Music

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Jazz Festival in Poznan: Begins this Thursday 22.11.2012

Posted: 20 Nov 2012 09:45 AM PST

This year's edition will be inaugurated by a concert from Jason Adasiewicz's Sun Rooms Trio. Their debut album made the New York Times top 10 jazz and pop recrdings of 2010 list. Certainly one of the highlights will be the performance by Living by Lanterns, their first performance in Europe after their premiere in Chicago in 2011. Mike Reed, with Jason Adasiewicz and his band Loose Assembly, will also be on the bill to present their project inspired by Sun Ra. There will also be the chance to see a performance of Harrison Bankhead and his sextet, the music draws inspiration from the esthetics of AACM, it's melodic with characteristic rhythms of Bankhead. One surprise should be The Awakening. The legendary band from the funk fusion scene of the 70s is back on stage. Meanwhile Mary Halvorson will present her innovative jazz guitar sound with her quartet consisting of: Taylor Ho Bynumen, Tomas Fujiwara, naturally, and others. For the grand finale come and hear "Blowing in from Chicago", a new version of the legendary session recorded in 1957. It will be a return to the saxophone sound of the 50s. Performing will be Ed Wilkerson, Ari Brown, Ken Chaney, Ernie Adams and Harrison Bankhead.

(from Poznan in Your Pocket, read the whole article here)

Saturday, 13 October 2012

Greatest, Essential & Best Jazz Albums

Posted: 13 Oct 2012 03:04 PM PDT

Every year I figure I'll finally get into Jazz, and every year it ends with an anticlimactic fizzle. This year however, was a success. Here are a few sites recommending albums and songs that I found helpful. First 3 are album recommendations then after that are song recommendations. If you follow the links to the song recommendations you can actually hear all 100 recommended songs from Jazz24. Plus I've put my album recommendations after the links. I suppose I'll update this page from time to time as I listen through more of the albums.

Albums

Matador's 25 Essential Jazz Albums

Daily Telegraph 100 Best Jazz Recordings

Amazon's 100 Best Jazz Albums

New Yorker's 100 Essential Jazz Albums

Songs

Jazz 24s 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs

Top 100 Radio Jazz Song Essentials

Top 100 Radio Jazz Instrumental Essentials

My Recommendations

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
The first Jazz album I bought and instantly accessible. The atmosphere is fantastic, latenight chilled out jazz, and the lineup for this albums is unbeatable. Miles Davis on trumpet, Coltrane on Sax, Bill Evan on Piano.

Duke Ellington Live at Newport
Upbeat atmosphere that will make you grin. Ellington was playing Newport at a time when his career was beginning to flag. After the first song people began to get up and leave so he called for one of his old standards. When the solo began one of the ladies couldn't contain herself any longer and jumped up to dance, Ellington responded and just kept the solo going, for a long time. The crowd called for four encores.

The Koln Concert - Keith Jarrett
Contemplative atmosphere, Solo piano improvisations but melodic as opposed to a lot of the dissonant avant garde jazz. The first track is increidible. Someone has said that he set the piano on fire with his playing. There are some truly beautiful moments in that first track, and the speed with which he plays at times defies belief.

Critics Recommendations (Chronological Album Timeline)

A Love Supreme (1964) - John Coltrane
Melded the hard bop sensibilities of his early career with the free jazz style he adopted later

Takin' Off (1962) - Herbie Hancock

The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) - Ornette Coleman
Free Jazz

Kind of Blue (1959) - Miles Davis
Modal Jazz

Moanin' (1958) - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1958) - Bill Evans

Blue Train (1957) - John Coltrane

Ella & Louis (1956) - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Concert by the Sea (1955) Erroll Garner

Bird & Diz (1950) - Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
Bebop
(Thelonious Monk on Piano)

Monday, 17 September 2012

Stream Efterklang's New Album 'Piramida'

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 10:06 AM PDT

Last year I saw Peter Broderick in concert which was in a word amazing. Before the concert though they showed the film for Efterklang's 'An Island' which was brilliant.

Now you can stream their new album here. If you like music tinged with ambience, if you like the music of the north, then you may well like this.

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Download Loud Harp Album Free

Posted: 08 Jul 2012 12:43 AM PDT

This is an album from some friends of CXVI the modern Hymn band. It's a contemplative psalm like affair with good music and invention within the songs. I like it. You can download the album for free here.

You can listen to one of their songs on their facebook page. Just click on the link.

Thursday, 5 July 2012

New Josh Garrells EP with remixes (Free download)

Posted: 05 Jul 2012 01:32 PM PDT

Download the New Josh Garrells EP. Haven't listened yet but I loved the LP

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Erased Tapes Compilation (Free!)

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Drowned in Sound Best Albums 2011

Posted: 26 Jun 2012 06:01 AM PDT

I'm not that familiar with who drowned in sound are, but judging from their best of year albums they seem to lean a little left of field which is good news. They have Nils Frahm's Felt; Winged Victory for the Sullen's self titled debut and Tim Hecker's Ravedeath all in the top 20.

You can read the detailed view of 75-50 // 49-21 // 20-6 by following the links. Or view their top 5 detailed view here.

Drowned in Sound's Seventy-Five Favourite Albums of 2011

75: Britney Spears Femme Fatale | Review
74: James Blake James Blake | Review
73: Los Campesinos! Hello Sadness | Review
72: The Pierces You & I
71: Veronica Falls Veronica Falls | Review
70: Wu Lyf Go Tell Fire to The Mountain | Review // Interview
69: Mark McGuire A Young Person's Guide
68: Nicola Roberts Cinderella's Eyes | Review
67: Peaking Lights 936 | Review
66: Moon Duo Mazes | Review
65: Emmy the Great Virtue | Review
64: Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost | Review
63: Explosions in the Sky Take Care, Take Care, Take Care | Review // Interview
62: Rustie Glass Swords | Review
61: Kate Wax Dust Collision | Review
60: Iceage New Brigade | Review
59: Wilco The Whole Love | Review // Interview
58: Atlas Sound Parallax | Review
57: Zomby Dedication | Review
56: M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming | Review // Interview
55: Cut Copy Zonoscope | Review // Interview
54: Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation
53: John Maus We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves | Review
52: Oneohtrix Point Never Replica | Review
51: Friendly Fires Pala | Review
50: Nicolas Jaar Space is Only Noise
49: Lady Gaga Born This Way | Review
48: Gang Gang Dance Eye Contact | Review
47: Tori Amos Night of Hunters | Review
46: David Lynch Crazy Clown Time | Review
45: New Look New Look | Review // Interview
44: Panda Bear Tom Boy | Review
43: Marissa Nadler Marissa Nadler | Review
42: Kanye West and Jay-Z Watch The Throne | Review
41: James Ferraro Far Side Virtual | Review
40: Mastodon The Hunter | Review
39: WALLS Coracle | Review
38: Katy B On A Mission | Review
37: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead Tao Of The Dead | Review //Interview
36: Kurt Vile Smoke Rings For My Halo | Review
35: Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes | Review
34: My Brightest Diamond All Things Unwind | Review // Takeover
33: Tune-Yards W H O K I L L | Review
32: Radiohead King of Limbs | "Review"
31: Frank Ocean Nostalgia / Ultra
30: Björk Biophilia | Review // Interview
29: Josh T. Pearson Last Of The Country Gentlemen | Review
28: The Horrors Skying | Review
27: The Weeknd House Of Balloons | Review
26: Fucked Up David Comes To Life | Review
25: War on Drugs Slave Ambient | Review
24: Austra Feel it Break | Review
23: I Break Horses Hearts | Review
22: Mogwai Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will | Review // Takeover
21: Colin Stetson New History Warfare Vol. II: Judges
20: Destroyer Kaputt | Review
19: The Field Looping State Of Mind | Review
18: Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells Everything's Getting Older | Review
17: Wild Beasts Smother | Review
16: A Winged Victory For The Sullen A Winged Victory For The Sullen | Review
15: EMA Past Life Martyred Saints | Review
14: Low C'mon | Review
13: Tom Waits Bad as Me | Review
12: Bon Iver Bon Iver | Review
11: St. Vincent Strange Mercy | Review
10: Metronomy The English Rivera | Review
9: Beirut The Rip Tide | Review
8: Bright Eyes The People's Key | Review
7: Nils Frahm Felt | Review
6: When Saints Go Machine Konkylie | Review
5: Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow | Review
4: SBTRKT sbtrkt | Review
3: PJ Harvey Let England Shake | Review // Interview
2: Tim Hecker Ravedeath, 1972 | Review
1: Antlers Burst Apart | Review