It’s a rainy day here at the library, so I thought I’d mention the perfect rainy-day CD I’ve got playing behind me: Miles Davis’ Bags Groove (1954). Yes, I know, hearing about a Miles record is not terribly surprising from me, but it’s such a perfect mix for the weather right now, I had to [...]
Archive for the ‘Jazz’ Category
I must admit, I am embarrassed to know that I have not yet extolled the virtues of one of the finest jazz albums of the last 10 years, and one of my favorite albums of all time. Brian Bromberg is an amazing bass player who has (unfortunately, in my opinion) spent most of his career [...]
Miles Davis created some of his greatest music not in the studio, but on stage. There is perhaps no greater and more fascinating document of that than the five – yes, five – live albums he recorded in 1964. In chronological order, we have My Funny Valentine, Four and More, Miles in Europe, Miles in [...]
I was fortunate to get into Windham Hill records in the mid-1980′s. As a teenager, laid-back, mellow and slightly jazzy music was not what one was supposed to be into, but there it is. I discovered the greatest bass player alive – Michael Manring - through Windham Hill, along with the obvious greats like Michael Hedges, [...]
Vocabularies is the long-awaited, new CD from Bobby McFerrin, and I say long-awaited because most of his career saw a new album every one to two years, but it’s been seven years since Beyond Words, and that’s just too long to wait! I’ve been listening with rapt attention to Mr. McFerrin for 26 years, and while [...]
Just a brief note today to let you know some of the titles I’ve recently added to the collection. All the titles are new albums just released on CD. Hope you enjoy them. John Hiatt – The Open Road [another collection by this master songwriter] Hiromi – Place to Be [solo jazz piano; brilliant and [...]
Thought it would be nice this week to shed some light on a few holiday albums you might overlook when browsing through the bins. These are albums that may not spring to mind when you think of holiday music, and they certainly are not the ones you’re going to hear on 24-hour holiday stations like 105.7 [...]
One of the hardest things about being a jazz fan these days is to look at Billboard magazine’s list of the top 15 “Traditional Jazz Albums.” Four of the titles are by Frank Sinatra, two by Michael Buble, and one by Barbra Streisand. Sorry Barbra, jazz you are not. I am happy to say Keith Jarrett [...]
For anyone not acquainted with the jubilant musical expression that is the Brian Setzer Orchestra, here’s your chance. Brian’s newest album, Songs from Lonely Avenue has just been released, and it’s a perfect example of all the things he does so right. Setzer describes this album as “a soundtrack to an unwritten film.” It’s a [...]
One of the most respected and widely known composers of our time is former Boston Pops conductor John Williams. And while he has written television theme songs, concertos, symphonies, the official Olympic anthem, for crying out loud, he will most certainly be best remembered for his film scores. Almost everyone should be able to recognize his [...]
