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;
Sampling, don’t know - would need to hear the whole album...
Jeroen20 posted:Checking out the new album of Andras Schiff and Yuuko Shiokawa.
Jeroen, what is your verdict ?
Bert Schurink posted:Yetizone posted:Led Zeppelin III: CD Rip.
After seeing Thor: Ragnarok yesterday it was time to revisit Immigrant Song (used to great effect in the film) in its original context on Led Zeppelin III. Is this their best album? Not sure, but its probably my fav. I just love Gallows Pole and Born-Y-Aur Stomp and never get tired of hearing them. Timeless.
Just as an aside, are the HD remasters (on Qobuz etc) a worthy upgrade over the CD version?
Haven’t compared the HD stuff with the best CD version. But I have to say that I do love the HD stuff from them as such....
Bert, thanks for the endorsement of the Zep HD content!
Bert Schurink posted:Jeroen20 posted:Checking out the new album of Andras Schiff and Yuuko Shiokawa.
Jeroen, what is your verdict ?
Hi Bert,
I think it’s a good album. But I have to say that I don’t listen to violin sonata’s that often, so I don’t have many references. I liked the Bach and the Beethoven sonatas. I thought that the Busoni sonata was a bit long. At some point I got a bit bored, The playing by Andras Schiff and Yuuko Shiokawa is very nice.
Regards, Jeroen.
Four tet, Pink
atb
KK
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ripping cd's and updating the pod..
Silver eye
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Kamasi washington
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Pauline Oostenrijk - Vivaldi
Now Playing.........
Mary Black - No Frontiers
Through this in the TIDAL Queue yesterday after seeing mentions from NIGELB and PCD who used the adjectives "superb" and "simply wonderful" to describe this album.
Through the first three tracks and Mary does have a beautiful voice, a perfect fit to start the day........
Benedikt Jahnal trio - The Invariant
Something nice and light for a Sunny Friday afternoon.
Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour
Tuck & Patti - The best of
Tuck & Patti aren't mentioned here often on this forum. The music is really wonderful, with just guitar and voice. Both are excellent musicians.
From allmusic.com:
Released in 1994, THE BEST OF TUCK & PATTI presents an excellent overview of the husband-and-wife jazz/pop duo's '88-'91 output for the Windham Hill label. Relying solely on Tuck Andress's deft, nuanced guitar playing and Patti Cathcart's deep, emotive singing, these early recordings by the pair are both spare and surprisingly lush. While Tuck & Patti offer up numerous originals, most notably the lively, staccato "Tears of Joy" and the smoky "Love Warriors," they also showcase their talent for interpreting pop/rock tunes, as on the wistful version of the classic Cyndi Lauper ballad "Time After Time" and a soulful medley of the Jimi Hendrix classics "Castles Made of Sand" and "Little Wing." While the 2001 Tuck & Patti collection AS TIME GOES BY features an entire disc of standards, the well-selected mix of covers and originals featured here makes this compilation the best introduction to their serene and fascinating music.
Now Playing.......
Donald Byrd - Slow Drag
Donald Byrd (trumpet), Sonny Red (alto saxophone), Cedar Walton (piano), Walter Booker (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums, vocals)
Going with the mention from CLIVE B and playing another album by Donald Byrd. His Free Form album from the other day was excellent......
Review by Greg Simmons from All About Jazz can be found here:
In 1967 trumpeter Donald Byrd was a busy guy, teaching or lecturing at no fewer than four universities. It's a wonder he had time to play, let alone record. Fortunately, he did find the time, and the resulting Slow Drag takes an honorable place in his catalog.
The album features Byrd's working unit, fresh off a stint at New York's Five Spot Café. It's a solid lineup that delivers with a dollop of bar smoke and dirty grooves. But it's also a sophisticated album: Byrd was a forward-looking musician, and the modal influence of other contemporary leaders, particularly trumpeter Miles Davis, can clearly be heard in songs like "Secret Love."
The perfectly named title track opens with a piano vamp that says more with three notes than some composers could say with an entire sonata. Those three notes have force and weight, and they set a sultry mood before the horns ever get a chance to blow the melody. Of course, when they do arrive they blast in over the vamp—loud enough to startle—before backing off the volume so as not to break the blue mood. Their entrance is very well executed. Byrd's solo is rich and warm, with enough vibrato to match the late-night vibe of the vamp, and altoist
There is one weak moment on the date. "Jelly Roll" is about as close as you could get to Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder" without paying royalties. It's played well enough, but it's a cheap song, no doubt included in an attempt to get the Hit Parade lightning to strike twice for Blue Note. On a record of solid compositions and top shelf playing it stands out as second rate.
Byrd saves his best playing for last on the beautifully delivered "My Ideal." With Higgins playing a brushed swirl, Byrd opens over a quiet bass line, playing with tender sensitivity. But the song adjusts abruptly when Red takes over with a much more aggressive approach, emphasized by Higgins switching to sticks. Finally, pianist Cedar Walton makes an elegant, light-handed statement before turning it back over to Byrd for the recapitulation. It's a wonderful arrangement.
Slow Drag is a healthy mix of soul, blues and bop that hangs together remarkably well, largely on the strength of its excellent performances. Donald Byrd had a singular voice on the trumpet, and this recording should not be overlooked in his anthology.
Fancy giving Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts 80's Italian underground concept album a try, released last week? Well worth a listen IMHO. Interestingly, the CD is an HDCD, the first new release with this option I have seen in a long time.
Ralph Towner / Wolfgang Muthspiel / Slava Grigoryan - Travel Guide
Allmusic.com:
Since they first made festival appearances together in 2005 and recorded From a Dream in 2009, the guitar trio of American Ralph Towner, Austrian Wolfgang Muthspiel, and Kazhak Slava Grigoryan, has shown a remarkable sense of discipline, subtlety, and balance. Travel Guide is the occasional group's debut for ECM. Its ten tunes were written by either Muthspiel or Towner. The tonal qualities on all of these tracks are beautifully nuanced: Muthspiel plays electric guitar, Towner classical and 12-string, and Grigoryan classical and baritone guitars. These compositions weren't written for these players to showcase their solo chops, but rather as songs with limited but impeccable improvisation. Muthspieluses wordless vocals to expand the group's tonal reach on "Amarone Trio." His "The Henrysons" begins with a repetitive vamp by Towner; it's underscored by Grigoryan even as it lengthens and is finally illustrated in full flower by Muthspiel. Its melody is seemingly fragmentary, but it gradually becomes labyrinthine with a gorgeous set of harmonies put on display. On the title track, the playing gets intricate; Muthspiel and Towner twin the head, articulating its changes quickly and seamlessly as Grigoryan adds color and layers of texture. There is a lot going on, but it never feels overly busy. On "Windsong," Towner elegantly employs his 12-string as Muthspiel comps and Grigoryan offers a contrapuntal voice before he solos. Both flamenco and jazz illustrate "Nico and Mithra," where complex counterpoint in the head gives way to Towner's solo. Closer "Museum of Light" is the most speculative piece here, but it never forsakes lyric harmony even when it travels further afield into more speculative terrain. Travel Guide is an understated, uncluttered gem of virtuosity and composition. The unselfish sense of deference between these players reveals not only their comfort with one another, but the collective confidence of a uniquely voiced, developing group.
Now Playing......
Branford Marsalis - In My Solitude Live at Grace Cathedral
After listening to Donald Byrd, I thought I would move on to a favorite of mine from Branford Marsalis......
Kandace Springs - Soul Eyes
I love this. Gorgeous stuff.
To think, if Tony had not decided to take a punt on this and by chance buy the vinyl version of this from his local HiFi emporium on a visit for another reason and post it on here, I may never have had the joy of listening to this talented young lady!
Life's strange.
(2007)
Kicking off with this very good one from JB.