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

5 trax off his up and coming album due Sept 29th

4 tarx off their up and coming album

Excellent mix of Soul and Funk from Robert Palmer with a stellar cast of backing musicians.

Good Afternoon......

Starting with .....

Wayne Horvitz Gravitaz Quartet - Way Out East

Wayne (Piano and Electronics), Peggy Lee (Cello), Ron Miles, Trumpet, and Sara Schoenbeck (Bassoon)

Photo and info found at http://www.waynehorvitz.com/pr...ts/gravitas-quartet/

The Gravitas Quartet occupies a conceptual no man’s land somewhere between nostalgia and the future, where pensive, minor-key piano excursions are joined by stately cello, regal bassoon, ghostly trumpet and burbling electronics. Way Out East perfectly assimilates Horvitz’s bittersweet melodies and sci-fi futurism into a synchronous sound world all his own.
Troy Collins, All About Jazz

I have had the opportunity to see Wayne perform a few times and really enjoy his work, a wonderful musician, who composed all the pieces and co-produced this album with Tony Reif.

You can find Wayne on Tidal and Spotify.....

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Why? because its absolutely fantastic, the defacto Jazz album I really do enjoy a lot...

Followed by Les McCann - The Truth

Why? Because I know you may want to hunt me with dogs for saying, but in my opinion (& yours will be different), its better. I'm not saying Kind of Blue isn't, because its a wonderful, superb recording. Les McCann just deivers more of what I like. Perhaps like comparing Château Mouton Rothschild - Pauillac with Château Petrus - Pomerol, both are excellent but you might prefer one over the other.

But then tomorrow, it may be Miles...

Tidal, 

I always have music playing in my head, I can tune in to a personal radio at any time, one of the songs that has been there for 40 years is The Killing of Georgie, one of the most poignant songs I know, when Rod simply sings "Georgie was a friend of mine.", it's a beautiful moment sung perfectly. it's been playing in my head a lot recently, so I thought I'd try the album. My memory of it was that overall it was a bit too polished and a bit of a sellout after the Faces. I'm now thinking of adding it to my next River order, Georgie is wonderful, Tonight's the Night is fantastic, First Cut is the Deepest is much less schmaltzy than I remember from teenage radio listens, Rod is one of the great soul voices and the first slow side shows that brilliantly.

ewemon posted:

Totally, absolutely. This guy was a true gem. I discovered him only a few years ago when a friend lent me a couple of his recent albums; Raising the Bar and Bad Boy. It was 2013 and literally the next day after I'd listened to them and instantly loved them, Magic Slim died. Spooky, but what a great original he was. Massively recommended to any fans of boogieness and good time blues. 

WAV CD rip.

Lovely album I picked this up second hand from the river (music magpie) after seeing someone playing it here a few days ago. 2nd listen, great songs, pretty consistently sensitive interpretations, and the bonus of hearing Emmylou on quite a few numbers. 

Bert Schurink posted:

kuma posted:

Beethoven Symphony NO.3: Haitink/LSO

Much improved from his earlier ill-fated LPO effort.

Would you recommend it - or do you overall see it as an average recording of the music ?

Bert,

Whist I greatly moved by his Missa Solemnis/CSO live concert at the Orhcestra Hall a few years back, I am not totally convinced if Haitink is the right man for Beethoven Symphonies. This latest set recorded in 2005 is much better than the one he did in the 70-80s still can't shake off the feeling of *generic-ness*. The sound wise I never like the 2ch mix down of multi channel SACD, so fidelity is not the best for the redbook replay, either.

Elliott Smith  -  "From A Basement On The Hill"  (2004)

.....Next up

Wayne Horvitz Sweeter Than The Day: A Walk In The Dark

Wayne Horvitz: piano; Tim Young: guitar; Keith Lowe: bass; Eric Eagle: drums.

A sweet album, review can be found here: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/a...-by-troy-collins.php

Eoink posted:

Vinyl.

I sneaked one album in before going out to dinner last night. The album that turned me on to Joni at the beginning of the '80s,  Joni in fine voice, lyrically and musically superb as you'd expect.

Funnily enough, I played this album this morning, before you'd posted. I followed it with 'Court and Spark', which is the album which first turned me onto Joni.

Tidal.

Thanks Kevin and ewemon, I'd missed Magic Slim until I saw your posts above, as Kevin said, boogieness, the sort of music 135s were made to play. Chicago blues played right, recommendations for an order of Magic Slim albums would be gratefully received. 

There are only six tracks on this album; and there are six very enjoyable catchy tunes. A great debut album as leader. Highly recommended.

Ryan Adams  -  "Ashes & Fire"  (2011)

Eoink posted:

Tidal.

Thanks Kevin and ewemon, I'd missed Magic Slim until I saw your posts above, as Kevin said, boogieness, the sort of music 135s were made to play. Chicago blues played right, recommendations for an order of Magic Slim albums would be gratefully received. 

Really pleased you like it Eoink. I actually only have 3 albums:

Bad Boy

Raising the Bar

The Essential... ( as you have Tidalled)

I'd pick Bad Boy as the one I play the most, but little between that and Raising the bar tbh.

I'll turn it over to Ewen to give you a broader view.

Steely Dan  -  "Two Against Nature"  (2000)

after running a couple of errands......next up (since it arrived in the mail)

I ordered this from previous comments/recommendations by members of this thread.

Four songs in and I am really enjoying his music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIl8nWHVb4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyfEkfcRk18

*****Next up

Wayne Horvitz - Otis Spann & Other Compositions -- Seattle Chamber Players

Wayne (Piano, electronics, programming)

Seattle Chamber Players: Mikhail Schmidt (violin), David Sabee (cello), Laura De Luca (clarinets), and Paul Taub (flutes)

Vinyl

CD.  Two great violin concertos (Barber & Sibelius) and two great artists (Bell & Belkin)

CD.  Any recommendation of other interpretations?

Try Peter Whispelwey/Australian Chamber Orchestra on Channel Classics label.

Fast Floor: The Eternal Dream - The Mana Reference CD Series

It's been a long time I listened to this. IIRC, purchased it from the US ATC/Mana distributor. This was before I even owned Naim or Mana. So I did not get any of the speaking parts or the equipment list in the liner notes. ( what the hell is Phase 11! ! ) Played on a Krell CDP/amps, it used to produce impressive enveloping soundstage and bone shaking deep bass. A perfect late nite chill out music.

Fast forward 20 years and now I am listening to this on a 52/300 based system on Mana. ( 52 is on a Reference top only ) It's still an outstanding demo disc for the genre.

I wish  this was also released on a vinyl.