Some new CDs in my ears

Recently bought a few new CDs from some piano players I greatly admire...

Marc Cohn - Join The Parade
Since this dude's last album, he's been shot in the head during a failed carjacking (in Denver no less) and gotten divorced. Think he had anything to write about? The songs are very light on piano, much more guitars than I'm used to hearing on his albums, but the formula is familiar - churchy, bluesy vocals and a lot of creole soul. The title track chorus is stuck in my head, as is the great cover art of a New Orleans marching band. When I die, I want a New Orleans style marching band procession.

Other favorite tracks... "Listening to Levon" is an apology to a wronged love that makes a nod to Van Morrison... "Dance Back From The Grave" is a gut-bucket funk tribute to New Orleans' resiliency... "You're A Shadow" is the bonus track you get if you download the album from iTunes, and it's a dark gem. I wonder if Cohn thinks this album was worth all the trouble. I do.

Bruce Hornsby - Camp Meeting
I will post later about how great Hornsby is, in depth. In the past year he's released a bluegrass album with Ricky Skaggs (which is also awesome) and this CD, with a crappy bassist named Christian McBride and an awful drummer named Jack DeJonnette. Wow, the three of them sure don't know how to play their instruments at all. Actually they're so good they make me want to throw my piano out the window and give up.

This is top-notch modern jazz piano trio material with a subtle tip of the cap to the rock/pop/bluegrass/mishmash world Hornsby has created for himself. No vocals, this is a jazz piano record. Ever wondered how Thelonious Monk's classic off-kilter blues-bop chart "Straight No Chaser" would sound chased by an obvious hint of "Not Fade Away," the Buddy Holly song made famous by The Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead? With these guys on the bandstand, it's gonna sound fun. Be warned, in spots this album gets harmonically heady, with some serious complexity and atonality. All in all, it's beautifully haunting.