LILA DOWNS, NIÑA PASTORI Y SOLEDAD: "Raíz"

Original released on CD RCA 88883796812

(ESPAÑA, 2014)

BARB JUNGR Sings Dylan & Cohen

Original released on CD Kristalyn KLCD1

(EU 2014, March 24)

KAREN SOUZA - "Essentials II"

Original released on CD Music Brokers MBB9321

(ARGENTINA, 2014)

By now, it's pretty safe to say that Karen Souza is the great new voice of today's Jazz. After the success of her previous albums "Essentials" and "Hotel Souza", Karen presents now "Essentials II", a carefully selected collection of hit songs from all eras; in exquisite Jazz versions where her unique voice draws us into her intimate and sensual world. This time, the album's production has been helmed by legendary producer and entrepreneur Richard Gottehrer, famous for his work (and guiding the careers) with artists such as Blondie, The Go-Go's, Dr. Feelgood, Richard Hell and The Bongos to name just a few. Recorded at the The Orchard Studios in NYC, "Essentials II" will allow you to hear Karen's voice like never before. Once again she lends her versatile and sultry voice to classics such as Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams". Her amazing version of "Shape of My Heart" would move Sting himself.

One More Cohen

 Original released on CD Columbia 88875014292

(US 2014, September 22)

Leonard Cohen's "Popular Problems" is an uncharacteristically quick follow-up to 2012's "Old Ideas". That record, cut in the aftermath of a multi-year tour, revitalized him as a recording artist. Producer Patrick Leonard (Madonna, Bryan Ferry) serves as co-writer on all but one tune on "Popular Problems". While Cohen's sound has revolved around keyboards since 1988's "I'm Your Man", Leonard gets that the real power in the songwriter's lyrics are best relayed through his own own simple melodies. Everything here - keys, female backing chorus, acoustic instrumentation, etc. - is in their service. As always, Cohen's songs - delivered in his deepest earth rasp - offer protagonists who are ambivalent spiritual seekers, lusty, commitment-phobic lovers, and jaded, untrusting / untrustworthy world citizens. He is them, they are him: strangers hiding in plain sight. Opener "Slow" is paced by a blues vamp from an electric piano and kick drum. "...You want to get there soon  / I want to get there last..." is delivered in a streetwise croak. It's a fine career metaphor, but the hilarious double entendre is self evident, too: "...All your turns are tight / Let me catch my breath / I thought we had all night." "Almost Like the Blues" employs a 12-bar variant exoticized by hand percussion. Cohen juxtaposes visions of global horror with worry over bad reviews; he's culpable because of his vanity. Gospel provides illustration on some of the better songs - there are no weak ones. It's used with razored effect on "Samson in New Orleans" to address the devastation - physical, emotional, spiritual - left by Hurricane Katrina.

Cohen really attempts to sing "Did I Ever Love You." Though it comes out a measured growl, its impact is searing. It shifts from gospel to country jaunt only to circle back, underscoring the bitter, vulnerable truth in the lyric. He observes: "The lemon trees blossom / The almond trees wither," before asking: "Was I ever someone / Who could love you forever?"; he knows the answer. The keyboards and tablas in "Nevermind," a narrative of treachery and global hypocrisy, create skeletal, tense funk. They're appended by Donna De Lory's Arabic chant for peace and safety in contrast to the lyric's scathing accusations. Gospel returns on "Born in Chains," a gentle but gripping first-person account of spiritual seeking with references to Judaism, Christianity, and Cohen's adopted Zen: "...I've heard the soul unfolds / In the chambers of its longing... But all the Ladders of the Night have fallen / Only darkness now / To lift the longing up." On set closer "You Got Me Singing," Cohen, accompanied only by acoustic guitar and violin, lays out hope: "You got me singing even though the world is gone / You got me thinking I'd like to carry on." It's an open-ended, affirmative sendoff. "Popular Problems" reveals that at 80, Cohen not only has plenty left in the tank, but is at his most confident and committed. This is his finest recording since 1995's "The Future". (Thom Jurek in AllMusic)