Kanye West, 50 Cent face off with new CDs

Dee Dee Bridgewater, “Red Earth: A Malian Journey” (DDB Records/EmArcy)
In pursuit of her African roots, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater delivers this striking melange of mainstream jazz and traditional Malian music. Largely recorded in Bamako at the studio of the late Ali Farka Toure, the disc steers clear of merely flavoring jazz with African music in lieu of full immersion. Malian musicians inform Bridgewater’s approach and delivery. She updates her duet partner Oumou Sangare’s gently lilting “Djarabi” with a soulful arrangement (“Oh My Love”) while she skips through Ramata Diakite’s poignant “Mama Digna Sara Ye (Mama Don’t Ever Go Away).” Straight-up jazz tunes like Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue” get treated to new readings steeped in Malian rhythms. A festive collaboration.

Black Francis, “Bluefinger” (Cooking Vinyl)
Cause for celebration: Erstwhile Pixies frontman/rock ’n’ roll lifer Charles Thompson is back for another round, this time reclaiming his “old” stage name Black Francis and rocking out harder on record than he has in years. For “Bluefinger,” Francis drew inspiration from iconic Dutch musician/painter Herman Brood, whose mercurial, drug-fueled life and dramatic suicide color most of the album’s lyrics. The Brood cover “You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It” is one of the high points, a furious power-trio jam on the barrelhouse blues number, complete with backing vocals by Francis’ wife, Violet Clarke. “Threshold Apprehension” has angular guitars, lung-busting lead vocals and “oo-wee-oos” by Clarke that should remind listeners of the Pixies’ Kim Deal. But no less enthralling is laid-back fare like “Discotheque 36,” its easy groove informed by Thompson’s recent forays into Americana.

Red Stick Ramblers, “Made in the Shade” (Sugar Hill Records)
The Red Stick Ramblers are clearly preoccupied, in a most admirable fashion, with a full immersion in the music of southwest Louisiana. The tune “Katrina” is a typically Cajun rejoinder to the hurricane’s aftermath; a response grounded in a ferocious rhythm and the dual fiddles of Kevin Wimmer and Linzay Young, which do most of the talking. After assaying a lyrical rendition of Bob Wills’ “Don’t Cry, Baby,” they tear through an enthusiastic cover of Belton Richard’s “Laisse les Cajuns Danser,” then follow with a high-voltage take on Clifton Chenier’s classic Zydeco number “Hot Tamale Baby.” It’s enough to drive a Yankee to learn to dance the two-step.

MORE FROM ALBUM REVIEWS

Jonas Brothers, J.J. Cale have new CDs

Jonas Brothers, J.J. Cale have new CDs Morrissey, M. Ward have new CDs Franz Ferdinand, Dierks Bentley have new CDs Springsteen, Animal Collective have new CDs Review: Springsteen’s new ‘Dream’ rings hollow Jamie Foxx, Keyshia Cole have new CDs Common, Barry Manilow have new CDs   Add Album reviews headlines to your news reader: