Toshiko Akiyoshi & Lew Tabackin - Mosaic Select 33

"The Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band was the premier recording and touring ensemble of its time in the mid- to late '70s, recording five albums for the RCA Victor label, and stunning audiences with sheer virtuosity and the charts of the Japanese born pianist. A symmetry between Asian culture and American bop made this orchestra most unique, exciting, and above all, highly original. This three-CD set contains the quintuple RCA studio recordings that set a high bar for all others to follow, and gave stiff competition to people like Gil Evans. Akiyoshi wrote music well suited to her rising stars and established veterans, while Tabackin was given more than ample opportunity to express himself on tenor sax, and especially his vibrant flute. This band also grew talent that would go on to become leaders, including Bobby Shew and Gary Foster, those who developed into section leaders like Phil Teele, Bill Reichenbach, and Dick Spencer, and trusted veterans Britt Woodman, Bill Perkins, Don Rader, and King Errison. 'Kogun', with its stunning surf wave/saxophones/Hollywood mountain art work, kicks off the program, as 'Elegy' comes out of the gate roaring in bop style via Akiyoshi's Bud Powell-influenced pianistics. Tabackin is a one-man army of atmospheric flute over tsuzumi drums and moaning sumo-type vocals as a strained, yearning sound identifies the title track in 5/4 time. 'American Ballad' is very much in the Duke Ellington vein with Woodman featured, while the bop/blues 'Henpecked Old Man' reiterates and expands on a theme Akiyoshi wrote in 1964, featuring Shew and Spencer. Where 'Long Yellow Road' is perhaps the most popular of the original vinyl issues, the title track was available on 'Kogun', initially going back to the 1960 Akiyoshi-Mariano quartet with then husband, saxophonist Charlie Mariano. It's an incredible, dynamic, substantive jazz melody, orchestrated in regal, opulent tones by the big band, also soulful, grooving, and full of double stops. 'Opus Number Zero' is a 4/4-to-waltz swiss cheese hard bop, 'Quadrille, Anyone?' a gospel jazz waltz, and 'Since Perry/Yet Another Tear' another Ellington-type epic as drummer Peter Donald and the saxes line up, then shout out. developing a bop-to-blues-to-ballad construct. 'Tales of a Courtesan' is perhaps the least acclaimed of the five albums, though 'Road Time Shuffle' is classic in the Count Basie tradition, 'Strive for Jive' was a popular item featuring Tabackin's Eric Dolphy-esque scattered tenor, and 'Village' perfectly evokes the balance between Eastern and Western cultures, with churning 5/4 Afro-Cuban rhythms surging between Akiyoshi's deft piano and three layered horns in counterpoint - a simply brilliant piece of music. Where the recording Insights, from 1976, succeeded in emphasizing the Japanese koto aspect of Akiyoshi's heritage during the magnum opus suite 'Minimata' with children's voices, floating horns, long-winded bop,and drama under the spare horns, it is not the definitive piece. That honor goes to 'Sumie', a spiritual chart as Tabackin's piccolo is frighteningly haunting. 'Studio J' is yet another memorable jazz chart more easily swung, and a staple in many other jazz big band's repertoires 'March of the Tadpoles' from 1977 is the last of the five albums, but retains unusually disparate high points, with a feature for Tabackin's tenor on the ballad 'Mobile', more bop mixed with Latin samba during 'Deracinated Flower', the flute blues 'Yellow Is Mellow', and the choppy 'Notorious Tourist from the East' in a modal framework built for the players to work out and freely discourse. If you do not already own these recordings and are a progressive big-band fan, it is in your interest to search for this quintessential collection. Mosaic Select has hit a grand slam with this reissue, featuring a band in their early years that has hit on all cylinders since its inception, and never lets off the gas. It comes with an absolute highest recommendation." (Review by Michael G. Nastos for AllMusic. See here.)

1.1. Elegy

1.2. Memory

1.3. Kogun

1.4. American Ballad

1.5. Henpecked Old Man

1.6. Long Yellow Road

1.7. The First Night

1.8. Opus Number Zero

1.9. Quadrille, Anyone?

1.10. Children In The Temple Ground

2.1. Since Perry/Yet Another Tear

2.2. Road Time Shuffle

2.3. Tales Of A Courtesan

2.4. Strive For Jive

2.5. I Ain't Gonna Ask No More

2.6. Interlude

2.7. Village

2.8. Studio J

2.9. Transcience

2.10. Sumie

3.1. Minamata

3.2. March Of The Tadpoles

3.3. Mobile

3.4. Deracinated Flower

3.5. Yellow Is Mellow

3.6. Notorious Tourist From East

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André Grétry; Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Richard Cœur de Lion; Le Devin du Village

"At the time when 'Richard Cœur de Lion' was first performed, at the Comédie Italienne on 21 October 1784, its composer, André-Modeste Grétry, was one of the favourites of the French stage, and a master of opéra-comique, a genre which at the end of the eighteenth century was experiencing an unequalled expansion. Believe it or not, this extremely popular entertainment, liked by all levels of society, was only eighty years old. The vaudevilles and comedies interspersed with songs which for a time made the trestle-theatres so popular, flouring at Saint Germain and Sain Laurent, the most important fairs in the capital, had long had their days, as had the parodies and pastiches of grand opera. One constraint remained, and would persist throughout the following century, before being set aside: that of alternating spoken dialogue and sung couplets, the Académie Royale de Musique (otherwise known as the Opéra) reserving itself the privilege of putting on works which were entirely sung. But as to the choice of subject, imagination was the order of the day. François-André Philidor and Pierre Alexandre Monsigny had led the way: Grétry was to be their worthy successor.

"In 1768, for the two-act 'Le Huron', he had found a note collaborator in the person of Jean-François Marmontel; with 'Zémire et Azore' in 1771, they turned success into triumph. They had a fruitful collaboration up until 'La fausse Magie' (1775). But for 'Le Magnifique', in 1773, another writer lent his words to the composer's music: Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719-1797). It was to his librettos that Grétry composed some of his most ambitious works, 'Richard Cœur de Lion' (1784), which is always cited if never heard, together with 'Raoul Barbe-bleue' (1789) and 'Guillaume Tell' (1791). The comedy sung couplets and the 'opéra-comique' were Sedaine's chosen ground, to the extent that his career as a playwright would always suffer. Back in 1756, for 'Le Diable à quatre ou la double métamorphose', he had partnered Philidor, with whom he worked again three years later on 'Blaise le savetier'. He teamed up with Monsigny for 'On ne s'avise jamais de tout' (1761). In 'Le Paradoxe sur le comédien', Diderot wonders: 'Without wishing to prefer Sedaine over Voltaire or Voltaire over Sedaine, could you tell me what would have come out of the head of the author of 'Le Philosophe sans le savoir, Le Déserteur' and 'Paris' if, instead of spending thirty-five years of his life mixing plaster and cutting stone, he had used all that time, like Voltaire, or you and me, reading and thinking about Homer, Virgil, Tasso and so on? We should never have had his vision of things, and he would never have learned to speak like us. I regard him as a great-nephew of Shakespeare.' As for Voltaire, he was only too glad to send him a most affable letter: 'I was very sick when I received the two plays you were good enough to send me; they made me forget all my ills. I know no-one who understands the theatre better than you and who allows his actors to speak more naturally.'

"Under Sedaine's hand, 'opéra-comique' changes its tone, deserting the fairy tale and approaching bourgeois drama and sentimental comedy of the kind exemplified also by Diderot; the world of the imaginary became that of sentiment, and not only was music to appeal to the spirit, it was to speak directly to the heart, just as a picture by Greuze can - it should not be forgotten that Sedaine's and Monsigny's 'Le Déserteur' made a whole generation weep. 'Richard Cœur de Lion' is innovative in more than one way. Considered as the ancestor of French historical opera, it is also the first musical stage-work to go over to that troubadour style which would be so dear to the early romantics: it evokes a fantasy-Middle Ages by means of romantic adventures, but starting out from the true story of one of the period's most significant figures, and moreover a King of England (there are traces of the captivity of Richard Cœur de Lion on his way home from the crusades in the various avatars of 'Robin Hood', as well as in Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe'). The sovereign's deliverance may be said to adumbrate the 'rescue' genre, highly esteemed during the Revolution. Librettist and composer here effect a kind of skilful synthesis of various tendencies, under the banner of sentiment, simplicity and naturalness. Sedaine is certainly not a first-class stylist, but he knows how to manage a plot, and also how to delineate a character - a quality all the more praiseworth since those in 'Richard Cœur de Lion' embrace the most disparate levels of society, from the nobility to the peasantry, as well as Blondel, the faithful squire and the real hero of the piece, who as a poet is classless.

"Grétry's score easily matches this variety of inspiration, by turns amiable, touching, lively and amusing To those who would reproach him for not being learned enough, the composer, in his 'Mémoires', which he started to compile soon after he completed 'Richard', vouchsafed the secret of his aesthetic: 'The misuse of learning is more dangerous in relation to music than to any other art... We will dare to say that there are still far too many of those would-be 'savants' in music who must have harmonic transitions at all costs, without stopping to think whether they are justified by the sense of the words... Learning can have only one definition, that is, the study of nature; as soon as it departs from that, we say boldly that this learning is an abuse'. Incidentally, Lauretta's aria 'Je crains de lui parler la nuit' has, by adoption, taken on a life of its own: it is in fact the song with which the Countess in Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades' recalls the happy days of her past.

"That is something which would have pleased Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was a great admirer of Grétry. To be honest, although he fancied himself as a composer, the apostle of the return to nature is far from having left to prosterity any imperishable masterpieces in the sphere of music. He was a theoretician and above all a polemicist. In his 'Letter on French music' of 1753, he is scathing: 'I think I have shown that French music has neither rhythm nor melody, because the language does not take to it; that French singing is just a continual howling, which is unbearable to any ear not accustomed to it; that its harmony is crass, without expression, and above all a mere schoolboy's exercise...'. A fierce champion of the Italians in the 'Querelle des Bouffons', he was to change sides twenty-five years later, taking Gluck's part against Piccinni. First performed at the court of Fontainebleau on 18 October 1752 by such famous artists as Marie Fel, the tenor Pierre Jelyotte and the baritone Cuvillier, his 'Le Devin du village' (The Village Soothsayer) is a brightly coloured trifle. Louis XV, who was fond of it, apparently sang its opening aria 'with the most out-of-tune voice in the kingdom'. In 1768, Mozart used the same libretto, in German, for 'Bastien and Bastienne'; at the age of twelve he outdid his predecessor, whose delicate little one-acter was unable to free itself of the out-of-date graces of the 'Ancien Régime'." (Michel Parouty, tr. Hugh Graham. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Orchestre de Chambre de la RTB, Edgard Doneux, Mady Mesplé, Charles Burles, Michel Trempont, Orchestre de Chambre Louis de Froment, Louis de Froment, Janine Micheau, Nicolai Gedda, Michel Roux

1.1. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: Overture/'Chantons, Chantons, Célébrons Ce Bon Ménage'

1.2. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Antonio, Qu'entends-je?'

1.3. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'La Danse N'est Pas Ce Que J'aime'

1.4. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Va, Mon Fils... Oui, Voilà Des Tours'

1.5. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'O Richard, Ô Mon Roi!'

1.6. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Quoi! De La Part Du Gouverneur?'

1.7. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Rentrez Dans La Maison'

1.8. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Je Crains De Lui Parler La Nuit'

1.9. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Vous L'aimez Donc Bien, Belle Laurette?'

1.10. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Un Bandeau Couvre Les Yeux'

1.11. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Ah! Voici Je Ne Sais Combien De Personnes'

1.12. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte I: 'Que Le Sultan Saladin Rassemble'

1.13. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Ronde De Nuit'

1.14. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'L'aurore Va Se Lever'

1.15. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Si L'univers Entier M'oublie'

1.16. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Mon Garçon, J'aime Á Respirer'

1.17. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Une Fièvre Brûlante'

1.18. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Sais-tu, Connais-tu, Qui Peut T'avoir Répondu?'

1.19. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Voici Monsieur Le Gouverneur'

1.20. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte II: 'Ah! Monseigneur!'

1.21. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Il Faut Que Je Lui Parle'

1.22. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Sire Williams'

1.23. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Oui, Chevaliers'

1.24. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Ah! Chevaliers'

1.25. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Le Gouverneur, Pendant La Danse'

1.26. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Et Zic Et Zic Et Zic'

1.27. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: Danses

1.28. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'Que Richard À L'instant'

1.29. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: Marche

1.30. Richard Cœur De Lion, Acte III: 'O Ma Chère Comtesse'

2.1. Le Devin Du Village: Ouverture

2.2. Le Devin Du Village: 'J'ai Perdu Tout Mon Bonheur'

2.3. Le Devin Du Village: 'Elle Compte Dans Sa Main'

2.4. Le Devin Du Village: 'Perdrai-je Colin Sans Retour?'

2.5. Le Devin Du Village: 'Si Des Galants'

2.6. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vous Rendrai Le Sien'

2.7. Le Devin Du Village: 'L'amour Croit Qu'il S'inquiète'

2.8. Le Devin Du Village: 'J'ai Tout Su De Colin'

2.9. Le Devin Du Village: 'L'amour Et Vos Leçons'

2.10. Le Devin Du Village: 'Non, Non, Colette N'est Pas Trompeuse'

2.11. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ce N'est Point Un Berger'

2.12. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vais Revoir Ma Charmante Maîtresse'

2.13. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je L'aperçois'

2.14. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ma Collette, Êtes-vous Fâchée'

2.15. Le Devin Du Village: 'Ta Foi M'est Point Ravie'

2.16. Le Devin Du Village: 'Hélas!'

2.17. Le Devin Du Village: 'Tant Qu'à Mon Colin'

2.18. Le Devin Du Village: 'A Jamais, Colin'

2.19. Le Devin Du Village: 'Je Vous Ai Délivres'

2.20. Le Devin Du Village: 'Colin Revient À La Bergère'

2.21. Le Devin Du Village: 'Dans Ma Cabane Obscure'

2.22. Le Devin Du Village: Pantomime

2.23. Le Devin Du Village: 'Il Faut Tous'

2.24. Le Devin Du Village: 'Quand On Sait Bien Aimer, Que La Vie Est Charmante'

2.25. Le Devin Du Village: 'Allons Danser'

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Sun Ra - Piano Recital: Teatro La Fenice, Venezia

Fairly rare live solo set from the great Saturnian bandleader. His playing is as masterful as it is captivating as he works his way through standards made his own ('Take the "A" Train', 'Honeysuckle Rose') and his own compositions that have become standards ('Love in Outer Space', 'Friendly Galaxy'). Released in 2003 on Leo Records sublabel Golden Years of New Jazz. 

1. Free Improvisation 1

2. Blues

3. Love In Outer Space

4. Outer Spaceways Inc.

5. Take The "A" Train

6. St. Louis Blues

7. Penthouse Serenade

8. Angel Race

9. Free Improvisation 2

10. Honeysuckle Rose

11. Friendly Galaxy/Spontaneous Simplicity

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Arthur Honegger - Symphonies Nos. 1-5; Pacific 231

"Though born in Le Havre, Arthur Honegger was Swiss by parentage and nationality, and began his studies at the Zurich Conservatoire. But he spent much of his life in Montmartre, becoming closely identified with the inter-war developments in French music. He was among those who clustered round the venerably eccentric figure of Erik Satie, and was also one of 'les Six', a group of iconoclastic young Parisian composers who are best remembered for their flippantly satirical 'entertainment music' and cultivation of 'Franco-American' jazz style. Yet the weightier creative personalities among them soon began to go their separate ways; Honegger, arguably the least flippant of them all, did so earliest. It was in the forms of symphony, oratorio and chamber music that he achieved lasting success. 

 

"Even his notorious tone poem Pacific 231 is subtitled 'symphonic movement'. A virtuoso study in rhythm and orchestral scoring, it evokes the journey of a great modern express train (a 300-ton 'Pacific' class locomotive with a wheel configuration of 2-3-1 each side) pulling out of the station and gradually gathering speed until it is hurtling through the night at 120 km/h. Honegger said his aim was not to imitate the noise of a locomotive but to reproduce its visual impression and physical sensation through a musical design. 

 

"In 1929 Serge Koussevitzky, who conducted Pacific 231's scandalously successful 1924 premiere at the Paris Opera, commissioned Honegger to compose a piece in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The result was the First Symphony, premiered by the orchestra under Koussevitzky on 13 February 1931. Like all Honegger's symphonies, this is cast in three movements, concise and clearly contrasted, with the slow movement providing the centre of gravity. The pounding motoric rhythms and sinewy counterpoint of the first movement is balanced by the ardently serious and songful slow movement, which begins with passionate instrumental recitative. The brilliant, toccata-like finale eventually slows into an unexpectedly gentle and fulfilled-sounding epilogue. 

 

"Honegger's remaining symphonies were all composed in the decade 1940-1950. In a sense, Nos. 2 to 4 form a 'war' trilogy reflecting his reactions to the events of the Second World War. The Second Symphony, for string orchestra with trumpet, written during the German occupation of Paris, is in a wiry, vigorous, and deeply troubled neo-Classical idiom, the promise of deliverance being proclaimed by an eloquent trumpet chorale at the very end. It was composed for Paul Sacher, who gave the first performance in Zurich in May 1942. 

 

"The Third Symphony, entitled 'Liturgique', was begun at the end of the war and was also premiered in Zurich, conducted by Charles Munch, in-August 1946. Honegger himself spoke of this work as 'a drama played out by three protagonists: happiness, misery and man. That is the eternal problem'. The very dark instrumental timbres, shot through occasionally with searchlight beams of bright instrumental colour, create a largely nocturnal impression — a sound-world where ignorant armies seem to clash by night beneath the immaculate purity of the stars. The furious, toccata-like 'Dies irae', the grave, chant-like 'De profundis' and the remorseless war-march of the 'Dona nobis' give way at last to a transfiguringly seraphic coda, with a nightingale song on flute entwined with ecstatic solo violin. 

 

"The Fourth Symphony, subtitled 'Deliciae Basilienses' ('The delights of Basle'), was composed for the twentieth anniversary of the Basle Chamber Orchestra, and premiered by them under Paul Sacher in January 1947. This is the most serene and radiant of Honegger's symphonies, poised and lyrical, a celebration of peace linked specifically to the neutrality of Switzerland, with old Swiss folksongs woven into the texture. Lyricism and contentment give way in the finale to the merriment of trumpet and drums.

"Some months after the premiere of this symphony, Honegger suffered a severe heart attack, leaving him an invalid for the remainder of his life, during which he composed his Fifth Symphony for the Koussevitsky Music Foundation. Charles Munch directed the premiere in Boston the following year. Honegger called it 'Di tre re', referring to the pianissimo note D, on timpani and pizzicato basses, concluding each of the three movements. Perhaps he meant this as a symbol of inevitable fate: the mood of the work is predominantly dark and tragic. On the other hand, he regarded it as his most successful essay in symphonic form. The Fifth is Honegger’s only symphony to begin with a slow movement: a majestic but anguished chorale for full orchestra, gradually dissolving into more lyrical but still tragically accented contrasting ideas for smaller groups of instruments. The second movement is a fleet-winged, almost Mendelssohnian scherzo, enclosing at its heart a profoundly expressive Adagio. Frenetic and furious, the finale seems to be powered by an unstoppable drive, but at last runs down, like an untended machine, to quiet extinction." (Malcolm MacDonald. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson

1.1. Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro Marcato

1.2. Symphony No. 1: II. Adagio

1.3. Symphony No. 1: III. Presto

1.4. Symphony No. 2: I. Molto Moderato

1.5. Symphony No. 2: II. Adagio Mesto

1.6. Symphony No. 2: III. Vivace Ma Non Troppo - Presto

1.7. Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique': I. Dies Irae, Allegro Marcato

1.8. Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique': II. De Profundis Clamavi, Adagio

1.9. Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique': III. Dona Nobis Pacem, Andante

2.1. Symphony No. 4 'Deliciae Basilienses': I. Lento E Misterioso - Allegro - Lento - Allegro Molto Tranquillo

2.2. Symphony No. 4 'Deliciae Basilienses': II. Larghetto

2.3. Symphony No. 4 'Deliciae Basilienses': III. Allegro - Adagio - Allegro

2.4. Symphony No. 5 'Di Tre Re': I. Grave

2.5. Symphony No. 5 'Di Tre Re': II. Allegretto - Adagio

2.6. Symphony No. 5 'Di Tre Re': III. Allegro Marcato

2.7. Pacific 231 (Mouvement Symphonique No. 1)

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Othmar Schoeck - Lieder

"'I still have a strong desire to sing his songs, even though every performance outside of Switzerland seems to meet with misunderstanding or a condescending failure of appreciation ('Helvetism', 'Provincialism').' This declaration by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau strikes to the heart of a problem. touching on a particularly sore point. Throughout his lifetime Othmar Schoeck suffered from a diminution in stature to that of an imitator — relegated to the rank of a footnote to such earlier giants as Schumann. Brahms and Wolf. His critics looked down on him as someone who had largely failed to recognize the signs of his time or, at least, had failed to play an active pad in it. Instead, they regarded him as having his view directed backwards to the past. as being stuck in the Romantic world of 19th-century song. 

"In Fischer-Dieskau's words, the singer must 'invest more in his assignment than he can hope to effect in its external presentation'. Singing Schoeck presupposes extensive experience with Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Wolf. but simultaneously it requires a clear understanding of early 20th-century music, with its melancholy, fin-de-siecle awareness of loss and alienation in a new world. 

"Keller's poem 'Ein Tagewerk I' ('A Day's Work I') focuses on this sense of loss: 'Jedoch mein Lied — es rang sich nicht zu Tee' ('But my song — it did not come to light'). The time is past when one could find one's song in the Romantic forests! Meyer's Reisefantasie longs for a return to the Middle Ages of castles and fortresses. For stalwart chivalry and a potent backdrop to life, instead of a weary zeitgeist that weighed down Meyer's feeling of aliveness to the point of depression. Many aspects of Schoeck reveal a spiritual affinity with this poet; or was it purely coincidental that he ended his Eichendorff cycle op. 20 with 'Nachruf' ('Obituary'), whose central strophe reads: 'Was wollen wir nun singen / hier in der Emsamkeit, / wenn alle von uns gingen, / die unser Lied ertreutl?' ('What is now the point of singing here and in solitude, when all have departed from us who took pleasure in our song?'). 

"No other interpreter could compare with Fischer-Dieskau in his ability to recapture the Romantic worlds of Eichendorff and Mörike and, simultaneously, to express the awareness of the loss of these worlds that resonates in Schoeck's lieder. Romanticism, insofar as it appears in these works as carefree happiness, is never taken by Fischer-Dieskau at face value; rather it is approached with a differentiated declamation that questions Romanticism's contradictory nature: an approach inclined to passionate outbursts, to the engagement of his whole artistic personality, to recreating emotional upheaval and blissful assuagement. The sound of his voice here takes on an unaccustomed brightness and softness, in combination with a suggestive lightness of articulation. There is nothing superficial to distract the attention — on the contrary, this is internalized singing, so to speak, that concentrates on the finest nuances of colour, on text-responsive diction, on carefully controlled vocal and verbal gestures. The sense is always perceptible behind the vocal timbre, a feeling not only for beauty or melancholy but also for its underlying poetic foundation." (Werner Pfister, tr. Richard Evidon. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Margrit Weber, Karl Engel

1. Ein Tagewerk I, Op. 55 No. 23/I
2. Ein Tagewerk I, Op. 55 No. 23/II
3. Frühgesicht, Op. 55 No. 17
4. Reisefantasie, Op. 60 No. 3
5. Das Ende Des Festes, Op. 60 No. 15
6. Nachruf, Op. 20 No. 14
7. Jugendgedenken, Op. 24b No. 10
8. Peregrina II, Op. 17 No. 4
9. Auf Ein Kind, Op. 20 No. 1
10. Dämmrung Senkte Sich, Op. 19a No. 2
11. Ach, Wie Schön, Op. 33 No. 1
12. Nachklang, Op. 19b No. 1
13. Höre Den Rat, Op. 19b No. 5
14. Venezianisches Epigramm, Op. 19b No. 13
15. Jetzt Rede Du, Op. 60 No. 28
16. Auskunft, Op. 8 No. 3
17. Aus Zwei Tälern, Op. 8 No. 2
18. Kennst Du Das Auch?, Op. 24b No. 4
19. Ravenna I, Op. 24b No. 9
20. Das Ziel, Op. 24b No. 8
21. Keine Rast, Op. 24b No. 7
22. Kindheit, Op. 31 No. 2
23. Im Kreuzgang Von Santo Stefano, Op. 31 No. 3
24. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: I. Nachtgefühl
25. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: II. Magie Der Farben
26. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: III. Verwelkende Rosen
27. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: IV. Abends
28. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: V. Mittag Im September
29. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: VI. Blauer Schmetterling
30. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: VII. Pfeifen
31. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: VIII. Sommernacht
32. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: IX. Für Ninon
33. Liederzyklus, Op. 44: X. Vergänglichkeit

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Johnny Cash - The Last Gunfighter Ballad

Johnny Cash wrote the following in his autobiography 'Cash': "I don't listen to music much at the farm, unless I'm going into songwriting mode and looking for inspiration. Then I'll put on something by the writers I've admired and used for years — Rodney Crowell, John Prine, Guy Clark, and the late Steve Goodman are my Big Four [...]". With the death of John Prine this week, Crowell is the only living of these five men. In commemoration, I will be posting an album from each.

 A great later effort from Cash to match the peak era of most of the men in our theme. The title is, of course, after the Guy Clark song, which Cash delivers an excellent rendition of here. The 'man in black' proves he never lost it, with his voice sounding every bit as good as it did in 1958. The production is for the most part very traditional, with Cash's vocal given the tight, shotgun reverb that made his early vocals so distinctive, joined by timeless finger-picking. Some songs, the opener 'I Will Dance with You' for example, do make use of contemporary production and songwriting to great effect, while some more traditional numbers are amusingly infused with 1970s effects (hear the wah-wah guitar on 'You're So Close to Me'). We are not, of course, deprived of fantastic religious numbers showing the always awe-inspiring depth of Cash's faith. 'Far Side Banks of Jordan' is a rousing-yet-humble duet with his wife, and her stunning vocal is also clearly audible on the joyful, gospel-infused 'Give it Away' (as well as on other songs). Cast-iron songcraft and an ear to the ground reveal that the supposed desert between the late sixties and the 'American' recordings is (for the most part, anyway) a myth.

A1. I Will Dance With You
A2. The Last Gunfighter Ballad
A3. Far Side Banks Of Jordan
A4. Ridin' On The Cotton Belt
A5. Give It Away
B1. You're So Close To Me
B2. City Jail
B3. Cindy, I Love You
B4. Ballad Of Barbara
B5. That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine

flac/16-bit

Richie Kamuca - Drop Me Off In Harlem

A letter session from tenorman Richie Kamuca. Off the mark, the most distinctive thing here is the lack of a drummer; Kamuca plays with a rhythm section of Herb Ellis's wonderful acoustic guitar (think Django Reinhardt), Ray Brown's pedigreed bass and Dave Frishberg's piano. Apart from Kamuca's wonderful breathy, brassy sax tone (which is recorded excellently), the presence of be-bop veterans Ellis and Brown makes this an outing to savour. The closest comparison might be the stripped down, collective improvisation feeling of Jimmy Giuffre's "Trav'lin' Light", but with a much more traditional aim. And it has never been reissued. For shame.

Performers: Richie Kamuca (t-sx) Herb Ellis (gt), Dave Frishberg (pi), Ray Brown (bs)

A1. Drop Me Off In Harlem
A2. I Didn't Know About You
A3. All Alone
A4. Dear Brix
B1. Three Little Words
B2. It Must Be True
B3. With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair
B4. Harlem Butterfly

flac/16-bit

Dexter Gordon & Wardell Gray - The Hunt

"From 1941 to 1946, when servicemen began to drift back from the Pacific theatres, their pockets full of money, many of them to remain in Southern California, Central Avenue came to bear a striking resemblance to another street, remembered from another war, Basin Street, the thoroughfare of legendary Storyville, where jazz began." The liner notes wax lyrical on this truly historic recording. Jack Kerouac wrote of it in his seminal book "The Road": "They ate voraciously as Dean, sandwich in hand, stood bowed and jumping before the big phonograph, listening to a wild bop record I had just bought called 'The Hunt', with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing their tops before a screaming audience that gave the record fantastic frenzied volume. The Southern folk looked at one another and shook their heads in awe." There is a momentous energy to this recording. The always sublime Dexter Gordon pairs with Wardell Gray on tenor to create a never ending be-bop line of staggering stamina (each piece clocks in at around the twenty minute mark): ever-building, simmering till it boils over. There is a natural catharsis in hearing the audience screaming for more ("Go! Go!"); you can feel the musicians move, sense the sweat on their brow as they lose themselves in the music to a truly captivated crowd.

Performers: Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray (t-sx), Howard McGhee (tp), Trummy Young (tb), Barney Kessel (gt), Hampton Hawes (pi), Harry Babasin/Red Callender (bs), Connie Kay/Ken Kennedy (dr)

A. Disorder At The Border
B. Cherokee
C. Byas-A-Drink
D. The Hunt

mp3/320kbps