Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full
Hear Music HMCD-30348
Format: CD

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When, in 2005, Paul McCartney asked Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) to produce Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, the result was McCartney’s best disc in years, and perhaps one of his best ever. The consensus among critics was that Godrich had helped McCartney keep in check his worst impulses -- his sentimentality and tendency to cuteness -- and the singer said nothing to the press to dispel that assumption. Memory Almost Full was produced by David Kahne, who had worked with McCartney on 2001’s Driving Rain. McCartney is unquestionably sentimental this time around, but he’s sincere and doesn’t let his emotions get too out of hand. He returns to his familiar themes, especially the wonders of romantic love, but he also sings about mortality and memory. The five-song medley that closes the disc amounts to a musical summing-up, with McCartney evoking his own work with the Beatles as well as some of the music that has inspired him, including the Beach Boys ("Feet in the Clouds"). McCartney plays all the instruments on half the tracks; his touring band joins him on the rest. The sound is occasionally too digitally pristine, but Paul McCartney’s heart shines through.…Joseph Taylor

Jimmy Cobb: Cobb’s Corner
Chesky SACD327
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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Drummer Jimmy Cobb is our last living link to the greatest jazz album ever recorded: Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. In that session, and in all his sessions since, this smooth-as-silk drummer has provided perfect performances. On this hybrid multichannel SACD Cobb teams up with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Ronnie Mathews, and bassist Peter Washington. They distill the classic jazz-quartet format to perfection, creating a memorable modern-jazz album that makes excellent use of the Great American Songbook for its content. The result is musically accessible and intellectually stimulating. The essence of each instrument is captured in clear, crisp, precise, full-bodied sound. Chesky’s single-mike recording process is ideal for this size group, providing an appropriate sense of space. Whether you listen in two or 4.0 channels, you’ll be richly rewarded with superb sound and wonderful music.…John Crossett

Michael Brecker: Pilgrimage
Heads Up HUSA 9095
Format: CD

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Another player has taken his place in the sax section of the celestial jazz band. But the late Michael Brecker, who died of leukemia in January at the age of 57, left us a final parting gift -- this album, made with the support of Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci, and Jack DeJohnette. Pilgrimage was recorded in the final weeks of Brecker’s life, when he was in constant physical pain, but it relays nothing of that torment, focusing instead on Brecker’s view of the trail he was about to travel, as seen through the eyes of an optimist. Pilgrimage is full of interesting, stimulating, and freshly thought-out modern jazz. The sound matches the music, both the two-channel and, particularly, the multichannel tracks. They offer full-bodied, tonally correct, detailed, and dynamically free sound. Pilgrimage is a fitting epitaph for one of the most underrated but superbly talented jazz saxophonists our generation has produced. Goodbye, Michael -- and thanks.…John Crossett

Charlie Daniels Band: Live from Iraq
Blue Hat KOC-CD-4240
Format: CD/DVD-Video

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Intent on showing his support for US troops by boosting their morale, country legend Charlie Daniels and his band have toured US military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan three times in the last four years, and Live from Iraq is a 14-song collection of performances from his Stars for Stripes Tour. Daniels’ love of god and country and his views of the current war are on full display throughout the disc, as well as in the interviews on the 30-minute bonus DVD. The Charlie Daniels Band is as tight as ever, with rocking fiddle, rowdy electric guitars, juke-joint piano playing, and a drummer who plays double-time all the time. Daniels is still one of the greatest storytellers in the industry, as evidenced by such tracks as "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" and "Uneasy Rider." Whipping the crowd into a frenzy and closing at a furious pace, the band exits with Daniels’ most popular track, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Both discs provide focused front-row sound. The accompanying DVD gives an inside look at troop and base life in Iraq, and makes clear that the military supports Daniels as much as he supports them.…Shannon Holliday

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles: Diamonds in the Dark
Sugar Hill SUG-CD-4028
Format: CD

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Sarah Borges writes songs with solid, structured verses and distinctive, often catchy refrains or bridges. Her new CD includes 12 tunes by herself, Tom Waits, and others, in performances by Borges with members of her band, the Broken Singles. The recording, producing, engineering, and mastering deliver these songs with clarity and immediacy. Borges engages the listener constantly with her compelling lead vocals. Mike Castellana’s pedal steel nudges the band’s sound -- which is mainly small-band, electric-guitar-based rock -- toward Nashville. But this music isn’t Nashville-smooth; it has a bit of a rough edge. I expect it will interest a singer-songwriter audience more than a pop audience. The tempos, rhythms, and chord progressions, and the takes on love and longing, are nicely varied, but I wanted subject matter beyond the personal, to more fully engage the mind.…David Cantor