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;
Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:
1978 - Tidal...
What do you think of it? Have you tried their first, eponymous album? Despite having many albums from various artists associated with the Canterbury Scene, I'm not aware that I've ever heard anything by National Health.
Clive, it’s a bit of a mixed salad. Very KC-esque, traces of Zappa. Remove the keyboards and you have a little Mahavishnu. I would have never associated them with the Canterbury Scene on music alone. Arrangements are well elaborated jazzy/funky solos interpolated but the unmistakable prog keys. Don’t think I have missed much though by not having ever heard of them. There was better music being listened to at that time...
Tony2011 posted:Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:
1978 - Tidal...
What do you think of it? Have you tried their first, eponymous album? Despite having many albums from various artists associated with the Canterbury Scene, I'm not aware that I've ever heard anything by National Health.
Clive, it’s a bit of a mixed salad. Very KC-esque, traces of Zappa. Remove the keyboards and you have a little Mahavishnu. I would have never associated them with the Canterbury Scene on music alone. Arrangements are well elaborated jazzy/funky solos interpolated but the unmistakable prog keys. Don’t think I have missed much though by not having ever heard of them. There was better music being listened to at that time...
Aside from your last sentence, I was very nearly sold on it. I'll have to see what I can find on YouTube. Thanks.
One of the albums I listened to when doing my O and A Levels, it carries a big nostalgic charge. Even without that I think it’s an excellent album, a set of intelligent well crafted songs, the Attractions are a superb backing band.
1968 - UK first pressing...
That reminds me that I have a dentist’s appointment tomorrow morning...
THE PEACOCKS
Three variations of a favorite song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BIlJRa-1pw
Now playing......
AllenToussaint - The Bright Mississippi
Streaming from TIDAL....... I have played this a couple of times over the past couple of months and enjoyed the music, so taking it out for another spin!
After many years as a side man, Bruce Katz stepped out on his own in 1992 to record Crescent Crawl. Although it is an all-instrumental album, Katz is the "frontman" on this recording, taking the spotlight -- and most deservedly so -- on both piano and Hammond B-3 organ. Crescent Crawl blurs the line between blues and jazz (the utilization of an upright bass assists in this effort).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DFQsMAM10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfIIphmNAIM
Now Playing......
Bruce Katz Band - Crescent Crawl
Bruce Katz (organ, piano), Marty Ballou (bass), Lorne Entress (drums), Kevin Barry (guitar), and Bob Malach (tenor saxophone)
Going with the mention from HAIM RONEN above, 'Crescent Crawl' ........ it just felt like the right album to follow 'The Bright Mississippi' ......... The first track is very nice indeed and flows in the same direction as the 'The Bright Mississippi!
Now Playing........
Andrew Cyrille Quartet
Andrew Cyrille (drums), Bill Frisell (guitar), Richard Teitelbaum (keyboard), and Ben Street (bass)
I just played this album the other day and I needed to come back and revisit, it is extremely enjoyable. I have ordered this but it will be a week or so before it arrives. Just love the opening track 'Coltrane Time' with Andrew's drumming and the second track 'Kaddish' with Bill's guitar playing! Simply fantastic......
Streaming on TIDAL.......
Note from ECM Records found here:
The great avant-jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille – whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading current all-star collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman – makes his ECM leader debut with The Declaration of Musical Independence. Featuring a quartet with guitar luminary Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and bassist Ben Street, the album kicks off with an artfully oblique interpretation of John Coltrane’s “Coltrane Time,” led by Cyrille’s solo drum intro. The disc then features a sequence of sonically arresting originals, including Street’s luminous “Say…” and Frisell’s deeply felt “Kaddish” and “Song for Andrew,” with Frisell’s guitar alternately cutting and billowing, the edge evoking some of his most illustrious past ECM performances. There are three atmospheric spontaneous compositions by the band – including the dynamic soundscape “Dazzling (Perchordally Yours)” -- that highlight Cyrille’s individual sense of percussive drama. Cyrille appeared on classic ECM and WATT albums by the likes of Marion Brown, Carla Bley and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, but this album puts a deserved spotlight on an icon of jazz drumming.
Ma/Ax/Kovakos: Brahms Trio No.1 -2017 rec.
Revisiting Brahms' Trio work.
Much more mature work than Ma's earlier Brahms. Even Ax sounds less bland.
Couldn't resist this. Carols and Albert Ayler tunes done in the Ayler Style. From Bandcamp.
During workout...
Bell/Denk/Isserlis: Brahms Trio No.1 -2016 rec.
What's so unique about their No.1 Trio is that they play Brahm's original version when he was just 20 years old.
Violin joins in much sooner in this version sounding like a eager child cutting into an adult conversation. This is a very different from the later ones but I find it something interesting going on. Perhaps not as cohesive as more polished later version but this is playful and fun. It gives a fresh contemporary feel. Adagio is played sporadic and linear. Isserlis' tone on his cello is rich and deep. Piano sounds honest. Violin is heart felt. This is one of the nicest Adagio with a power to persuade. I very much like this freer, livelier less ridged score and its interpretation.
I have had a 1990's Rush morning all Ripped from original 90's CD's.
Now Playing.......
Guy Clark - Songs and Stories
Guy Clark - (vocals, guitar), Bryn Davies (upright bass), Shawn Camp (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Verlon Thompson (guitar, vocals), and Kenny Malone (percussion)
Streaming from TIDAL....... I have listened to a couple of Guy Clark albums over the past week and enjoy his voice and his music. This is a fun album so far, good songs with some good stories along the way. The exploration of Guy's catalogue continues........
Note from TIDAL: Guy Clark is a superlative songwriter, a fine and thoughtful vocalist, and a compelling live performer, so it's a bit surprising that he hasn't released more live recordings, which would allow him to show off these three talents to their best advantage. Songs and Stories is only the second live album of Clark's career, coming 14 years after 1997's excellent Keepers, and there are some telling similarities between the two albums. Guitarist Verlon Thompson is still the anchor of Clark's acoustic band, Kenny Malone is still playing percussion, and both sets begin with the song "L.A. Freeway" from the earlier live collection. Songs and Stories is dominated by hardy perennials from Clark's songbook such as "Dublin Blues," "The Randall Knife," and "Homegrown Tomatoes." However, while Keepers captured Clark at a near ideal point in his career -- seasoned enough that he had become a top-notch performer but still lively and in strong voice -- Songs and Stories documents him at 70 years of age, and his voice is rougher and his vocals less supple than they once were, though he still has the presence to hold an audience in the palm of his hand and a band that serves the songs beautifully. And along with a paucity of recent material, this album also finds Clark taking an intermission at the set's mid-point, with Thompson and Shawn Camp taking over the show for four songs (a considerable percentage when Clark only sings nine). While Keepers captured Clark on a great night when he sounded fully engaged, Songs and Stories suggests he's coasting just a bit, and though he's still one of the true legends of the Texas songwriting community, this simply doesn't capture him at the top of his game. ~ Mark Deming
Stanley Cowell trio - Bright passion
Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:Clive B posted:Tony2011 posted:
1978 - Tidal...
What do you think of it? Have you tried their first, eponymous album? Despite having many albums from various artists associated with the Canterbury Scene, I'm not aware that I've ever heard anything by National Health.
Clive, it’s a bit of a mixed salad. Very KC-esque, traces of Zappa. Remove the keyboards and you have a little Mahavishnu. I would have never associated them with the Canterbury Scene on music alone. Arrangements are well elaborated jazzy/funky solos interpolated but the unmistakable prog keys. Don’t think I have missed much though by not having ever heard of them. There was better music being listened to at that time...
Aside from your last sentence, I was very nearly sold on it. I'll have to see what I can find on YouTube. Thanks.
Please find time to listen to National Health. Your effort will be amply rewarded. Both their eponymous debut and 'Of Queues And Cures' were fine albums and the later outtakes release 'Missing Pieces' is worthy of investigation. If you like Hatfield and the North, it's likely you will enjoy National Health. I saw one of National Health's early gigs in Bishop's Stortford when Bill Bruford was in the band.
Bruford (The band) were also a fantastic combo. Along with Bill Bruford, the band featured Dave Stewart (A founder member of National Health) on keys, Jeff Berlin on bass and the stellar talents of Allan Holdsworth on guitar. After Bruford's first album (Feels Good To Me), Allan Holdworth was replaced by The Unknown John Clark. While he was not able to match Allan Holdworth, he was still a very good guitar player.
Hope this has given you some more great music to investigate
Enjoy!
Now Playing......
Lee Konitz - Live at Birdland
Lee Konitz (alto saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Charlie Haden (double bass), and Paul Motion (drums)
Streaming on TIDAL....... A fantastic mellow jazz album, just wonderful!
Note on ECM Records website:
A quartet of master musicians and a programme of jazz classics. “Live At Birdland” presents the finest moments from two inspired nights at New York’s legendary club, as Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian play “Lover Man”, “Lullaby Of Birdland”, “Solar”, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, “You Stepped Out Of A Dream” and “Oleo” with freedom, tenderness, and a love of melody that only jazz’s greatest improvisers can propose. 'If you're trying to imagine what jazz sounds like in a dream state, Lee Konitz's 'Live at Birdland' will get you there...' - Evan Haga, JazzTimes
Ramon Valle trio - No Escape
Someone mentioned the Ramon Valle trio a couple of days ago (I don't remember who), so I thought I would check it out.
Very nice music indeed!
Allmusic.com:
Although pianist Ramón Valle (who contributed all 11 selections), bassist Omar Rodríguez Calvo, and drummer Liber Torriente were all born originally in Cuba and are masterful with polyrhythms, the music that they perform on No Escape is more post-bop jazz than it is Latin or Afro-Cuban jazz. Valle's style recalls Herbie Hancock of the 1960s at times, although it is fairly original. Working closely with his sidemen, Valle performs pieces that are often dark, complex, and a bit dissonant but not without their lighthearted moments. Of these, "El Vigia" is an inventive jazz waltz, the lengthy "Andar por Dentro" sounds mysterious, and "Brindemos" swings hard in its fashion. None of these originals are destined to become standards, but they certainly do challenge the musicians, who somehow often sound as one, following each other telepathically and creating stirring music.
(2014)
Fine sounding prog rock and metal, well played and soulfully sung by Airbag's frontman on this his solo debut. A fairly recent album but a bit of an old favourite around here.
Stefan Vladar - Brahms
Allmusic.com:
Stefan Vladar tackles Brahms' late piano works with zeal, throwing himself into the music, but not letting it carry him away. The set of Fantasies, Op. 116, and the Six Pieces, Op. 118, are particularly dramatic, even in the slower movements. The relatively slower Intermezzi, Op. 117, have a more calculated drama, and, as in most of the slower pieces on the album and even in a couple of the faster ones, such as the Ballade, Op. 118/3, his use of rubato tends to cause the music to lose momentum. In the outer sections of the Romanze, Op. 118, Vladar brings out the various themes quite effectively. He also handles the final set of pieces, Op. 119, with a sensibility rarely heard in these works, and it makes them quite enjoyable. The agitato of the second Intermezzo is more a nervousness than tense anxiety, while the third Intermezzo is much more playful than the way most people perform it. The final Rhapsodie is resolute, but not sternly so. Vladar also has a sensitive touch that adds a little depth to the moods of all of these works, so that, although the drama does not leave much to the listener's imagination, they are not aggressively pretentious.
Prompted by the post of Tony2011 yesterday, I found this on YouTube. It's very much like Hatfield and the North, which isn't at all surprising given its provenance and that's no bad thing. I think I'll have to make an investment.
Small Faces - Ultimate Collection.
Kicking off this evening with some classic mod rock .......... great band, great songs, and the great voice of Steve Marriott.
Original UK double vinyl pressing. Next year this album will be 20 years old, and it sounds unbelievably fresh; the best British record of the 1990s by some margin, I reckon. The tunes are fantastic, of course, but the soundscapes, and the sheer intensity with which they are rendered, are simply breathtaking.
(2016)
Luverly 70s style psychedelic rock from this London band new to the scene, one of my favourite psyche albums from last year and another find c/o the rather wonderful bandcamp.