This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #130 June/July 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
Mary Chapin Carpenter
The Calling
Zoë 01143-1111 (2007)
Mary Chapin Carpenter's latest, her first for Zoë/Rounder Records, is decidedly lyric driven. You'll be coasting along, listening to the music -- which is far from incidental, by the way -- and snippets of intensely inspirational words will pop out at you.
Take the title cut, for example. It ostensibly expresses skepticism about "zealots and preachers and readers of dreams." But how can one avoid thinking about Carpenter's dedication to an on-her-own-terms, nearly 20-year career when she sings, "Whatever the calling, the stumbling and falling/I followed it knowing there's no other way." For "Your Life Story," in a call to remembrance and summoning the strength to move forward, she encourages us to "Gather up your telegrams, your faded pictures, best laid plans/Books and postcards, 45's, every sunset in the sky/Carry with you maps and string, flashlights, friends who make you sing/and stars to help you find your place, music, hope, and amazing grace." Her understated delivery of the most potent track, ," emphasizes the additional disaster that was the evacuation of Hurricane Katrina survivors to Texas. The poignant and simple chorus, "Roll on Mississippi, goodbye Crescent City," is heartbreaking and real. When the tired, shell-shocked character of the song sings of never knowing "a promise that didn't break right in two," "nightmares coming in the light of day," and how he/she in a dream "…stood up on the banks and looked out over Pontchartrain," there's an impeccably subtle break in Carpenter's voice (which, incidentally, is seasoning beautifully). That kind of intuitively brilliant nuance lends a deeper meaning to her music.
Carpenter's songwriting chops are stronger than ever. The Mellencamp-ish "On With the Song," a courageous piece that is dedicated to the Dixie Chicks, will please rock aficionados, while "Twilight" is softly sweet, calm, and reassuring. And let me be the first to nominate "Why Shouldn't We" as a new anthem for this and succeeding centuries. It is one of those irresistible and majestic pieces that have been the foundation of folk music since day one, calling for us to continue to believe in the insurmountable, the impossible. With Mary Chapin Carpenter continuing to compose the soundtrack, that welcome task will undoubtedly be a piece of cake.
-- Ellen Geisel (Ballston Lake, NY)
Dewey Jackson
Live at the Barrel 1952
Delmark DE 246 (2006)
Dewey Jackson was born just a few weeks before Louis Armstrong in 1900, but unlike Satchmo, who left New Orleans in 1924 to join King Oliver's Chicago-based band and eventually became world famous, Jackson rarely left his native St. Louis. Interestingly, for being one of St. Louis' marquee jazz names of the 20s and establishing a legacy that lasted for decades, Jackson was rarely recorded. By the 40s, Jackson had succumbed to the day-job bit but still gigged occasionally. In 1952, a young St. Louis University student (and future Delmark Records honcho) named Bob Koester taped this live performance with borrowed equipment, aiming the mic at whomever was soloing. Unveiled 54 years later, these scintillating, hot tracks should go a long way in supporting Jackson's deserved place in St. Louis jazz history.
Considering that by this point jazz was well into its progressive bop revolution, this set sounds like it never left the 20s with its predilection for New Orleans standards. Jackson and his mighty crew, including pianist Don Ewell, once a member of Bunk Johnson's band in '47, tear the joint up with a crazed and unbridled fervor. In the midst of clarinetist Frank Chace's frenetic, eardrum-splitting solos, Ewell's pounding ivories, and trombonist Sid Dawson's boisterous playing, Jackson has no shortage of screeching, half-valved high notes juxtaposed with low, rumbly muted passages. Often he sounds like he's out of his mind. Everyone pushes it as hard as they can, and overall, the energy and interlocking chemistry are just spectacular. Granted, the recording is a little primitive and tunes start and end abruptly, but it deserves to be on the market and heard on the airwaves rather than collect dust on top of a dark closet shelf. Recommended.
-- Dan Willging (Denver, CO)
This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #130 June/July 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
![[cover #130]](/linen/130/cover130t.jpg)
Copyright ©2007 Dirty Linen, Ltd, Baltimore, MD