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

Peter Bernstein - Signs of life

From allmusic.com:

Peter Bernstein's second CD as a leader reunites him with pianist Brad Mehldau and once again features him in a quartet. However, both Bernstein and Mehldau had grown quite a bit as soloists during the previous two years (the pianist really tears into "Nobody Else but Me") and this time they are joined by the virtuosic bassist Christian McBride and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. In addition, the songs (five Bernstein originals and four standards) are stronger and challenge the soloists to play at their best. Among the highlights are "Jet Stream," "Jive Coffee" (Bernstein's sly revision of "Tea for Two"), "Will You Still Be Mine," and a tasteful "My Ideal" in addition to "Nobody Else but Me." An excellent effort.

Almost forgot I had this album.   Travellers.  Bison.   A group with Paul. N. Murphy and Holger Czukay from 2014.

Pierre_laurent Aimard

Pierre_laurent Aimard is not on my list of 'usual suspects'  when it comes to Bach performers. But both his recordings (he also recorded the Art of the Fugue) I find very enjoyable.

From allmusic.com:

It's a bit hard to ascertain what has propelled French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard to popularity that extends beyond usual classical spheres. He specializes in precisely the kind of High Modernist music that generally discourages crossover audiences. In earlier music he is an odd combination of precise and mercurial, and perhaps that's what people like about him. Bach's 24 preludes and fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, BWV 846-869, are a very diverse palette. It's a pianistic interpretation, with each prelude and fugue pair matched generally as to mood, but with subtle variation in the relationships across the set. The opening C major prelude is heavily pedaled and almost impressionistic, but after that Aimard backs off and begins to take a sinewy contrapuntal approach that emphasizes the little dissonances that are so much a part of the experience of playing Bach or listening to him closely. Whether or not the whole thing holds together is a matter of the individual listener's opinion, but it's not boring, and Aimard is aided by fine studio sound from Deutsche Grammophon that captures all the shades of what he is doing. Ultimately, Aimard's unexpected popularity may be all to the good.

   Fink - Resurgam.

   Got home this afternoon to find that those lovely folks at The River had plopped this through my letterbox.

   Streaming the CD rip right now, and it's another cracker from Mr. Greenall, whose consistently good offerings never fail to please. 

Sunday night is frothy disco night.

Streaming Tidal.    Norma Winstone - Manhattan In The Rain

Tony McPhee and friends,

Two CD set a of rather lovely bluesey type stuff to suit my mood.

In my long absence I seem to have lost the ability to post pictures

Wynton Kelly - Kelly Blue

From Allmusic.com:

Recorded for Riverside, this set mostly features the influential pianist Wynton Kelly in a trio with his fellow rhythm-section mates from the Miles Davis bands, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. "Kelly Blue" and "Keep It Moving" add cornetist Nat Adderley, flutist Bobby Jaspar and the tenor of Benny Golson to the band for some variety. Kelly was renowned as an accompanist, but as he shows on a set including three of his originals and four familiar standards (including "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" and "Willow Weep for Me"), he was also a strong bop-based soloist too. A fine example of his talents. [Some reissues augment the program with a previously unreleased "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" and the alternate take of "Keep It Moving."]

  Fink - Horizontalism.

  Just finished playing his new one, so this ................ Mr. Greenall does dub ............. rather well, too.

  Oh dear, this could easily turn out to be yet another Fink evening, chez Dave. 

A strong begin, the gospel influence is for me the less interesting part, the first song will test if your set has a nice rounded bass...

Streaming Tidal.  Amina Alaoui - Alcantara

On vinyl...

Jeroen20 posted:

Wynton Kelly - Kelly Blue

From Allmusic.com:

Recorded for Riverside, this set mostly features the influential pianist Wynton Kelly in a trio with his fellow rhythm-section mates from the Miles Davis bands, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. "Kelly Blue" and "Keep It Moving" add cornetist Nat Adderley, flutist Bobby Jaspar and the tenor of Benny Golson to the band for some variety. Kelly was renowned as an accompanist, but as he shows on a set including three of his originals and four familiar standards (including "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise" and "Willow Weep for Me"), he was also a strong bop-based soloist too. A fine example of his talents. [Some reissues augment the program with a previously unreleased "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" and the alternate take of "Keep It Moving."]

I was thinking of getting this recording, a used XRCD version was being offered at a reasonable price but thenI opted for his complete studio recordings, a 2 disc affair with the mellower disc #2 being clearly the better one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6R-o_mmlq4

A fine album, by husband and wife, joined by Joe Lovano and Joey Baron.

From 1974:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWycv0zw9vg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyyOT7Qsfq8

  Duke Garwood - Garden of Ashes.

  Some moody, laid back, swamp blues, produced by Mark Lanegan, .............. and it shows ................ highly recommended. 

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893):  Polina Osetinskaya (piano)

Children's Album, Op. 39
The Seasons, Op. 37a

For most of my life, the solo piano music of Tchaikovsky remained obscure to me.  It has only been in the last year or so that I started being obsessed with it after hearing the Grande Sonata in G major, Op. 37.  It has been said and I couldn't agree more in that Tchaikovsky remains a tragic figure who was acutely aware of his loneliness in this world and that their is an impossibility for happiness.

Along comes the Children's Album.  Naturally, Tchaikovsky followed Schumann's lead of the Scenes from Childhood and the Album for the Young.  The question is whether Tchaikovsky intended these pieces to represent a world looking through the eyes of a child or looking through the eyes of an adult looking backwards?  Maybe through the eyes of an adult who missed his childhood? 

Whatever the case, Polina Osetinskaya captures the mystical, miniaturized visions perfectly, ranging from solemnity to playfulness.  The beauty of it is that she eschews any manner of approaching this like performing as a concert pianist to a huge crowd.  This is rather one person with a piano playing only for ones self (we were all children once).  I honestly love her approach on this recording and know that this will be my go to album and benchmark for the future.

Hats off to Meloydia for an outstanding recording quality and to Polina Osetinskaya - an outstanding pianist in my books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEhX1Kz3bYE

Now Playing.....

Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, Jack Johnette, Lee Konitz, Miroslav Vitous, Pat Methany - The Song Is You

Random pick for some Sunday Afternoon Jazz.....

Very nice indeed.

Clive B posted:

I only bought this album a few weeks ago after it was mentioned by a few people on here, but it's been played several times since. However, I feel I'm hearing a whole lot more today after installing a new pre-amplifier this morning. I'm now hearing more of the gaps between the notes, and the instruments and the musicians. Very enjoyable album.

Hi Clive 

Keep on getting into the album , it is one of the best. If you dont know the other albums of the same Santana era, check out Welcome and Borbolletta both brill, but Caravanserai is the best. I bought a Music on Vinyl copy recently,  quite superb. Another album from that era worth a listen is Stories to Tell by Flora Purim, one track features Carlos Santana . The album has a star studded  jazz line up. 

Bob F 

Streaming Qobuz.   Anne McCue - Roll