What are you listening to? October 2021

[Zeeba Neighba]

Charlie Parker with Strings: The Master Takes (recorded 1949-50)

 

[Ojai Sam]

USSR State Symphony Orchestra (Evgeny Svetlanov, Cond.) - Dargomyzhsky: Kazachok, Baba Yaga, Bolero, Finnish Fantasy, St. Petersburg Serenades (1988)

Alexander Dargomyzhsky was part of the generation before Tchaikovsky. Best known for operas, this collection presents his more obscure but still outstanding orchestral works, under the baton of the redoubtable Evgeny Svetlanov. You can listen to a somewhat different but overlapping selection here, if you like:

 

[JazzyRandy]

Sade - Lovers Rock (1999)
Mary J Blige - Mary (1999)
Prince - Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)


I woke up early this a.m., fell into 1999 and couldn't get out.

Aside: Over his career, Prince began to lean more and more on horns. It's especially noticeable in his last half dozen albums or more. And upfront and in your face at concerts from 1995 on. Listening to this album, I kept thinking "hey, those horns are kicking ass in this song." Then, thinking the same thing two or three songs later.

 

[JazzyRandy]

Lee Morgan - The Procrastinator (1967)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Two crooners from different eras...
Maxwell - blackSUMMERS'night (2016)
Frank Sinatra - Where Are You? (1957)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Chicago Symphony (Georg Solti, cond.) - Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps (1974)

Wild stuff for 1913 that holds up very well today. Solti had an intuitive feel for the highly innovative score to Stravinsky's third ballet.

 

[axolotl]

Ludwig Van Beethoven ~ Sonaten: Mondschein; Pathétique; Appassionata [Daniel Barenboim] (1984)



A wise and erudite man posted this over a month ago, and I reached out to Amazon to bring me a copy.

TIRAMISU, in every sense

 

[axolotl]

Bud Powell ~ The Essen Jazz Festival Concert (Recorded in West Germany 1960) [24 Bit Remastered]



ETA: Another from the collection of the late John Campognolo, who said he had "one good ear."

The man loved his Bud.

 

[axolotl]

Peter Manning Robinson ~ Phoenix Rising (1989)



As much as I have listened to this CD in the last 25 years, it is time to grant it

So be it.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Shy, Low - Snake Behind The Sun (2021)



This is classic, excellent post-rock. Nothing new, but so well done I don't mind.

 

[JazzyRandy]

Peter Manning Robinson ~ Phoenix Rising (1989)



As much as I have listened to this CD in the last 25 years, it is time to grant it

So be it.

I'm a firm believer that any album that I listen to much more than average must be an album I like much more than average. Sometimes I'll think an album is 3 or 3.5 stars, but I end up listening to it more than albums I've rated higher. Once I notice that, I have to update my rating.

 

[JazzyRandy]

Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha (2016)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Michael Blanco - Spirit Forward (2016)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense - Moving Still (2016)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bud Powell ~ The Essen Jazz Festival Concert (Recorded in West Germany 1960) [24 Bit Remastered]



ETA: Another from the collection of the late John Campognolo, who said he had "one good ear."

The man loved his Bud.

You've inspired me - gonna break out some Bud Powell this afternoon

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music, Vol One (1951)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume One (1952)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga- Virunga Volcano (1990)

A classic of Kenyan music, 53 minutes of pure joy.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Concentus Musicus Wien (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond.) - Concert Music of the Baroque Court (1965)

Wiki tells us that Nikolaus Harnoncourt (or to give him his full due, Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt), was one of the pioneers of the Early Music Movement. This album, featuring the group he founded, delivers gorgeous readings of rarely heard works by two leading 17th Century composers.