Category: Reviews

This is where I will post my thoughts about my favorite classical or jazz CDs and sometimes survey the various recordings of a specific piece.

John Luther Adams : The Become Trilogy

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Released in September 2020 on Cantaloupe Records, The Become Trilogy by John Luther Adams collects for the first time newly remastered versions of Become River, Become Ocean and Become Desert.  The Become Trilogy pays tribute to a magical partnership between Adams, conductor Ludovic Morlot and the renowned Seattle Symphony. As a whole, the music speaks both to the meditative solace of solitude, and the universally … Continue reading John Luther Adams : The Become Trilogy

Charley Patton

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Charley Patton is generally considered the oldest Delta blues musician with his work surviving in over 50 recordings. Born some time between 1885 and 1891 he probably was playing around his country from the first decade of the 20th century until his death in 1934.  Son House knew him and played with him but was … Continue reading Charley Patton

Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige finally arrives

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Black, Brown and Beige was at the time of its debut Ellington's most misunderstood and under appreciated work.  The 1943 Carnegie Hall Concert live recording presents the work in its only Ellington-led complete form.  But after the initial critical trashing of the work he performed it once more, and then removed it from his band's … Continue reading Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige finally arrives

“A Love Supreme, The Complete Masters,” Coltrane’s classic, now in a 3CD expanded release is a revelatory experience

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If you only own the original studio release of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme then the 2015 three-disk release “A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters” will be a revelatory experience. Everything changed for Coltrane in 1957 when Coltrane stopped drinking and kicked heroin and from that point forward his career would unfold with a focused … Continue reading “A Love Supreme, The Complete Masters,” Coltrane’s classic, now in a 3CD expanded release is a revelatory experience

Bill Frisell’s Harmony

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“The eminent guitarist Bill Frisell improvises in smoky ringlets of melody, drawing the influence of classic jazz guitar into a palette based on early American folk music. He has been a noted bandleader since the 1980s, but has never released an album for Blue Note Records, jazz’s most illustrious label. That will change with “Harmony,” … Continue reading Bill Frisell’s Harmony

Eliane Radigue – Occam Ocean

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Éliane Radigue (b. 1932) is a pioneering French composer of undulating continuous music marked by patient, virtually imperceptible transformations that purposively unfold to reveal the intangible, radiant contents of minimal sound—its partials, harmonics, subharmonics and inherent distortions. As a student and assistant to musique concrète pioneers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry in the ‘50s and … Continue reading Eliane Radigue – Occam Ocean

Tobie Miller : Bach on the Hurdy Gurdy

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Excerpts from the artist's website: The Canadian hurdy gurdy player, recorderist and singer, Tobie Miller, grew up in a family of classical musicians. After studies in Early Music Performance (B.Mus) at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), she moved to Basel (Switzerland) to pursue postgraduate studies at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Aufbaustudium Diplom with High Distinction, … Continue reading Tobie Miller : Bach on the Hurdy Gurdy

Charles Lloyd + Lucinda Williams = jazz + roots = fantastic

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In May of this year (2018), Charles Lloyd & The Marvels released their second album Vanished Gardens; this one featuring Lucinda Williams.  In the opinion of this writer, it is simply fantastic. However, be forewarned, Vanished Gardens is genre-bending music and if you are looking for a strictly jazz record from Lloyd this is not it.  But there is … Continue reading Charles Lloyd + Lucinda Williams = jazz + roots = fantastic

J. S. BACH SIX SUITES FOR SOLO VIOLA : Kim Kashkashian, Viola

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J. S. BACH SIX SUITES FOR SOLO VIOLA Kim Kashkashian, Viola Release Date: October 12, 2018 Label: ECM Records The disc features J.S. Bach’s cornerstone 6 Solo Cello Suites – transcribed for solo viola.   “The Bach cello suites have been a life long partner and teacher … every day, we learn anew from our … Continue reading J. S. BACH SIX SUITES FOR SOLO VIOLA : Kim Kashkashian, Viola

The Orlando Consort’s latest installment in their complete survey of the music of Guillaume de Machaut : The Gentle Physician

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Guillaume de Machaut (c1300–1377) is considered now, as he was in his own day, the most significant French poet and composer of the fourteenth century. Sometimes described as ‘the last of the trouvères’ because of his dual talents as wordsmith and musician, Machaut built on past traditions yet spearheaded a new school of lyric composition. … Continue reading The Orlando Consort’s latest installment in their complete survey of the music of Guillaume de Machaut : The Gentle Physician