Selected: I picked up this disc at random in New York in 1998 having never heard of Sue Foley. I instantly became intrigued with her voice... dry, high, no reverb, no vibrato, no resonance of any kind. She rarely bends a note and when she does she pushes the boundaries of intonation. Sue's voice sits on top of the tight standard blues ensemble in a distinctive and memorable way. I have always eagerly purchased each of new albums since encountering this one.
Random: The Squeezebox randomly pulled up this Ron Carter album. While there can be no doubt about Ron's substantial musical ability (as evidenced by his many sessions as a Miles sideman), his solo albums from the 70's have always posed difficulty for me. I like to close my eyes and visualize the ensemble in front of me. With Ron's solo albums I feel like he is standing with his bass leaned against my ear and the rest of the band is outside on the lawn playing through open windows; the bass is mixed unnaturally loud and separately from the other instruments (in this case, thick Sebesky-arranged strings). Ron also tries to overdub solos like a guitarist in places which sometimes comes off awkwardly to my ears. The whole package sounds artificial. From back beat jazz, to a strange rag fronted by the bass, to string-soaked ballads, to a blues... this disc sounds like a bunch of forced experiments. With this listen I have, for the first time, caught moments of energy and resonance in the bass work. Perhaps Ron will grow on me. Jazz, more than other genres, should be organic and natural.
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