What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIV)

Now Playing........

Imelda May - Life Love Flesh Blood

Streaming on TIDAL........  A mention from ERICH yesterday had me place this in the play queue and giving it a spin.....

First song up and the wife gave it a thumbs up, and commented that she has a great voice.  .......so Imelda now has a new fan!

Now Playing.......

Jessi Alexander - Honeysuckel Sweet

Streaming on TIDAL......   A mention from PCD earlier today had me place this in the TIDAL queue and not taking Jessi out for a spin! Jessi is sounding mighty sweet.......

Redkev posted:

Any good?!

Now Playing......

Rhonda Scott Lady Quartet - We Free Queens

Rhonda Scott (keyboards, organ), Sophie Alour (saxophone), Lisa Cat-Berro (saxophone) & Julie Saury (drums)

Streaming on TIDAL........  A mention from JEROEN20 above had me place this in the TIDAL queue and now taking it out for a spin, a couple of tracks into the album and it is very nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvJqjbZQVrM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGsVqF-URXc

Bruce Springsteen. Lucky Town. On CD from 1992. Easy to overlook in The Boss' extensive catalog, this album plays with a welcome personal edge; not too heavy on production while maintaining a folksy feel.

Jaap van Zweden - Bruckner symphony no. 6

Tord Gustavesen Trio - Being There

An opener to the day, now with 'hot Java lava' coffee.

Teitur - Poetry & Aeroplanes

Excellent Live Boot recorded direct from the sbd in 1992

The Piano Music Of Ralph Vaughan Williams - Mark Bebbington & Rebeca Omordia

Somm Recordings

Much as I worship the music of Vaughan Williams, I was completely unfamiliar with his few piano works. So this is a delightful discovery.

Much of the album is taken up with short pieces, several of which are transcriptions (but they mostly work so well), but the real gem is The Introduction And Fugue For 2 Pianos, which is (to my ears at least) an intriguing blend of Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich.

Sadly the only video is of the old warhorse The Tallis Fantasia (below), but the album is streamable through most sources. 

Going through my Tony Joe White collection and just playing odd trax from some of his albums.

Cleaning out some old HDD's and playing some odds and sods. Another ex sbd from Tracy

Now Playing.......

Anita Baker - Rhythm of Love

Streaming on NAS.......  Putting some Love into the new year and choosing a album from the mid 90's that has not been played in awhile.   Anita sounds as lovely as she ever did, great voice!

The new one by 

Jeff Rosenstock Post 

http://www.bing.com/videos/sea...CEAE&FORM=VRRTAP

Why should you check it out?! Cos of the fresh sound that Jeff is proposing, that's all I can add, particularly check that link it's a listening link, enjoy it!

Now Playing........

Andy Bey - Ain't Necessarily So

Andy Bey (vocals, piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Kenny Washington (drums), and Vito Lesczak (drums).

Streaming on TIDAL........    A great way to start off 2018 - Ain't Necessarily So...... my favorite album by Andy

Review by Michael Bailey on All About Jazz website found here:

Andy Bey is the finest male jazz vocalist performing today. This may stick a finger in the eye of such talent as Kurt Elling or Mark Murphy, both contemporaries chronologically opposed; but both of these artists readily acknowledge the immense talent of Bey.

He is no young lion exploding out of the woods from the dark. Bey has been performing since the mid-1960s when he debuted with Now, Hear (Prestige, 1964). He recorded sporadically through 1970, when he released Experience and Judgment and then, apparently took twenty years off from recording.

Stepping forward to 1991, Bey began a collaboration with composer/producer Herb Jordan that first manifested as 1996's Ballads, Blues and Bey (Evidence). Since then Bey and Jordan have collaborated on several more recordings including Ain't Necessarily Sowhich was recorded May 13-15, 1997 at Birdland in New York City. Amazingly, this recording was Bey's first live performance as a leader in his own right. Listening to this release makes this fact almost unbelievable.

Bey's vocal and pianistic abilities may best be compared with those of the late Shirley Horn on any number of levels. Both possess sharply distinctive vocal and piano styles that could easily be identified from a light year away. Both singers have an affinity for ballads played slowly, constructed with plenty of silent space.

The first thing to strike the listener is the care and deliberation with which Bey counts off the tempo of his songs. The opening of "Ain't Necessarily So is marked off with finger-snap and vocal metronomic precision, introducing a simple yet compelling piano figure.

Bey's singing style is every bit as distinctive as the previously mentioned Horn. His accent or lack thereof, makes his voice universal in its intonation and friendly in its reception. Bey more thoroughly possesses the Great American Songbook than any of his contemporaries, and does so with greater fervor. Bey's delight in precise tempo is dramatically juxtaposed between upbeat and ballad pacing with the disc's final songs, "Brother Can You Spare Me a Dime, and "Someone to Watch Over Me.

On "Brother, Bey counts off a medium fast tempo and sings with the full gusto and virility his dynamic vocal range is capable of. He turns this blues into an upbeat, balladic showtune. Finishing the disc, Bey pays special tribute to the late Sarah Vaughan with an ultra-slow and absolutely perfect performance of "Someone to Watch Over Me as he abandons the almost guttural plea of "Brother, replacing it with pure sweetness and light. This is the first truly perfect disc I have heard this year.

1989 - Vinyl...

flippedcanvas posted:

Redkev posted:

Any good?!

I think it is excellent, if you like doo-wop you will like it, good catchy upbeat songs with really good lyrics. Most of the songs are about his mental health issues but they don’t sound depressing.