The Mix

The Mix: Nate Cavalieri

The best classical recordings of spring 2012 are appropriately refreshing, including a collection of choral works from young Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, a century-spanning collection of French song from American soprano Renée Fleming, and bright new performances from a roster of rising soloists, including pianists Li Yundi and Benjamin Grosvenor, and trumpeter Alison Balsom. The two most important recordings here include a first compilation of short sacred choral works by Alan Hovhaness, and Yuja Wang's immaculate collection of encores.

1. Yuja Wang
Fantasia
Though she's on top of the classical world, at times it seems that the murmurs about 25-year-old pianist Yuja Wang's concert attire might drown out the praise for her playing. Her three previous records are formidable, including a Grammy-nominated debut and impressive treatises on Stravinski and Rachmaninov. Fantasia is a collection of miniatures drawn largely from encores and thus lacks much of a thematic center. Even so, the energetic crowd-pleasers -- Dukas' L'apprenti sorcier, a blistering Chopin waltz and a small set of Scriabin -- boast enough bombast to warrant a close listen.

Listen along with our Senior Year, 1949: The First Sparks of Rock and Roll playlist.

World War II had ended only four years before, but in 1949, America sounded like an entirely different place: the post-war economic engine was revving on all cylinders, and Americans had more leisure time and income than at any other period in the country's history to date. Huge swaths of the black population, having migrated from the South for work during the war effort, were forging regional sounds in urban centers across the U.S.A. And due to an amazing confluence of cultural and social factors, the first fiery sparks of American rock 'n' roll were born.

Of course, it wasn't called rock 'n' roll back then. But the revolutionary brew of American music in '49 was evident in other musical name changes: Billboard's "race" charts were rebranded "Rhythm and Blues," and the magazine also minted a new offshoot of twang-y folk music, "Country and Western." But the biggest revolution was in format. After Columbia introduced the 33-rpm LP in 1948, rival RCA countered with the 7-inch 45 in 1949. Durable and inexpensive to produce, this format was ideal for the crosscurrents of its time; most importantly, they were cheap enough for kids to buy.

With new charts came new stars: Amos Milburn, all but forgotten today, was the most popular R&B act of the year. Born in Texas, Milburn was a larger-than-life persona who enlisted in the Navy at 15 to fight in the Pacific theater. When he returned home to Houston, he wrote novelty songs about boozing that were popular enough to top a Downbeat poll. (Decades later, George Thorogood made a mess of one: "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.") In 1949, he charted for 27 weeks.

While white American pop charts indulged in a schmaltzy cowboy fetish (Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was the hit of the year), Milburn shared a lesser but ultimately more influential spotlight with a handful of other black Southerners: Louis Jordan, the so-called "King of the Jukebox"; New Orleans pianist Fats Domino, whose "Fat Man" is said to be the first recording ever to use a straight rock 'n' roll-style backbeat from start to finish; and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a pioneering gospel singer and electric guitarist who was a primary influence on Elvis Presley.

John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen" -- a tune some argue was the first rock 'n' roll song ever recorded -- also grabbed a No. 1 in '49. If few of these caught the ears of that year's senior class, it's just as well: fewer than 30 percent of age-appropriate Americans graduated high school that year. But running between Milburn's Chicken Shack, Hooker's all-night party on Hastings Street and Jordan's Saturday Night Fish Fry, who had time for school, anyway?

Listen along to this post with our Source Material: Miles Davis, Bitches Brew playlist.

Some 40 years after its release, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew still seethes with revolutionary energy, at once sinister and stony. A groundbreaking intellectual exercise to divorce the trumpeter from his '60s work, this opus, released in 1970, ironically became his most popular recording to date. As Davis plugged in and careened headlong into his most controversial period, he allowed funk and psychedelic rock records to influence his writing, challenged the standards of instrumentation (two bass players? electric piano? distorted guitar?), and defined the sonic textures of the next decade's fusion movement.

Historians have pinned some of Davis' newfound interest in the rock charts to then-girlfriend and soon-to-be second wife Betty Mabry (later Betty Davis). In addition to having a career as a soul singer herself, she had also been a teen model who dated Hendrix and Sly Stone.

Whatever his motivation, much of the magic in Bitches Brew comes from Davis' bold vision and the fluid interchange of its personnel. He included several rising talents in the session, including bass clarinetist Bennie Maupin (later a member of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters), keyboardist Joe Zawinul (who later founded Weather Report with longtime Davis collaborator Wayne Shorter) and electric bassist Harvey Brooks. The recording also features the debut of then 19-year-old drummer Lenny White. Over just three days in August 1969, Davis and his band tracked six tunes that would forever change jazz. Here's where the music came from.

Listen along to this post with our Earl Scruggs, RIP playlist.

Few musicians had so thorough an influence on their chosen instrument as did Earl Scruggs, a banjo-picker whose "Scruggs Style" of plucking was one of the fundamental building blocks of bluegrass and forever changed American folk music. Scruggs died Wednesday morning in a Nashville hospital at the age of 88.

Scruggs' style, which he honed as a child in North Carolina, allowed him to pluck out the melody and accompaniment simultaneously. Listen to any of the banjo players who stand in his long shadow -- Bela Fleck, the Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny, even comedian Steve Martin -- and it's apparent that this inimitable style has become inseparable from the sound of the instrument itself. But unlike so many of his traditionalist peers, it was Scruggs' ability to step outside the confines of his genre that remains an essential element of his legacy. Although his partnership with Lester Flatt dominated bluegrass in the 1950s and '60s, it was the star's big ears and openhearted approach to making music that brought him to popular audiences.

Long before the Red State vs. Blue State musical and political divide, Scruggs was beloved by both conservative audiences of the Grand Ole Opry and the crowds at politically charged folk festivals where he'd perform alongside protest singers. Over the years, Scruggs refused to be pigeonholed by the genre he'd created, and he brought a genteel grace and blazing picking to collaborations with Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar and Elton John. For him, salvation was a familiar topic -- riding that heavenly train as angels carry him home -- and though his voice is silenced, his influence will endure as long as there's a five-string banjo to pluck.

Listen along to this post with our Witch Hunt: A Wayne Shorter Artist Spotlight playlist.

A crash course in composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter should start with his tune "Witch Hunt." The tightly structured weave of tenor sax and trumpet swings along with a carefree gait until, out of nowhere, there's a ricochet of drums and the melody suddenly sweeps upward into a tortured scream. This is Wayne Shorter at his best: complex, shrewd and surprising.

Born in 1933, Shorter began his career as a sideman to legendary leaders in the bop movement, including Art Blakey and Horace Silver. And even though the young tenor player struggled to emerge from the shadow of former practice buddy John Coltrane, eventually his gifts as a composer led to sessions as a bandleader. By the mid-'60s, he was stunningly prolific, turning out a clutch of records that explored the fringes of post-bop, both as an increasingly confident bandleader and a member of Miles Davis' legendary second quintet.

Although the records of this period are his most celebrated, they only represent half the story. He then took up soprano sax, founded visionary fusion group Weather Report, and was a frequent collaborator with pop singers and songwriters. Shorter's greatest legacy lies in his compositions, but his longevity as a performer and visionary spans four decades. Here's an introduction to his best work.

Listen along to this post with our New Vocal Standards playlist.

In the great tradition of begging, borrowing and stealing from across popular genres, the young class of modern jazz singers has expanded the canon of standards to include classic rock, indie songwriters and new originals. This playlist offers tunes from the hands of Joni Mitchell, Simply Red, Elliott Smith and The Beatles by a fresh group of jazz singers that includes Esperanza Spalding, Madeleine Peyroux and Gretchen Parlato. It might be Kurt Elling's adventurous, inventive, slightly off-kilter take on the Joe Jackson classic "Steppin' Out" that's most emblematic: by breaking all the rules, Elling reintroduces us to an old favorite.

Listen along with our Classical Roundup, Early 2012 playlist.

Maybe it's all about starting at the beginning. The new year offers several exciting views of the Baroque period, during which the foundations of Western orchestral music were first built. For this edition of the Classical Roundup, there are dedicated Baroque collections from some of music's brightest young female stars -- Met soprano Danielle de Niese and violinist Nicola Benedetti, along with Lara St. John and Xuefei Yang -- and from Italian violin master Giuliano Carmignola, whose Haydn violin concertos are exhilarating and absolutely definitive (if you have time for only one, start there). The set is rounded out by a New Year's Day concert and a few excellent selections of contemporary chamber music.

Get the full experience by tuning in to my Friday Mixtape: Young Jazz Piano Trios playlist now.

This playlist may compile compositions from the sophisticated edge of pop culture -- Radiohead, Nick Drake, Elliott Smith -- but the performances are by some of the most exciting young jazz piano trios. Jazz musicians have a long and celebrated tradition of stealing tunes from the pop charts, but pianists like Brad Mehldau, Taylor Eigsti and Robert Glasper mine the territory of indie and avant-garde rock for surprising selections that have the potential to capture audiences outside the genre's borders. They are joined by a handful of visionary young European trios, led by the likes of Esbjörn Svensson and Colin Vallon, who offer their own visionary retooling of the piano trio format. This Friday Mixtape brings some of our favorite young artists together for a set of stylish, urbane classics.

Listen along to this post with our Jazz Roundup: January 2012 playlist.

The first jazz releases of 2012 have kicked the year off in remarkable fashion. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt offers a dusky collection of ballads and blues. There's more trumpet with a Wynton Marsalis compilation that focuses on his life as a composer, along with Jimmy Owens' clear-eyed look at the works of Thelonious Monk. The set continues with some disarming efforts by an international trio of rock-, fusion- and avant-oriented pianists: U.K. crossover sensation Neil Cowley, Italian experimentalist Stefano Battaglia and Spanish newcomer Juan Galiardo. Last but certainly not least is the long-awaited follow-up to Hank Jones and Charlie Haden's 1995 record Steal Away. The new Come Sunday is a set of ethereal, elegant, deeply spiritual duets.

1. Charlie Haden & Hank Jones
Come Sunday
Haden and Jones recorded their first duet album in 1995: the sublime, deeply personal Steal Away, a collection of hymns, spirituals and folk tunes. The same concept and elegantly understated playing is behind this, their immaculate follow-up, recorded just before Jones' death in 2010. Though Jones was 91, his treatment of these simple songs is loving, powerful and lyrical. On Sunday standards like "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" and "Down by the Riverside," there is a deeply spiritual connection not only between the players, but also between two deeply spiritual men and their maker. [Nate Cavalieri]

Maybe 2011 was the year of the vibraphone. Or the year of the piano trio. Or the year of Brad Mehldau or Paul Motian. Or another year of Miles. The best jazz records of 2011 are a varied bunch, but there are certain strains that float through the year's favorite recordings. The sheer diversity and strength of the offerings prove that the genre continues to expand boundaries with creativity, vision and bold sonic experiments.

The most exciting trend might be the sudden maturation of a cadre of young vibraphone players -- Warren Wolf, Stefon Harris, Jason Adasiewicz -- who all led or had a hand in fantastic records. Elder jazz vibist Gary Burton's new group also put forth one of the year's best albums, and helped make the vibraphone one of the hippest sounds in contemporary jazz. It was an excellent year for the genre's fringes and fusions, with the saxophones of Steve Coleman and Colin Stetson and Iraqi composer Amir ElSaffar. Then there's pianist Brad Mehldau. Of his three records in 2011, two on the list demonstrate why he's among the most distinct players around: an elegant, unrehearsed live session at Birdland with Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz and Paul Motian, and an electrifying solo session that bristles with his head-spinning technique.

Strains of Mehldau are also heard in the crowning offering from Swiss pianist Colin Vallon, whose trio turned out the top record of the year, Rruga. The record's title is Albanian for "path," and it, like many other favorites of the year, is a wildly gratifying journey.

In addition to the albums below, be sure to check out my

Best in Jazz: 2011 playlist.

25. Neil Cowley Trio
Radio Silence
Although the Neil Cowley Trio may not have wide name recognition, they're the musical engine behind pop super-sensation Adele. A self-assured effort based around chunky melodic riffs and hard grooves, Radio Silence has more in common with the rock-oriented grooves of The Bad Plus than the piano-trio brilliance of Brad Mehldau. "Monoface" opens the album with an explosive bang, and its heavy backbeat and hook motif extend throughout. [Nate Cavalieri]

Looking back on 2011, ears attuned to classical releases were given a wealth of exhilarating discoveries; in new music, young musicians and rediscovered historical scores. It was also the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer and virtuoso Franz Liszt, which all but required commemorative Liszt recordings from A-list pianists bent on proving themselves worthy of his thundering musical legacy. Hip young composers like Matt Haimovitz and Nico Muhly turned an eye on the indie market with collaborations and crossovers, while early music fans were treated to discoveries and premiere recordings of newly unearthed Renaissance works. But it was the string soloists who stole the show: the troupe of young violinists like Charlie Siem, Hilary Hahn, Mikhail Simonyan and Nicola Benedetti dominated the musical conversation with one stunning performance after the next.

For more music in this vein, check out my Classical Young Guns Cheat Sheet.

20. Arabella Steinbacher
Brahms: Complete Works for Violin & Piano
This set of Brahms was written as a true duo, with neither the piano nor the violin part subjugated to the other. Steinbacher and Kulek are an excellent technical match, and they observe this evenhandedness throughout, matching each other at every turn with fluid decisions and solid, if not particularly arresting, performances. A movement from the "F-A-E" sonata, which was jointly composed by Albert Dietrich, Brahms and Robert Schumann, and is often omitted from Brahms' collections, concludes the recording. [Nate Cavalieri]

The past year has seen a crop of excellent releases from the most talked-about rising stars in classical music, a varied set of neo-traditionalists who breathe life into the genre though fiery performances, scandalous outfits and bold programming choices. Astonishingly, none of them are older than 30.

The pianist who might get the most headlines is Lang Lang, whose well-styled programmatic flair has made him classical music's poster child. Using the same bold media-embracing panache of Lang Lang, plenty of other oversized talents have made waves through style and scandal: take the skirt length of Yuja Wang, who gets mentioned as classical music's Lady Gaga, or the Vogue spread by hunky violinist Charlie Siem. Perhaps less hyped but no less revered are gimmick-free recordings from violinists Alina Ibragimova, Arabella Steinbacher, Julia Fischer and Ray Chen.

This Cheat Sheet looks at some of the brightest young names in the classical world, many of whom have the talent and marketing smarts to expand the genre's audiences.

Alice Sara Ott
Beethoven
After critically successful recordings of Chopin and Liszt, 23-year-old German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott releases her first Beethoven set with a bold agenda: demonstrating the two distinct personalities of the composer using a pair of C-major sonatas, the Op. 2 No. 3 and the Op. 53 "Waldstein." The prior of these -- light, mercurial and joyous -- was dedicated to Haydn, and the latter -- brooding and pensive -- was written near the end of his life, when his hearing was failing. Ott capably bridges this divide with clean, confident playing, restraint in her pedaling and plenty of power.

Although we love last century's Christmas classics, sometimes the unrelenting spins of Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song" are enough to drive a person batty. This playlist rummages around in Santa's sack for the lesser-known gems by your favorite classic crooners, and finds Bing, Dino, Rosemary Clooney and the like singing would-be holiday standards about snowmen, donkeys and snowy white magic. Have fun.

Listen now:

Crooners' Christmas Rarities

With breezy, swinging panache, Vince Guaraldi pulled off something nearly impossible with his 1965 score to A Charlie Brown Christmas: he issued a record that instantly expanded the overstuffed Christmas canon. The formula was unusual, to say the least. The pianist's lightly swinging trio brought a fresh, sophisticated air to dreary holiday standards like "O Tannenbaum," captured several cute (if somewhat tuneless) kids' sing-alongs, and turned out a few nimble originals--"Skating," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Linus & Lucy"--that became standards in their own right.

Getting under the surface of A Charlie Brown Christmas requires a musical trip back to the genre-bending, transformational West Coast jazz scene of the 1950s. Guaraldi grew up in San Francisco and found himself returning to the city after serving in the Korean War. In college, he was fascinated by boogie-woogie piano players like Meade "Lux" Lewis, Albert Ammons and Jimmy Yancey, and eventually took an interest in straight-ahead jazz. He sat in at San Francisco clubs like the Blackhawk, and eventually landed a gig adding to the shimmering, Latin-influenced grooves of Cal Tjader.

Guaraldi's first major recordings were with Tjader's outfit in 1951, and he'd keep that association going throughout his career, eventually playing on about a dozen of the bandleader's records. Guaraldi cut his first solo sessions in 1955, and eventually shaped a career that ranged far beyond his dalliances with Charlie Brown and Snoopy. His melodic, grounded playing simultaneously imbibed Dave Brubeck's trained compositional sensibility and swinging elements of piano greats like Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. More than anything, he had a fierce ear for melody as both a composer and an improviser.

To get your head around trumpeter, virtuoso and jazz godhead Wynton Marsalis, you have to understand his oversized musical personalities. He's both the aggressive improvisational badass who spurred the Young Lions movement and the cocksure young interpreter of baroque trumpet concertos. He's at once the curmudgeonly jazz educator, the neotraditional cultural gatekeeper and the most celebrated black composer in contemporary American music. He's jazz's greatest ambassador and its narrow-minded mouthpiece. But above all, he's an unquestionably brilliant overachiever and an omnivorous musical searcher. Marsalis turned 50 this year, giving us a chance to revisit his highlights and listen from every angle.

Listen along with my accompanying playlist:

Celebrating Wynton Marsalis' Jazz

This Classical Roundup has a decidedly American bent: Leonard Bernstein and Hilary Hahn bring life to Ives, Mikhail Simonyan plays Barber, and Leonard Pennario rolls though Gottschalk. To round things out, and for a touch of international diversity, Matt Haimovitz takes on Arcade Fire (they're Canadian!) and The Anonymous 4 offer law-breaking 13th-century French songs. All that and more are waiting below. Enjoy.

For a sampling of every album mentioned below, go straight to our

Classical Roundup: Fall 2011 playlist.

1. Hilary Hahn
Charles Ives: Four Sonatas
Fierce and dexterous, austere and blithe, Hilary Hahn's range makes her the perfect interpreter of Charles Ives' distinctly American violin sonatas, and this collaboration with pianist Valentina Lisitsa hits the mark. Ives' fundamental mood swings are handled brilliantly by the duo, which skates between savagely difficult technical passages and sentimental folk melodies (listen for the shattered rearrangement of "Turkey in the Straw" in the second movement of the second sonata).

There are all sorts of milestones in this month's Jazz Roundup. The biggest deal comes from Wynton Marsalis, whose 50th birthday was celebrated with a pair of records that show the trumpeter's paramount cultural clout. How many other musicians' labels issue a birthday retrospective? How many people get to jam with Clapton to celebrate half a century? There's also the final take from iconic vocalist Etta James and the realization of Christian McBride's long dream to lead a big band. Those three are joined by James Carter's organ trio and some torch-y vocals from L.A. pretty boy Michael Feinstein.

For highlights, check out my

Jazz Roundup: November 2011 playlist.

1. James Carter Organ Trio
At the Crossroads
Although label troubles hindered James Carter's rise through the late '90s, the Detroit saxophonist has slowly put things back together. His second record of 2011, this gritty homage to the then-and-now of jazz in the Motor City, opens with a blistering take on "Oh Gee" and explores blues roots in a funky, gutsy, post-bop landscape. Although there are notable guest appearances -- including that of guitarist Bruce Edwards -- the standout track is from the hand of drummer Leonard King, Jr., who complements Carter's shrieking, virtuosic choruses on "Lettuce Toss Yo' Salad." [Nate Cavalieri]

Classical artists don't typically rocket to the stardom in the manner of Aleksandra Kurzak, a Polish soprano whose startling talent made jaws drop when she debuted in London as Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville. Her sparkling solo debut leads off our early-fall Classical Roundup, in which she's joined by several other remarkable women, from a retrospective honoring violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter to Lara Downes' modern update on Bach's Goldberg Variations. Early September's other notable releases include a heart-wrenching Steve Reich/Kronos Quartet collaboration inspired by the September 11 tragedy and James Ehnes' expertly performed collection of three Bartok string concertos.

1. Steve Reich
WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, Dance Patterns
Steve Reich's minimalism has always had an unrelenting rhythmic urgency, but the themes of WTC 9/11 endow his driving ostinatos with a bleak, terrifying power. First, as the Kronos Quartet is accompanied by recorded emergency-response calls, Reich uses a simple device to chill the blood: a mechanical busy signal. The following two movements also employ spoken interviews and recordings of Muslim calls to prayer. These are complex choices that make the piece an emotionally raw, unflinching statement. Readings of So Percussion's Mallet Quartet and Reich's own Dance Patterns follow.

When you listen to jazz sessions from 1967, the genre's wild transformation is immediately evident. Jazz heads at the time had their work cut out for them trying to keep up: Coltrane, whose death from liver cancer shocked audiences in the summer of that year, had pushed things into an apocalyptic, free jazz frenzy, while other icons of the past decade were splintering into a modern, far-out free-for-all that wove together ideas begged, borrowed and stolen from bop, atonal modernism, and rhythmic and sonic elements from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

This powerful, fragmented, exploratory energy is all over the recently issued recordings of Miles Davis' gigs in Europe with the so-called "second great quartet," which included Herbie Hancock,Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams. They're all young, headstrong and virtuosic -- putting their performance to tape must've been like trying to bottle a hurricane.

The other recordings of that period -- from Coltrane's last recorded live session and Expression to the inspired Strayhorn/Ellington collaborations of the Far East Suite and Wayne Shorter's aptly named Schizophrenia -- are not for the faint of heart. But this challenging music offers big rewards, and helped make 1967 a year of particularly amazing sounds.

Click here to listen to the playlist:

Senior Year, 1967: Jazz From the Far-Out Edge of the World

If players on the progressive edge of contemporary jazz often push boundaries and end up pushing away all but the smallest, most esoteric audiences, there's a lesson to be learned from avant-garde veteran Steve Coleman. Late in his career on the edge, Coleman is delivering his most beguiling and listenable records, deeply rooted in cyclical patterns and inspired by West African spiritual traditions. "Tea for Two" it is not, but Coleman's challenging Mancy of Sound has been in constant rotation for me, and every listen seems to uncover another layer.

When it's time to dial into something a bit more soothing, there's a lot to choose from lately: the surefooted, straightforward, self-titled debut from vibraphonist Warren Wolf, a fantastic solo set from the late pianist Sir Roland Hanna, and saxophonist Phil Woods in a session with his longtime pianist. The month's notable releases are rounded out by Chicago's Deep Blue Organ trio doing a set of Stevie Wonder, and guitarist John Basile, er, playing with himself. When your ears are ready for a challenge again, cue up the eccentric release from Brazilian guitarist Lucas Santtana.

Steve Coleman
The Mancy of Sound
Saxophonist Steve Coleman has long pushed against traditional boundaries with musical experiments as listenable as they are ambitious. With the mesmerizing Mancy, the composer finds inspiration in both the cycles of nature and the spiritual traditions of West Africa's Yoruba people. Sound heady? Believe it. But as Coleman and his band dig into these cyclical, repetitious instrumental patterns (many complemented by Jen Shyu's vocalizations), the album's weaving lines are disarming, lyrical and wholly mesmerizing. It's among 2011's most ambitious releases, and most successful.

For a five-second snapshot of what this mix is all about, listen to the opening seconds of Richard "Groove" Holmes' "Hittin' the Jug" at L.A.'s Black Orchid club in October of '61. It's only two bars into the tune when some guy in the audience, caught up in the heady combination of Holmes' strutting intro and a generous highball or three, shouts, "All right!" There couldn't be a better way to kick off this cocktail hour set of organ driven soul jazz and mid-century Blue Note party jams - this is music that accompanies a heavy pour, and a perfect warm-up for a Friday night.

Joining top-flight bandleaders from the '50s and '60s -- Jimmy Smith, Grant Green and Wayne Shorter among them -- are hand-picked cuts from deeper corners of Rhapsody's endless soul jazz vault (dig the harp- and flute-led "Afro Harping" delivered by Dorothy Ashby) and a few vocal favorites from Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles and Tami Lynn. Salud!

Click here to listen to the entire playlist:

In the Pocket, Half In the Bag - Mid Century Soul Jazz Cocktail Hour

We admit that the title of this Cheat Sheet we've compiled ("we" being Latin editor Rachel Devitt and Jazz editor Nate Cavalieri) is a bit unwieldy, a bit amorphous, a bit hard to pin down. But so is the movement we're talking about. And that's what it was: a movement. The Latin music scene that set New York (and, eventually, the world) on fire in the mid-20th century grew out of several styles: jazz, soul, and what would come to be known as salsa, of course — but also earlier Latin dance sounds like mambo, cha-cha-cha, and boogaloo. Leading the charge were musicians who immigrated to New York from Puerto Rico and Cuba, and began innovatively interweaving traditional Caribbean music with mainland pop, interlacing jazz improvisation and composition with Latin dance structures and infusing American soul with Afro-Latin rhythms.

Finally, it's also about the movement of bodies: this is music made for dancing! Here, we'll trace the rise of what's often called the New York sound, from its roots in 1950s jazz and mambo through its coalescing in N.Y.C. clubs and on the Fania label in the '60s, all the way to its culmination in the unstoppable wave of '70s salsa.

Various Artists
Fania Records 1964-1980: The Original Latin Sound of New York
If a zeitgeist could be boiled down to one album, this is what it would sound like: boogaloo, jazz, mambo, salsa and soul, all of it laced through with the hip-twitching traditional rhythms of Cuba and Puerto Rico. This is the definitive introduction to the heady brew that intoxicated New York and the world in the mid-20th century, from the label that defined the movement, thanks to its glittering, star-studded roster: Willie Colón saunters on "The Hustler," Hector Lavoe crowns himself "El Cantante," the Fania All-Stars tear up the Cheetah, and Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa, is positively regal on "Quimbara." — Rachel Devitt

Although notable new classical releases include a collection from American wunderkind composer Nico Muhly and a lovely early opera from Elizabeth Kenny, the 200th birthday of a 19th-century piano virtuoso, composer and alleged lady-killer has been dominating recent classical programming. Franz Liszt's dabbling in the dark side is the focal point of a grandstanding recording from Georgian prodigy Khatia Buniatishvili, but it's Nelson Freire's passionate program that frames the composer most eloquently. A lesser anniversary is also celebrated with Murray Perahia's presentation of Bach concerti (Perahia caused quite a flutter by recording these on a modern grand piano — not the harpsichord — a decade ago). Other notable releases include the Beethoven debut of Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter and a set of Baroque works for cello by Lynn Harrell. Too stuffy for you? Cue up the accessible classical crossover upstarts 2Cello as they dabble with Guns N' Roses.

Nelson Freire
Liszt: Harmonies du soir
Nelson Freire might be the greatest — or at least most lauded — living Liszt ambassador, and this imaginative program brilliantly celebrates the composer's 200th birthday. There's a fiery authority to these performances, from the brisk, lyrical adrenaline of the opening Waldesrauschen No. 1 to the highly dramatic Valse Oubliée. Still, everything gets a thorough and critical examination, evident in the elastic tempos and aggressive lower registers of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3. Brilliant, bombastic and inspired, this demands awe for both the material and its interpreter.

This summer's new jazz releases seem to be on an equatorial vacation, with Cuban rhythms, breezy bossa nova and a sunny Malian compilation defining the season. The most thrilling trip comes from David Sanchez, Christian Scott and Stefon Harris, who went to Cuba to record their collaborative, sweltering 90 Miles project. A pair of releases from Eliane Elias and Carmen Cuesta rest in the shady shadow of Antonio Carlos Jobim, while vocalist Madeleine Peyroux offers dusky originals with her heaviest band to date. The set is rounded out by listenable, experimental releases from Pat Metheny (on acoustic baritone guitar) and the original lineup of The Flecktones, along with a pair of never-before-heard recordings of two bop favorites in peak form, Freddie Hubbard and Bill Evans.

For more, listen to my

Jazz Roundup, July 2011 playlist.

1. David Sanchez
Ninety Miles
The trio of talented instrumentalists here — vibraphone player Stefon Harris, saxophonist David Sanchez and trumpeter Christian Scott — is certainly accomplished in their own right, but combined, they reveal an especially vibrant energy. Recorded in Havana, the album includes renowned Cuban pianists Rember Duharte and Harold López-Nussa alongside a battery of local percussionists. The fusion helps Ninety Miles emerge as the younger, modern, bright-eyed cousin to Buena Vista Social Club, a portrait that captures the potential of Cuba's falling borders.

The Mix

The Mix: Nate Cavalieri

Top 12 Classical Albums, May 2012

Senior Year, 1949: The First Sparks of Rock 'n' Roll

Source Material: Miles Davis, Bitches Brew

Earl Scruggs, RIP

Artist Spotlight: Wayne Shorter

New Vocal Standards in Jazz

Classical Top 10: February 2012

Friday Mixtape: Young Jazz Piano Trios

Top 10 Jazz Albums, January 2012

The Top 25 Jazz Records of 2011

The Top 25 Classical Albums of 2011

Cheat Sheet: Classical Young Guns

A Deep-Cut Crooner Christmas

Source Material: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Cheat Sheet: Wynton Marsalis

Classical Roundup: Fall 2011

Jazz Roundup: November 2011

Classical Roundup: September 2011

Senior Year, 1967: Jazz From the Far-Out Edge of The World

Jazz Roundup: September 2011

Friday Mixtape: Soul-Jazz Cocktail Hour

Cheat Sheet: Classic Latin Jazz, Soul and Salsa

Classical Roundup: August 2011

Jazz Roundup, July 2011