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:
While i catch up with the Music Room postings, this fine album is getting a play
Malia & Boris Blank - Convergence
John Lee Hooker - The Healer
I bought this album originally after seeing it mentioned here. It didn't grab me on the first few plays, but now it's become a firm favourite and i'm exploring her other albums.
Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
Modern big band
Robert Cray - Bad Influence
Allmusic.com:
One of Robert Cray's best albums ever, and the one that etched him into the consciousness of blues aficionados prior to his mainstream explosion. Produced beautifully by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the set sports some gorgeous originals ("Phone Booth," "Bad Influence," "So Many Women, So Little Time") and two well-chosen covers, Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Don't Touch Me" and Eddie Floyd's Stax-era "Got to Make a Comeback." Few albums portend greatness the way this one did.
Now Playing.......
Bill Evans - Affinity
Bill Evans (piano, keyboards), Marc Johnson (bass), Eliot Zigmund (drums), Larry Schneider (flute, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone), and Toots Thielemans (harmonica)
Streaming on NAS......... I just felt like listening to something from Bill Evans this morning before getting underway.....
Seeing this album mentioned a few pages back meant an instant addition to my playlist and it still sounds fantastic today.
Did i really first buy this nearly 34 years ago 
Sade - Diamond Life
james n posted:I bought this album originally after seeing it mentioned here. It didn't grab me on the first few plays, but now it's become a firm favourite and i'm exploring her other albums.
Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
I think I have them all, James. My firm favourite is 'Batchelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo'. 'Whatever' is also very good, as is 'Everything's Different Now' which she recorded with Til Tuesday.
Great combination of RLJ with Walter B producing.
G
Cheers for the info Clive - I have 'Lost in Space' but will take a look on the river and indulge 
James
From 1956, a first mono release on the Atlantic Records label which is supposed to be sonically superior to the stereo version.
Billy Hart - One is the other
Allmusic.com:
The Billy Hart Quartet's One Is the Other follows All Our Reasons, its noted debut for ECM, by less than two years. In one sense, this set shows the group's growth (they've been together since 2005), and picks up where AOR left off, but more importantly, it reveals the more disciplined and inquisitive dimension of its collective persona, even as it revisits some tunes from its members' pasts. Opener "Lennie's Groove," by saxophonist Mark Turner, was recorded much earlier in Turner's career. Due to its complex harmonic and rhythmic components, it has subsequently become a workout classic for other jazz musicians. Pianist Ethan Iverson attacks the knotty lyric as if simultaneously playing all the dubbed parts of an unreleased tune from Lennie Tristano's Descent Into the Maelstrom. As Turnerenters, he twins these lines before moving toward Iverson contrapuntally. Ben Street's bassline reveals the bridge between the bop and post-bop in the exercise while Hart shifts gears in tandem, accenting the ever-shifting meter. On Iverson's "Maraschino," the blues are the entryway into collective improvisation that remains commonly focused. Hart's brushes not only accent and color the front line's flourishes, but offer a map back to the center. The drummer's "Amethyst" was the title piece of one of his earlier albums but is revisioned somewhat here. Its original melody -- which retains its lyric beauty -- is made more blocky here, Turner first, then Iverson, find its dark undercurrent. Hart rolls and breaks around their dialogue. Street engages as an interlocutor and interpreter, while Hart allows the three to dictate his fluid, articulate movements as the tune opens. Turner's "Sonnet for Stevie" may be written for Stevie Wonder, but it's fueled more by restraint, color, and texture than funk or R&B. Street's opening bassline and the clipped rolls by Hart introduce a bluesy head, with Iverson extrapolating on them. He finds a lithe lyric inside and begins to slowly bring it out. Group statements remain brief on each chorus until Iverson's solo finds the seam, and his upper register chord voicings become bell-like. Turner sticks close to the blues, while Hart breaks on them in a painterly fashion. One Is the Other is the sound of an experienced and deeply intuitive quartet speaking in a colorful and precise language comprised of numerous dialects and approaches to musical speech.
Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:Quad 33 posted:Clive B posted:
Remaster by Denis Blackham from 2005 - compressed within an inch of its life.
Clive the 2013 vinyl reissue is excellent, but now very expensive
Graham
Graham, I don’t know where you’ve been looking but I found 2013 pressings for around £20.00 and even a 1976 AM reissue for £16.00.
Do you remember where, Tony?
Tony £50 on Amazon.....
Quad 33 posted:Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:Quad 33 posted:Clive B posted:
Remaster by Denis Blackham from 2005 - compressed within an inch of its life.
Clive the 2013 vinyl reissue is excellent, but now very expensive
Graham
Graham, I don’t know where you’ve been looking but I found 2013 pressings for around £20.00 and even a 1976 AM reissue for £16.00.
Do you remember where, Tony?
Tony £50 on Amazon.....
I've had my fingers burnt on Discogs, so I'm reluctant to go there, maybe in a month or two.
Just put this on and turned up the volume a bit while I start to prepare the dinner. Strikes a good dinner prep groove!
First installment of Paul Lewis' 3-volume Schubert series. Lewis plays with a wide emotional and dynamic range, I especially like his perfectly judged impromptus. On CD.
Cheers
EJ
Clive B posted:Quad 33 posted:Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:Quad 33 posted:Clive B posted:
Remaster by Denis Blackham from 2005 - compressed within an inch of its life.
Clive the 2013 vinyl reissue is excellent, but now very expensive
Graham
Graham, I don’t know where you’ve been looking but I found 2013 pressings for around £20.00 and even a 1976 AM reissue for £16.00.
Do you remember where, Tony?
Tony £50 on Amazon.....
I've had my fingers burnt on Discogs, so I'm reluctant to go there, maybe in a month or two.
Graham, they can stuff it for 50 quid. Flashback, my local shop, is selling a copy in near mint condition for £23.
Clive, I have always had reservations about Discogs but, just like other places, it pays to contact seller first and ask as many questions as possible about condition of items and return policy. Most people are cool about it and very friendly. If you’re not happy, walk away. Simples.
On vinyl...
Probably her best so far.
The album that announced the arrival of what I regard as one of the best rock bands the world has seen. This album retains it's magic and impact whenever I play it.
Still preparing dinner. Let's have some of this superb album:
Tomasz Stanko - Suspended night
