perfidy

Since my cobloggers here seem intent on talking about stuff like boring old politics, I am going to hew to my usual tactic of changing the subject entirely. (With one dangerous and discussion-sparking aside to Buckethead: I smell what you're cooking regarding fetal rights, but arguing that a nine-month fetus is a person so therefore a one-month fetus is logically so strikes me as a perfect expression of the sorites paradox. I am sympathetic to your argument but don't think it's as clear-cut as you do.)

So. To business.

Record label retrospectives can often be spotty affairs – many labels who put out 10- 20- or 25th anniversary discs ought to be arrested for public self-pleasuring. I can think of a couple recent cases where outstanding labels with otherwise sterling reputations have sold out their big anniversary compilations in the name of pushing mediocre current releases, a shortsighted move that makes the whole affair a waste of time and good money.

On the other side of the coin is the retrospective that tries too hard to be good. A prime example is an old Matador set my wife has. Whoever put it together chose well; all Matador’s big names and proud moments are spread over three discs. But there is one drawback: Matador have hewed to their guiding vision with almost Puritanical devotion. Hearing so much of the label’s self-chosen best moments in super-duper indie rock integrity in one place is overwhelming, sort of like eating two pounds of exquisitely delicious pulled pork barbecue in one sitting. (I don’t recommend trying this; my last barbecue bacchanal put me down for 24 hours, and I still can’t listen to Superchunk without bolting from the room.)

Concord Picante has recently decided to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a 4-cd collection celebrating their quarter century at the top of the Latin-jazz heap, and it turns out they have put out a lot of really good stuff. As a relative newcomer to the wonders of Latin Jazz, I have to say that this collection is a great place to start learning. If the single-disc sampler I received is any indication, Concord Picante have not only managed to sum a quarter century but have done so without becoming didactic, boring, or presentist. The full set’s four discs seem like the right length to contain 25 years of music of this variety and uniformly high quality.

The challenge for Concord Picante is that Latin Jazz is sometimes seen as being a niche market within a niche market. However the sampler proves the opposite, showcasing a surprisingly diverse (and excellent) collection of recordings by artists from all over the Americas. Tito Puente is of course well represented, but so are other Latin music eminences like Pete Escovedo and Eddie Palmieri. Vibraphone great Cal Tjader is here too (his debut with the label won the label its first Grammy in 1980), as well as Concord Picante stalwarts like the great conguero Poncho Sanchez’ groovy soul-jazz-blues-Latin hybrid, the sparkling Brazilian bossa nova of guitarist Charlie Byrd, and the hot Brazilian dance of Tania Maria. On the jazzier side, Concord Picante offers recordings by reggae-tinged Jamaican keyboardist Monty Alexander and harmonica great Hendrik Meurkens, and many more. Far from being a niche product, it seems that in the hands of Concord Picante “Latin Jazz” is almost anything they want it to be as long as it’s got a little duende, a little especia.

As I’ve gotten older, my tastes in music have changed. Somehow Jethro Tull don’t seem as deep as they used to, and I no longer think it’s quite as funny to put together a one-hour set of Japanese noise rock, TV show themes, and Tibetan throat singing. I still like these things (well, not so much the Tull), but I have matured into a less smugly elitist music fan. Now I want something with some teeth, something I can dance to, something with great playing that I haven’t necessarily heard a million times. Right now for me, Latin Jazz is filling that role to perfection. The Concord Picante box set sampler hasn’t left the cd player in my house for three weeks, and it is the most played album of late on my ipod too. That my wife, whose tastes are wildly different from mine (Tracy Chapman versus Frank Zappa), also digs the Concord Picante indicates that there’s really something here for everyone.

One final thought. Record reviewers are in an interesting position. Lester Bangs once observed that the fact that most of the music reviewers come by is free of charge, meaning they are under less of an obligation to care whether it’s any good. When you buy an album, your investment – however small – biases you toward finding something of value in it. On the other hand, getting lots of music for free tends to make you bored and jaded. With this in mind, I am prepared to give the Concord Picante 25th Anniversary Collection the highest possible recommendation any reviewer can: it’s so good, I’m buying my own copy.

This review also appears, without the political parts, at blogcritics.org.