What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIV)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 31 December 2017
On the eve of a new year, it's time for a new thread.
Last year's thread can be found here:
Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib. From 1957. 1987 CD-rip
Polish pianist Leszek Możdżer is classically trained, but discovered jazz in his late teens. His solo debut for the label is, fittingly, a homage to one of Polish music's legends, the short-lived jazz pianist and movie-score composer Krzysztof Komeda.
The very first Anderson East album which came out under his own name.
Now Playing........
Anouar Brahem - Thimar
Anouar Brahem (oud), John Surman (soprano saxophone, bass clarinet), and Dave Holland (double-bass)
Streaming on NAS....... A brilliant album! My attraction to Thimar continues to grow with each spin, simply beautiful.
Review by Tyran Grillo on ECMREVIEWS.COM found here:
Oudist Anouar Brahem brings his passion for past and future together in the present recording with reedist John Surman and bassist Dave Holland. Although he has singlehandedly revived the oud as a solo instrument, collaboration has always been at the heart of his craft, whether between himself and the spirit that moves him or with the muses of others. Most of the material on Thimar is Brahem’s and its lack of chording and bar lines in the scores presented Holland and Surman with new and fruitful challenges. One would hardly know it from the fluidity of the session. The album’s title means “fruits” in Arabic and, like those on a tree, the tunes it designates aren’t so much blended as connected by bark, water, and minerals. The press release cites recent musicological research which suggests that jazz may have its roots in the Middle East, for the West African musical traditions it mined were already syntheses of Islamic influences. This is not a “fusion” project. It is an illumination of roots. ...........
Now Playing
Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Bill Evans (piano), Scott LaFaro (bass), and Paul Motian (drums)
Streaming on NAS........ A beautiful album, something to end the day with.....
Not strictly a cd but due out this month
Tony2011 posted:
1967 - Vinyl - US (mono) pressing...
For some reason, this has become a traditional Thanksgiving Day play for me in the US.
Magdalena Kozena - Lettere amorose
Allmusic.com:
Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená's collection of vocal solos (plus a few instrumental tracks) from the early Baroque, Lettere Amorose, "Love Letters," is a delight. The recital includes some familiar pieces like d'India's Cruda Amarilli, Monteverdi's Sì dolce è il tormento, and Sanz's giddy dance, Canarios, but consists largely of repertoire that's more obscure but no less engaging. Merula's lullaby chaconne Hor ch'è tempo di dormire is a jewel, gorgeously idiosyncratic and deeply emotional. Caccini's erotic Odi, Euterpe, 'I dolce canto could be mistaken for mature Monteverdi at his most mischievous, but it dates from 1601 or 1602, when Monteverdi was at an early stage in his career. A real standout of the album is Strozzi's L'Eraclito amoroso: Udite amanti, which alternates sections of extravagantly expressive recitative with a ravishingly lyrical chaconne. Kozená easily has the technique to make the music glow and the dramatic gifts to bring it movingly to life. Her sharply characterized interpretations of the songs make each of them seem as fully realized and potent as a short operatic scene. Her voice has the burnished warmth of a mezzo, but can gleam when she soars into her upper register, and throughout she maintains an exquisite purity. Private Musicke, an ensemble of plucked and bowed strings led by Pierre Pitzl, beautifully matches Kozená's performances with inventive, understated, and expressive accompaniments. Deutsche Grammophon's sound is clean and wonderfully realistic. This is an album that should have strong appeal for lovers of Baroque music, or anyone who loves exceptional singing.
Cedar Walton trio - Manhattan after hours
Allmusic.com:
Recorded in mid-November 2000, Manhattan After Hours was clearly intended as a sequel of sorts to the Cedar Walton Trio's Criss Cross Jazz release Manhattan Afternoon, which came together in December 1992. Manhattan After Hours contains seven rock-solid jazz standards and two original compositions by the trio's guest soloist, Australian tenor saxophonist Dale Barlow. The Walton Trio's signature sound owed fully one third of its sonority and cohesiveness to the presence of Trinidadian bassist Dave "Happy" Williams. Manhattan After Hours was among the last albums ever to include Walton's fellow modern jazz veteran drummer Billy Higgins, who passed away in early May 2001. During the first decade of the 21st century, Walton would continue to perform and record straightforward jazz of the highest order, in a welcome burst of creative maturity that has been documented on a series of albums for the HighNote label. Issued in several different editions with variable cover art, Manhattan After Hours is warmly recommended for nocturnal driving or staying up late with friends at home.
The album varies a lot from raw to light, I would have appreciated a bit more stability in style direction...
The allabout jazz review...
Julian Lage's star has been on the rise since the premiere of Julian at Eight—the award winning 1997 documentary short about the precocious guitar prodigy's childhood years. Since then, Lage has become a key collaborator to modern masters like Gary Burton, Jim Hall and Fred Hersch. Lage's widely acclaimed virtuosity is uncontestable, yet he remains a tonal traditionalist—an aspect reinforced on Arclight, the first recording to feature him exclusively playing a solid body electric guitar. Despite the overdriven twang of his Fender Telecaster, he continues to eschew unnecessary efx that would diminish the clarity of his crystalline cadences.
Joined by upright bassist Scott Colley (a fellow band mate from Burton's group) and ubiquitous Downtown drummer Kenny Wollesen, Lage narrows his focus to concentrate on original material that evokes the folksy quality heard in Keith Jarrett's beloved 1970s American Quartet. Providing historical context and stylistic continuity, he rounds out the session's delightfully appealing program with a handful of obscure Great American Songbook standards from the pre-bop era.
The end result is a brisk but bracing affair, with few cuts lasting over four minutes. Lage and company spin minor variations on each of the catchy numbers' melodic, harmonic and rhythmic foundations without undue extrapolation—an approach suggested by producer and singer-songwriter Jesse Harris, who wisely encouraged the trio to stick with first takes, capturing the spontaneous energy of their initial renditions.
Exuberant tunes like "Activate" and the surf-inflected "Prospero" careen with rollicking abandon, while "Stop Go Start" provides introspective respite, exuding the sort of aleatoric impressionism heard on Room (Mack Avenue, 2015), Lage's sublime duet with fellow guitar wizard Nels Cline. The record's four cover tunes unveil Lage's Americana influences, especially his more Frisellian tendencies, as heard in a rustic ramble through W.C. Handy's soulful "Harlem Blues."
Colley and Wollesen's adroit interplay provides far more than mere time keeping, but with each piece no longer than the average pop song, the majority of the spotlight inevitably shines on the leader, whose brief but tasteful solos brim with flinty turns of phrase and darting fretboard runs. Emblematic of its title, Arclight reveals another facet of Lage's burgeoning artistry, finding him moving beyond the acoustic asceticism that defined his earliest recordings and into a more expansive mode of expression.
Track Listing: Fortune Teller; Persian Rug; Nocturne; Supera; Stop Go Start; Activate; Presley; Prospero; I'll Be Seeing You; Harlem Blues; Ryland.
Personnel: Julian Lage: guitar;Scott Colley: bass; Kenny Wollesen: drums, percussion.
An album I like...
Kim Hoorweg - Boulevard of broken dreams
Kim Hoorweg – Vocal
Robin Nolan – solo guitar
Kevin Nolan – rhytm guitar
Benjamin Herman – alt saxofoon
Sjoerd Dijkhuizen – bass clarinet
Arnoud van den Berg – bass
1970 - UK first pressing...
1966 - Vinyl (2017 mono reissue)...
seakayaker posted:Now Playing
Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Bill Evans (piano), Scott LaFaro (bass), and Paul Motian (drums)
Streaming on NAS........ A beautiful album, something to end the day with.....
One of the two finest piano trio albums of all time IMHO. Do I need to name the other one?
Curiously, for some reason I'm minded to play this: Waltz for Debby by the Bill Evans Trio.
Now Playing......
James Taylor - Never Die Young
Streaming on NAS......... It's Friday Morning, time to get moving, time for some James Taylor, 'Never Die Young'. Some pretty good advice for this rainy and dark morning.
Ivo Janssen - Bach: Preludes and fugues
When I listen to Bach on piano I mostly listen to the Partitas, Goldberg variations and French / Englisch suites.
However, thes preludes and fugues are also wonderful to listen to, and very well played by Ivo Janssen.
The Staple Singers - Bealtitude.
Remastered Stax recording from Concord Music Group, from one of soul music's strangely underrated ensembles.
For pennies over on The River. 
1967 - UK first (mono) pressing...
Now Playing........
James Taylor - Hourglass
Streaming on NAS......... James is sounding mighty sweet this morning, 'Line'Em Up' ...... keep the songs coming!
Don’t often see Miller cropping up here. A fine (if a touch bombastic on occasion) fusion album. Up there with the Ozell Tapes for sofa shaking sub-bass!
Wonderfully engineered too.
G
Now Playing......
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Traveling Kind
Streaming on TIDAL........ Moving from James to Emmylou & Rodney, some Friday easy listening music, sweet......