CTI RECORDS: THE COOL REVOLUTION [4 CD Set]

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Back in the 1970s I discovered a record company that brought out instrumental “jazz” albums that I loved. I would buy any album CTI put into the record stores (remember them?). The CTI sound was the early form of “Smooth Jazz.” Many jazz artists found themselves in a losing competition with rock & roll performers. CTI smoothed out jazz, added some pop elements, and established jazz artists found this new music mix generated album sales. CTI is long gone, but SONY (who owns the CTI catalog) is reissuing these wonderful CDs, remixed and remastered, for CTI’s 4OTH Anniversary. CTI Records: The Cool Revolution is a sampler of the CDs that will be released in the months ahead. Forty years after I first listened to this great music, it’s back better than ever! GRADE: A
SET LIST:
Disc 1
1 Sugar / Stanley Turrentine 10:04
2 Moment’s Notice / Hubert Laws 6:57
3 So What / Ron Carter 11:24
4 Autumn Leaves / Chet Baker 7:05
5 Speed Ball / Stanley Turrentine 6:40
6 The Intrepid Fox / Freddie Hubbard 10:43
7 Ifrane / Randy Weston 5:16
8 Free as a Bird / Don Sebesky 8:14
9 So What / George Benson 9:11

Disc 2
1 Red Clay / Freddie Hubbard 12:09
2 It’s Too Late / Johnny Hammond 10:58
3 Home Is Where the Hatred Is / Esther Phillips 3:25
4 We Got a Good Thing Going / Hank Crawford 5:59
5 White Rabbit / George Benson 6:57
6 Fire and Rain / Hubert Laws 7:56
7 What a Difference a Day Makes / Esther Phillips 4:31
8 Follow Your Heart / Joe Farrell 6:52
9 Also Sprach Zarathustra / Deodato 2001 9:02
10 Mister Magic / Grover Washington Jr. 8:59

Disc 3
1 Stone Flower / Antonio Carlos Jobim 3:19
2 Ponteio / Astrud Gilberto 3:41
3 First Light / Freddie Hubbard 11:05
4 Salt Song / Stanley Turrentine 7:15
5 Pensativa / Hubert Laws 3:54
6 Tombo in 7/4 / Airto 6:24
7 Sunflower / Milt Jackson 8:48
8 Return to Forever / Airto 10:15
9 Wave / Paul Desmond 6:17
10 Carly & Carole / Deodato 3:40
11 Brazil / Antonio Carlos Jobim Alternate Take 5:25

Disc 4
1 My Funny Valentine / Gerry Mulligan 8:46
2 All Blues / Ron Carter 9:32
3 Song to a Seagull / Don Sebesky 5:49
4 Pavane / Hubert Laws 7:41
5 What’ll I Do / Chet Baker 3:58
6 Westchester Lady / Bob James 7:25
7 A Child Is Born / Kenny Burrell 8:39
8 Take Five / George Benson 7:09
9 Concierto de Aranjuez / Jim Hall 19:19

MONSOON By Robert D. Kaplan

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I realize this is the Holiday Season, but we mustn’t forget that global strategy never takes a holiday. Robert D. Kaplan’s eye-opening study of geo-political changes, Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power is a sobering look at a region that’s under most people’s radar. Yet, 90% of global commerce and 66% of all oil supplies travel by sea and much of it travels the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Part historical survey, part political analysis, part future forecast Monsoon makes sense out of a region that will grow in importance as China’s energy needs continue to grow. If you want to understand the power shifts fast approaching, you’ll find enlightenment in reading Monsoon. GRADE: A

WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN: THE COMPLETE SERIES [DVD BOX SET]

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Maybe it’s the stress of dealing with research papers, FINAL EXAMS, and the hideous end-of-semester stack of paperwork that caused me to retreat into the Marvel Universe to watch these 26 episodes of action adventures. For less than $20, this package provides 3 DVDs with over 10 hours of content including commentaries by the show’s creators. If you’re a fan of Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men (and women), you’ll find plenty to enjoy with this set. GRADE: A

THE TOURIST

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The first half hour of The Tourist resembles a travelogue of Paris and Venice. Finally, after all the scenery, there’s some action and the plot lurches forward in fits and starts. The team who put this movie together seem more intent on making Angelina Jolie look a lot like Sophia Loren. Johnny Depp plays an understated role as a math teacher from Madison, Wisconsin who’s on vacation. There are holes in the plot you could drive an 18-wheeler through. Jolie and Depp have some good chemistry, but they aren’t given much to do. Wait to see this on cable or Netflix. GRADE: C+

ENDLESSLY By Duffy

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When I heard Duffy’s Rockferry back in 2008, it became one of my favorite CDs of the year. Duffy’s amazing voice and the quality of the songs made me impatient for the next Duffy CD. Now, two years later, we have Endlessly. Given my high expectations, Endlessly comes off as a good, but not great, album. Sure, the songs are listenable. But none of them reach out and grab you like the songs on Rockferry. Fans of doo wop will enjoy “Too Hurt To Dance.” I was expecting more from Duffy. GRADE: B
SET LIST:
1 My Boy 3:27
2 Too Hurt to Dance 3:15
3 Keeping My Baby 2:49
4 Well Well Well 2:43
5 Don’t Forsake Me 4:01
6 Endlessly 2:58
7 Breath Away 4:12
8 Lovestruck 2:52
9 Girl 2:26
10 Hard for the Heart 4:58
11 Endlessly Bonus Track / Acoustic Version / Version 3:18

FORGOTTEN BOOKS #95: DANGEROUS LIAISONS By Choderlos de Laclos

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I’ve owned Laclos’ wicked novel for a couple of decades. Finally, I got around to reading Dangerous Liaisons and found its cynical, Machiavellian characters of Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil unique. In a series of letters, the two wealthy and conniving aristocrats launch a number of sinister schemes. Valmont wants to seduce a married, religious lady. The Marquise embarks on arranging a young girl’s ruination before she can be married. Dangerous Liaisons shows that love is just a game to these two intriguers. Patterned after Samuel Richardson’s massive (1000+ page) epistolary novel, Clarissa, Dangerous Liaisons takes seduction and sexual machinations to a new level. This is a novel you will not soon forget. The movie version starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz, and Keanu Reeves is worth watching, too.

THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS By Louis Menand

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Louis Menand thinks colleges and universities are in trouble. I agree with him. In The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University Menand presents an insightful history of American higher education. Then he identifies areas where colleges and universities face a crisis: the problem of a general education curriculum (no one can agree on one) and the super-specialization of many departments. I would add to Menard’s list one more problem: the lack of preparation by most high school students to do college-level work. As the states are forced to cut school budgets and state college budgets, tough choices are going to have to be made. Costs will go up as well as tuition. The “open admissions” policies of the past need to be debated. Federal funding of student aid needs to be questioned. College education will go through a revolution in the next decade as more and more students opt for on-line classes. But what will they be learning? Menand’s book is a good place to start the conversation. GRADE: B+

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY By Loreena McKennitt

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I’ve been a fan of Loreena McKennitt for over 20 years so this isn’t going to be an objective review. I own all her CDs and I’ve seen her in concert twice (wonderful performances!). This new CD, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, explores folk songs and traditional music. One of the songs, “Down By the Sally Gardens,” uses a W. B. Yeats poem for its lyrics. I love Loreena McKennitt’s voice and the backup musicians are very strong on this CD. If you like folk and traditional music, you’re going to like The Wind That Shakes the Barley. This CD would make a great stocking stuffer! GRADE: A
SET LIST:
1. As I Roved Out
2. On a Bright May Morning
3. Brian Boru’s March
4. Down By the Sally Gardens
5. The Star of the County Down
6. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
7. The Death of Queen Jane
8. The Emigration Tunes
9. The Parting Glass

A SECRET GIFT By Ted Gup

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In December 1933, in the depths of the Depression, an ad appeared in the Canton Respository offering $10 to 75 needy families. The pseudonymous benefactor, “Mr. B. Virdot,” read the letters the people of Canton, Ohio sent him answering the ad and he sent them the checks ($10 in those days is nearly equivalent to $70 today). Fast forward 80 years and Ted Gup, a reporter, discovers a suitcase full of letters. Gup finds these are the letters sent to “B. Virdot” who in reality was his grandfather. After reading the letters and contacting relatives of the people who wrote the letters, Ted Gup has written a perfect book for the Season of Giving: A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness–and a Trove of Letters–Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression. The letters will touch your heart. GRADE: A

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

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Love And Other Drugs skates very close to the rim of mawkishness. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a talented drug representative. While pretending to be an intern, Gyllenhaal witnesses a breast exam of a patient with Stage One Parkinson’s disease (played by Anne Hathaway). Of course, he falls in love. But Love And Other Drugs has pretensions to be more than just another predictable romantic comedy. Gyllenhaal has to make a Decision. The much more talented Oliver Platt is on hand to mentor Gyllenhaal on the sales techniques of moving prescription drugs. Josh Gad is funny as Gyllenhaal’s geeky younger brother. George Segal and Jill Clayburgh (in probably her last movie role) are Gyllenhaal’s parents. Love And Other Drugs has a fine cast and aspirations of Higher Things. The group we went with found the serious side of the movie troubling. They wanted to laugh, but they had to contend with a movie that made them think. GRADE: B