What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
Vijay Iyer Trio - Break stuff
Continuing the journey with him...
Triple vinyl. Acquired yesterday.
Great voice ...
Jason Moran - Modernistic
If you like solo piano jazz and you are looking for something other than songs from the great American songbook, then this might be something for you. Jason Moran has his own sound which I find refreshing and worthwhile. On some tracks he uses a prepared piano, which means that the sound of the piano is altered.
From amazon:
Only in his mid-20s, Jason Moran has several impressive recordings under his belt. On 2001's Black Stars he was joined by the legendary Sam Rivers, which is a testament to this young pianist-composer's strengths. Inspired by such hard-to-classify predecessors as Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, and Herbie Nichols, Moran has likewise created his own sound, allowing seemingly diverse material to coalesce around his own sensibility. Modernistic is his first truly solo outing, and it finds some of his own material joined by the compositions of Schumann, James P. Johnson, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Afrika Bambaataa (making good on the album's title, Moran does a prepared piano version of the latter's "Planet Rock"). He moves with grace and confidence from miniature atmospheric landscapes ("Gangsterism on Irons" stands somewhere between Copland and Satie) to gleefully fractured post-bop high jinks. Moran is proving himself to be the latest pianist who has recognizable passions for both jazz and classical traditions.
Aria recordings from the 1940's on Columbia/Sony along with the Debussy under Ormandy. Excellent transfers by Andreas Meyer, produced by Art Fierro. Sony's Masterworks Heritage series is worth collecting...
Benny Carter - A gentleman and his music
With Gene Harris on piano.
Stravinsky was born on this day in 1882. More from the Masterworks Heritage series (Sony/Columbia).
What else on this super sunny day... on vinyl
Liza Ferschtman (Violin) | Inon Barnatan (piano)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Sonata for piano and violin in G major op. 96
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Fantasia for piano and violin in C major, D 934 | Sei mir gegrüßt, D 741
In the Schubertian sense, I am and have always been a Wanderer. I am on this earth searching for beauty and all the ideals that follow through this. Unfortunately, I believe I waste far too much time wondering why their is so much ugliness in the world. Then I come to my senses and realize that the preciousness and rarity of beauty and other like things must be in short supply. This is precisely why it is so sought after yet rarely found. To find it or at least get closer to finding it awakens ones soul.
This recording is just one step closer to finding my ideals than I was yesterday or the day before that. This is chamber music at its best. Two people, intimately having a quiet conversation. Much of this conversation takes place at a higher level without the use of words. It is looking into the eyes of someone and seeing much deeper into their soul.
Maybe it is like with a joke. If you have to explain it the meaning is lost. Like with the opening section of the Fantasia. You can tie this as a bow on a pig and it wouldn't matter to me but pigs are pigs. It remains one of the most beautiful musical creations ever capable of transforming even the most vile, foul mouthed Trump hating liberal among us (or so I would think) but yet evil rages on.
The key here is that all the elements are working together to make a perfect pearl. The music, the players, the recording....the lack of arrogance and big name commercial type playing that is so common today. And it is really the players here for me. The intimacy they create is unreal. I almost feel embarrassed (as if I were a peeping Tom) that I can take part in such an intimate, personal conversation between two people. But this is how most classical music is in that we are reading the diary of every great composer and we share in their secrets.
On another day I may write about the music and the interpretations and the top drawer elements of why this is an instantaneous special recording for my lifetime.
If only I could find a musical equal of this in real life.
A + 3 | WAV
(2001)
A lovely run through many of her best songs and happily it was a well recorded collection with good SQ on the majority of tracks.
osprey posted:
Such a good album cover 
Stevee_S posted:A + 3 | Tidal
(2017)
Another great recommendation from Ewen, this is an excellent live rock album, catchy, well played numbers with some covers.
This is really good. Sure wish the Black Crowes would make music together again.
spurrier sucks posted:Stevee_S posted:A + 3 | Tidal
(2017)
Another great recommendation from Ewen, this is an excellent live rock album, catchy, well played numbers with some covers.
This is really good. Sure wish the Black Crowes would make music together again.
Amen to that!
A + 3 | WAV
(1999)
My only problem with the music of Alison Krauss & Union Station is that I never 'discovered' them until a couple of years ago!
Because of her, the guests and the songs.