SEX & CIGARETTES
Toni Braxton (Def Jam)
Twenty-five years into a career of emotive, smoky vocals caught in the whirling winds of quiet-storm soul, Toni Braxton seems to have finally outrun marital problems, weird boyfriends-turned fiancés (Birdman?!), health scares, and reality TV series to produce a stunning work that rivals her ‘90s best. As a matter of funky fact, Sex & Cigarettes sounds a lot like a sister album to 1996’s Secrets, which contained the smash grand ballad, “Un-Break My Heart.”
That’s very often a great thing when Sex & Cigarettes’ sirens come to call. The dynamics-rich chord changes and luxurious arrangements of the slow-jamming “Long as I Live,” and the album’s title tune sound of another era — one where subtlety and complexity still existed on the charts.
On those cuts, as with her piano ballad “FOH,” Braxton is ruminative and angry, and you can hear it through every breath. What makes “FOH” different is that she’s using the currency of Internet slang to get her pointed ire across. Where Braxton’s ‘90s-isms don’t work — for example — is on smaller, more poppy songs such as “My Heart,” an odd collaboration with songwriter Colbie Caillat that never truly or deeply delves into the magic of that muscle. Still, any chance to hear Braxton run through a cocky lyric such as “I wish that I could like you, my feelings are sincere / But every time I try to, it kinda disappears” is pretty cool.
— A.D. AMOROSI, Philadelphia Inquirer
MY DEAR MELANCHOLY
The Weeknd (XO Republic)
Back before he was soundtracking Fifty Shades Of Grey, headlining Made in America and dating Selena Gomez, the Weeknd was mysterious, spooky, and weird. Specifically, with the three mixtapes the kinky Canadian love man released in 2011 that were later collected as Trilogy, he made darkly obsessive and always askew music that was massively influential on contemporary R&B.
Over the years, however, the Weeknd’s music lost its subtlety as he grew unabashed in his courtship of the mainstream.
My Dear Melancholy is of note because it’s a breakup album rife with references to his split from Gomez, and because wearing sadness on his sleeve has nudged him back toward making music that is ultimately more pleasing precisely because it isn’t so eager to please. Another good thing about it: Like Diplo’s recent refreshingly brief California, MDM is actually an EP, and at only six songs and 22 minutes, its self-pity doesn’t have time to grow cloying. Expect to see more big-name acts putting out between-album, less-than-full-length works, as attention spans shrink and streaming services encourage artists to be more creative in how they release music.
— DAN DeLUCA, Philadelphia Inquirer
MELODY REIMAGINED: BOOK 1
Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band (Basin Street Records)
This young, uber-talented quartet’s latest album of original jazz and other forms of music, including American songbook and a little nostalgic ‘80s pop, starts out with complex, uptempo syncopations that Marsalis does so well on vibes, then settles down into more of a sedate, mellow mood.
Jason’s older brother, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, and their father, pianist Ellis Marsalis, contribute parts on the ninth and final song of this disc, called “80,” a moving, emotional dirge in honor of the two boys’ late mother and Ellis’ longtime wife, Dolores Marsalis, who died last year at age 80.
On another song, “Bourbon Street Ain’t Mardi Gras,” the quartet tries to set the record straight about the hallowed tradition. The pop influence comes in the form of a song called “Passionate Dancer,” which draws from Michael Sambello’s No. 1 hit song, “Maniac,” from the movie Flashdance.
Jason, the youngest member of the famous Marsalis jazz family, played in Toledo in the fall of 2016. He grew up as a drummer, then evolved into one of the world’s best vibraphone players. He has been selected as a featured artist to tour with the legendary Lionel Hampton Big Band. He’s come into his own as a musician, composer, producer, and arranger.
His band, formerly known as the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, is called the 21st Century Trad Band, which also was the title of its last album in late 2014. The band still features Will Goble on bass, Austin Johnson on piano, and Dave Potteron drums. This disc is the first in a planned series, and — while it’s filled with richness and up to the Marsalis standard — it’s overall got a little more of a slower pace than Marsalis’ last two albums.
— TOM HENRY, The Blade
First Published April 19, 2018, 4:00 a.m.
