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

A bit different then usual jazz, but very enjoyable...

Miles compilation from the early fifties.

Not posted for a while due to being preoccupied with other matters (buying a building plot - a subject for the padded cell I think).  Anyway - giving this a few runs at the moment - rather classy.  Tidal.

This is a really lovely album, with beautiful playing and great recorded sound. Perfect for Saturday morning.

Carla Bley - Andando el Tiempo

From allmusic.com:

For over 20 years, the trio of pianist Carla Bley, bassist Steve Swallow, and saxophonist Andy Sheppard have shared each other's creative company. The group's 2016 album, Andando el Tiempo, is a delicately passionate, classically influenced set. A follow-up to 2013's equally compelling Trios, Andando el Tiempo is, surprisingly, only the third album from the group after their initial live 1995 album Songs with Legs. Whereas on Trios they delved into various Bley compositions from throughout her career, on Andando el Tiempo they focus on several more recently penned works. "Naked Bridges/Diving Bridges" brings to mind the impressionism of composer Claude Debussy. It's fascinating to hear the trio move from the moody beginning of the song into the more breezy, straight-ahead mid-section where Swallow, playing fluidly on the upper end of his bass, evinces the lyricism of West Coast trumpeter Chet Baker. The West Coast vibe is also palpable on the ruminative, noir-ish "Saints Alive!" However, it's the title track composition "Andando el Tiempo" that takes center stage on the album. With its three movements meant to represent three of the steps to addiction recovery, "Andando el Tiempo" (meaning "with the passing of time") is a restrained, yet nuanced piece that balances the group's knack for tempered chamber work and fluid, in-the-moment improvisation. Anchored at all times by Bley's measured, atmospheric piano, Sheppard and Swallow take turns dancing in the spotlight. The final movement in particular, the Latin-tinged "Camino al Volver," provides plenty of space for each member of the trio to twirl around each other in focused reverie. Ultimately, it's that shared intensity, born out of the trio's decades-long partnership, that makes Andando el Tiemposuch an engaging listen.

Offa Rex - Queen of Hearts.  Traditional folk songs given a modern day updating.  Fabulous album.  Singer Olivia Chaney has a gorgeous voice.  The Decemberists are the backing band !  Guardian review below.

"As band-building chat-up lines go, “We’ll be your Albion Dance Band” is certainly niche. Still, it worked when US indie-rockers the Decemberists approached Olivia Chaney to form Offa Rex. They were long-term lovers of folk-rock; Chaney was a well-known collaborator but relative newcomer (her 2015 debut album, The Longest River, nevertheless gained her support slots with Robert Plant and Shirley Collins).

She has a magical voice, full of heft, soul and sunlight, reminiscent of Sandy Denny and Maddy Prior, while feeling refreshingly heartfelt and true. Add Colin Meloy’s brilliant band, and this collection of traditional songs sounds stirringly new. Take the well-known Willie O’Winsbury, or The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: guitars, harmonium drones and Chaney’s control lift them to different places. Surprises lurk too. Lal Waterson’s To Make You Stay becomes an iridescent, piano-drizzled duet, while Sheepcrook (the Steeleye Span staple) gains brilliantly filthy, Black Sabbath rock edges. Everything works, though, loudly and proudly."

Dinner Jazz Excursion Radio through the NDS.

I have searched a number of jazz radio stations (I was actually trying to find a hard bop station) and came upon this one a couple of weeks ago. I realise we're a way from dinner time in the uk at the moment, but this is a most agreeable radio station, broadcasting some rather superb jazz. It reminds me rather of Helen Mayhew's dinner jazz programme which I used to listen to on Jazz FM in the '90s in London.

And there are no advertisements, nor any over paid disc jockeys. Just music of fine order. 

Jeroen20 posted:

Carla Bley - Andando el Tiempo

An excellent album, if I might say so.

First Nils Petter Molvær - Hamada

Then, The War on Drugs - Lost in The Dream which a friend recently likened to Springsteen. Quite insightful, I thought.

1st real run, his other albums have been a joy so let's see...

First listen

Triple-CD compilation of Dead stuff from various eras, and thus perfect or a Saturday morning. The out-there "Dark Star" here is one of my favourites.

Old fashioned trio jazz, very nice...

Chris Potter - The dreamer is the dream.

First run, liking it very much.

First play on vinyl

I never need an excuse or a reason to play this band, or indeed this particular album. On vinyl:

The 2008 BR/Jansons-commissioned "Con Brio" by Jorg Widmann is sandwiched between two live 2012 performances of the Beethoven symphonies.  I need to spend more time with the 8th...

Paul Butterfield Blues Band  -  "The Resurrection Of Pigboy Crabshaw"  (1967)

On Vinyl

The Bobstrel's third(!) album of 1968, partially recorded in London. On original UK vinyl. Amazing recording and SQ I think.

..but a better way of putting it comes from Hamelin himself, who has said that he has never encountered a greater mixture of intellect and sensuality than in Debussy's music. Hamelin's Debussy is so detailed as to be emotionally intense. The only thing missing might be the humor in a piece like Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. (track 15), but the incredibly intricate pictures that emerge in the two groups of Images more than make up for it: Debussy hasn't been this sharply etched before, and it works. Hyperion provides admirably clear engineering support in London's Henry Wood Hall. This is a Debussy recording that everyone ought to hear.(AllMusic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIxKO17Klk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyiu7fBUk7o

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers  -  "Bare Wires"  (1968)

Jason Moran Trio - Live at the Kennedy Center.

Checking out this live recording by the Jason Moran trio which you can download for free at livejazzlounge.com. 

Jason Moran: piano
Tarus Mateen: bass
Nasheet Waits: drums