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;
Greatest live show of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More than Rock and Roll, it was a religious experience.
Now playing.......
John Balke - SIWAN
Just arrived in the mail today, ripped to NAS and now playing, a fantastic album.
This was mentioned by a couple of members a couple of weeks ago and after listening to a Amina Alaoui album and reading the reviews regarding John Balke and SIWAN I thought I would give it a spin.
John Balke (keyboards, conductor), Amina Alaoui (vocals), Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche (violin), Bjarte Eike (violin), Jon Hassell (trumpet, electronics), Helge Norbakken (percussion), Pedram Khavar Zamini (zarb), Per Buhre (violin), Peter Spissky (violin), Anna Ivanovna Sundin (violin) Miloš Valent (violin), Rastko Roknic (viola), Joel Sundin (viola), Tom Pitt (cello), Kate Hearne (cello, recorder), Mattias Frostensson (double-bass), Andreas Arend (theorboe, archlute), Hans Knut Sveen (harpsichord, clavichord)
From a review in All About Jazz found here:
Balke takes music from Middle Eastern and Spanish sources, spanning over seven centuries, to create world music existing along a broad continuum that features, in addition to Balke's own keyboards, trumpeter 
b.1937
trumpet
Balke also enlists Barokksolistene, 12 Baroque soloists who, in addition to playing still contemporary string instruments, also perform on recorder, clavichord, harpsichord and, notably, the unwieldy archlute and less-so theorboe—stringed instruments of the lute family. The result is Balke's most ambitious yet accessible album in a string of exceptional ECM albums that includes the more oblique Diverted Travels (2004), with his ever-shifting Magnetic North Orchestra, and Book of Velocities (2008), a distinctive and deeply personal solo piano outing.
Siwan possesses an overriding Middle Eastern feel, as Hassell's treated trumpet on "Ya Safwati" meshes with Alaoui's expressive but never melismatic delivery and Balke's architectural approach to its percussion-heavy arrangement, creating music of antiquity living in and out of temporal space. The music provides clear reference points for other Balke releases including Batagraf's Statements (ECM, 2006), as well as Hassell's lifelong pursuit of his culturally informed but curiously ambiguous Fourth World Music, discussed in greater depth during a 2009 AAJ interview.
The equally propulsive "Itimad," from the 11th Century, begins with Hassell's vocal-like horn setting up a subtle call-and-response between Alaoui and M'Kachiche that's filled with nuanced implication, while the instrumental "Tuchia" asserts the album's overall tone early on, as a lush string arrangement contextualizes M'Kachiche's exploratory improvisation. But it's two expansive tracks that close the disc—"Thulathiyat" from the 10th Century, and especially Spanish mystic and Carmelite priest San Juan de la Cruz's "Toda Ciencia Trascendiendo"—that are its high points. Balke blends complex formal arrangement with unrestricted free expression, the result being a groundbreaking landscape of great beauty, filled with drama and emotional resonance.
Whether or not Siwan is jazz is unimportant. What is important is that Balke—whose performance with this group at Mai Jazz 2008 was a festival highlight—has broken down boundaries to create a far-reaching and important album that blends Baroque classicism, North African music, ambient textures and no shortage of improvisational opportunities into one of 2009's best releases, and a clear career highpoint for an artist revered in his own country but grossly undervalued on the international stage. Siwan deserves to change that.
Tidal. Glenn Kaiser - Spontaneous Combustion
Now Playing......
Amina Alaoui - Arco Iris
Amina Alaoui (vocals, daf), Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak (violin), Sofiane Negra (oud), José Luis Montón (flamenco guitar), Eduardo Miranda (mandolin) Idriss Agnel (percussion, electric guitar)
Another album that was recommended a couple of weeks ago that was not available on Tidal. After listening to another of Amina's albums I ordered Arco Iris which arrived today and ripped to the NAS. Amina has an alluring voice which draws you in and the musicians appear to be masters in their craft. A beautiful album.
Review from all about jazz found here:
Backed by an outstanding multinational quintet that, in its reliance on acoustic instruments—violin, oud, flamenco guitar, mandolin and percussion—feels utterly timeless in the 21st century, Arco Iris pays sincere reverence to Alaoui's own roots. Born in Fez, she first studied Gharnati—a musical variant originating in Al-Andalus, stemming from Moroccan and Algerian traditions—but by assimilating a variety of cultural markers both near and far, Arco Iris possesses a much broader reach, a successful attainment of Alaoui's assertion, "I am an artist of the present. I abstain from simply copying the styles of the past."
The music of another ECM artist, Tunisan oudist Anouar Brahem, provides something of a touchstone in its more contemplative moments—less The Astounding Eyes of Rita 2009), though, and more Astrakan Café (2000). Fellow Tunisian oudist, Sofiane Negra is in a considerably different context, sharing the stage with Barcelonan flamenco guitarist José Luis Montón and Brazilian-born/Portuguese-based mandolinist Eduardo Miranda, though on the collaborative tracks they're as often heard in entwining melodies, rather than dense chordal engagements. Add Tunisian violinist Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak, and "Ya Laylo Layl" becomes a cornerstone and highlight, as it moves from a soaring a capellaviolin intro, to its dynamic middle section, oud and violin coming together in unison lines an octave apart beneath Alaoui's lilting lyricism, and driven by a propulsive 5/4 pulse from percussionist Idriss Agnel (Alaoui's son), but turning more introspective for a lengthy coda where improvisation is key.
Oud and flamenco guitar conjoin on the melancholy "Fade menor," Alaoui singing plaintively of the darker side of love, while on "Moradia," Negra's opening oud solo joins haunting lines and visceral bends to create one of Arco Iris' quiet tour de forces, an instrumental track that then takes gentler form as a duet where Miranda solos with spare urgency over Montón's soft arpeggios. "Las Morillas de Jaén," a more fervent song of three Moorish girls that represents both Alaoui and Arco Iris at its most potent, even as its dynamics ebb and flow in a reading almost unrecognizable to saxophonist Jan Garbarek's version with the Hilliard Ensemble on Officium Novum (ECM, 2010).
If much of this feels of antiquity, Agnel's soft electric guitar on "Que fare" places Arco Irisfirmly in the 21st century, even as Alaoui—a singer whose greatest potential is always kept simmering just below the surface—she delivers, here and throughout this compelling recording, with equal measures grace, emotive power and phrasing filled with evocative implication.
Track Listing: Hado; Búscate en mí; Fado Al-Mu'tamid; Flor de nieve; Oh Andaluces; Ya laylo layl; Fado menor; Búscate en mí, var.; Moradía; Las Morillas de Jaén; Que fare; Arco Iris.
Now Playing.....
Lucinda Williams - This Sweet Old World
Another album that arrived in the mail this afternoon, I had pre-ordered this album and I had forgotten about it, this aging can have its senior moments! Loved the original, so I'm stoked about this release.....
Now Playing.......
Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin'
This was another album that came in the mail today, another great voice covering some Dusty Springfield songs.
Really enjoying this album.....
seakayaker posted:Now Playing.......
Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin'
This was another album that came in the mail today, another great voice covering some Dusty Springfield songs.
Really enjoying this album.....
That’s a great one. Saw her live at the triple door. Fantastic
Now Playing......
James McMurtry - Saint Mary Of The Woods
Going with the mention from EWEMON above and listen to 'Saint Mary Of the Woods.' I have listened to a number of his other albums over the past couple of weeks and really enjoy his music.
This is the nightcap.......
1st run..
1st run
seakayaker posted:Now Playing.......
Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin'
This was another album that came in the mail today, another great voice covering some Dusty Springfield songs.
Really enjoying this album.....
This is a lovely album and one of my favourites. Great songs and a sublime recording. Although I've got most of her albums, I can't seem to warm to them as much as I do this one.
This album has been a slow burner for me compared to the first but persistence (and earworms from some of the tracks being used on TV trailers) has paid off.
London Grammar - Truth Is A Beautiful Thing
Bert Schurink posted:1st run
A more conceptual album, in a different direction again. Will need a couple of spins to fully appreciate - less jazz more like composed music....
Distinct style in his young years, great...
Must more coherent and laid back than the EPIC, I like it...
Great album, dreamy saxophone ...
Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. Brought to life by a 20-piece company of actors and musicians, award-winning playwright Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into this new show full of hope, heartbreak and soul.
Transfers from the Old Vic to the West End, at the end of December, for a 12 week run.
A dense but interesting album...
live in Oslo, October '89
ewemon posted:
Ewemon, this is an absolutely fantastic album - very well recorded too, as are most of his other albums.
Old hearing the noise, but musically still relevant
Another one...
