recommendations: June 2006 Archives

Marc Johnson, Shades of Jade (ECM). The cast of musicians--Johnson, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Eliane Elias, Joey Baron--might lead you to believe that it's an all-star jam session. But it's an hour of salon music, carefully conceived, beautifully executed, relaxed with an outré tinge, in the ECM fashion. Highlights: Johnson's medium-tempo blues "Blue Nefertiti," evoking a Miles Davis-Wayne Shorter mid-sixties mood, and Elias's "Ton Sur Ton." If you haven't heard Elias's piano playing lately, prepare to be impressed.