What Are You Listening To?

[stlukesguild]

I must say, Mahler was a bit heavy for a hot, humid day. Speaking of "heavy" a major storm front just came through and now I'm looking at a yellowish-green sky.

That's usually the type of sky you see when tornadoes are around as they throw a lot of dirt and debris into the sky. Let's hope not... although we are under a severe storm warning. Anyway... I've seen enough tornadoes to last me for the rest of my life... and I've seen the unbelievable destructive power they have. I witnessed an old tree... maybe three feet thick... explode into nothing but pulp. I've seen paths cut through forests that would have taken a crew of workers with caterpillars a week to cut down. Sno probably has some experience with these monsters of nature as well.

 

[stlukesguild]

I spent this afternoon working on the new studio space, carrying heavy boxes of books upstairs, putting a new utility cart together, putting away the tools brought from the old studio, putting away the hundreds upon hundreds of bottles of acrylic paint, and hanging the curtain rods. My music for the occasion needed to be a bit more driven... including the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers. My Mother in Law recently told my wife she had just come to realize that Brown Sugar was a bit "dirty".

After all the physical labor of the last few days... including getting up early so we could be among the first at the grocery store in order to avoid the crowds during COVID-19... I am exhausted. For the last hour or so I've been crashing on the bed and listening to some mellower jazz classics. Miles Davis is probably by favorite jazz artist and his series of recordings made with the quintet are among his finest work. I'm quite familiar with Gil Evans through his work with other artists... including Davis. This is my first time hearing this album and it is quite fine.

We are preparing for steaks and the grill with a big salad, cheesecake for dessert... and some good dark beer (and maybe some Jack Daniels as well). I'll probably set up one of my big Spotify playlists to play on random shuffle from here out.

 

[musket]

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Once Upon a Time in America

I am hopelessly in love with Sarah Hicks.

 

[brianvds]

I must say, Mahler was a bit heavy for a hot, humid day. Speaking of "heavy" a major storm front just came through and now I'm looking at a yellowish-green sky.
That's usually the type of sky you see when tornadoes are around as they throw a lot of dirt and debris into the sky. Let's hope not... although we are under a severe storm warning. Anyway... I've seen enough tornadoes to last me for the rest of my life... and I've seen the unbelievable destructive power they have. I witnessed an old tree... maybe three feet thick... explode into nothing but pulp. I've seen paths cut through forests that would have taken a crew of workers with caterpillars a week to cut down. Sno probably has some experience with these monsters of nature as well.

Around here tornadoes are very rare, and they mostly don't reach the kind of power as the ones in tornado alley. We'ere actually lucky in that we are spared most serious natural disasters here, except drought and flooding, which you sooner or later get almost anywhere. But few tornadoes, no volcanoes, little in the way of earthquakes, and in the virtual absence of forests, no major forest fires either.

 

[stlukesguild]

 

[Artyczar]

You sound right busy St. Luke. Let's hope you are at least listening to some great music if some storm happens to rough you guys up.

 

[stlukesguild]

The storms by us petered out... after some torrential rain. Yesterday was gorgeous and today as well... although I slept through much of it, not getting up until noon after drinking a bit to much. Actually, I didn't drink that much... but I haven't drank at all for more than a month so my tolerance wasn't what it normally is. And then the wife had us open this bottle of ice wine (an incredibly sweet dessert wine) to have with our cheesecake. Beer+Jack Daniels+Wine is not a good mix.

Today, I'm taking it easy. Tomorrow I need to hang one set of curtains, hang three of my big pastels, and vacuum the studio and it will be almost set to go.

 

[stlukesguild]

Second only to Miles Davis in my personal pantheon of jazz artists... and there's plenty of strong arguments to be made that he was the greatest of all.

 

[musket]

Sorry, but the greatest of them all was Louis. No Louis, no everybody else.

 

[stlukesguild]

Who comes first in art is irrelevant except to historians.

 

[musket]

Louis invented this stuff (though some would attribute it to Jelly Roll Morton; he himself was certainly fond of saying so). Everybody who came after him owes him.

It's no different than BB King inventing vibrato on the electric guitar. Talk to any electric blues guitarist who has ever put vibrato on a bent note-- they'll all tell you the same. BB was the greatest. Not technically, but that doesn't matter.

Other than Ella, Louis was also probably the greatest singer in jazz history.

Miles Davis was the kind of prick who dismissed Louis as an Uncle Tom, and apparently couldn't understand that Louis was doing the best he could to get the white folks, just as Fats Waller did, into thinking jazz was harmless to their kids.

If Duke was the greatest, what of Billy Strayhorn?

 

[stlukesguild]

Jelly Roll Morton, W.C. Handy, King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Sidney Bechet, Tom Turpin, Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, Ragtime, etc... pre-date any important contributions to jazz by Armstrong. Armstrong takes off while with Fletcher Henderson, introducing a far more sophisticated approach to improvisation that would become a hallmark of jazz. Armstrong really consolidates his impact on jazz with the recordings of his Hot Five and Hot Sevens in the mid-1920s. As for his singing... he certainly has one of the most original and recognizable voices... but I would call him the best anymore than I'd argue that Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan were the best rock vocalists.

Duke Ellington's importance has more to do with his innovative use of instruments and sound effects, orchestration of big bands and smaller ensembles, and his ability to hand-pick and build upon the strengths of various arrangers, composers (including Billy Strayhorn), and musicians toward creating an incredible body of recorded music. Don't get me wrong, I believe Armstrong ranks among the greatest handful of jazz artists. I simply feel that Ellington has a larger and more varied body of brilliant recorded music ranging from Swing to the Hard-Bop of Money Jungle with Charlie Mingus and Max Roach.

As for Miles being a prick... so he was; but so was Mozart and Michelangelo according to many reports. But who cares? That has nothing to do with the music he produced and recorded. There are few if any jazz artists (with the exception of Ellington) who have recorded more albums that are "essential" IMO... not to mention the incredible innovation and diversity of his oeuvre. Only Armstrong, Ellington, Goodman, Charlie Parker, John Coletrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and a few others are as good and important to jazz IMO.

 

[stlukesguild]

Let's jump back into the "classical music" realm. Brian might appreciate this.

Lorraine Hunt was a brilliant mezzo-soprano. I have a number of her albums, but especially prize her recordings of Bach cantatas. In 1999, she married the composer, Peter Lieberson. The couple were fond of poetry and often read Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnets to each other. In 2005, Lieberson composed Neruda Songs, a cycle of five orchestral songs, for his wife. Lorraine performed and recorded these songs of love's joy and loss.

In one of the songs, Hunt Lieberson sings: "My love, if I die and you don't, let's not give grief an even greater field."

Neruda's words were tragically poignant. Hunt Lieberson was battling breast cancer. She died in July 2006, just months after performing the premiere of Neruda Songs. She was 52 years old.

Lieberson's song cycle stylistically echoes the work of early 20th century composers who straddled and push the limits of tonality. One thinks especially of Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. Like Strauss' cycle these songs are at once lush, gorgeous, and tragic.

 

[stlukesguild]

The greatest female opera singer/performer of the 20th century.

 

[brianvds]

Been dipping into Vangelis, with such old favorites as Soil Festivities (my all time favorite Vangelis album):

soil

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

And Mask:

Mask

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Antarctica:

Vangelis - Antarctica (1983 - Full Album)

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

And Oceanic:

All pleasant on the ear, and great for background to art sessions.

 

[stlukesguild]

I've been listening to the jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson (and his bands) playing the songs of various song writers on random shuffle play on Spotify.

 

[Artyczar]

I think I once had those records!

 

[snoball]

I must say, Mahler was a bit heavy for a hot, humid day. Speaking of "heavy" a major storm front just came through and now I'm looking at a yellowish-green sky.

Sno probably has some experience with these monsters of nature as well.

Oh yeah, a green sky definitely means hail. Around here a fraidy hole is an absolute must.

 

[stlukesguild]

We're at the far Eastern edge of Tornado Alley here. You're far more likely to see them just 10 or 15 miles further West. My Mother-in-Law who lives maybe 20 miles South-West of us just had some 15 trees, a couple of windows, and part of her roof taken out when a tornado passed over head a couple of weeks ago. The bad thing here is that we are not surrounded by wide open plains where we can see a tornado from miles away. We saw a couple like this years ago in Kansas. Rather, we are surrounded in many areas in Ohio by large trees... even forests. You might hear the thing coming but not see it until its right on you. Most people here have basements as well... partially as tornado shelters... but in many instances they are finished recreation rooms with pool tables, bars, etc...

 

[snoball]

We are surrounded by trees and hills and can't see the approach either but when the lightning is steady, it is an indicator of a pretty severe storm so we put leases on the dogs and one takes the dogs and the other the lantern and weather radio and we go out to the fraidy hole, which is across the back yard built into the side of the hill.