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

(2008)

Glorious symphonic soft Goth metal to shake off the background Christmas music.

Death Cab For Cutie  -  "Kintsugi"  (2015)

Now Playing......

Oscars Motet Choir  - Cantante Domino 

Streaming on TIDAL......... Following a mention from PAULM160 and TONYM previously, I placed this in the TIDAL Queue and now taking out for a spin.      

Bert Schurink posted:

To switch after enjoying it to the last trio album, ...

It's been four years since a recorded peep has been heard from pianist Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, despite continuing to perform a few select dates each year. But even its last few ECM releases—2009's Yesterdays, 2007's My Foolish Heart and 2004's The Out-of-Towners—were all culled from a clearly fruitful 2001, making it well over a decade since a new recorded note has been heard from Jarrett's longest-lasting group. Fine albums all, the dearth of anything since that time has nevertheless begged the question, even amongst some of his most ardent fans, as to whether this undeniably fine trio had anything new to say.

From Jarrett's a cappella opening to Somewhere's wonderfully coalescing take of trumpeter Miles Davis' "Solar," all doubts are laid to rest as the pianist delivers a performance to rival his classic introduction to "My Funny Valentine" on Still Live (ECM, 1988), one of the Standards Trio's strongest records. It's a terrific start to an album that, recorded in Switzerland during the summer of 2009, celebrates 30 years since Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette first entered New York's Power Station studio for the fruitful sessions that yielded three recordings collected on Setting Standards: New York Sessions (ECM, 2008): Standards, Vol. 1 (1983), Changes (1984) and Standards, Vol. 2 (1985).

It's been a long time since the trio has stepped into a studio, and the easiest explanation is that this really is a group best heard live—a point driven home by this 65-minute, six-song set. In addition to Davis, the trio works its way through a list of equally classic songwriters. A particularly lovely take of Frank Perkins and Mitchell Parish's "Stars Fell on Alabama," finds Peacock, combining pure taste and tone, remaining at the top of his game. A quirky rendition of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is largely constructed around this trio's remarkable ability to suggest swing without actually playing it—the entire structure ready to collapse at any moment like a house of cards—but never actually doing so—even as DeJohnette takes his only real solo of the set, while Jimmy van Heusen and Johnny Mercer's balladic "I Thought About You" closes the set on an irrepressibly romantic note predicated on the trio's egalitarian nature.

But it's Leonard Bernstein's two classics from the 1957 musical West Side Story that form Somewhere's centerpiece. A profoundly beautiful take on "Somewhere" leads to Jarrett's lengthy coda, "Everywhere," building this nearly 20-minute workout to a powerful climax, ultimately winding down to a gospel-tinged conclusion, while "Tonight" is taken at an unexpectedly bright clip. Peacock and DeJohnette swing more directly this time, with Jarrett's effortless motivic invention keeping secure his position in the upper echelon of improvising pianists.

Despite the 12-year gap since its last recorded work, Somewhere leaves no doubt that the special spark Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette first demonstrated on the bassist's Tales of Another (ECM, 1977) remains intact. If anything, Somewhere creates hope that another four years won't have to pass before this inimitable trio is heard from again.

Sadly in 2015 Keith Jarrett is quoted, at KeithJarrett.org, saying “I don’t have a trio now so… all I know is that I’m not going to look for other guys who I would need 30 years to get as good as we got, that’s the biggest problem of all. How much rapport and understanding we had, it’s unmatched anywhere I think.”

Dave

1971 - Tidal...

Merry Xmas everyone. 

Tony2011 posted:

1971 - Tidal...

Merry Xmas everyone. 

Merry Xmas Tony.

Stevee_S posted:

Tony2011 posted:

Merry Xmas everyone. 

Merry Xmas Tony.

Merry Xmas, Steve and best wishes for the new year.

Some post Christmas tunes: Shepp / Parlan - Goin‘ Home

dave4jazz posted:

Bert Schurink posted:

To switch after enjoying it to the last trio album, ...

It's been four years since a recorded peep has been heard from pianist Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, despite continuing to perform a few select dates each year. But even its last few ECM releases—2009's Yesterdays, 2007's My Foolish Heart and 2004's The Out-of-Towners—were all culled from a clearly fruitful 2001, making it well over a decade since a new recorded note has been heard from Jarrett's longest-lasting group. Fine albums all, the dearth of anything since that time has nevertheless begged the question, even amongst some of his most ardent fans, as to whether this undeniably fine trio had anything new to say.

From Jarrett's a cappella opening to Somewhere's wonderfully coalescing take of trumpeter Miles Davis' "Solar," all doubts are laid to rest as the pianist delivers a performance to rival his classic introduction to "My Funny Valentine" on Still Live (ECM, 1988), one of the Standards Trio's strongest records. It's a terrific start to an album that, recorded in Switzerland during the summer of 2009, celebrates 30 years since Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette first entered New York's Power Station studio for the fruitful sessions that yielded three recordings collected on Setting Standards: New York Sessions (ECM, 2008): Standards, Vol. 1 (1983), Changes (1984) and Standards, Vol. 2 (1985).

It's been a long time since the trio has stepped into a studio, and the easiest explanation is that this really is a group best heard live—a point driven home by this 65-minute, six-song set. In addition to Davis, the trio works its way through a list of equally classic songwriters. A particularly lovely take of Frank Perkins and Mitchell Parish's "Stars Fell on Alabama," finds Peacock, combining pure taste and tone, remaining at the top of his game. A quirky rendition of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is largely constructed around this trio's remarkable ability to suggest swing without actually playing it—the entire structure ready to collapse at any moment like a house of cards—but never actually doing so—even as DeJohnette takes his only real solo of the set, while Jimmy van Heusen and Johnny Mercer's balladic "I Thought About You" closes the set on an irrepressibly romantic note predicated on the trio's egalitarian nature.

But it's Leonard Bernstein's two classics from the 1957 musical West Side Story that form Somewhere's centerpiece. A profoundly beautiful take on "Somewhere" leads to Jarrett's lengthy coda, "Everywhere," building this nearly 20-minute workout to a powerful climax, ultimately winding down to a gospel-tinged conclusion, while "Tonight" is taken at an unexpectedly bright clip. Peacock and DeJohnette swing more directly this time, with Jarrett's effortless motivic invention keeping secure his position in the upper echelon of improvising pianists.

Despite the 12-year gap since its last recorded work, Somewhere leaves no doubt that the special spark Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette first demonstrated on the bassist's Tales of Another (ECM, 1977) remains intact. If anything, Somewhere creates hope that another four years won't have to pass before this inimitable trio is heard from again.

Sadly in 2015 Keith Jarrett is quoted, at KeithJarrett.org, saying “I don’t have a trio now so… all I know is that I’m not going to look for other guys who I would need 30 years to get as good as we got, that’s the biggest problem of all. How much rapport and understanding we had, it’s unmatched anywhere I think.”

Dave

Let’s also get familiar with the thought that these brave men have grown old, now, and there may not be plenty of new material from them, any more. I trust Manfred Eicher, though, that he has many unpublished recordings in his drawer, so there is hope...

Florestan posted:

Johann Sebastian Bach:  Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio) BWV 248

Gundula Janowitz, Soprano
Christa Ludwig, Alto
Fritz Wunderlich, Tenor
Franz Crass, Bass
Münchener Bach-Orchester | Karl Richter, Conductor | Münchener Bach-Chor, Recording date: March 1965, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany

Random selection of Weihnachtsoratorium.  Other random picks earlier this week and to follow.  Merry Christmas.

Funny, as I just today listened to some Fritz Wunderlich recordings. While there are general singing style changes in the last 50 years, I find his voice still is one of the remarkable voices of the 20th Century.

Now Playing.......

John Cougar Mellencamp 

Streaming on TIDAL.......    Going with a mention from EWEMON above and taking John's Big Daddy album out for a spin.......

John is sounding mighty fine this Christmas Day!

Tony2011 posted:

Stevee_S posted:

Tony2011 posted:

Merry Xmas everyone. 

Merry Xmas Tony.

Merry Xmas, Steve and best wishes for the new year.

Thanks again Tony, I'll need those good wishes. Have a great 2018. 

Continuing to enjoy Diana Krall's music into the evening. This is a particularly good live recording. It's an enjoyable album throughout but the two 'encore' songs at the end are stunning: A Case Of You and Just The Way You Are. 

Remainders (previously unplaced) of Tingvall Trio - Skagerrak 

John Abecrombie - Up and Coming

still can t believe John has passed away

Now Playing......

Chris Stapleton - Traveller 

Streaming on TIDAL......    Spending a little time with Chris & Morgan on Christmas! One fantastic album......

Rupa - la pecheuse

fragile french music sung by a fragile French voice. Edit: French and English...

Now Playing......

David Crosby - Sky Trails 

Streaming on TIDAL......    A new release by David Crosby this past September and have had this out for a few prior spins. Another album that draws you in with each play.

The full review from NPR music and be found here:

"You know, I really wasn't kidding," laughs David Crosby, referencing our 2016 conversation about his then-new album, Lighthouse, during which he'd described experiencing an unprecedented, elongated bout of creativity. The imminent arrival of Lighthouse's follow-up, Sky Trails, less than a year later, lends Crosby's claim credibility. Crosby has released six solo albums since 1971, but three of them have arrived since 2014. ........

Florestan posted:

Johann Sebastian Bach:  Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio) BWV 248

Gundula Janowitz, Soprano
Christa Ludwig, Alto
Fritz Wunderlich, Tenor
Franz Crass, Bass
Münchener Bach-Orchester | Karl Richter, Conductor | Münchener Bach-Chor, Recording date: March 1965, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany

Random selection of Weihnachtsoratorium.  Other random picks earlier this week and to follow.  Merry Christmas.

For me, it is THE Weihnachstoratorium!

This album got played a few times today as we entertained family.

So much good music, so sadly missed.

RIP George. 

Ladies & Gentlemen - The Best Of George Michael

Now Playing.......

Fred Hersch & Bill Frisell - Songs We Know

Streaming on TIDAL........   Something a little mellow while working in the kitchen.....