Theresia Bothe/Peter Croton
I’ll Sing A Song For You
Zah Zah Records

Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines
By George W. Harris

The subtitle of this disc reads, “a unique blend of folk, pop and jazz.” Well, well, well. What this really sounds like is a pair of burned out hippies who thought they could return to the days when Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, and Pentangle ruled the Fillmore East and West. The problem is that Both and Croton lack the voice of Sandy Denny, the arranging qualities of Robin Williamson, and the blues of John Renbourn. What you have left is a group that sounds like they got left off the stage when they were looking for extras in the “I’d Like To Give The World A Coke” ad back in the late 60s. Are these people living in Grants Pass or Big Sur, by any chance? Whew!

Likewise Wayne Horvitz’s piano quartet with cellist Peggy Lee, cornetist Ron Miles and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck is trying to create some sort of mixture of Schubert and Shearing, with a mixture of sounds that veers between pastoral meanderings and navel gazing. Failing where Pentangle and Fairport Convention succeeded, this disc has moments of spineless jazz mixed with foundationless chamber music.