JACKI LYDEN, host:
Now, let's turn to fascinating sounds of the past year.
Throughout the year, NPR's Felix Contreras listened to a variety of new music releases and we've asked Felix if he'd share a few of his top picks.
(Soundbite of music "Little Girl")
FELIX CONTRERAS: The first track I picked, it's actually a re-issue so it's not from the last year but it was released last year and it's a good example of this particular artist. It's from Nat King Cole from about 1955 and it's called "Little Girl" and it's a really nice up-tempo swing. It's just got all the subtle sophistication and mostly, just swings so hard. The groove is just so cool.
(Soundbite of music "Little Girl")
CONTRERAS: Nat King Cole in this album shows it's all trio works, all work with his great trio from the '50s and there's not a single word spoken or sung. He went on to become, of course, great vocalist, an entertainer, but this was an album called "Piano Serenade" and it's a rerelease of his piano stuff which shows just how good of a jazz pianist he was. If he never opened his mouth, he would have come down in history as a great jazz pianist.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: The next track is yet another jazz pianist, Herbie Hancock. But Herbie Hancock sort of transcends the piano into just jazz and that part of the musical (unintelligible) where jazz and pop meet. His recent record was called the "The River: The Joni Letters" and it's all Joni Mitchell music. When I put the CD on, I didn't look at any of the notes, I just put it on and was listening to it and I heard this voice that's - that voice sounds familiar but I can't track down which jazz singer it is.
(Soundbite of song "Edith And The Kingpin")
Ms. TINA TURNER (Singer): (Singing) The big man arrives, disco dancers greet him, plainclothes cops greet him, small town, big man, fresh lipstick glistening…
CONTRERAS: And when it's halfway through, I realized it was Tina Turner singing "Edith And The Kingpin."
(Soundbite of song "Edith And The Kingpin")
Ms. TURNER: (Singing) Edith in his bed, a plane in the rain is humming, the wires in the walls are humming, some song…
CONTRERAS: So she's doing not exactly a jazz take but a Tina Turner take on a Joni Mitchell song arranged by Herbie Hancock, and it can be jazz, it can be pop, it can be all of the above and I liked it because it really shows the range, it shows the very strong vocal of Tina Turner. And it gets beyond her status as a pop icon.
(Soundbite of song "Edith And The Kingpin")
Ms. TURNER: (Singing) Edith and the Kingpin, each with charm to sway, are staring eye to eye, they dare not look away…
CONTRERAS: The next cut is in an Afro-Cuban (unintelligible).
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: It's by the Cuban drummer Jose Luis Quintana but the Cuban drummers around the world know him as Changuito.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: He's revolutionized the way he play drums, the way he play conga y timbale, all the percussionists from (unintelligible) Cuban music working from Cuba. And he's recorded a new record with a lot of musicians there from Venezuela on, there's Venezuelan label. The cut "Afro-Cuban Dream," it's based on the rich musical history of the Santeria religion and all the bata drums and all the chanting and all the singing.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: African musicians have, within the last 15, 20 years, have rediscovered Santeria music as a places for some of the best African and jazz that's out there. And Changuito, you can hear him throughout the cut, playing timbales, the high-pitched drums that you hear and you play with sticks. And he's almost using it like a soloist for him to offset the soprano saxophone.
The timbales is a rhythmic instrument to keep rhythm with the (unintelligible) timbales, you (unintelligible) sort of the band and you hit the bells in the sides but Changuito uses their instrument to brisk off the saxophone for his doing and it just reflects the skill and innovation that he has produced an African movement.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: This cut some people may recognize as a James Brown-King Cole (unintelligible). It's one his famous groove jazz and is by alto saxophonists Maceo Parker, who was part of James Brown's band for a long, long, long, long time.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: He has a great new album out with the big band. It's - one CD is a tribute to Ray Charles and the other one is simply called "Back to Funk," which is what Maceo does best.
(Soundbite of "Back to Funk")
CONTRERAS: And when this cut, he's done great, great classic alto tone, he's got the big band working in a way that you don't expect to hear a James Brown song but it's a perfect combination of song because of jazz arrangement, it's just how loose and how tight and how funky a big band can be. And the star of the show, obviously, is Maceo Parker. His sound goes back to the early, early days of listening to (unintelligible) and it's unmistakable and it's nice to hear it with such updated and still vital and still performing stuff that you'll want to listen to.
(Soundbite of music)
CONTRERAS: Those are just a few of my picks in 2007. I didn't want to take over the whole show with all of the great stuff that I heard this year. There's great jazz, there's great Latin alternative, there's great Afro-Cuban, there's a ton of stuff out there. If you just listen, if you look around and that's what I'll be doing. And I'll see you again next year doing the same thing.
This is Felix Contreras from the NPR Archives.
(Soundbite of music)
LYDEN: And to learn more about the hottest music of the year, including what NPR's listeners chose as the year's best music, you can check out our new music Web site. Just go to npr.org and click on the Music. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.