Chick Corea & Bobby McFerrin
"The Mozart Sessions" (CD)

Bobby McFerrin has spent a good part of his career going against the grain of classical music tradition and customs.  It may seem contrary that he deliberately put himself on this collision course, but to listen to McFerrin speak about music is to have an eye-opening encounter with someone who bathes regularly in the pure essence of music.

This project, put together with jazz icon Chick Corea, was an attempt in the mid-90's to restore a kernel of playfulness and improvisation to the classical concert stage.  Corea performs Mozart's piano concertos nos. 20 and 23 very well, with a beautiful sound and more-than-capable technique, but it is tucked just behind the obvious that we see the point of this endeavor: Corea's cadenzas wander through 200 years of musical tradition, sounding often times "wrong" and McFerrin lends the occasional vocal interlude.  It is an interesting philosophical journey and well worth your time, but its only apparent if you're already well-versed in the traditions of classical music.

Posting on the blog may become more sporadic for a while.  I won't stop listening, but I'll just have to store up recordings before I'm able to post them in lumps.