Isis, a Cuban-born Arturo Sandoval discovery now living and working in Miami, may have a lovely voice. It is, judging by her debut CD, New Directions (Pimienta), almost impossible to tell, thanks to an assortment of overcooked arrangements by pianist Doug Bikel that sound like leftovers from an Eydie Gorme guest spot on The Andy Williams Show. Working alongside peerless pros like Sandoval and Ed Calle, Isis fights so hard to be heard above Bikel’s cacophony that she too often resorts to shouting. (It’s like that old joke about Ethel Merman belting her way through “Whispering.”) What presumably could have been beautifully tempered renditions of “Misty” and “Tenderly” are, out of necessity, delivered without a hint of mistiness or tenderness. (Admittedly, Bikel manages to tone things down on “Summertime,” with significantly improved results.) The album does, however, feature one special moment when the smoke clears and Isis’ natural talent is allowed to shine. Eliseo Grenet’s gorgeous “Drume Negrita,” one of five Spanish-language tracks included here, comes cushioned in a velvety arrangement that is refreshingly apropos. Interestingly enough, it’s the one arrangement written not by Bikel but by Sandoval himself.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro
Kurt Elling: Man in the Air
Nate Chinen makes the argument that Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time