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
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
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble re-creating “America’s Original Music” – the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema, and vintage dance. The PRO came into being as the result of Rick Benjamin’s 1985 discovery of thousands of turn-of-the-century orchestra scores once belonging to Victrola recording star Arthur Pryor. … Continue reading The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
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
“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
The sources for the history and overview of Mass include Anthony Tommasini's 2018 New York Times piece, "Is ‘Mass’ Leonard Bernstein’s Best Work, or His Worst?", the work description on the Leonard Bernstein Office website and Wikipedia. The controversy over Leonard Bernstein’s Mass began with its premiere in 1971. In his review for The New … Continue reading Leonard Bernstein’s Mass : Newer Recordings
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
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
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 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
Musica Kaleidoskopea 