What are you listening to? June 2025

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Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto - Live At The Berlin Jazz Festival 1966 (The Lost Recordings, 2021)

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I am a huge fan of Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, both together and separately. Due to the inherently episodic nature of record albums, it can be difficult to place a pairing of two such unique artists into the larger context of their careers. An album like this one, by presenting a complete live concert from November 5, 1966, offers an invaluable view of the interplay between these two performers.

The Lost Recordings has excavated a treasure trove of music buried deep in the vaults of Europe. For this release they explain:

"It is the end of 2021 when we discover, in the archives of Berlin radio (RBB), this timeless treasure: the Stan Getz Quartet with the delicious Astrud Gilberto, as part of the Berlin Jazztage, in 1966. These 2 bands had not been opened since then... Listening to these titles with their timeless lightness we were happy and had the feeling of being invested with a real mission to save treasures like this from oblivion ."

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Stan Getz assembled a versatile group consisting of Gary Burton, Roy Haynes and Chuck Israels who could migrate effortlessly from hard bop to samba, always anchored by the liquid sound of his sax. This dynamic group pushed Astrud Gilberto in a more adventurous direction than her usual easy Brazilian groove. As if to prove their jazz credentials, the group ends with a 9 minute drum solo by Roy Haynes that must have sent the audience into the cold Berlin night fully satisfied.

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter.

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Getz & Gilberto in Berlin
 
Thollem McDonas ~ Gone Beyond Reason to Find One (2010)

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Discogs classifies this solo piano CD as Jazz and Free Improvisation, and so it may be. I would characterize it primarily as Modern Classical, but I can see hear why the composer considers it Jazz. I will let him be the final arbiter of that.
 
Connie Smith - [stray tracks] (1985, 1986, 1990)

1985:
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1986:
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1990:
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For nine long years after the K-Tel remake collection in 1983, Connie failed to release an album. She kept herself busy with appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and occasional forays into the studio like those shown above. Of these recordings, the two Epic singles held the greatest promise but only the first one grazed the bottom of the charts. Her chilling version of "Silent Night" for Epic's stellar acoustic Christmas record paired her with Willie Nelson backed by Chet Atkins and Marty Stuart. As time passes, we will be hearing a lot more about Marty's eventual role in Connie's life. But there are still several more years of struggle ahead of Connie before her musical salvation.
 
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