Akae Beka & I Grade
Portals (I Grade)
Jamaica is still the first Caribbean island nation coming to mind when it comes to reggae. Since around the turn of the century, however, St. Croix has had at least one accomplished purveyor of Rastafarian roots style in Midnite. That prolific band’s lead singer, Vaughn Benjamin, is now on his second solo album under his nom du disc, Akae Beka.
If Portals differs from Midnite’s already Haile Selassie-loving, staunchly traditional aesthetic, it’s in the subtleties added by Beka and band. Shades of heavy guitar deep in the mix, bits of melodica reminiscent of Augustus Pablo further up, a sideline or two into U.K.-styled R&B akin to Soul II Soul’s late-’80s collaborations with The Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra mingle amid Beka’s wizened vocals and meditative philosophical ruminations. The combination makes for a nigh alchemical rhythmic potion.
—Jamie Lee Rake
Savoldelli Casarano Bardoscia
The Great Jazz Gig in the Sky (MoonJune Records)
Nowadays bands are on the road making a living by replicating classic rock albums in their entirety. Some of the bands that originally recorded those albums are rolling with the nostalgia bandwagon by restaging past glories in concert. Savoldelli Casarano Bardoscia take a different path with an album from the classic rock era by reinterpreting it in an electro-acoustic jazz idiom. The album, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, is given an imaginative treatment anchored by the deep tones of Marco Bardoscia’s double bass, elevated by Raffaele Casarano’s nuanced saxophone solos and delivered by Boris Savoldelli’s gruff vocals and the lonesome static of his synthesizers.
—David Luhrssen
Beninghove’s Hangmen
Pineapples & Ashtrays
New Jersey saxophonist Bryan Beninghove is classified as a jazzman but Pineapples & Ashtrays is the kind of album people who hate jazz can love. It’s got more catchy melodies than Herb Alpert and boasts zany juxtapositions of Brazilian carnival, rock and film-noir jazz. In a willful embrace of camp, Beninghove sprinkles Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon” amidst his originals. Jazz lovers might find something to listen to in one-time John Zorn associate Eyal Maoz, a blazing electric guitarist.
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—Morton Shlabotnik