Records

Classical

Schubert: Trout Quintet, Shepherd on the Rock. Hash Ensemble/Felicity Lott (Carlton Classics, CD). Like its rival, Naxos, Carlton is a budget label that produces quantities of averagely OK discs selling on value rather than distinction. But occasionally there's a shining gem among them, and this Schubert issue is a case in point. The playing has that comfortably feelgood quality of the Nash Ensemble at its best: well-judged, immaculate but free in spirit. Felicity Lott is radiant in the "Shepherd". And the "Trout" stands record to the virtuosity of Christopher van Kampen, the Ensemble's much-loved cellist who so sadly died last month. Michael White

JAZZ

Erykah Badu: Live! (Universal, CD). Rather obvious follow-up to the smash debut Baduizm, in which the divine Miss B performs mostly familiar songs to an invited audience at New York's Sony Music recording studios. So what's new? Two more Badu originals and - best of all - affectionate cover versions of old-skool favourites such as Roy Ayers's "Searchin" and Chaka Khan's "Stay". There's also a lot of righteous, conscious raps, as when she asks all the sisters in the house to put their hands on their wombs, and the brothers to find their male principals, or is it principles? Whatever, Badu sings superbly, if a little screechily; she's more like the new Anita Baker than the new Billie Holiday. Phil Johnson

Davey Graham: After Hours (Rollercoaster, CD). Extraordinary release of an impromptu jam by cult guitarist Graham (contemporary of, and notable influence on, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and later, John Martyn), recorded on a domestic tape-deck at a friend's halls-of-res room in 1967. Shrieking voices, clinking glasses and sundry ambient noises disturb the low-fidelity surface of the recording, but not enough to distract one from Graham's amazing playing. The repertoire is incredible: jazz themes by Nat Adderley, Art Blakey, Carl Perkins and Mongo Santamaria; blues by Gary Davis, Muddy Waters and Broonzy; echoes of JS Bach, Irish folk and Ravi Shankhar, all dispatched with the kind of guitar genius that will make amateur players want to take up the drums instead. PJ