Ed to the Shimmeringly Simple Songs They Tic Instrumentation with A
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Though fewer than half the songs on 18 mother -and -daughter duo, are perfectly suit- cially successful work for Sam Phillips's ed to the shimmeringly simple songs they equally legendary independent, Sun Rec- Original Sun Greatest Hits were even re- sing on their debut LP, Why Not Me. Their ords. These primary texts, constituting a leased as singles, the title is appropriate both mild, unornamented voices float over acous- fragmentary rock 'n' roll creation epic, were as a bit of Jerry Lee-style braggadocio and tic instrumentation with a mere hint of the cut in Memphis between November 1956, as an apt description of the well-chosen and grit and pathos that so often characterize just a year after Phillips had sold Elvis Pres- well -programmed contents. As Lewis de- country songs. Neither Wynonna nor her ley's contract to RCA, and August 1963, clares with characteristic modesty at the end mother, Naomi, is as distinctive or emotive when the Sun was clearly setting. Of Lewis's of "Big Legged Woman," "It's a hit!" For as, say, Tammy Wynette, but their music im- more than 50 Sun sessions, roughly 40 were me, the technology is a hit as well. poses different demands than hers, demands taped in the cramped, chronically impure and Jeff Nesin that they meet effortlessly. clinically hopeless studio at 706 Union Ave- nue where a few extremely loose and lubri- "Mama He's Crazy," the album's first J A Z I single, has a clever melodic twist and just a cious country boys-of whom Jerry Lee was suggestion of rowdiness. Its follow-up, the loosest and most lubricious-changed "Why Not Me," was, frankly, '84's best the course of modern music. country song: a heartrendingly pure voice Today this minuscule downtown studio (Naomi or Wynonna? It's impossible to tell) is a tourist -bus stop. You can buy a T-shirt framed by a bare -bones acoustic arrange- and marvel at how grossly inadequate the ment. Every cut is marked by similar quali- room and equipment were to any musical ties: ease, grace, and understatement. purpose. Which is why, when I heard about McEntire, on the other hand, is a well- this CD, I thought it was a joke. Rock's gor- known star. A former rodeo barrel racer and geous equivalent of the coffee-table gift '84's Country Music Association Female Vo- book, the 12 -record boxed set entitled Jerry calist of the Year, she's one of the first veter- Lee Lewis: The Sun Years (Charly Sun Box an performers to hop on the new -traditional- 101), had already documented each session ist bandwagon. exhaustively with what I took to be the best Establishing herself as one of country's reproduction of Lewis's "Pumping Piano" dominant artists, McEntire has released al- and Phillips's unique slapback echo that any- bums featuring love songs with the syrupy one might ever achieve-or want. After all. strings and background vocals that used to if one of Jerry Lee's scratchy 45s could rouse typify the Nashville sound. Just a Little any roomful of sentient beings anywhere. Love, her last LP and a commercial break- who needed this laboratory overkill? Trans- through, relied on strong material and an fer to Compact Disc seemed an ill-conceived easy -listening approach. My Kind of Coun- digital disaster-at very best, a violation of try leaves the syrup behind to show Reba at the rudest -of -the -rude -boys spirit that hov- her most powerful and sincere. She's still ered over the Sun sessions. somewhat slicker than the Judds, but acous- But high technology hasn't de-raunched tic instruments are emphasized in these Jerry Lee Lewis. Nothing could. Instead, the quite wonderful bluegrass -oriented melo- familiar keyboard -pounding and sly vocal in- Composer and arranger Akiyosh, dies, and McEntire controls each song com- sinuations of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' pletely. She has never been as self-assured On" have remarkable fullness, with nothing pristine or overfiltered whatsoever. Lewis's TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI as on these tracks. JAZZ ORCHESTRA, FEATURING Country music sounds as down-home to- heavy breathing on "Breathless" and Ro LEW TABACKIN: day as it did when Hank and Lefty ruled the land Janes's jangling guitar on "High School Ten Gallon Shuffle jukeboxes. If the new traditionalism contin- Confidential" have sonic impact beyond any- 0 lo,boAo 4Arp,ostk on/ 001 1004 (PO. Boa 20735. New York. N.Y 70025) ues to produce acts like the Judds and seduce thing I might have previously imagined. old ones like Reba McEntire, even Kenny Janes, who's heard on every track but one, is On Ten Gallon Shuffle, composer -arrang- Rogers will wind up singing over fiddles. particularly well served by the CD's clarity er -pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi combines Duke Crispin Sartuw11 and right -in -the -room presence. His solos Ellington's elegance, Charles Mingus's in- range from the truly bizarre, on the Lewis- tensity, and Count Basie's clarity to achieve JERRY LEE LEWIS: ization of Hank Williams's "Jambalaya," to her goal: a beautifully conceptualized, well - 18 Original Sun Greatest Hits. the sinuous lines winding through "Drinkin' planned, and exquisitely digestible record. Sam Philhps. prod Art few compilerRhino RNCD 5255. Wine Spo-Dee O'Dee." Most of all, though, I The sixteen -piece orchestra showcases O. RNOF 255. am impressed by how well such a transpar- five originals featuring Akiyoshi's special Jerry Lee Lewis, the notorious "Killer" of ent medium highlights Lewis's spectacu- gift. Her arrangements double and triple in- rock and country legend, recorded his most lar-and relentlessly self-promoted-gifts struments that, since Ellington's tenure, brilliant, most incendiary, and most commer- as an absolutely unique stylist. have been employed singularly. Indeed, one HIGH FIDELITY.