After issuing the spiritually compelling and contemplatively swinging Complete Yusef Lateef in 1967, Dr. Yusef Lateef's sophomore effort for Atlantic shifted gears entirely. Lateef chose his old stomping grounds of Detroit for an evocative musical study of the landscape, people, and spirit and terrain. Lateef spent the late-'50s in the city recording for Savoy, and this recording captures the memory of a great city before it was torn apart by racial strife and economic inequality in 1967. There is no way to make a record that suggests Detroit without rhythm, and Lateef employs plenty of it here in his choice of musicians: conga players Ray Barretto and Norman Pride; Tootie Heath on percussion; Cecil McBee, Roy Brooks, and Bernard Purdie; electric bassist Chuck Rainey; electric guitarist Eric Gale; pianist Hugh Lawson; and a string quartet that included Kermit Moore. In other words, the same band from the Complete Yusef Lateef with some funky additions. The string section, as heard on the opener "Bishop School," "Belle Isle," "Eastern Market," and "Raymond Winchester" is far from the pastoral or classically seeking group of recordings past, but another rhythmic and melodic construct that delves deep into the beat and the almighty riff that this recording is so full of. For all of the soul-jazz pouring forth from the Blue Note and Prestige labels at the time, this album stood apart for its Eastern-tinged melodies on "Eastern Market"; the "Black Bottom," gutbucket, moaning bluesiness on "Russell and Elliot," with Gale and Lateef on tenor trading fours in a slowhanded, low-end groove; and the solid, Motown-glazed, rocking Latin soul of "Belle Isle." The album ends curiously with the nugget "That Lucky Old Sun," played with a back porch feeling, as if the urban-ness of the set, with all of its polyrhytmic intensity and raw soul, had to be tempered at the end of the day with a good-old fashioned sit in the yard as the city's energy swirled around beyond the borders of the fenced lot. Lateef blows a beautiful tenor here, uing a motif from Sonny Rollins' version of the tune and slides it all the way over to Benny Carter in its sheer lyricism. It's the perfect way to close one of Lateef's most misunderstood recordings.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Made in England could as easily be the follow-up to Elton John's self-titled 1970 album as his first recording since the success of his songs for the Lion King soundtrack. John has brought back some of his old associates, including percussionist Ray Cooper, guitarist Davey Johnstone, and, particularly, orchestrator Paul Buckmaster, who gave the Elton John album its distinctive sound 25 years ago and contributes four string charts here. John remains a musical jukebox: "Please" has a twangy guitar riff that sounds like the Searchers, circa 1965, while guest organist Paul Carrack brings a soulful Booker T.-like feel to "Man." As usual, though, John's main vocal influence remains John Lennon, especially on the album's first single, "Believe," the lyrics to which also echo the tone of several of Lennon's solo ballads. Lyricist Bernie Taupin is unusually personal, writing mostly in short, simple, declarative sentences and giving his songs one-word titles ("House," "Cold," "Pain," etc.). His overall theme posits a positive conclusion ("Blessed") eventually triumphing over adversity ("Lies"). John never works up much feeling for this concept, though he does come off alternately angry and solemn as the lyrics seem to require, though without ever upsetting the melodic flow. It sounds, in other words, as if Taupin had a lot to get off his chest this time around, but his mouthpiece, as usual, was more interested in the sound of the words than in their meaning. Which, given the predictability of the message, seems to have been just as well.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

This release marks the debut of the U.S.-based Trio Latitude 41, whose name refers to both the group's home in the state of Rhode Island and to the Roman origin of cellist Luigi Piovano. The group enters an extremely crowded field of recordings of Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat major, Op. 100, and deserves credit for creating an entirely distinctive reading. The Op. 100 trio is encrusted with several layers of Romantic tradition, first from the effusive praises of Schumann, who reputedly couldn't get through the slow movement without crying, and then from Pablo Casals, who recorded the work several times and helped cement its reputation as one of Schubert's most emotionally intense pieces. From Trio Latitude 41 you get a fundamentally different conception of the work. In comparison with the general run of recordings that give a lot of prominence to the cello and to the expressiveness of lines like the leap of a tenth in the Andante con moto. The Trio Latitude 41 brings the cello back to equal status with the other two insturments, and the beneficiary is Bernadene Blaha's piano. She steps into her expanded role with an unusual conception of the part, with lightly pedaled figuration in the outer movements that creates a sort of charmed scene. The Scherzo is quick and delicate, and the group's tempos throughout are relatively fast. The result is a light, almost impressionistic E flat trio that is as consistent as it is original. Paired with the relatively uncommon Adagio for violin, cello, and piano in E flat major, D. 897 ("Notturno"), this can be highly recommended even for those with large collections of Schubert trio recordings. © TiVo