Music service ... or disservice?

I subscribe to several music services, including Napster and eMusic, for accessing music for my listening enjoyment, for work and for teaching. All of these sites offer their helpful "picks" or recommendations, but there's a huge difference between the recommendations made by the sites.
Compare Napster's top picks to eMusic's:
Napster:
Lyla by Avishai Cohen
The Architect of Modern Bossa Nova (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
The Best of Dizzy Gillespie
Ultimate Big Band Collection: Glenn Miller
Body and Soul, by Louis Armstrong

eMusic:
Pathways, by the Dave Holland Octet
Kind of Blue, by you know who
Lush Life, by John Coltrane
Half the Perfect Word, by Madeleine Peyroux

This a list of really great and important work done half-a-century ago ... and three new releases. Making Kind of Blue
one of your picks on these sights is analagous to "phoning it in": you've obviously not heard anything new so you're falling back for the obvious.

In fairness, both sites are pushing Esperanza Spalding on the eve of her new release, which is great. Scroll down a little bit to find my opinions of Ms. Spalding.

But as wonderful as she is, she is but one of hundreds of hugely talented people recording and touring today. Most of whom are getting the short end of the stick because record companies -- and their apparent proxies, the music services -- are beholden to their back catalogs of classic recordings.

If jazz is in trouble, it's because these companies have decided the marketplace only has the capacity to grow by one or two new names each year (this year's additions are Michael Buble and Spalding). There's more money to be mined in what was recorded 50 years ago, so why bother?

It's got to be extremely difficult for musicians to get their names known and to build any kind of music sales -- it's not right to make them compete with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.

Summertime, and the re-issues are jumpin' ...

It's the middle of the summer, apparently not the best time to release a new CD. For those willing to try, beware of the competition!
According to AllAboutJazz.com's CD release schedule, this month has been rife with re-issues. From John Coltrane to Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong to Bill Evans, it's been a crowded field of big names. Revamped, re-issued, reworked or re-mastered, it's a tough crowd to go against.
Next month perks up, though, with releases from Dave Liebman, Esperanza Spalding, Brian Bromberg, Vijay Iyer, Kenny Werner and Jeff Berlin.

Summary judgment: Royce Campbell

I just received a new CD from guitarist Royce Campbell, the third he's kindly sent me to review. While I owe him a longer writeup on his "Movie Songs Project" with Phil Woods, I wanted to share his name and my thoughts on his music sooner than I'll be able to do otherwise.
Campbell's latest release is "Solo Trane" (on Moon Cycle Records), a collection of John Coltrane tunes arranged for the guitar. Most musicians have enough trouble getting comfortable with Coltrane's often-complex harmonic ideas to skip trying to craft intelligent or creative arrangements -- it's all about the speed of soloing for too many Coltrane-wannabes. I've only had a chance to hear about half of the release, but it's clear Campbell is firing on all cylinders on these cuts. His treatment of "Naima" is magnificent; quietly passionate while still exploring all of the harmonic potentials of the song.
"Trane Track" gets a fun, strummed treatment to bounce melody and solo lines from ... I'm anxious to hear it again.
"The Movie Songs Project" (on Philology Jazz), a collection of movie soundtracks with bassist Bob Bowen, drummer Ron Free -- and a freelancing Phil Woods -- will satisfy bebop fans of such soundtrack faves as "Manha De Carnival" or "Laura." This group plays with classic cool, easily swinging while soloists tear through. Woods plays with a quiet intensity -- you can always count on quality improvisation with him, but he seems to be enjoying this outing a lot. I never thought of "Baby Elephant Walk" as much more than a novelty tune, but in the hands of capable musicians ...
The first listen I had of Campbell was his "Art of Chord Solo Guitar," which I wrote about for AllAboutJazz.com (you can read it here).
I found Campbell's solo work to be top-notch; it's great to see he isn't hindered in a band setting -- or by some of jazz's most challenging compositions.

Who's setting the mood?

One of the most salient features of the best music is its ability to stike a mood, to capture a sound that reflects its time. Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" encapsulates the late 1950s cool and sets such a definitive mood, just as John Coltrane's Impulse! releases hit the mark for the 60s. Can you hear George Benson's "Breezin'" without being transported to the late 1970s?
While there's a lot of terrific music recorded today, one has to wonder if anyone is really, really nailing the sounds that will become associated with this decade in such a way.
That's the first step towards becoming a classic ...
While I don't know if they've hit the right mood yet, several new releases have powerful moods that strike me as being potential classics -- though only time will tell.
Stefon Harris and Blackout's outstanding "Urbanus" has such an amazing range of sounds that I think it may be among the most memorable for a long time. Blackout's phenomenal rhythm section -- Ben Williams and Terreon Gully -- keep a groove going that is subtle but brilliant. If you can get your ears off the melodies and solos, you'll find a rich tapestry in the background.
But that's a big "if" -- Harris has combined and balanced a potent mix of the familiar and not-familiar. Several tracks lay a Vocoder-synthesized melody over the rhythm section, with Harris and others soloing, an effect that was entrancing. Sounding at once unhuman yet warm, it's a delicious treat -- especially on Stevie Wonder's "They Won't Go."
Madeleine Peyreaux's new "Bare Bones" captures a unique mood. It's a mystical brew made with blues-based stock, with all sorts of funky flavors added. The opening track -- "Instead" -- opens with a spot-on imitation of George Harrison's slinky guitar playing (that is, the sounds he favored later, not while with the Beatles). then adds Peyreaux's melancholy and smoky voice.
It's a powerful dose which may not suit everyone, but much of it was entrancing.
Check them out and let me know what you think -- what captures your ears, or sets a mood for you?