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;
A good oldie.....
Bert Schurink posted:zikarus posted:Benjamin Clementine I Tell A Fly
How do you like it, any good ?
I am just through for the first time. Yes I do like it , simply amazing and his best to date imo. Very versatile but may not be everybody's cup of tea...
Another first timer - Wolf Alice, Visions Of Life
Now Playing......
Iona Brown & The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Grieg: Op. 34 and 63, Tippett: Fantasia Concertante, Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C
Saturday morning, on call until 8:00PM tonight, and I needed something to ease me into this long day.......
2017 - Tidal...
Ibeye - Ash...
Listening to this while home demoing some gear options. Some of the attitudes are, shall we say, of their time. But IMO it's got a wonderful sense of being there for the live recording. And a good time was certainly being had by all, regardless of whether some of the humour would be frowned upon nowadays.
One interesting aspect of listening to the recording on different gear is where in the room it feels like you're listening from. On the current 272/250.2/SBLs, you're kind of just in front of the front row, with the singers close by and the musicians mostly behind them, but also a pretty clear impression of the audience. With the 172/250.2/P3ESRs I tested last week, you were more on the stage itself, with the audience on the far side of the singers, and the musicians closer at hand.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with some bigger Harbeths in a couple of weeks' time.
It's also been intriguing seeing the differences with material like At The Gates and Chopin. Not as the stereotypes would predict.
Joni Mitchell - "Shine" (2007)
2008 - Tidal...
Found this for £3.95 in a local secondhand record shop this morning. After a clean it's now giving the speakers a jolly good work out. Very clean west coast type production (the sleeve notes don't give locations of studios, but it sounds very Californian).
Anne Mette Iversen - Round Trip
Nice modern jazz by the Anne Mette Iversen Quartet + 1
John Ellis - tenor sax
Peter Dahlgren - trombone
Danny Grissett - piano
Anne Mette Iversen - bass & composition
Otis Brown III - drums and cymbals
Englische Virginalisten
William Byrd
1. La Volta
2. Galliardas Passamezzo
3. Wolseys Wilde
4. John Bull: Walsingham
5. Thomas Morley: Alman
6. John Munday: Robin
John Bull
7. In Nomine
8. Dr. Bull's Juel
9. The King's Hunt
10. Martin Peerson: The Fall of the Leafe
11. Richard Farnaby: Nobodyes Gigue
12. William Craft: Ground
William Byrd: The Battle
13. The Soldiers Sommons
14. The Marche of the Footmen
15. The Bagpipe and the Drone
16. The Flute and the Droome
17. The Burying of the Dead
18. The Soldiers Dance
19. The Galliards for the Victorie
Zuzana Růžičkov (14 January 1927 – 27 September 2017)
Recorded Sept 1984 in Prager Haus der Kunstler
[DDD] ORFEO cd @ 1988
From the sleeve-notes "...The virginal was a form of the harpsichord which was popular in England. It had a rectangular case and strings running parrallel to the keyboard."
Vibrant cembalo interpretations of England's old composers, with a rather excellent 80s recording quality make this album very recommended IMO : )
Debs
Pauline Oostenrijk - Bach
On this album oboist Pauline Oostenrijk plays together with Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam three oboe concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
2015 - Tidal...
Now Playing.......
Charlie Haden & Chris Anderson - None But The Lonely Heart
Charlie Haden (bass) & Chris Anderson (piano)
Keeping the mellow Saturday morning vibe going.....
From All About Jazz - Review by Joel Roberts: Chris Anderson is one of the unsung heroes of modern jazz piano. A revered figure among musicians, largely for his role as mentor to a young Herbie Hancock, Anderson has long been hindered by illness from aggressively pursuing his rightful place in the jazz limelight. As Charlie Haden poignantly states in the album's liner notes, "Chris is risking his life with every chord, that's how much it means to him." Although he has performed with everyone from Charlie Parker to Sun Ra over the course of his lengthy career, Anderson remains mostly unknown even to serious jazz fans. One hopes that this outstanding new duo effort with bass master Haden on the British Naim label helps to earn him some richly deserved acclaim.
A Chicago native reared on the blues and the music of Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, and Duke Ellington, Anderson years ago developed a rich harmonic sensibility influenced by European classical composers like Ravel and Debussy. His playing remains moody, quiet, and impressionistic, built on chordal improvisation rather than speedy right-hand runs, yet he never strays too far from his blues roots.
The album's song selection leans towards familiar ballad chestnuts like "Alone Together," "It Never Entered My Mind," and "Body and Soul." Anderson takes his time with these old tunes, focusing on tonality and harmony, to reveal all their melancholy spirit and beauty. And on the album's final two cuts, an original blues and a stirring take on the old Billie Holiday standard "Good Morning Heartache," he shows that for all his harmonic sophistication he can still get down with some old-fashioned barrelhouse blues piano.
Haden's accompaniment is sympathetic, never obtrusive, and always right on the money. Clearly this is a bassist who listens and who knows that less is often more. But Anderson is the star here, and one deserving the respect and admiration of every jazz fan.
This is one of McTell's most brilliant albums and I am unable to listen to it unless I want it in vinyl! I checked all the streaming services such as Tidal, iTunes etc. but no joy. Checked out Amazon for a CD version but again no joy. I cannot believe that something so pleasant is unavailable other than on vinyl. I must have a vinyl version up in the attic but then I would need a record deck to play it!
(1988)
Evening Hymns - "Spectral Dusk" (2012)
2007 - Tidal...
Tobias Hume (c1579-1645)
Susanne Heinrich viola da gamba
Recorded at St.Andrews Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire. April 2009
Review
Every now and then, a CD is released that knocks one's reviewing socks off with its combined originality of repertoire and quality of musical performance. Suzanne Heinrich's first disc, Mr Abel's Fine Airs, was one of these. Her viola da gamba recital of music by Karl Friedrich Abel, a long-forgotten 18th century British composer, begged a listen for novelty value alone, but also turned out to be one of the experiences of the year. It garnered a rave review on this website, and we weren't the only ones. It was awarded the Diapason d'Or, and was also named Editor's Choice in the 2008 Gramophone Awards. This, her second disc, is no less of a pleasure, and another musical discovery.
Once more, Heinrich has plumbed British musical history to pluck a long-lost composer from obscurity. Not much is known about Captain Tobias Hume, but what we do know points towards a fascinating character. Born around 1579, he earned his living as a soldier and mercenary, wandering Europe to the scenes of various political and religious conflicts. Despite such a violent and unpredictable day job, he was musically successful enough to share the same patron as William Shakespeare. This, his first of two collections, was published in 1605. As titles such as Tickell, Tickell and Deth indicate, the pieces span a wide range of subject matter, and Heinrich has breathed life into them in the same way as she did with Abel's. In fact, Hume himself almost becomes flesh and blood under her fingertips: it's impossible not to ruminate over his personality when listening to her tender, melancholic reading of Captain Humes Pavan.
Across the whole recital, the music dances, muses and mourns within her warm tone. The ornamentation is clean and elegant, rubatos are beautifully judged, and technical challenges are carried off with a sense of effortlessness. All these qualities come together to great effect in A Souldiers Resolution, with its rumbling echoes of the battlefield.
Heinrich owns in her engaging sleeve note that this is living room music rather than repertoire capable of sustaining an entire concert programme. That's probably true, but her reading of it deserves a place in every music collection. --Charlotte Gardner
Gary Burton - Next generation
From allmusic.com:
Gary Burton spent a great deal of his professional life juggling his duo careers as a bandleader and jazz educator. So it came as no surprise to see him form a brand new group of talented up and coming players in 2004, the eighth such new unit by his count. Burton's skill on vibes is a given, but his ability to find four impressive young men able to jump right in and perform at a high level also deserves kudos. The leader first heard guitarist Julian Lage on the 2000 Grammy Awards at the tender age of 12; he was just 16 at the time of these sessions and had already appeared with Burton on the earlier CD Generations. Lage, who shows incredible chops without overdoing it, also contributed the easygoing, infectious strut "Walkin' in Music" and "Clarity," a playful duet with Burton. Vadim Neselovskyi not only is a surprising pianist but a thoughtful composer whose works (including the intricate "Prelude for Vibes" and the tense, rapid fire "Get Up and Go") belie his age. Bassist Luques Curtis, in addition to solidly anchoring the rhythm section with the gifted drummer James Williams, penned the funky Latin "Ques Sez." The leader's liner notes don't specifically credit anyone with the wild arrangement of 20th century composer Samuel Barber's Fuga or the jaunty, somewhat angular rendition of the standard "My Romance" (possibly because they were a group effort), but they also merit high praise. This meeting of a jazz master and four prodigies is well worth acquiring.
The Sweetest Punch - The New Songs Of Elvis Costello And Burt Bacharach
Umm.....first listen, not sure, probably needs more listens. I think I prefer Painted From Memory even though they have a couple of tracks in common.
(2006)