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

Now Playing.......

Jon Balke - Siwan

Jon Balke (keyboards, conductor), Amina Alaoui (vocal), Jon Hassell (trumpet, electronics), Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche (violin, Helge Norbakken (percussion), Pedram Khavar Zamini (zarb), Barokksolistene: Bjarte Eike (violin, leader), 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), and Hans Knut Sveen (harpsichord, clavichord).

Reviews found on All About Jazz here and here.

Beautiful album and a great start for a Monday morning.......

superb recital from one of today's top singers...

Gidon Nunes Vaz - Carry it on!

There are many good modern hard bop jazz recordings. This is good example of such a recording.

Gidon Nunes Vaz (trumpet, flugelhorn), Caspar van Wijk (tenor saxophone), Jasper van Damme (alto saxophone), Floris Kappeyne (piano), Tijs Klaassen (bass), Jean-Clair de Ruwe (drums).

ToddHarris posted:

superb recital from one of today's top singers...

Thanks for the mention, found it on TIDAL and taken it out for a spin........

dave marshall posted:

  Jamie Woon - Making Time.

  I know I've pushed this one before, but it's perfect for lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon listening.

  Laid back jazz / funk vibe, very good recording SQ, ................. and it's on Tidal, so give it a bash chaps. 

Dave, loving this, right up my street.

Great shout.

Hadouk Trio - Utopies

Mats Eilertsen Trio - Elegy

From allaboutjazz.com:

He's best-known internationally for his work on ECM recordings by artists including guitarist Jacob Young, pianist Wolfert Brederode, and, most recently, pianist Tord Gustavsen, with whom he's been touring in support of Restored, Returned (2010). But while these associations might suggest a bassist disposed to gentler forms and understated freedom, they're only two of Mats Eilertsen's many sides. A busy bassist in his native Norway, Eilertsen's broader reach can be heard on singer/songwriter Solveig Slettahjell's Tarpan Seasons (Universal, 2010), Hardanger fiddler Nils Okland's Bris (Rune Grammofon, 2005), the sonic extremes of Crimetime Orchestra at Molde Jazz 2009 , and the subdued spontaneity of The Source on its 2006 self-titled ECM set.

Left to his own devices, and with a gradually growing discography as a leader, Eilertsen does lean towards a softer, and sometimes darker approach, with the flexible approach to time that's near-signature to Norwegian improvised music. Elegy is the bassist's first with a conventional piano trio, though it's far from the tradition; the trio's take on trumpeter Miles Davis' enduring "Nardis" filters its familiar theme through a particularly dense prism—Thelonious Monk-like in its quirky mannerisms as opposed to the romanticism associated with {Bill Evans, the pianist most closely associated with the tune. But Monk wouldn't have approached it with the kind of temporal elasticity that Eilertsen, drummer Thomas Strønen manage with such effortless fluidity.

Eliertsen's choice of pianists for this set, largely composed of original material and spontaneous composition, features Harmen Fraanje, an up-and-coming Dutchman who, in addition to being a member of Eric Vloeimans' Fugimundi trio, has released three albums of his own, most recently Avalonia (Challenge, 2010). A good fit for this trio—comfortably blending European classicism with jazz's linguistic specificity, Fraange's "Six Weeks" is a stunning piece of dark melodism, juxtaposed with waves of paradoxically rounded angularity; a three-way conversation with Eilertsen, who blends robust, woody tone with flighty leaps into the upper register, and Strønen, who suggests time more often than playing it, coloring the music with dark, weighty cymbals and delicate movements around the kit.

Eilertsen's material ranges from the tender, folkloric "Sukha" whose song-like lyricism, rests somewhere between the late Esbjorn Svensson's pop-centricity and Gustaven's mid-tempo minimalism, and "Kram," which leans more towards the greater extroversion of "Nardis," but with an underlying thematic emphasis. The trio's free improvisations are equally impressive, from the brief, quarter-note piano chord-driven title track, a feature for Eilertsen's arco, to the strummed bass figure of "Flying"—Fraanje's ebbing-and-flowing waves evoking images of birds in flight—and the more jagged but equally cinematic "Falling."

Throughout, Eilertsen ensures complete democracy, distanced from a convention where piano is supported by a rhythm section of bass and drums. There's no lack of support to be found on Elegy, but it's a mutual thing—pulse as likely to come from Fraanje supporting Strønen's open-minded excursion as it is the other way around. Eilertsen anchors the bottom when needed, but is, more often than not, a melodic foil in this equilaterally designed and, consequently, open-minded trio.

Jeroen20 posted:

Gidon Nunes Vaz - Carry it on!

There are many good modern hard bop jazz recordings. This is good example of such a recording.

Gidon Nunes Vaz (trumpet, flugelhorn), Caspar van Wijk (tenor saxophone), Jasper van Damme (alto saxophone), Floris Kappeyne (piano), Tijs Klaassen (bass), Jean-Clair de Ruwe (drums).

It does sound good !

Looked up other 2 albums - Qobuz £7.99 each for 16 & 22 minute albums ?!?!

I know it not all about length ?!

nigelb posted:

dave marshall posted:

  Jamie Woon - Making Time.

  I know I've pushed this one before, but it's perfect for lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon listening.

  Laid back jazz / funk vibe, very good recording SQ, ................. and it's on Tidal, so give it a bash chaps. 

Dave, loving this, right up my street.

Great shout.

Nigel, good innit?

For some reason, not often "liked" in the past, by forumites, but I'll keep trying every once in a while. 

(1969)

Sounding rather fab ripped from the 2013 half-speed remaster (by Stan Ricker) Japanese pressed SuperViny box-set . 

Four Tet - New Energy

Everytime I post this I get one 'like'. How can a record this good only have two people who like it on the Naim forum?!

Christopher_M posted:

Four Tet - New Energy

Everytime I post this I get one 'like'. How can a record this good only have two people who like it on the Naim forum?!

You might like Everything Ecstatic as well....

   Led Zeppelin ll - Jimmy's 2014 remaster.

   In the car, on my way home, "Heartbreaker" came on, ................. so, ...................... why not?

An album that i've grown to appreciate more and more over the years. Just a great voice and great songs.

Sadly missed. 

George Michael - Older

(1967)

One more by the fabs from the same 2013 MFSL vinyl ripped collection.

(2003)

Soft and symphonic prog metal, this was one of their earlier albums when they were  just semi-pro / part time. Good stuff when you're in the mood, Sharon del Adel has a voice made for rock and metal. The band's emphasis on the symphonic and choral grew with each new album and saw them filling huge stadia with their shows in the later years.  

Ultravox - Rage In Eden

On CD

Erich posted:

Tidal.  Rumer - Seasons Of My Soul

Going with the mention from ERICH and taking Rumor out for a spin.......

The opening track demonstrates that she has a beautiful voice. Just about right for early Monday afternoon!

seakayaker posted:

Erich posted:

Tidal.  Rumer - Seasons Of My Soul

Going with the mention from ERICH and taking Rumor out for a spin.......

The opening track demonstrates that she has a beautiful voice. Just about right for early Monday afternoon!

I have several of her albums and find they all enjoyable just beautiful relaxing music.

    Led Zeppelin 1 - again, Jimmy's 2014 remaster.

   That's the problem with Zep, once you start down that road, there's no escape route. 

Thank you to the Four Tet guys, you know who you are.

C.

Snoop Dogg via Tidal...

2 x CD - This compilation 1997 Polygram/Mercury Records 

Each disc has 25 tracks of J J Cale cool brilliance, and not a single duff track, plus top drawer sonic Q : )

Debs

Magazine - Real Life

Excellent........On CD

Spotted the cover in a post above, and decided some early Percy was a good call. A month from today I see him with the sensational space shifters in Manchester.