New Recordings

nolead begins Tom Jones
nolead ends nolead begins Spirit in the Room
nolead ends nolead begins (Island ***1/2)

nolead ends

Even when he became a big pop star and the quintessential Las Vegas showman in the '60s, with hits such as "It's Not Unusual" and "What's New Pussycat," Tom Jones was a more than credible singer of blues and R&B. It's a talent he revealed again on 2010's great, gospel-drenched Praise and Blame, and more recently on his Jack White-produced cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Evil."

On Spirit in the Room, the 72-year-old Welshman tackles bluesman Blind Willie Johnson's "Soul of a Man," but he also ventures into different territory. Most of the material comes from contemporary songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Richard Thompson, and Joe Henry. Jones shows the old sexy strut on Wait's boastful "Bad as Me," but mostly he takes an understated approach that reflects the stripped-down but evocative arrangements. The mood is often autumnal or reflective, but thanks to Jones' unerring and worldly-wise interpretations, the performances still pulse with spirit.

- Nick Cristiano

nolead begins Antibalas
nolead ends nolead begins Antibalas
nolead ends nolead begins (Daptone ***1/2)

nolead ends When a band becomes a movement, you can forgive the occasional five-year recording lapse. So it is with Brooklyn-based Antibalas, the 11-member Afrobeat orchestra that almost single-handedly rekindled popular interest in Afrobeat and its progenitor, the late Fela Kuti. In the half-decade since 2007's Security, several members of Antibalas were deeply involved in Fela!, the Tony Award-winning musical on the life of their forebear, "the James Brown of Nigeria." Getting inside Fela's head has put him deeper inside theirs, as Antibalas' eponymous fifth is the most purely Afrobeat of the bunch: deeply political (lead single "Dirty Money" is a 99 percent rally cry), hugely rhythmic ("Ari Degbe" has enough percussive gusto to spark a revolution), and massively soulful ("Him Belly No Go Sweet" nods to another late titan, Bob Marley). Given results this kinetic, it was worth the wait.

- Brian Howard

nolead begins Com Truise
nolead ends nolead begins In Decay
nolead ends nolead begins (Ghostly International ***)

nolead ends Since releasing a debut EP in 2010, Com Truise - the nom de plume of electronic musician Seth Haley - has written songs that embody '80s pop culture. Whether evoking a melodramatic slo-mo shot in a Tom Cruise flick or the opening credits of a PBS documentary on the wonders of the brain, Com Truise's music is rooted in deep grooves, spaced-out synths, and a hint of irony. In Decay is a collection of previously unreleased tracks and, like the prior EP and LP, it's lively and compelling, drawing from elements as diverse as Krautrock, IDM, psychedelic indie rock, 8-bit, and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. In Decay, however, features more cool jams and hip beats and less quirky dance music compared with previous releases.

- Katherine Silkaitis

nolead begins Shoes
nolead ends nolead begins Ignition
nolead ends nolead begins (Black Vinyl ***)

nolead ends Shoes were descendants of Badfinger and the Raspberries, peers of new wave bands such as the Romantics and the Plimsouls, and progenitors of Matthew Sweet and Philly's own Bigger Lovers. Ignition is the Zion, Ill., band's first new album in 18 years and comes 35 years after Black Vinyl Shoes, their self-released, self-recorded debut. They had a stint on a major label (which produced 1979's classic Present Tense), but for much of their career, they have been happily independent, and Ignition continues that tradition. It proves that power pop ages well.

The album works that effortlessly melodic sweet spot of archetypal power pop: crunchy electric guitars buoyed by jangling acoustics behind genial harmonies, sometimes contrasted with vintage electric keyboards. Shoes are less convincing when they toughen up on the silly "Hot Mess," but a clutch of Ignition's tracks could slip unobtrusively among Shoes' best.

- Steve Klinge

nolead begins Rick Estrin and the Nightcats
nolead ends nolead begins One Wrong Turn
nolead ends nolead begins (Alligator ***1/2)

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They used to be Little Charlie and the Nightcats, named after their brilliant guitarist, the now-retired Charlie Baty. But even then, Rick Estrin was the front man. He's one of the great characters in blues and roots-rock - a sharp-dressing, smooth-talking, harmonica-playing hepcat. On their second album with Estrin's name out front, and Kid Andersen replacing Baty, the group remains as entertaining as ever.

"(I Met Her on the) Blues Cruise," a rollicking tale of romance gone wrong on the high seas, and "Desperation Perspiration" highlight the comic side of the Nightcats. Estrin can also pen straight down-and-out blues, like "Broke and Lonesome" and the New Orleans-flavored "Movin' Slow." But for all the colorful personality he brings, he's also a deceptively subtle writer who can cloak pointed or sobering messages within the band's general good-time vibe, as he does on "Lucky You" and the title song. Meanwhile, two instrumental tracks - bassist Lorenzo Farrell's jumping, jazzy "Zonin' " and Andersen's surf-mariachi pastiche, "The Legend of Taco Cobbler" - bring to the fore the sharp, lively, and never cliched musical attack that underpins everything here.

- Nick Cristiano

nolead begins Ravi Coltrane
nolead ends nolead begins Spirit Fiction
nolead ends nolead begins (Blue Note ***1/2)

nolead ends It's serious when a Coltrane records on Blue Note.

Making his label debut is Ravi Coltrane, the second son of Alice and John Coltrane, whose 1957 Blue Train is a label landmark.

For some extra voodoo, Ravi Coltrane employs fellow tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano as producer. And he proffers two lineups; a quartet with pianist Luis Perdomo and a quintet with pianist Geri Allen and trumpeter Ralph Allessi, who contributes three tunes.

The results are dark and often mysterious, becoming by turns steamy, reverential, and experimental. Coltrane the younger is a dervish with much intelligence to impart. Paul Motian's "Fantasm" finds both the leader and Lovano trading beautiful abstractions.

- Karl Stark

nolead begins
Schumann Piano Concerto
nolead ends nolead begins Angela Hewitt; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Hannu Lintu conducting.
nolead ends nolead begins (Hyperion ***1/2)

nolead ends nolead begins Piano Quartet Op. 47
and Piano Quintet Op. 44
nolead ends nolead begins Alexander Melnikov, piano; Jerusalem Quartet.
nolead ends nolead begins (Harmonia Mundi ***1/2)

nolead ends nolead begins Concerto Without Orchestra, Op. 14, Piano Quintet, Op. 44
nolead ends nolead begins David Kadouch, piano; Quatour Ardeo.
nolead ends nolead begins (Artact/Decca ***)

nolead ends Though Robert Schumann wrote some of the great piano literature, his music inhabits a private, sometimes fairy-tale world that can elude the most devoted pianists. The most distinguished release in this trio of new-to-Schumann artists is Angela Hewitt, the Canadian Bach specialist who brings a kind of miniaturist detail to even the broadest strokes, and finds more organic continuity than you ever thought the music had, partly because she resists using the usual heroic sound heard in the Schumann Piano Concerto. The disc is filled out by Introduction and Allegro Appasionato Op. 92 and Introduction and Concert-Allegro Op. 134. Both have worthwhile moments made more apparent by Hewitt's clarity of vision and sonority.

The other two discs are clearly the work of important musicians, though they take the easy way out, creating excitement through fast-tempo velocity. The Alexander Melnikov/Jerusalem Quartet disc takes that approach to the nth degree, and though thrilling, it also feels somewhat denatured. The promising young David Kadouch wrestles the so-called Concerto Without Orchestra a bit too efficiently. One wants to hear more sweat - and more than musical intelligence in the Piano Quintet Op. 44.

- David Patrick Stearns