Given the MC5-referencing band name one would be forgiven for expecting brash soul/rock with a revolutionary aesthetic -- no less so than the album title, suggestive as it is of the year of the French student uprising and other protest movements around the globe. Yet the softly rising rumble of feedback and static leading into murky piano that starts Alphabet 1968 with "Jonathan" suggests calmer if no less moody waters, fitting for an artist, real name Marc Richter, who has previously appeared with more straightforward drone efforts on friendly labels like Digitalis and runs his own imprint, Dekorder. More than many acts exploring the intersection of minimal electronics, collaged samples and serene feedback zone, Black to Comm here shows a slightly unexpected source point of sound -- while many acts have recreated the work of Robert Hampson in Loop, few as yet have done so with his aggressive, relentless yet nearly always drumless rhythms in Main. Yet Black to Comm's ear for that approach -- sometimes openly as with the pulse underpinning "Forst," sometimes in terms of suggestion as overlapping patterns of noise assemble and reassemble over the course of a song as on "Rauschen" and the ghostly organ rise and fall of "Traum GmBH" -- gives Alphabet 1968 a stronger kick than many of its fellow travelers. Similarly the earliest work of Third Eye Foundation also finds an echo here, where even buried beats provide an essential driving point just as it did for Matt Elliott's work. Even so, it's not quite enough to give Richter a sense of his own unique style -- the album is at base an artful, accomplished collage of numerous reference points that any number of similarly minded artists also explore. But it does promise more for the future as Richter expands his sound to more inclusive, exploratory areas of interest. ~ Ned Raggett

The third installment in the Classics Buck Clayton chronology documents the trumpeter's European adventures with recordings made between April 2 and October 21, 1953. Clayton had toured Europe in 1949, and after savoring the social atmosphere in the U.S. was happy to head back to France in February 1953 with drummer Kansas Fields, pianist Red Richards, and trombonist Big Chief Russell Moore, a Native American whose Pima heritage places his ancestral turf within the Gila and Salt River valleys in southern Arizona. In addition to playing live gigs with Mezz Mezzrow, the North Americans made phonograph records. On April 2, the Buck Clayton Quintet cut five sides for the Vogue label; "Patricia's Blues" is a particularly attractive example of Clayton at his most subtle, sensual, and soulful. A concert performance by this band led by Mezzrow with Gene Sedric in the front line took place at the Theatre de Champs-Elysee near the end of May. The recordings made at that event have been reissued under Mezzrow's name. Buck Clayton and Kansas Fields participated in four different recording sessions in Brussels, Belgium, between August and October, 1953. These would be the only records ever released under the name of Marion Joseph "Taps" Miller, a trumpeter and rowdy vocalist who became marginally famous for a minute when Count Basie named a tune after him in 1944. The heavy-handed Belgian musicians who participated in these sessions made enough noise to match Miller's extremely boisterous vocals. "Hot Dog," with its repeated demands for mustard and pickles, epitomizes Miller's approach to entertainment. Fortunately, tracks 16-23 find Clayton sitting in with a big band led by Django Reinhardt session man Alix Combelle, an intelligent, hip, and sophisticated tenor saxophonist whose complete chronological recordings occupy their own niche in the Classics Chronological series. ~ arwulf arwulf

Volume ten in the complete chronological recordings of Benny Carter, as compiled and presented on compact disc in 2006 by the Classics label, contains most of the originally issued master takes from his Verve and Victor sessions which transpired in New York and Los Angeles during the period between July 26, 1952 and January 4, 1954. What didn't make it onto this disc was a chunk of the Carter discography dating from August and October 1952, including the material released as the Alone Together album by "Benny Carter with the Oscar Peterson Trio and Buddy Rich" and a couple of tunes by Benny Carter's Orchestra with vocals by Savannah Churchill. Tracks one-three are performed by a solid little octet, while tracks four and six exhibit all the traits of polished early-'50s studio production, laying it on thickly using a large studio orchestra glazed with strings, a harp, and neatly harmonized group vocals. Even so, Carter sounds marvelous out in front with his creamy alto sax. Tracks five, seven, and eight are even better examples of Benny Carter's early-'50s sound. Tracks nine-twelve, played by Carter and a quartet led by pianist Oscar Peterson, were issued on a 10" long-playing Verve record with the word "Cosmopolite" on the cover. The remaining selections on this disc feature the Benny Carter Quartet augmented by a string and wind ensemble arranged and conducted by Joe Glover. At no point during this portion of his career did Carter sound like he was selling out or succumbing to convention. True, the addition of strings, beefed up orchestral charts, and especially the oozy vocals on "I Wanna Go Home" signal a momentary concession to perceived notions of popular taste, but in the larger scheme of things, and especially when placed into context as a relatively brief chapter in the remarkably long life and career of Benny Carter, this is pleasant enough stuff and it's precisely what Carter thought he needed to do during the early 1950s. ~ arwulf arwulf

Ray Charles' 1959 smash 'What I'd Say' secured him a place in music's top echelon. His unique combination of blues and gospel would eventually be christened Soul and went on to influence everyone from the Beach Boys to Stevie Wonder in a career that spanned more than 50 years. This selection features a 37 track introduction to one of the 20th Century's most enduring musical figures. Includes sleeve notes by Charles Waring (Mojo, Blues & Soul & Record Collector). Music Club. 2005.