Thursday September 29, 2011: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Enjoy a delightful evening of jazz at our upcoming concert featuring the Ben Jansson Quartet. The band pays tribute to jazz great Thelonious Monk by focusing their energy on his compositions. This concert features Ben Jansson on tenor saxophone; Duncan McMillan on piano; Paul Keller on bass; and Sean Dobbins on drums.

The Ben Jansson Quartet plays frequently at Cliff Bells Jazz Club and Bakers keyboard Lounge in Detroit, Murphy's Jazz Club in Toledo and Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor. Each quartet member is also a leader of their own ensemble and play frequently throughout Michigan, nationally and internationally.

Come out and listen to the compositions of Thelonious Monk, which have been praised as the most original, exciting, sophisticated, and inspired music ever created in America.

AADL offers so many ways to locate new finds to suit your interests. You can search by topic through the community made booklists, tags, and reviews. You can ask for reading recommendations from one of our many friendly librarians or visit our Staff Picks shelves located at the Downtown Branch. Best of all, a recent update to the catalog allows you to search staff recommendations from any computer! Simply run a catalog search for Call Number “Staffpick.” If you’re looking for a certain material type indicate it in the materials drop down menu. Now you are free to peruse selections made by the AADL staff. A diverse group of workers means a diverse set of tastes, and there’s sure to be something for everyone in the AADL Staff Picks.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

BLUES / JAZZ
Bluesboy Jag: Authentic 1920's Solo Blues Guitar
Pared down to the down-home marrow of their bluesy bones, the twenty-six acoustic tracks of "Four Strings" are like an ultra-pleasant visit to guitarist Jag's front porch, where he plays for you on his hand made cigar box guitars. Intimate, unvarnished, authentic. Iced tea or lemonade with that?

CLASSICAL / OPERA
Philharmonia Baroque: Historically-Informed Classical Orchestra
Celebrated Dead Man Walking composer, Jake Heggie, has a fascinating take on the Persephone myth. In this recording, Philharmonia Baroque brings the tale to life with the help of Broadway superstar Patti Lupone and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. "To Hell and Back" traverses an impressive amount of musical territory in just five scenes—a turbulent overture, a dulcet duet, a potent cabaret number, and a penetrating aria among other things. Heggie uses these stylistic choices to develop his disturbing, deeply affecting portrait of spousal abuse and the familial denial that perpetuates it.

HIP HOP
Jay Love Baby: Booty Shakin' Baby Makin' Music
Atlanta-based B-Boy/breakdancer/deejay/producer/artist, Jay Love, delivers his new release, Ego Centric, a great party starter album packed with dance floor classics. It's highly energized with the feel of the Black Eyed Peas, beats like Timbaland and a vocal flow similar to T Pain and Flo-Rida. Booty shakin' is guaranteed.

FOLK / NEW AGE
Lydia McCauley: Intriguing Piano Compositions with Dynamic Accompaniment
ForeignLander is a collection of innovatively arranged pieces from 17-20th Century British Isles and Appalachia, beautifully performed by Linda McCauley and her Ensemble, along with special guests. A well known artist in the Celtic and New Age worlds, she slightly detours on this album by taking traditional Appalachian melodies and working her magic on them. While careful to preserve Appalachian traditions, Lydia creates a fresh sound that pleases both traditional and progressive music audiences.

ALT ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL
Kavanah: Eclectic Intense, Industrial Ethnic, Classical Phrasing, Soundtrack, Cirque
This soundtrack to the hit traveling circus show, Cirque Montage, is an eclectic mix of World Music, Electronica, Jazz and Cirque. Composer Martin St-Pierre and vocalist Kate St-Pierre are both Cirque du Soleil and Dragone (Le Reve) alumni.

Wednesday September 14, 2011: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Listen and be swept away by the authentic rhythms of Cuba with the rich jazz harmonies of this award-winning band. Winner of two Detroit Music Awards, Tumbao Bravo has recorded three critically acclaimed recordings, and the title cut on their latest CD, Un Systema Para Todo, was used as a sound track to an episode of the USA Network TV show, Burn Notice.

Tumbao Bravo is known for their authentic Cuban polyrhythms including mambos, cha chas, rhumba, boleros, and danzon all based on the Cuban montuno. Many of the songs are originals written by band members. This AADL concert features co-leaders Paul VornHagen on sax/flute/piccolo and Alberto Nacif on congas accompanied by timbales, piano and bass.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

FOLK-ROCK
Robin Grey: Gently Experimental Nu-Folk
Robin Grey writes beautifully ironic, poetic-based tracks for the story-lover in all of us. His voice and attitude harkens back to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, with masterful lyrics and deadpan delivery. Strangers With Shoes is colored with acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, piano, double bass, organ, percussion toys and any other instruments he can fit into his little London studio. As one reviewer stated, "Grey is one of those wonderful talents that could recite the phone directory on record and you'd still be enthralled".

WORLD
Daniel Berkman: 21st Century Ambient African Kora
A wonderfully laid-back album, Calabashmoon blends Daniel Berkman's gorgeous kora playing with subtle beats and other little touches of vocals from regional performers for an overall feeling of sunny, world-influenced goodness. Berkman is known for his innovations to this 21-stringed instrument. In this collection of crafty and poignant pieces, he expertly weaves together a tapestry of sounds that gives the listener a sort of relaxed acoustic portrait of modern West Africa, from whence it comes. Be sure to check out the excellent title track, "Mystery Box House."

CLASSICAL
Sergio Azzolini & Vito Paternoster play Mozart and Haydn
Can a cello and bassoon form a duo? Three different composers thought so. W.A. Mozart composed a beautiful sonata for cello and bassoon, F. Danzi transcribed some of the most beautiful Mozart melodies, and F.J. Haydn composed two duets for cello/bassoon. Italian bassoonist Sergio Azzolini and Italian cellist Vito Paternoster demonstrate how these pieces continue to enchant, delight and amuse listeners today.

METAL / INDUSTRIAL / HARD ROCK
The Wretch: Painful Ambient Industrial Noise
Fantastically dark and elegantly industrial, Cyst by The Wretch is a surprisingly nuanced album that favors dynamic variation over mindlessly repeated loops. It's a hybrid of noisecore and drum 'n' bass, but with really smart rhythms and a noise-ambient wash that lends a huge amount of atmosphere and depth. The juxtaposition of totally glitched out, ever-changing beats with the eerie ghost calls and dystopian waveforms in the background works really well. The opening track "Turned" and "Do You" are great. "This is Terror" is beautifully brutal, and don't miss "Feel The Burning."

AMBIENT / NEW AGE
Tilopa: Healing Magic of the Japanese Zenflute
Pared down and austere, Tilopa's album, By The Way, sounds like serenity itself. The Japanese zen flute (kyotaku) is occasionally accompanied by monastic sounding vocals, and the overall effect is very subdued and meditative. "Red Fullmoon" is a particular standout on this album, a track that makes evident why this type of music was once favored by sects of wandering Buddhist monks. Most of the pieces on this album have that same type of traditional Zen sound, but there are a few more modern pieces here too, such as "Amigos De Viaje," which features acoustic guitar as accompaniment to the kyotaku.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

JAZZ / DOWNTEMPO
Drop Trio: Groove-Oriented Organ-Based Funk Jazz
Deliciously mathy structures overlaid with highly original, funk-tinged instrumental grooves are what you'll get on Big Dipper by the award-winning Drop Trio. Influenced by avant-garde jazz, this group thrives on improvisation. The overall vibe here is loose, but the chops are tight and the structure is never neglected. This is a great album to put on in the afternoon while you're working, or in the evening when you're ready for happy hour.

CLASSICAL
Three Holies Church Choristers: Ancient Eastern Church Music
Gorgeously solemn and reverent, Hymns of the Ancient Church features a number of very rare chants representing the three main canonical singing traditions of the Eastern Church: Byzantine, Georgia and Old Rus. These ancient, holy songs served as the foundation not only of later religious singing, but also classical choral music. All the chants are performed by choristers of the Three Holies Church (Kharkov, Ukraine) conducted by Igor Sakhno—one of the great experts in this form.

POP
Spoons: Retro 80's Music
Formed in 1980, this band made Spoons a different kind of household word. Their unique brand of upbeat, danceable music quickly became anthems to legions of fans. Now, more than two decades later, who could have predicted the phenomenon known as "retro 80s", when old and new fans alike would rediscover these classics? Unexpected Guest At A Cancelled Party is packed with previously unreleased recordings and concert favorites, from the vintage 1982 - 1985 years. Listen to Spoons again, or for the first time, and enjoy.

WORLD / FOLK
Sherefe: Balkan and Middle Eastern Music
Sala Sala is a full 78 minutes of eastern Mediterranean soul food with gorgeous songs from Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Bulgaria. Sung in native tongues and using traditional instruments, these songs are elegant and danceable. Well honed from hundreds of performances at concerts, festivals, weddings and private parties, Sherefe's rich sound is a melding of cello, bouzouki, oud, gadulka, saz, double bass, Middle Eastern percussion and evocative vocals.

ROCK / DARKWAVE
Opened Paradise: Intense Goth Rock From An Ancient City
The incredible, hollowed out grandeur of the songs on Occult bring you straight into the darkly glorious and melodic world of Opened Paradise. Frontman Periklis E's voice is so evocative and intense that it gives Peter Murphy a run for his money. Babis on guitars and Constantinos on drums lend a dire, driving sound to the album that is the perfect counterpoint to the cavernous vocals. So strong and excellent is the overall mood of this album that we strongly recommend turning off the shuffle play for an hour in order to listen to it all the way through, the first track to the last. Dark, dramatic feelings guaranteed.

Wednesday August 31, 2011: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Attention, music lovers! Don't miss this concert with jazz/contemporary pianist and composer, Deborrah Wyndham. She will showcase her range and talent by playing Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, her own arrangements of pop and jazz, plus original compositions that are fusions of contemporary classical and modern jazz styles.

With 2,700 past performances, Deborrah Wyndham has appeared on FOX, NBC and ABC, has recorded four solo piano CDs and most recently released an album of all original piano music, "Piano Compositions."

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

HIP HOP/ RAP
Marginal Prophets: Smart-Alecky, 'Semi-Conscious' Hip-Hop
San Francisco Bay Area favorites and indie best-sellers The Marginal Prophets have performed with Black Eyed Peas, De La Soul, Spearhead, Fishbone, and many other rap and rock royals alike. Their hugely entertaining hybrid of hip-hop and garage rock is smart-alecky and sultry, perceptive and playful -- kind of like what the Beastie Boys might sound like if they were being backed by Beck. Bohemian Rap won a California Music Award for Outstanding Rap Album and is a masterpiece of witty, riffy perfection.

CLASSICAL
Viviana Guzman: Virtuosic Flutist
Elegant baroque flute fantasies made alluring and modern. Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 - 1767) was a prolific, popular German Baroque music composer. The Telemann Flute Fantasies are miniature sonata gems. Published in 1732, each fantasy has a playing time of approximately 3 to 5 minutes. On this recording Viviana Guzman showcases her 9K Muramatsu Flute, giving the Fantasies an added golden touch.

ALT ROCK
Anton Cosmo: Rock Superstar to Be
Anton Cosmo, a native of Upstate New York, was raised in a home filled with music. He is the son of Fran Cosmo, former singer of the band Boston. On his album, The In Between, Anton gives a nod to influences such as U2 and Incubus, as well as echoes of visionaries like Peter Gabriel. Anton's lyrics and soaring pop arena rock sound have a dark edge, with some songs influenced by the public's current fascination with vampire sagas such as Twilight, and the popular HBO series True Blood.

WORLD / INDIAN
Suchita Parte: Ancient Indian Songs in a Modern Blend
Wow. Designer Bliss really brings out the natural softness and femininity of Suchita Parte's incredibly beautiful voice. The opening track, "Tvamekam Sharannyam" is deeply pretty, as are "Pandurangashtakam" and "Narayanam". The entire album is a very successful, subtle pop update of a classical Indian style. Completely sublime, highly recommended.

AMBIENT / NEW AGE
Paul Avgerinos: Beautiful Ambient Space Music
A glowing, watercolor wash of angelic choirs and ancient Greek chants, Gnosis is based on the Gnostic tradition and wisdom of ancient Greek mystery societies, and features perfectly integrated sounds of tabla, oud, sarangi, and cello. Allmusic.com named Paul Avgerinos "one of the giants of ambient music," and the stellar sound design on this release makes apparent how he earned the title. Standout tracks include the mellow "Journey To Now" and the title track, "Gnosis."

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

HARD ROCK / METAL
Atomic Opera: Progressive World-Influenced Hard Rock
With dark, heavy grooves and a big, sweeping sound, Atomic Opera is firmly rooted in a rock and metal tradition that began with Black Sabbath and was continued by Metallica, but adds lilting, irresistably Beatles-ish melodies and unexpected, towering harmonies evocative of prog rock bands like Rush and Yes. Add the presence of Frank Hart's sophisticated arrangements for cello, acoustic guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, organ, recorders and hand percussion, and you get a stellar old world art rock sound with a progressive folk metal edge. This brooding yet accessible music was born of same fertile Houston scene that produced Galactic Cowboys, The Awful Truth, and King's X.

POP / ELECTRO ROCK
The Kokoon: 1980's Style New Wave
For a decidedly new wave album, there's a lot of passion and emotion on Erase. Danyx's brooding, Nico-esque voice carries highlight tracks like "Face," "Delicate," the Cure-tinged "Tied," and "Take Me to the World," a bittersweet but ultimately upbeat song. Or try the band's second release Berlin. It's just so damn sexy. Angular, androgynous, pouty? It's a Bowie/Siouxsie-influenced urchin of an album that'll have you strutting around the house like a Milanese model on a Fashion Week catwalk. Highlights include the smouldering opener "Impressions," possibly the world's only New Wave drinking song "We Didn't Go," and the deliciously disaffected "Tap At Floes." No 3 is The Kokoon's most recent album - check that one out too.

WORLD
Middle-Earth Ensemble: Sultry and Percussive Mid-East Fusion
Middle-Earth Ensemble creates a unique gypsy infused sound inspired by music of the Mediterranean and Middle-East. Their music has fueled the hips of many a belly dancer. Their latest album, Passage, emphasizes their original material while continuing to draw on traditional and fusion styles as varied as Arabic, Turkish, Moorish, Spanish, Gypsy, Celtic, and Classical. The title track includes Indian tablas and exemplifies the fusion that Middle-Earth has created. Belly dance aficionados will surely recognize the new renditions of " Rompi Rompi" and "Tamr Henna". This release transcends the belly dance genre and includes a variety of styles and sounds that would be sure to please anyone interested in or curious about Middle-Eastern music.

ALT ROCK
Seconds Before: Minneapolis Modern Rock
Seconds Before fuses high octane rock, memorable pop sensibilities, and progressive arrangements into a sound that's as hard to pigeonhole as it is to resist. These five music junkies have a wealth of experience as songwriters and performers, and their enthusiasm and professionalism come across both in their recordings as well as their explosive live shows. Change Is The Only Constant features songs that you just might not be able to get out of your head (in the good way, not the annoying way). Give the newest Seconds Before album a spin, but don't get too comfortable, because change is... well, you know.

JAZZ / NEW AGE
Ehren Starks: Piano and Cello
Lines Build Walls, the second album from pianist Ehren Starks, is both strikingly modern and completely evocative. Cleanly elegant piano compositions show great attention to both structure and melody, and Starks demonstrates deep fluency and depth of feeling for his instrument throughout. There's an internal logic to this music that calls to mind contemporary architectural forms, yet it's incredibly lyrical too—the streamlined poetics of a young master. Highly recommended.

YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!

JAZZ / R&B
Askold Buk: Guitar-Driven, Groove-Oriented Feel-Good Jazz/R&B Tunes
"I think a lot of today's instrumental music takes itself so seriously that it intimidates people - it's quite different from the great instrumentals I remember that were catchy, feel-good tunes with no pretense," observes guitarist Askold Buk. "My goal is to recapture that vibe by writing music that is as much fun to listen to as it is to play." Buk certainly creates a fun, unpretentious mood on his critically-acclaimed debut album, which is chock full of melodic, guitar-driven, groove-oriented jazz/r&b tunes.

ALT ROCK
Where's Moo: Moody, Atmospheric, Paranoid and Definitely Not Typical Rock and Roll
Los Angeles alternative rock outfit Where's Moo have reached new heights with their latest full length album, Dear Friend Dopamine. Fans have likened Where's Moo sound to R.E.M. and The Pixies having sex on a spaceship crashing into the sun. This album is a prime example of the sentiment, so perusing the disc on your iPod in a coffee shop is not recommended, as it is guaranteed to make you spill your latte. Where's Moo take the ball, run with it, and kick it all over the place. Dear Friend Dopamine is no mere collection of Xerox rock and roll, but the birth of something exciting and new.

OPERA
Philharmonia Baroque: Historically-Informed Classical Orchestra
Not only is this the only in-print recording of Handel's magnificent and rarely performed Atalanta but, as the Wall Street Journal observed in April 2006, this two CD release by San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque also represents an important shift in the Classical world towards digital distribution. As a work of art, Atalanta is the most festive and idyllic of all Handel's operas—one brought to life by this fresh, charming performance under the direction of Nicholas McGegan.

AMBIENT / ELECTRONIC / NEW AGE
Sieber, Kammen and Fulton: Dreamy Music from the Acclaimed Video Game "Braid"
This haunting soundtrack is an eclectic, abstract and deeply emotive selection of modern Celtic music and medieval instrumentation. Not a gamer? No worries. Knowledge of the game is not required to appreciate the offerings from electric cellist Jami Sieber, Celtic musician Shira Kammen, and harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton. For those not in the know, Braid is a unique, painterly video game filled with puzzles, a princess in distress, and opportunities to manipulate time.

WORLD
Solace: Classical Middle-Eastern with Excursions into Electronica
Lose yourself in the intoxicating sounds of Opium Head. This aural narcotic is an experiment in structure and sound, designed without regard for genre. The songs contained herein are not compositions, but rather arrangements of various Indian Bhangra and Bollywood samples demodulated from their organic forms, modified, then arranged in a rhythmic/melodic mix. The parameter prescribed for this project was to create an organic mix laced with minimal electronica, as compared to an over-the-counter electronic mix dosed with minimal organic sounds. Music is our drug, take a listen and join us in our addiction.