CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
RUBY BRAFF: "Very Sinatra" (Finesse):: At 55, cornetist Braff has 11 years on the title totem, but that's not why he adores melody so much more effectively than Frank these days. It's that in the end he's just as devoted to craft and a lot more modest about it; he has less talent, I suppose, but more taste.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
RUBY BRAFF: "Very Sinatra" (Finesse):: At 55, cornetist Braff has 11 years on the title totem, but that's not why he adores melody so much more effectively than Frank these days. It's that in the end he's just as devoted to craft and a lot more modest about it; he has less talent, I suppose, but more taste. And it's taste above all that enables one to make a convincing case for the ersatz elegance of traditional pop. A-
CLARENCE GATEMOUTH BROWN: "Alright Again!" (Rounder):: Texans, Jesus—give them a black man in a cowboy hat and they won't stop jawing about the wide open spaces until they fall off the barstool. And what is this thing they have for blues brass in platoons? I mean, Bobby Bland can sing over, under, and around that shit, but this old pro obviously hasn't bulled his way past a tenor sax in 20 years. Still packs a fairly sharp guitar, I grant you, and he can make you listen up with that violin Of his. But he's fronting some very unswinging white boys, and his idea of contemporary is the stock-market woes of small businessmen. C +