Chet Baker Trio "Live in Paris" Elementary Music cd, disc 2



This is one of my favorite Elementary Music releases. Chet is mellow and focused and the sound is very "you are there". . . .

From the shelves

Jure Pukl "Doubtless"

A husband and wife two tenor lead, bass and drums quartet. Rather "harmelodic" to my ears at least so far in.



In from bandcamp

TONG LI ....Probably one of the best Chinese singer presently. Beside her own songs, she has taken back many of Teresa Teng's repertory ....beautiful !




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYf0kcFzGgY

If you are interested, some albums are available here :

https://www.yesasia.com/global/search/%E7%AB%A5%E4%B8%BD/0-0-0-q.%E7%AB%A5%E4%B8...

Carlos Santana/Alice Coltrane "Illumination" SACD



Beautiful sound for this crisp summer morning. Fall is coming!

From the shelves

Milt Jackson "Used to be Jackson" Solid Records Japan 2 cd set, disc 2

Milt jackson, Cedar Walton, Ray Brown, Mickey Roker



From the shelves

Lucero- Live from Atlanta.
Streaming after King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Iron Lung.
Super stereo 3-d surround sound, courtesy of two Lii F15s and 2 Decware monoblocks.

Listening to some Christmas music today, of recordings my family played when I was a "youngster" in the 60's.

Joan Baez, "Noel," from 1966, with orchestral accompaniment.  Peter Schickele did the arrangements and conducted the orchestra.  He is perhaps best known for his humorous shows on the works of "P.D.Q Bach," a made-up member of the Bach family (I actually saw one of his performances with my parents in the early 1970s).  In his liner notes to the reissued CD, he talks about "the sound on Joan's album would be reminiscent of the musical periods in which the various carols were written," and that he had been selected because he "had shown, in the P.D.Q. Bach music, a certain amount of dexterity in evoking the flavor of bygone styles without trying to slavishly write" in exactly those historical styles.  It has some songs I really like that I have not heard elsewhere (like "Down in Yon Forest", maybe my favorite on this recording).

Chet Atkins, "Christmas with Chet Atkins" from 1961.  For some reason, we never played this record a lot when I was a kid.  It has a vocal group accompaniment on some songs that to me seems typical for late 50s to early 60s popular recordings.  I liked those vocals on this record (even though I think some may find it dated and "corny") - a couple of my favorites in that style were "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Little Drummer Boy."

Hope everyone here has a good holiday weekend, and good music (whether holiday music or otherwise).

Teskey Brothers
Black Pistol Fire
Kaleo
Peter Green

Listening to some Clifton Chenier zydeco music today.  Started with "Bayou Blues," which I think may be a compilation of singles.  As the title says, lots of blues on this one (and I think blues was always a large part of his music), with a mix of vocals and instrumentals.





Then to an anthology "Chess New Orleans," which has tracks from Chicago's Chess records foray into Louisiana in the 1950s through the early 1960s.  It includes some Clifton Chenier tracks - the instrumental "Bayou Drive" is one of my favorite Chenier songs.

Pete Johnson. . . quite a piano player!

Right now
Miles Davis "Miles +19" (aka "Miles Ahead") This is the mono mix on Japanese Sony cd

Listening to something different this morning - Tito Puente, "El Rey de la Salsa."



I got this at a Tower Records outlet a long time ago.  I would call it latin jazz, and all the vocals are spanish (no liner notes on the CD, which I guess is OK because I wouldn't be able to read them anyway!).  This is pretty much the only recording I have in this genre.

It is pretty fun music to listen to - it has lots energy, and even without understanding the words it feels pretty compelling to me.  My favorite is an instrumental version of "Ran Tan Kan" that has vibes, and all sorts of rhythms going on (a quick look at youtube shows lots of versions have vocals).    

John Pizzarelli "Bossa Nova" Telarc cd

A nice Saturday morning cd. Paul Braga's drums really help to anchor this one.

Yes, Tito wrote "Oye" possibly borrowing from the great bassist Cachao. . .and Santana did a version that knocked me out when I first heard it on the radio and led me to exploring some Latin jazz.

Cha cha cha!

Bossa Nova is a genre I really started listening to and exploring in the mid-eighties and then got seriously into when exchanging emails and tapes with a California guitarist named Jim Rowan, an expert in the genre. This led me to a deep reverence for the music of Jobim, which lasts to this day and I don't see going away. Those Getz albums are classics and those cd versions in that box set are very well remastered and presented.

Yes--one of the best selling jazz albums of all time and perhaps the most influential bossa nova album ever. I don't play it often. . .as it is sort of seared into my mind. I have a mono version on cd that is nice for me to hear as I have heard the stereo so often!

It is a marathon. Cleaned 270 albums this week, listened to 82 so far. Out of the 82, 12 are either excessively worn or have unrepairable skips. The eighteen pictured are good out of the 23 auditioned in the last 20 hours.

A great record!

I think I have all the work that Moore did with the Cole Trio, and another record of his as a leader. As I used to play along with the Cole Trio recordings he was an influence on my own (ragged) guitar style. Quite a guy! I'm glad he made some coin.

Another great guitarist that played with Cole (after Moore) was John Collins.

It's still a bit hard for me to get back into classical music . . . I still associate that so much with listening with my Dad, who I miss so much. . . still. I'm taking some baby steps into the genre successfully this year.

Right now

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers "Just Coolin'" Blue Note cd

This was a rejected session that finally saw the light of day this decade. Not as polished as some sessions but good tunes and playing and sound.

I do have that box set, and it's an adventure in music! Saval led me to it via other cds. . . he is such a scholar and master.

Right now



A fantastic album.

"Ithamara Koorax & Juarez Moreira – Bim Bom"  Motema Music cd

I have been listening to Bernard Herrmann music today.  First, "Film Classics" CD.  



It has portions of the soundtracks from a number of movies, conducted by Bernard Herrmann.  The ones that I particularly liked (when considered outside of the context of the related films) were " "Fahrenheit 451," "Jane Eyre," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," and "The Day the Earth Stood Still."  While it has nothing to do with the music, I wonder if Gort, the all-powerful alien robot in "The Day the Earth Stood Still,", relied on tubes or transistors!

Following that with the soundtrack to "Jason and the Argonauts" from 1963.  The orchestra for that recording did not include strings (except for several harps), but instead relied on a number of wind and percussion instruments.  This CD was recorded in 1998 from the original score and conducted by Bruce Broughton.  Interesting listening to all the different colors and timbres of the wind instruments.

I have that Little Walter set too, a real boon to have that set configured and available for a spell.

I have been buying bundles of used cds because I don't and likely won't stream. I have boxes and boxes and shelves and shelves of cds. . . if I can't find something new to buy I will always have plenty to play!

Quote:


I do too. Like Lon, I don't stream, but I do buy and download files. It isn't exactly the same as physical media, but I own it, don't need a network connection to play it, and it takes up less space than a jewel case.

Listening to Louis Jordan today, starting with 2 CD anthology "Louis Jordan, Let the Good Times Roll," including recordings from 1938 to 1953.



This includes a lot of recordings when he was at his peak of popularity, including lots of great songs with humorous lyrics (while I think many of these songs can be classified as "novelty" songs, that seems a bit disrespectful of the great music).  The liner notes have an interesting discussion of how he would be trying out new songs at these performances, so he knew which songs were going to be well received by the public before they were recorded.

Then moved on to "Rock'n'Roll" which is an anthology of material recorded by Mercury Records in 1956 and 1957.  Many listeners had evidently moved on from the big band style of some of his original hits, and these recordings tried to update the sound to appeal to a younger audience.



Great music and great songs!

Now listening to a 2016 organ trio recording by Little Charlie and Organ Grinder Swing, “Skronky Tonk:”



This recording includes versions of Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt songs, standards like “How High the Moon,” and a few originals.  Little Charlie Baty led the blues band “Little Charlie and the Nightcats” for decades, and I think the jazz influences slipped into a lot of his blues playing (a different approach from Robillard).  One of his last recordings with the Little Charlie and the Nightcats was “Nine Lives” in 2005: