I remember borrowing this CD from a library, most likely in the early nineties, when I had run across the name of the American musician and composer MARK ISHAM (b. 1951). The connection wasn't jazz or even film music in which Isham has been productive, instead I was charmed by a romantically peaceful track 'My Wife With Champagne Shoulders' on some instrumental, mainly electronic music compilation on the Innovative Communication label, I think. Isham's calm, sensitive and introspective music -- he plays mainly trumpet and keyboards -- is indeed recommendable to the listeners of Ambient and alike.

For the most part, this unusual set of film music makes no exception. I don't remember if the CD leaflet had any further information on the three movies that still are unfamiliar to me. Instead of containing short tracks typical for soundtrack albums, this CD contains three extended pieces, one for each film.

"Mrs. Soffel" (1984) is a drama starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson. The roughly 14-minute track here is very melancholic and serene for the most part as it progresses through various sections -- that actually sound like they were separate pieces. One could ask the necessity of programming it as a single track. Nevertheless, the music calls for dedicated listening free of distractions and rewards it the way the so called New Age Music does at its best. Other involved musicians include Pat Metheny's sideman Lyle Mays on piano and Peter Maunu on violin. Isham plays plenty of penny whistle on this track.

"The Times of Harvey Milk" (1984) is an Oscar-winning documentary of the gay politician. Again, the 8½ minute track has various sections, some of them bright-toned, some moodier. The synths are central making the music at times comparable to the likes of Vangelis and Roger Eno, but one clearly senses this is film music aimed to underline emotions.

"Never Cry Wolf" (1983) is a drama about a government biologist sent into the wilderness to study the caribou population whose decline is believed to be caused by wolves. The music has a wide, epic approach depicting the grandiosity and chillingness of the wildlife nature. The arrangement is bigger, featuring e.g. bassoon, bamboo flutes, harp, percussion and human voices. Very likely a soundtrack album with separate tracks instead of the nearly 25-minute piece would function better for the listener.

The melancholically oriented Soffel piece is my favourite here. I don't know if this album is among the most recommendable in Isham's large catalogue. At least if you wish for a trumpet oriented album, this may not be what you're looking for. Often it's very atmospheric, but it's also a bit patchy (and occasionally difficult to get hold on) within its heavily extended tracks.

American vocalist, pianist and composer PATRICIA BARBER (b. November 8, 1955) is an individual artist difficult to categorize. According to All Music Guide, "her playing and singing are almost iconoclastically inventive, inhabiting a terrain inside and outside a musical slipstream that exists between post-bop, pop, classical music, cabaret song, and avant-garde, while being performed with a smoky, dreamy, yet imposing, mercurial presence". She literally grew up to be a musician, and she already was an educated and experienced performer when she started her discography in 1989.

For her very first JMA review I chose this album based on Ovid's Metamorphoses from the year 8 BCE. The Roman poet's epic work on metamorphic-themed mythologies is said to be one of the most influential works in Western culture. [Two quick examples: Genesis's 'The Fountain of Salmacis', and the Narcissus reference in 'Supper's Ready'. I bet anyone can think of several cultural things from the mere track titles here.] In 2003 Patricia Barber won a Guggenheim fellowship -- unusual for a songwriter in the popular field! -- to devote time for the Ovid project. The result is a strong album. The listener doesn't need to be strictly jazz oriented to be impressed by this 11-song cycle, and on the other hand friends of traditional Vocal Jazz may find it somewhat cold and detached. The fellow musicians in Barber's quartet are guitarist Neal Alger, bassist Michael Arnopol and drummer Eric Montzka, and there are guest appearances on e.g. saxophone and vocals.

A word about Patricia Barber as a vocalist. Her voice is rather smoky and yet very clear, and her expression subtle, approaching talking in a low, meaningful voice. Two artist that come to my mind are LAURIE ANDERSON and k. d. lang, even though I cannot say Barber actually sounds like either of them.

'The Moon' progresses from a rather atonal intro, through the vocal oriented serene section, into a vivid instrumental half with a hectic drumming and a tenor sax solo. 'Morpheus' stays more in the nocturnal atmosphere, and the mellow, slow-tempo 'Pygmalion' probably pleases even the old-fashioned jazz listeners. 'Hunger' is less jazz than angular art-rock. 'Icarus' makes me think of JONI MITCHELL's Hejira period. A great song with an exciting guitar sound.

The art-rock guitar is central on the gloomy 'Orpheus/Sonnet'. Gorgeous 'Persephone' focuses on voice and piano until the rhythm section and guitar join them. Several guest vocalists add to the song's atmospheric charm, as they do on 'Phaeton' which -- against my taste -- even turns into rap. The final song 'The Hours' contains both the minimalistic calmness à la SIDSEL ENDRESEN and the bluesy rock edge highlighting guitar, and a choir on top of it all.

This is an ambitious, fascinating, many-sided and extremely deep album that doesn't reveal all its magic on first listenings. Recommended if you like artists mentioned above, and the likes of ROBERT WYATT, DAVID SYLVIAN, TIM BOWNESS...

Here's another not-yet-even-rated artist, American vocalist HALIE LOREN (b. 1984) who started writing songs at the age of 13, being impressed by e.g. Joni Mitchell, Sarah Mclachlan and Annie Lennox. After five years of performing she released her debut album Full Circle (2006). Overall she is perhaps a bit closer being a pop/rock artist than a jazz artist per se.

Some sources say this live album is actually from 2010. As a newcomer to her output I have a feeling that Stages is a rewarding place to start. First, the backing band (piano, trumpet and rhythm section) is excellent -- and notably jazzier than how Halie Loren's studio albums averagely sound like, I believe. The live atmosphere is warm and happy, and also the sonic quality is good, so one can imagine being there in a supposedly intimate club. Second, this set features nicely chosen covers easy for newcomers to relate -- although so do her studio albums as well.

'Danger in Loving You' is co-written by Loren herself. It's an elegant, bluesy ballad. Thee other own songs are scattered across the 13-song set. The scale of cover tunes is pretty broad. The Kinks classic 'Sunny Afternoon' is followed by U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', the latter succesfully turned into a piano-centred, slow jazz ballad.

Heartaching 'Cry Me a River' is best remembered as Julie London's trademark song, while 'Girl from Ipanema' (the song that introduced Astrud Gilberto) brings a lovely Brazilian ingredient to this show. Loren even sings in Portuguese, too. Usually I'm not much delighted by oldies such as 'Is You Or Is You Ain't My Baby' but I have to say Loren and the musicians give it an enjoyable, laid-back interpretation. Among my favourites is the serenely moody and passionate 'Love Me Like A River Does'(Melody Gardot).

Tuck & Patti's 'High Heel Blues' Loren sings a cappella, which must have been a nice number for the live audience. Even Gershwin's endlessly interpreted 'Summertime' is a delight due to the Eva Cassidy reminding stretching of notes and the luxurious piano work of Matt Treder. The closing track 'Rainbow Race' is a Pete Seeger song.

Jazz is one of those genres that suit extremely well for live settings, and I'm sure I would have greatly enjoyed seeing this gig. Also as the audio-only listening it functions very well.

Nu jazz is a subgenre I haven't much explored yet, even though it really seems to please me. In short it's jazz with electronic music ingredients, a step further from its cousin 'acid jazz'. Amusingly named Njet Njet 9 is a Finnish instrumental group founded in 2015 and led by keyboardist-composer Ville Kyttälä. Toivo (=Hope) is their fourth album released a few months ago. I haven't listened to the previous albums, because in fact I just found the band by shuffling through the JMA database. I won't let that bother me, I'm only glad to introdude them here. Great stuff!

Toivo has seven tracks mostly around 5-6 minute length, which feels exactly suitable for the compositions; there's enough space to weave fascinating and hypnotically flowing soundscapes with a feel of progression, and at the same time things are kept compact enough not to lose focus or freshness. 'Pöllö' (=Owl) is an excellent opener. The atmosphere is at first very soft and nocturnal, but the playing gets more intense in an awesome way. Kyttälä's otherworldly synths offer the coolest details, harmonically accompanied by richly nuanced woodwinds. Markus Pajakkala, also remembered as the frontman of UTOPIANISTI, has beautiful flute parts here.

'Maa' (=Earth/Country) is also pretty dynamic and contains important contributions from bass clarinet and bass trombone. The band's overall sound is deliciously juicy. The summery jazz groove and the [space/progressive] rock aspect are in a happy harmony, and that's naturally also due to the gifted rhythm section and guitarist Veikki Virkajärvi.

The fourth piece 'Pieni pilvi' (=Little cloud) is a dreamy slow-tempo tune that brings me -- guided by the title, of course -- associations to the Gil Evans /Sting interpretation of the Jimi Hendrix ballad, whether it's deliberate or not. It doesn't citate the song anyhow but the mood is a bit similar. The longest track 'The Messenger' (8:17) takes a couple of minutes to start properly. The length is used for both deepening the hypnotic beat and bringing variety in the arrangement. The album closes with the romantically peaceful title track.

A very enjoyable, detailed and dynamic nu jazz album indeed. A pity that this time the band didn't invite any guest vocalists as they occasionally have done, but the whole surely works well as an all-instrumental album, too. Warmly recommended.

Sadly there aren't even ratings here for British artist Katie Melua (b. 1984 in Kutaisi, Georgia). The mellow, relaxed nature of her jazz & blues flavoured adult pop makes it easy to see similarities with American Norah Jones, and also her quick rise to a wide popularity resembles the other well-received young female newcomer of the early 2000's. Melua may not be quite as accomplished as a musician and composer as Jones, but she's not a mere singer either.

Katie Melua's debut album Call Off the Search (2003) was an enormous success, selling 1,8 million copies in the first five months. It was produced, and half written, by the long-term songwriter, arranger, director and producer Mike Batt who continued as Melua's right hand on subsequent releases. It was easy for this safely done second album to faithfully follow the succesful path. It reached the top of the charts and sold platinum on several countries.

The nice, small-scale opener 'Shy Boy' leans on the blues. The album's lead single, fresh & sweet ballad 'Nine Million Bicycles' (also by Batt) remains deservedly as one of Melua's best-loved songs. Melua's own composition 'Piece by Piece' is enjoyable as a moodier ballad inspired by the break-up from her boy friend. 'Halfway Up the Hindu Kush' (Melua/Batt) has a joyful jazzy feel but isn't among my faves.

Katie Melua is competent enough as an interpreter to feel at home on standards like 'Blues in the Night' in which Paul Jones plays harmonica. 'On the Road Again' happily isn't the worn-out country song but a Canned Heat song from 1967. 'Just like Heaven' is originally a 1987 piece of The Cure and suits Katie Melua surprisingly well.

Within a couple of years Melua had progressed as a songwriter. 'Spider's Web' is a fine, dark-toned ballad. 'I Cried for You' is a tender and slow-tempo love song with a pretty arrangement balanced between acoustic simplicity and orchestral colours. The shamelessly romantic arrangement on the innocently naiive 'I Do Believe in Love' is perhaps a bit too zaccharine. One can of course blame the whole album for staying too safely on the soft side, but admittedly that's where Katie Melua shines the brightest. For the 12-piece song set containing so many beauties, Piece by Piece is undoubtedly among the essential Melua albums and a fine place to start.