Bumblebeez
"The Printz" (CD)

One of the noisiest groups I've heard, this set of songs are actually two individually-released EP's that the Beez decided to release as their first full-length album.
Everything sounds like it was recorded via bootleg technology in a truckstop bathroom, but that doesn't stop it from being some pretty head-banging rockin' stuff.

They've since released a second album which I've not heard, but I hope they've lost none of their rowdy charm since this album came out.

It's been a loong weekend.

The Bad Plus
"Never Stop" (CD)

Minneapolis jazz fusion trio the Bad Plus release their first all-original album in their tenth year. Since it was their unconventional covers that made them famous (Nirvana's "Lithium", Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb") it may seem bold to do an album of only original work.
Thankfully it all holds together pretty well and there are only a couple of lull moments in the album.

The Poets of Rhythm
"Practice What You Preach" (Vinyl)

It is very hard to determine the exact point of origin for this album. Everything from the production, recording, artwork and packaging all look like a re-release of something that was released in 1973, but in fact this ablum was released on Dap-tone in 2006.
It is very funky, very fun. And they're German. I think.

Vince Guaraldi Trio
"Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits" (CD)

Probably catapulted by the success of the soundtrack to the Peanuts' Christmas classic the geniuses behind 'Linus & Lucy' decided it would be a capital idea to assemble the memorable tracks from all of the Peanuts' holiday specials onto one album.

What we end up with is a thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly playful and thoroughly good jazz album. The ensemble is at their swingin' best and you may even be able to associate some of the numbers with childhood memories. I don't remember much of the Peanuts specials aside from the Christmas special and a Halloween episode involving the Great Pumpkin and an accident with a bed sheet and a pair of scissors...

Elgar: Enigma Variations, Serenade for Strings
Handley, London Philharmonic (Vinyl)

Elgar's most-respected orchestral work, (let's just leave Pomp & Circumstance outside where it belongs) the Enigma Variations, has been successfully tricking generations of musicians into trying to figure out what the joke is.
Trick or not, this is a beautiful piece of music.
This recording is a little odd. The recording itself feels swallowed, as though the microphones were obscured behind a curtain while the orchestra played. I don't know if it's my pressing of the record, but I'm used to hearing more care and clarity put into a classical recording. I'm not sure what happened this time...

The Mars Volta
"Frances the Mute" (CD)

I had a conversation a couple weeks ago about At the Drive-In, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala's previous incarnation before The Mars Volta was formed. This reminded me that I needed to dig out the few Volta albums I have and give them a listen again.

This was the first Volta I'd ever heard. I was at a summer festival and they played the music video for "L'via L'viaquez" which sent my head whirling. I just didn't know anybody was making noise like that and getting attention for it.
Now granted, if you're standing near the hi-fi it's very easy to skip over the minutes upon minutes of noise that Rodriguez-Lopez installed in his project, but every song on here is different, hard-hitting and creative. Within two days I'd bought the record and was really able to digest Omar's guitar style which consists of endless parade of pyrotechnic force without any thought for going back for survivors.


To change it up, I listened to this today on my Tivoli Audio hi-fi which kept me company while I cleaned the kitchen. It's listening experience is very different than on my normal McIntosh/B&W set-up. Much of the middle ground is lost, which is too bad with this record, because that's where Omar's guitar lives. This isn't a criticism of the Tivoli - one can only expect a two-inch driver to do so much. It's a delightful bit of engineering and a swan song for Henry Kloss.

The Ting Tings
"We Started Nothing" (CD)

The debut from British underground pop-hipsters had one big hit for the band: "Shut up and let me go" which may turn out to be the one-hit wonder kiss of death.
Truthfully, this album's full of catchy, noisy, punk-pop that doesn't quite sound like anything else you've heard.
Perhaps not quite dense enough to remain in my collection forever, I initially bought this because I was surprised at the whole album's content outside of their hit song.

Amadeus Quartet
Smetana and Dvorak "American" String Quartets (Vinyl)

Every violist becomes aware of these two quartets. Both open with notable viola solos. One of which (the Dvorak) you are allowed to attempt a little earlier in life than the other. The Smetana can appear on audition excerpt lists when a committee mistakenly thinks that the opening volley is the same as playing actual chamber music and not just a glorified orchestral solo.

The performances here are beautiful if not notably different from today's quartet practices. As with everything in our post-editing age, so much value has come to be placed on clarity and precision that young up-and-coming quartets are accomplishing technical feats before not considered possible. But with this comes a loss of chutzpah, where attempts at more musical, expressive playing are neglected in effort to play that articulation perfectly together.
In music-speak, you can't call one wrong; it's just a contrast between a recording made 40 years ago and today.

Just a quick departure...

Music Review:
The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Ma, Meyer, Thile, Duncan

The latest addition to the bouquet of genre-bending projects from the minds of Meyer, Ma et al. is one of the most interesting in quite a while.

'The Appalachian Waltz' project, released in 1996, saw a new group of fans come to the small corner of music-making that can only be described as eclectic. Influences from classical, jazz, bluegrass, rock, celtic and improvisation all meet in a very stylish mash-up.
We have largely to thank Mr. Ma for his endless pursuit for all things Music. His involvement brought Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor to a new level of musical celebrity and helped increase the influence both of these equally talented artists had.
For me, this is where I discovered Edgar Meyer. It is a musical debt I cannot repay.
In the last fifteen years there have been copious subsequent projects pulling in a wide range of musical collaborators including Joshua Bell, Bela Fleck, Chris Thile, and saw the formation of another genre-proof ensemble: Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble.

This most recent project brings back the powerful duo of Meyer and Ma and adds the efforts of Chris Thile whom Edgar released an album in 2008 (the very articulately titled "Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile") of Nickel Creek/Punch Brothers fame.
They also add Stuart Duncan on fiddle. Mr. Duncan is one of the most sought-after session fiddlers who has a discography longer than most could consider (and I would consider this the most important addition to the troupe of MeyerMa etc.)

The result of all of this hay-making is a very thoughtful, touching collection of songs that reaches a lot further than some of the projects these musicians have released lately.
They are both accessible and yet poignant and full of richness. Each song uses a different approach to color, texture and character and each has the ability to grab the ear. Perhaps this is thanks to Thile's ear for songwriting, perhaps it is to Ma's unparalleled musicianship, perhaps it is to Meyer's groundbreaking concepts of style, but whatever it is, this is a not-to-be-missed moment of SUM>PARTS.

Lou Rawls
"Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho!" (Vinyl)

In getting into the appropriate mood for the season I pulled one of my more interesting Christmas records off the shelf.

Every arrangement of the Christmas classics on this album is drenched in 70's soul, funk drums and horn section. Awesome.

I get the feeling that this album may have been pushed out really quickly. At points Rawls makes errors that aren't bothered to correct. It's funny, because in today's auto-tune society it doesn't really matter what the singer does. In analog days these 'errors' are preserved forever.

Beethoven: the Five Piano Concertos
Serkin, Ozawa, BSO (CD)

This cycle was recorded in the early 80's in Boston, which is quite late in Serkin's lengthy and illustrious career considering he also recorded individual piano concertos with the likes of Ormandy, Bernstein and Mehta.

The Telarc recording is beautiful, capturing the performances with an honest purity.

My favorite part of this recording is the last page of the liner notes where there's a very detailed list of all of the recording equipment used. The list includes (but not limited to) B&K Model 4004S, Schoeps Colettes, ADS Model 1530, 1290 CS2000, etc...

been a busy weekend, but I managed to squeeze a few in:


Radiohead
"King of Limbs" (Vinyl + CD)

Radiohead has become the benchmark for progressive art rock. So much of their output extends beyond the label of 'rock' or 'alternative.' It's easier to say that Radiohead has been making some of the last decade's most interesting and creative music. Period.

'Limbs' isn't quite the stretch of imagination that we have seen on many of their other albums. It doesn't revolutionize the way 'OK' or even 'Kid A' did, nor does it represent a left-turn ala 'Rainbows'. It's more of an exploration of territory that has become very familiar for Radiohead. While the album isn't bad, its a stretch to consider it their best/most important work.


Gorillaz
"Plastic Beach" (Vinyl)

I love what the Gorillaz represent. I love the idea of a virtual reality rock band that exists only in the mind of Damon Albarn.
I've loved seeing all of the art work and writings made about this fictitious band. I love their live performances. But mostly, I love their music.
Sadly, the Gorillaz are on track to be a band that each with each subsequent album become only echoes of their earlier releases.
I first became familiar with 'Demon Days' but then I heard their debut and realized it to be superior to the more commercial 'Days.'
Plastic Beach is another step down the musical ladder with the songs becoming even more confused and wandering. It pains me to see this happening, but even cartoon heroes must fall.

Fischer-Dieskau, Furtwangler, Kempe, Barenboim
"Kindertotenlieder" "Ruckerlieder" "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" etc. (CD)

I've always loved Dieskau's voice. He was one of the singers that made listening to art song bearable. He even make the "Erlkonig" exciting.

This CD is (I'm pretty sure) a compilation of Mahler songsets that Dieskau had recorded over the course of his career and all assembled conveniently on this one EMI release.

Now the trick is trying to figure out if this stuff sounds familiar because I've played it before, or because Mahler stole his own material so extensively that it all starts to blur together...

Frank Sinatra
"She Shot Me Down" (Vinyl)

Recorded in 1981, this was intended to be an album that harkened back to the Capitol years for Frank Sinatra with a selection of tear-jerkers that was probably intended to be reminiscent of 'Only for the Lonely'

The arrangements are beautiful, the song selection is great, including a cover of his daughter's cover of "Bang Bang (She Shot Me Down,)" but you can't help but feel the age creeping into Frank's voice. There's a weariness that you just don't hear in his earlier records.
This isn't probably a recording except for the most avid Sinatra fans.

Elton John
"Caribou" (Vinyl)

Recorded in 1974, this is Elton John's 8th studio album release.
Every recording artist that has enjoyed a long career undoubtedly suffers from the stuff we all know, and the stuff we don't. (Which is different than the stuff we wish we'd forget.)
While 'Caribou' isn't chock full of a lot of Elton's blockbuster tunes, it comes out of an era of his output that "sounds" very Elton and I think captures a time when Elton was at the height of his touring power. The result is a very comfortable sounding recording complete with over-sized pink sun glasses.

The Turtle Island (String) Quartet
"Who Do We Think We Are?" (CD)

This recording has been on my shelf for a long time. I seem to remember this was in the Columbia House "clearance" section at one point, and having been recently introduced to the TISQ (probably by MPR) I gave it a shot.
It's never disappointed, even today, 17 years after its release.
The TISQ was first on the scene in an age before Mark O'Connor/Edgar Meyer/Yo-Yo Ma/Chris Thile/Nickel Creek began to blur the lines between acoustic, bluegrass, folk, classical and jazz. In fact, before then, there was probably little aside from David Grisman and Stephan Grappelli.
I think this was still the first time that my staunchly-classical ears considered that you could both play "fun" music and sound good at the same time.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers
"One Hot Minute" (CD)

Considered by many to be a low-point in the RHCP output for various reasons (as a follow-up to 'BloodSugarSexMagik', with the departure/replacement of guitarists) I think this album has held up well over the years. Considering the self-parody the Peppers have since become this doesn't seem like such an egregious sin.
I can't help but think that the Chili Peppers are a band that have been forced to take themselves way more seriously than they ever should've been.

Jascha Heifetz
"Encores vol. 2" (Vinyl)

Complete with Herschfeld portrait of the 20th century legend, this is a record packed with two sides of Heifetz's most popular encores that he would perform at the end of recitals. These all have piano accompaniment, so you can imagine getting to the end of a solo recital and having him come out and blasting through a playful rendition of 'Golliwog's Cakewalk' as the perfect end to program.

Al Jarreau
"We Got By" (Vinyl)

Every huge career has to start somewhere.

For Mr. Jarreau, it was with this LP.
It's interesting, knowing him also from his mature work, to hear him in a youthful, funky spirit in these songs.
Jarreau's ability to articulate even in mid-word is enviable, even if it does lead to strange-looking techniques. But it's jazz. Who cares?

Szell & Cleveland Orchestra
Schubert Symphony no. 9 (Vinyl)

Labeled prominently as one of "Szell's Last Recordings", this (I believe) marks the only time that Szell recorded Schubert's "Great" (although Cleveland later recorded the same symphony with Christoph von Dohnanyi.)
This recording was released posthumously in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Dr. Szell in the immediate years after his death.
Considering how many Szell/Cleveland recordings I come across in thrift stores all across the country it's not a stretch to consider Szell (along with Bernstein, Ormandy, etc.) as true musical celebrities of their day. This age is (sadly) long gone. I can think of the non-news it will be when one day Joshua Bell meets his end. "Josh who?"

Henry Mancini
Original Sountrack to "Charade" (Vinyl)

The film, directed by Stanley Donen starred Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant along with Walter Matthau and James Coburn.

This is an original mono pressing in beautiful condition. I don't know where this record was hiding for the first 50 years of its life, but now that its on my shelf I'll be sure to continue to take good care of it.

Doc Severinsen
"The Great Arrival" (Vinyl)

Released in 1968, this was far from Doc's first record, but it was among the first records when Doc was known as the bandleader for Johnny Carson.
One can only imagine that working with Mr. Carson dramatically increased Mr. Severinsen's profile with the average on-the-street fellow.

I've had the privilege of playing with Doc Severinsen, and now, even in his 80's exhibits a control over his trumpet that most would envy in their prime.

Chuck Mangione
"Chase the Clouds Away" (Vinyl)

I shouldn't speak too harshly yet; my motto of "fear no music" is facing some opposition...
It's not the noisy orchestral jazz that concerns me, it's not the criminal disregard for basic intonation (one more take wouldn't have killed ya,) but rather the seemingly....pointless noise coming out of Mr. Mangione's Yamaha flugelhorn.
There are too many moments where the limits of his instrument sound more like a poorly handled trumpet/trombone rather than a correctly handled second-rate one.

Was it that no one had thought to play jazz flugelhorn before him? Was there a niche to fill?

Schumann: Piano Quintet, Brahms: Horn Trio
Serkin, Budapest String Quartet, Tree, Bloom (Vinyl)

A recording made at the Marlboro Music Festival, there's no real way of telling if this was a performance captured at the end of a series of rehearsals, or an impromptu middle-of-the-night session brought on by a moment of inspiration and heavy drinking.

It's a great recording of (in my opinion) one of the best piano quintets.
I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the canonized ensemble of the horn trio, but it is (nonetheless) some beautiful music.

Catching up from the Holiday weekend...

The Beatles
"Revolver" (Vinyl + CD)
Being home for the holidays has put a kink in my normal listening habits. However, a clever rule (that I just came up with) allows me to use mp3's in substitution, provided I actually own the album at home.

So, what can I say about 'Revolver' that won't make me sound like a pretentious snot or average-level moron?
I think this may be my favorite Beatles album, I love the song 'Taxman' and I listened to an mp3 copy of the mono remasters that were released in 2009. Oops, there's the snot...

The Beta Band
Three EPs (CD)
The Scottish Beta Band have faithfully been a cult favorite since before people started having cult followings of things.
Probably their highest point of fame was when they were featured in the film 'High Fidelity.'
You get the sense that the Betas are okay with their subterranean fame, though.

Average White Band
"Feel no Fret" (vinyl)

Part of the original crop of "blue-eyed soul" bands, I've yet to hear an AWB album that I haven't dug.
Granted, this one feels a bit more Bee Gees disco and less James Brown, (it was '79, after all) but I think AWB's real strength was having an innate sense of what "felt" right and building around that.

Schubert Impromptus op. 90 & 142
Alfred Brendel, piano (CD)

A series of eight short(-ish) works for the piano that are commonly recorded together. Divided and published in two separate opus numbers, I haven't learned if there is any real distinction of separation between the two sets.

I have absolutely no idea where I got this CD.

Haydn Cello Concertos
Yo-Yo Ma, English Chamber Orchestra (vinyl)

Released in 1981, Mr. Ma wasn't more than 25 at the time of this recording.
One of his earliest recordings, this represents a time in Yo-Yo's career where he wasn't yet one of the generation's transcendental classical artists who, having conquered all of the standard rep both on the concert stage and in the studio, began a cross pollination of genres from classical to jazz to bluegrass to world music to...

Even on the back of the LP jacket there are only three sentences spent describing Mr. Ma.
How quickly the world would change...

Europa Jazz
Sims, Pizzarelli, Hinton, Rich (vinyl)

This is actually one of the very first jazz records that I ever had. It was abandoned by the dumpster outside my apartment and I saved it along with Time Life's colection of Mozart's late symphonies and a Jeff Lorber disc that is no longer with us.

A mixture of standards and otherwise, it's a nice sounding record; its part of the spark that began my interest in truly listening to acoustic recordings, especially on vinyl.

The Melos Quartet
Mozart - the "Hunt" and "Dissonance" Quartets (CD)

A CD re-release of a recording made by the Melos Quartet in the 1970's, it is a well-done digital transfer that preserves much of the warmth and blend of the original analog tapes.

Both the Hunt and Dissonance quartets are among Mozart's most famous. There's your factoid for the moment...

The John Mayer Trio
"Try!" (CD)

I can say certifiably that this is my favorite work from Mr. Mayer.
This is too bad, because John Mayer has a sense of humor and incredible guitar chops that would have people echoing 'Clapton is God' if he were born 40 years earlier.

So why does he make such crummy records?

Anyway, this record was recorded live and features an incredible backing duo for Mr. Mayer: Pino Paladino and Steve Jordan which make Mayer look really good.
Mayer's playing is great and echoes many of the great guitarists from Clapton to Vaughn to Hendrix without ever really exploring a unique voice that's his own.
I hope he finds that and makes some really important records instead of records just designed to get him laid.

Gordon Lightfoot
"The Best of" (vinyl)

I mostly hear of Gordon Lightfoot in a sneering insulting way. Probably from those Motorhead fans.

Either way, this record found its way onto my shelf. Released before Lightfoot's most famous song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald I can officially say that I've never heard any of these songs.
I also don't have much more of an opinion than that...

The Budos Band 2 (vinyl)

I remember seeing the first two albums from Brooklyn's 'Budos Band' tucked on the shelf of a record shop in DC and liking the artwork. It took me quite a while to buy the record, but I'm very happy my love affair with Dap-tone Records has begun.
Dap-tone uses only recording technique and technology available during the hey-day of soul recording in the 60's and 70's.

Sviatoslav Richter
Prokofiev, Piano Sonata no. 9 op. 103
Schubert Landler, Musical Moment no. 5, Allegretto in C(Vinyl)

Hall of Fame HOFS 528

Sorry, it would seem there isn't an image anywhere on the Interweb of this record.
It looks as though its probably an American re-pressing of a Soviet label anyway.
Stereo artificially re-produced from original mono recording. Yuck.

The recording quality here isn't great. The Prokofiev was written in 1947, and there isn't any indication that this recording wasn't made soon after.

I haven't absorbed much of the work itself yet.

Incubus
"Morning View" (CD)

In many respects, Morning View represents a band that was ahead of its time.
Released in 2001, View sees Incubus climbing out of a far more raucous series of albums that saw a few hits such as "Drive" and "Pardon Me." But with Morning View Incubus embraces the more tuneful "happy" facet of metal/rock and writes (in my humble opinion) their best work.

I consider this to be the beginning of the so-called "Emo" movement; bands like Incubus and Linkin Park showing skinny white kids that they could rock just as hard as anyone. Thankfully, this was before the term was in use, otherwise this record probably would've ever have made it through my door. And that would be a shame.

The Meters
"Cabbage Alley" (vinyl)

The Meters are a band that found me via a movie soundtrack. While enjoying a birth of interest in neo-soul music I heard a track from their album Struttin' which got me interested in finding more.

Alley is a bit more guitar-driven than any of the other Meters albums I've heard. But I really like it. I almost feel that this record is pre-dating a lot of work in hard-driven blues/funk that would be on the horizon in another thirty years.

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
"S.R.O."(vinyl)

What better way to start the first sighted snowfall of the year than with some of the most ridiculously optimistic sounding recordings ever made?

If there ever was a time and place where Mr. Alpert packed arenas to hear his Tijuana Brass play it feels like another world by this point.

I love it.

The Ahmad Jamal Trio @ Pershing
"But Not for Me"(vinyl)

Visiting (once again) the region on my shelf where some unexplored jazz records have collected I am taking this Argo jazz record for a spin.

The influential jazz leader/pianist is still going strong today, but this record hails from 1958, and thus far I'm loving it.
Not only is the music great, but throughout the whole record you can hear the patrons at the club talking, clinking glasses and clapping throughout the performance. It's a whiff of what it would have been like to go to your favorite night spot and hear this as the popular music of the day.
At this point Lady Gaga is too distant a heartburn to be known...

Cello Sonatas by Weill & Dohnanyi
Grossman, cello Walsh, piano(vinyl)

This recording represents two works for the cello that I've never heard recorded anywhere else.
That being said, I've never heard either of these works performed anywhere. Ever.

This is a digital-age recording from Nonesuch pressed onto vinyl which gives the recording a very "modern" feel; very clean, well engineered. In the transitional age when recordings were more commonly being purchased and made for release on CD you begin to see differences in the mix when you listen to it on vinyl.
Thankfully this record sounds like it should: a recorded performance.

Chanticleer "Our American Journey"(CD)


A CD that found its way into my collection at the enthusiastic recommendation of a friend who delighted in showing off the bass singer's mustache and gut-rattling speaking voice.
Still, like many things we'll discover in this journey, it's a recording I haven't yet listened to.

Chanticleer, an all-male vocal ensemble, pulls off musical pyrotechnics only possible with the tightest group of compatible vocalists; sonorities and overtones that are maxing out my ability to hear.

Their recording projects range from more traditional repertoire to projects like this: tracing the American journey through song.
It's a beautiful collection, although I don't think anyone would mistake Chanticleer's take on an Appalachian folk song for rockabilly.

Arthur Prysock & Count Basie(Vinyl)

This marks the first time I've heard Mr. Prysock sing. I can't help but feel that he would've made a mountain of money if he did nothing but run around singing "Old Man River."

As I peruse the "jazz shelf" it occurs to me there's a great deal of culture, industry and history that I'm unaware of when it comes to recorded jazz in the 50's and 60's.

Different labels (Blue Note, Verve) sported different legendary artists and their recorded history will be regarded amongst the most important musical output of the early 20th century and I know startlingly little about it.

I shall try and rectify this.

Band of Skulls "Baby Darling Doll Face Honey"(CD)

The only album thus far released by this bluesy garage rock trio first caught my ear when it's lead-off track was featured in a commercial for a Ford Mustang.

It's still one of my favorite tracks on the album; lava slow, simmering to a boil and then backing the tempo down to a swaggering decay.

There are a lot of hidden gems that show a band that could really breakthrough. Here's hoping they're left to develop naturally without any unnecessary exposure. Their future work could be epic.

Michael Jackson "Bad"(vinyl)

What can be said about this album?

Well, I can say that I'm much more impressed by his work and talent when he was performing with his brothers than I am with his adult output.

I can also say that I'm not terribly enthralled with the predominant ideas behind record production in the 1980's.
The all-synth-all-the-time approach to arrangement and production leads to very tight, brittle, artificial, albeit distinctive sounding records.

There's no denying the appeal to these songs, though I'm willing to attribute more of this magnetism to Quincy Jones than the late Mr. Jackson.
If I were a dancin' man, I'd be hopping around in my knee-highs right now.

Bing & Satchmo (vinyl)


This kinda sounds exactly as you think it might: Crosby's dulcet baritone paired up with Louis' gravelly counterpoint. There's not a lot of trumpet blowing for Mr. Armstrong, but as a consolation prize our stars are backed by an orchestra arranged and conducted by Billy May. Yum.