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Various Africans in America Soundtrack (Ryko/Outside) The music that supports the essential PBS documentary Africans in America is a collection of haunting hymns, chants and spirituals that effectively convey the sense of desperation, hope and sorrow that characterizes the 300-year African holocaust known as slavery. Though the music is clearly more potent viewed in context, it still manages to move the spirit--even if you haven't seen the accompanying images. Vocalist Bernice Johnson Reagon, who appears on half of the 22 tracks, is mesmerizing. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee) Various Belly Soundtrack (DefJam/PolyGram) There's a lot of talk about Hype Williams's new film Belly, which features Nasir "Nas" Jones, Earl "DMX" Simmons, Clifford "Method Man" Smith and other hip hop artists in dramatic roles. Almost everybody who stars in the movie contributes to the soundtrack, making for some dual drama. Choice moments include Ja Rule's "Story to Tell," Gangstarr's "Militia" remix and other gems from Sauce Money, D'Angelo and Jay Z. Take this golden opportunity to compare performances on record to performances on the big screen. 7/10 (Scott C) Kirk Franklin The Nu Nation Project (Gospo Centric/Universal)
Arvo Pärt Kanon Pokajanen (ECM/BMG) Estonian composer Pärt's earlier works followed the most dissonant and complex trends of their time--to such an extent, it seems, that Pärt could no longer stand the tensions they created. Rethinking his artistic position, Pärt has become a kind of neo-mediaevalist, accepted by a large audience tired of the excesses of "modern" classical. Unsatisfied with popular success, his search for spirituality has led him to Russian Orthodox liturgical texts dating back about 1,500 years, characterized by rich but repetitive chords, at the cost of developed melodic and contrapuntal structures. Small excerpts are truly impressive but, in its totality, it is almost unbearable. Perhaps this is what Pärt intended. Perhaps repentance is unbearable. Perhaps Kanon Pokajanen is a work of art which succeeds where it fails and fails where it succeeds. 7/10 (Wolfgang Bottenberg) Oliver Jones Just in Time (Justin Time/FusionIII) This is the pianist's first live Canadian recording since 1985 and the label's first double CD. Recorded in Toronto at the Montreal Bistro last November, it finds Oliver in superb company--Dave Young is on bass and Norman Marshall Villeneuve (Oliver's childhood friend) is the drummer on a 19-cut program that includes jazz standards by Monk, Rollins, Peterson and Freddie Hubbard, "Odalisque" by Lorraine Desmarais and a Gershwin medley. One of Oliver's best outings. 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin) Joe Pesci Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You (Columbia/Sony)
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What Puff Daddy is to hip hop, and Quincy Jones to R&B, is what Kirk Franklin has become to gospel. Like Combs and Jones, Franklin's gift lies in an ability to pick and groom talent. He puts that talent to use here, most notably with Nu Nation, God's Property and the Family. But like his counterparts, he's prone to excess, as evidenced by the unconvincing grandeur of "Lean on Me." Understated efforts, like the sumptuous "He Loves Me," are infinitely more effective. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)
Rather than perpetrate a sequel to the film My Cousin Vinny, Pesci has elected to entertain us with an alter-ego album. The result is crude, puerile, foolish and the sorriest musical representation of Italian Americans since "Shuduppa You Face." And holy shit, is it ever funny. Oh, Little Joe has the pipes, all right. He applies them to badmouthing the broads on the swingin' "Take Your Love and Shove It" and the absurd drum-machine Mafioso blues nugget "I've Got News for You." He curses out schoolkids on his Christmas song, throws a duet/spat with Vinny co-star Marisa Tomei and then has the balls to tie it all up with "What a Wonderful World." Little bastard. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)