the elegant blend of the traditional, polyrhythmic sounds of African music and Jazz to sing about challenges affecting the daily lives of people. It's smooth.
In an interview with World Music Central Mtukudzi describes his album, " Each person is moving on a different path through life. Some are traveling in a positive direction, while others are traveling in a negative direction. But everyone leaves their mark on the world, no matter how big or small …what kind of footprint are you leaving behind, based on the life you're living now? And what would that footprint look like to you if it were pointed in your direction, or in the direction of someone you loved? " If only some our leaders would look in the mirror and ask these same questions.

Camp Meeting – Bruce Hornsby (7 Aug 07, Sony)
Bruce Hornsby has had an interesting career. From his roots as the keyboardist in a frat house to Grammy winning performer Hornsby has had a little taste of everything music; sessions musician, part of Sheena Easton's touring band, pop icon in the latter half of the 80s, Grammy winner (more than once), Grateful Dead keyboardist, producer of Leon Russell's bluegrass albums, co-wrote "The End of Innocence" with Don Henley, "The Way It Is" has been sampled by numerous Rap artists, a bluegrass project with Ricky Skaggs and now this release of Jazz music. In other words he's been around.
Camp Meeting is a collection of songs penned by some of Jazz'z greatest legends (Monk, Davis, Coleman, Coltrane, etc.) and beautifully executed by Bruce on piano, Christain McBride on Bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Hornsby has always incorporated the Jazz sound into his solo projects and music writers track this latest effort back to his stint with the Dead. Evidently Bruce and Jerry Garcia pushed each other to expand musically. Don't expect to hear Rainbow's Cadillac, Jacob's Ladder or Sunflower Cat. This is a Jazz album. And it's a very good Jazz album by a trio of great musicians.

Montana: A Love Story – George Winston (12 Oct 04, RCA)
OK, so this album isn't exactly a new release. However, it's new to me so please cut me a little slack. I've been a big fan of George Winston's stuff since the mid 80s. Back then I made a two week trip on a tug. The AM/FM radio didn't work but the cassette player did. We had Dire Strait's Brother in Arms and George Winston's December. Even though it was April I listened to December at least 100 times that trip. I still love that album.
I don't know how I overlooked this disc because I have every Winston release (some on vinyl.) And Montana: A Love Story is very good. This is Winston's tribute to his childhood home and, as luck would have it, solo piano at its best. It's good to spin when you're sitting around with an empty head or when you want to hear an accomplished musician play a nice selection of tunes. And it makes a wonderful soundtrack for many activities ( i.e., great background music.)

More to follow...