record reviews

Rhiannon Giddens

Album: “Freedom Highway”

Grade: B

Singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens mines the pain and beauty of American social and musical history on “Freedom Highway,” a rich tapestry with threads of blues, folk, gospel, soul, country and jazz.

Giddens – a founding member of old-timey innovators the Carolina Chocolate Drops – infuses musical tradition with modern urgency, showing how the struggles that fueled the blues still resonate today.

The voices of slaves and survivors, resilient African-Americans and women wrenched from their children run through these 12 songs, from the blues-bluegrass slave ballad “At the Purchaser’s Option” to the rap-funk track “Better Get It Right the First Time,” a lament for lives lost at the hands of the police.

With multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell among the musicians complementing Giddens’ banjo-playing, the album ranges from the folky Americana of “We Could Fly” to the swooning New Orleans jazz of “Hey Bebe,” which features trumpet from the aptly named Alphonso Horne.

Alongside Giddens’ own compositions are powerful covers of two civil-rights anthems: a stately, piano-backed rendition of Richard Farina’s “Birmingham Sunday” and a rousing take on Pops Staples’ “Freedom Highway.”

Giddens’ second solo album is rootsy and relevant, delivered with crystal-clear emotion and understated musical skill.

—Jill Lawless, Associated Press

Jose James

Grade: “Love in a Time of Madness”

Grade: C

After a few thrilling years of experimentation with R&B, hip-hop, electronica, neo-soul, indie rock and jazz, Jose James re-emerges this month in a quiet, more personal place. You might even call it a bedroom.

“Love in a Time of Madness” is heavy on the love and light on the madness. There’s the piano-driven jazz of “To Be With You,” the funky Bruno Mars-like “Ladies Man” and two seduction tunes worthy of D’Angelo, “Always There” and “You Know I Know.”

It’s all very fun and sexy, but there’s precious little special. You can’t help feeling it’s a big step back from the singer-songwriter’s “While You Were Sleeping,” his last album of original material that was astonishing in its ambition with songs such as “EveryLittleThing” and “Angel.”

Instead, we’re offered the disorientating dubstep of “Last Night” with more beeps than R2-D2, the lazy pop of “Remember Our Love” and “Breakthrough,” and the ’70s disco-funk of “Live Your Fantasy.” Lyrics as vapid as “If you wanna go/I wanna go/Girl you so sweet when the lights are low” from “Closer” don’t help.

He only surfaces from his neo-soul seduction efforts for two duets – with Oleta Adams on the gospel-tinged (and awkward fitting) “I’m Yours,” and a pretty, unforced “Let It Fall” with Mali Music. But Jones, whose last CD explored the music of Billie Holiday, seems to have taken his own holiday.

—Mark Kennedy, Associated Press