What Are You Listening To?

[JStarr]

I decided on a J.S. Bach Monday.

View attachment 32134

 

[Terri]

War - The World Is a Ghetto - 50th anniversary!

 

[stlukesguild]

For some years I shared studio space with an older artist who was a big Jazz fan. Before that time I had a small collection of Jazz recordings... especially Miles David and Duke Ellington (who remain my two favorites). Over the years spent with him, my Jazz collection expanded greatly and I would bring my new recordings in to play in the studio... especially as he was a true Luddite who knew nothing of digital recordings let alone streaming music. After playing a CD that he liked he would often ask me to "turn it over". I haven't added much to my Jazz collection since he died... although to be honest, I haven't added much to my physical music collection (CDs) in any genre or style since I really began using Spotify and other streaming services. I came upon this recording recommended by a Jazz aficionado on Twitter and I quite like it.

 

[stlukesguild]

Continuing on with less-well-known Jazz artists. Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks (June 7, 1932 – August 13, 1974) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer best remembered for his work in the hard bop style.

 

[stlukesguild]

I'm listening to another Duke Jordan recording. French films used American Jazz a number of times. I especially love Miles Davis' music for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud so I thought I'd give this one a listen.

 

[JStarr]

Post a link to your play list?

I found an Amazon Music "station" which has pretty much everything on it: "Rediscover The Band"

Lots of stuff from Last Waltz (Stephen Stills, Dr John- all of them) and, of course, all the standards.

Have fun.

 

[stlukesguild]

This was an absolutely stunning recording of the mathematically complex choral vocal works by the Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer, Guillaume DuFay. It was one of the first recordings of the period that I owned... and I am glad I purchased it when I did because for a period of time, it went out of print. Composers like Dufay created works of great complexity and beauty from what might almost be deemed mathematical structures... not unlike architecture... or even elements of the art of the period.

 

[brianvds]

View attachment 32750

This was an absolutely stunning recording of the mathematically complex choral vocal works by the Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer, Guillaume DuFay. It was one of the first recordings of the period that I owned... and I am glad I purchased it when I did because for a period of time, it went out of print. Composers like Dufay created works of great complexity and beauty from what might almost be deemed mathematical structures... not unlike architecture... or even elements of the art of the period.

A kind of musical equivalent of Islamic art, though I would not suggest that one say that aloud in the 15th century.

 

[JStarr]

 

[stlukesguild]

A kind of musical equivalent of Islamic art, though I would not suggest that one say that aloud in the 15th century.

I suspect many artists would have been well aware of Islamic influences in the arts of Renaissance Europe... even while the Church might have sought to deny these. Dante drew influences from Islamic literature and certainly, the tales from the Arabian Nights were already showing up in European literature (Boccaccio, Chaucer, etc...). The impact of Islamic art and poetry from Andalusia in Spain surely made its way across the continent. We think of the influence of the "exotic" from the Middle East showing up in the art of Ingres, Delacroix, many Post-Romantic painters, and of course, Renoir and Matisse... but look at the costumes already showing up in paintings by Bellini, Tintoretto, and Rembrandt. By the same token, it has been acknowledged that the art of the Byzantines had a major impact upon that of Islam... as did the art of China after the Mongol Invasions. Again, as I mentioned in the thread on "talent", trade, warfare, and immigration have often been a major impact on the development of the arts... or as Orson Wells put it:

 

[stlukesguild]

Here you go, Brian... music that blurs the boundaries between the Occident and the Orient:

 

[stlukesguild]

There's actually a recording with the title: Orient-Occident by Jori Savall and Hespèrion XXI (an early music ensemble) that explores the early music (Medieval-Renaissance) across the divide:

 

[brianvds]

A composer I have not really investigated much before - Ottorino Respighi:

Thus far I rather like what I'm hearing.

 

[stlukesguild]

Respighi was one of those outsiders who continued to work in a tonal manner (blasphemer!) after the establishment of atonalism and concrete music (noise). Not unlike those painters who continued to work in a figurative manner after the establishment of abstraction. Yes, he is an enjoyable composer. I'm giving a listen to one of those composers I haven't heard in a while... especially while most of my CDs are in storage:

E.J. Moeran (1894-1950) was a marvelous English tonal composer in the family of Cyril Scott, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius,
Granville Bantock, etc... He frequently employed melodies drawn from English folk music. The Chandos recordings of Moeran... and many other British composers... are spectacular. Vernon Handley is one of the best conductors of this oeuvre and Raphael Wallfish, husband of the equally brilliant Elizabeth Wallfish (violinist) is a truly marvelous cellist. Chandos Records are equally known for producing some of the finest recordings of classical music in terms of sound.

 

[stlukesguild]

Mozart was quite likely the composer who popularized the clarinet with his exquisite Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Concerto as well as its use in a number of other chamber works. A great many subsequent composers of the "Classical Era" composed works for the instrument. Frequently, these works for clarinet were among their finest achievements. For whatever reason, the clarinet seems to have inspired these composers. Franz Krommer (1759-1831) was one such composer.

Right now I have a list of recordings that I haven't heard in quite some time to play on Spotify... starting with the Moeran recording yesterday.

 

[stlukesguild]

Michael Daugherty is a composer worth exploring by anyone certain that "classical" or "concert music" cannot speak to the popular audience. His music is tonal... at times employing passages of the atonal... energetic... often employing elements of Jazz and other forms of popular music.

Daugherty grew up in a family of musicians. His grandmother was a pianist for silent films. His father was a jazz and country & western drummer. His brother, Tim is a jazz/pop composer of over 15 records; another brother Matt is a teacher of Music education in Florida, still yet another brother, Tommy D. Daugherty is an engineer and producer for many Hip-Hop artists including Tupac Shukar.

Michael Daugherty's education pointed toward a successful career in Modernist music/musical academia. He studied at the University of North Texas College of Music, North Texas State University (bachelor's degree), the Manhattan School of Music, (Master's degree), the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (studying electronic music), the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and Yale School of Music (Ph.D.). For a time he worked as an assistant to jazz arranger, Gil Evans including efforts on lost parts of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess later used by Miles Davis.

At Tanglewood, Daugherty met the composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. After hearing Daugherty's music at Tanglewood, Bernstein encouraged Daugherty to seriously consider integrating American popular music with concert music. Bernstein's populist attitude was rarely shared by critics who favored "serious" contemporary concert music. Bernstein, after all, employed tunes and forms from Broadway and Jazz in his work and championed pop music by artists such as the Beatles. Surprisingly it was the Modernist composer György Ligeti who ultimately encouraged and inspired Daugherty to find new ways to integrate computer music, jazz, rock, and American popular music with concert music.

Daugherty's music combines elements of popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism. His Metropolis Symphony is built upon the comic book narratives of Superman. He has written works inspired by Grant Wood, Elvis, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Route 66, the first cross-continental highway in the US, which fuels the opening work in this recording, and Georgia O'Keefe, whose work inspires the three-movement Ghost Ranch, also included on this recording.

 

[stlukesguild]

With the passing of Robbie Robertson, co-founder, songwriter, and guitarist of The Band, I had to give a listen to them again. They were a fantastic group. Although they were initially founded in Canada, their music evokes early American music rooted in the South. Robertson, who was 80, was initially a member of The Hawks, the backing group for Ronnie Hawkins. The group was later hired by Bob Dylan for his 1965/66 concerts where he first went electric. They were introduced then as "the band". After Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident, he and the band went into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York where they recorded a good number of tracks that were released years later as "The Basement Tapes". The Band eventually rented their own house known as "The Big Pink" in Woodstock where they began recording their first album, Music from Big Pink. The Band recorded 8 albums (not including the "Basement Tapes" and Planet Waves with Bob Dylan, and the live recordings from The Last Waltz) before disbanding in 1977 after their final concert, documented in Martin Scorsese's film, The Last Waltz. Robertson carried on recording several solo albums including a good number of soundtracks for Scorsese.

RIP

 

[stlukesguild]

RIP to one of the greats.

 

[ZenDruid]

Today, this, Justin Johnson, one of my favorite blues guitarists:

 

[stlukesguild]

The Native American "flute" reminds me of the Japanese flute: