Monthly Archive: March 2017
Mary Halvorson Octet – Away With You – Firehouse
Guitarist Mary Halvorson expands her band and her compositional strengths. Mary Halvorson Octet – Away With You [TrackList follows] – Firehouse 12 FH12-04-01-024, 55:53 [10/28/16] ****: (Jonathan Finlayson – trumpet; Jon Irabagon – alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock – tenor saxophone; Jacob Garchik – trombone; Mary Halvorson – guitar; Susan Alcorn – pedal steel guitar; John Hébert – bass; Ches Smith – drums) There’s freedom tension, dynamics, visceral improvisation and a varied stretch of jazz on the nearly-hour long Away With You, from guitarist Mary Halvorson and her innovative octet. Those who have been following Halvorson’s ascension in the modern jazz scene—she’s spent time with Anthony Braxton, Marc Ribot, Taylor Ho Bynum, Ingrid Laubrock, plus others—can attest that no matter the setting, (whether solo guitar, leading her own band, or performing with other musicians) Halvorson brings her unique style, restless creativity and artistic nonconformity to everything she does. Halvorson’s eight original tracks which make up Away With You share an edginess, a way of bending jazz parameters into contrasts which are shaped into distinctively stimulating compositions. Those hoping for a guitar-heavy approach may be disappointed. Yes, guitar is ever-present, but Halvorson maintains an ensemble sound throughout, where the electric guitar is […]
Erik APPLEGATE: – Two’s Company – Artist Alliance
Erik APPLEGATE: – Two’s Company – Artist Alliance, 57:17 (2/1/17) ****: (Erik Applegate; bass/Dana Landry; piano/ Steve Kovalcheck; guitar/ Paul McKee; trombone/ Kenyon Brenner; tenor saxophone/ Tom Amend; piano) A fine bassist collaborates with five faculty members of the University of Northern Colorado on a set of duos. Sometimes I grow a little tired of the instrumentation of the modern jazz ensemble and its restricted sonority. Trumpet, saxophone, guitar rhythm section plus or minus a guitar very nearly form a convention. In those moments, I wish I could ask all of the instruments to leave the stage but for the bass, plus one other. The duo would clear the air and provide a paring down and concentration of musical idea and expression. The result would be a more personal form of communication. As it happens, I have just discovered a new CD, digging deep into the pile, led by a bass player who collaborates with five different players in a set of duos. Erik Applegate, the leader, does not have to go far to find his friends. They are all fellow instructors at Northern Colorado University music program. Applegate has played with some big names in the business as has […]
LISZT: The Transcendentals: Twelve Etudes; Funerailles, October 1849; Valse Oubliee No. 1 in f-sharp minor – Barbara Nissman, p. – Three Oranges
Barbara Nissman gives us a dynamic and emotionally aggressive Liszt, virtuosic and poetic. LISZT: The Transcendentals: Twelve Etudes; Funerailles, October 1849; Valse Oubliee No. 1 in f-sharp minor – Barbara Nissman, piano – Three Oranges Recordings 3OR-22, 75:18 (1/31/17) [www.threeorangesrecordings.com] ****: Barbara Nissman,long associated with the music of Franz Liszt, turns (rec. 1-3 August 2013) to his most imposing legacy, his 12 Transcendental Etudes (1852 edition), recast in more accessible form by the composer from his 1837 version, which Berlioz had deemed impossible for any other artist to realize. Schumann had been only slightly more optimistic, calling them “studies in storm and dread for, at the most, ten or twelve players in the world.” Much in the spirit of the Chopin Preludes, which follow the circle of fifths, the Liszt Etudes follow a pattern of descending thirds, starting in C Major and working their way to b-flat minor. In the course of the progression – or spiritual journey – Liszt consolidates his consummate keyboard technique while paying homage to his arsenal of Romantic rhetoric and heroic gestures, his capacity to embrace ecstasies of emotional extremes that look to Dante as their analogy in imaginative expression. Nissman opens with two preliminary […]
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG multichannel SACD 937-1995-6, 73:35 (1/5/17) ****1/2: It is interesting to consider the position of the the Fourth Symphony Op. 60 in Beethoven’s oeuvre. First, consider the adjacent opus numbers, all products of that brief period of happiness and inspiration around 1806. There is the mighty Violin Concerto Op. 61. The three Razumovsky Quartets, Op. 59, each a world unto itself. And then comes the most distinctive of the concertos, the Fourth in G minor. Has there ever been a series of masterpieces lined up like this? All the more reason to ponder the Fourth Symphony, which is perhaps the least performed of the nine. Schumann esteemed it especially highly, calling it “a graceful Greek nymph standing between two Teutonic giants.” Indeed, I think it is the image of the Eroica Symphony that has the most to do with the relative eclipse of the Fourth. That work saw a seismic shift in the dimensions and technical resources of the medium. In the famous moment in the turbulent development section of the massive first movement, Beethoven makes a full-throated declaration of a C-major chord and immediately superimposes a D-minor […]
Doctor Strange, Blu-ray & 3D (2017)
Dr. Strange is the latest in Marvel Studios’ characters, who becomes a powerful sorcerer. Doctor Strange, Blu-ray & 3D (2017) Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton Director: Scott Derrickson Studio: Marvel Studios/ Buena Vista Home Ent. 1433039 (2/28/17) Video: 2.39:1 for 16:9 screens, 1080p HD color 3D Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French & Spanish DD 5.1 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Extras: Audio commentary track with director, Deleted scenes, Gag reel, “A Strange Transformation,” “Strange Company,” “The Fabric of Reality,” “Across Time and Space,” “The Score-cerer Supreme,” “Marvel Studio Phase 3 Exclusive Look,” “Team Thor Part 2” Length: 115 min. Rating: ***** Wow! This is one of the most imaginative films ever, as Cumberbatch and Director Scott Derrickson bring one of comics’ greatest characters to life. The costumes are amazingly detailed and the sets are extraordinary. The roles of the various actors are fairly demanding and the extras show some of the many hours of dance and fight choreography they must go thru. In the extra on the soundtrack, composer Michael Giacchino and a full orchestra record some of the mind-bending music for the film. There is also a short on the hilarious […]
JAN GUNNAR HOFF : Stories – Jan Gunnar Hoff, p. – 2L Blu-ray & SACD
JAN GUNNAR HOFF : Stories – Jan Gunnar Hoff, piano [Tracklist follows] – Pure Audio Blu-ray – 11.1 Dolby Atmos + 9.1 Auro-3D + 5.1 surround + stereo + mShuttle /SACD multichannel and stereo; 2L-131 TT: 57:03 ea. (2 discs) [Distr. by Naxos] *****: A terrific recital on both audio-only Blu-ray & multichannel SACD. Recorded during August 2016 in the fine acoustics of Sofienburg Church, this is Jan Gunnar Hoff’s third recording for the Norwegian label, 2L, and his sixteenth in total. The package includes both a Pure Audio Blu-ray and a multichannel SACD, as well as mShuttle for accessing the Blu-ray’s music on your computer. Hoff (b. 1958) is a composer-pianist with wide interests, including classical, rock and jazz idioms; he’s an academic at the Universities of Tromsø and Agder, and finds time to organize festivals and camps, and to tour as a solo artist. And to make fine recordings, such as this one. The works on this release are largely his own works, and link together in a nicely varied fashion, alternating the introspective and musing with the more upbeat energetic works. The whole program is a remarkably satisfying hour’s listening. The recital opens with Värmlandsvisan a Swedish […]
CHOPIN: Works – David Fray, p. – Erato
CHOPIN: Works [TrackList follows] – David Fray, p. – Erato LC 02822, 68:32 (2/3/17) *****: A carefully-designed Chopin recital weighted towards crepuscular reverie. As midnight approached and the crowd sorted itself into the right kind of people receptive to genius, Chopin, (according to the famous account by Berlioz), would make his way to the piano. There he would disappear into his his state of grace while the salon would fall under the spell of his lyrical melancholy. Schumann captured this moment well: “It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams; to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream.” “At the end of each piece,” he says. But what pieces? We would like to have a set list in order to see the connections, the large canvas on which Chopin painted his feeling-world. While once it was common for a recording to serve up, say, all of the Mazurkas or Preludes, the more compelling […]
Baron Tymas (guitar) – Montréal
Baron Tymas (guitar) – Montréal [TrackList follows] – Self, 50:30 (Avail. as MP-3 from Amazon) ***: They should be encouraged to continue on their creative journey. (Baron Tymas – guitar; Joshua Rager – piano; Sage Reynolds – acoustic bass & bass guitar; Jim Doxas – drums; Guests: Jeri Brown – vocal on track 5; Charles Ellison – trumpet on track 1) Baron Tymas is an American guitarist, who as a Fulbright Fellow spent a year studying at Concordia University, Montréal Canada. During that year of 2015, he composed most of the music in this session, which explores the people, places, and situations that he encountered during his time in that special city. Recorded at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, Concordia University on November 5, 2015, the session starts out with “The Laval Syndicate”. Although Tymas indicates that most of this composition was written before his arrival in Montréal, he renamed it for his cohorts pianist Joshua Rager and trumpeter Charles Ellison. Since Tymas was new to the area he can be forgiven for this unfortunate title, since back in 2013, the Province of Québec had a judicial inquiry that “sifts through the town ( Laval) likened to a crime syndicate”. […]
Audio News for February 3, 2017
Amazon Tap for Alexa – brings a hands-free option and works even if you take your Alexa on the road, it is now $130. You have to literally tape the Tap to give it a command. But it doesn’t sound as good as other Bluetooth speakers in its price range (and not as good as wired speakers), is not waterproof and doesn’t work at all without wi-fi. With a standard Alexa device, you speak into the air and it just hears you, but you can toggle the activation in the app and the Tap responds to the wake word “Alexa.” The always-on mode cuts battery life very little and it is clearly ahead of other devices in terms of multitasking. Where to Find Greek Classical Music – Most people doesn’t associate Greece with classical music. Not many know that Mikis Theodorakis – who wrote the great music for Zorba the Greek – also wrote chamber music. The Greek Chamber Music Project in San Francisco is putting this right with a concert there May 9th. It is titled “From the Village to the Concert Hall, Inspirations from Greek Folk Music.” It includes works by Petros Sakelliou, John Psathas, and the US […]
Wadada Leo Smith – America’s National Parks – Cuneiform
A tribute to America’s shared legacies. Wadada Leo Smith – America’s National Parks [TrackList follows] – Cuneiform Rune 430/431 (2 CDs), 43:13, 53:20 [10/14/16] *****: (Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet, director of ensemble; Anthony Davis – piano; Ashley Walters – cello; John Lindberg – bass; Pheeroan akLaff – drums; Jesse Gilbert – video artist) Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith once again delves deep into the American psyche with his double-CD release, America’s National Parks, a six-track document which examines—and fashions musical portraits of—America’s National Parks but also other shared history and cultural facets. Like Smith’s previous releases, such as 2012’s Ten Freedom Summers or 2014’s The Great Lakes Suites, Smith uses his general album title as a touchstone and a thematic aspect for a larger canvas and viewpoint. To bring his compositions to life, Smith crafted a new Golden Quintet. Cellist Ashley Walters (a fixture of the Los Angeles classical and creative music scene) joins Smith’s longtime compatriot Anthony Davis (piano), bassist John Lindberg (who has been with Smith since the early 2000s), and drummer Pheeroan akLaff (who has worked with Smith since the late 1970s and Davis since the early 1980s). Artist Jesse Gilbert is listed in the credits as […]
Jonathan Finlayson and Sicilian Defense – Moving Still – PI
Strategy and movement from a jazz master. Jonathan Finlayson and Sicilian Defense – Moving Still [TrackList follows] – PI Recordings PI67, 52:15 [10/15/16] ****: (Jonathan Finlayson – trumpet, producer; Miles Okazaki – guitar; Matt Mitchell – piano; John Hébert – bass; Craig Weinrib – drums) Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson is like an expert chess player. He pays attention to what is going on; reflects on what needs to be done; and when it is all sorted in his head, he moves with surety and grace. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Moving Still is only the second solo release from Finlayson, although he’s been a professional musician for a decade and a half. This 52-minute, six-track CD is the follow-up to Finlayson’s critically acclaimed 2013 album, Moment and the Message. Like that earlier effort, Finlayson offers twists and turns which maintain a cutting-edge demeanor, similar to the music of his mentor, Steve Coleman (Finlayson has been a member of Coleman’s Five Elements and has performed with Coleman for a decade). Finlayson’s quintet, Sicilian Defense, also has Coleman alum: guitarist Miles Okazaki is also in Five Elements. The other players are equally storied: pianist Matt Mitchell has worked with Tim […]
The Wonderful World of Jazz – John Lewis – mono Atlantic 1375 (1961)/ Pure Pleasure
A fine John Lewis vinyl with Eric Dolphy, Gunther Schuller and Jim Hall! The Wonderful World of Jazz – John Lewis [TrackList follows] – mono Atlantic 1375 (1961)/ Pure Pleasure Records *****: This wonderful jazz mono vinyl has been reissued numerous times now (including Japanese pressings), but perhaps this version bests them all – though I haven’t heard all of them. With the original artwork on the front of the Atlantic release (including the photo of Lewis by Tom Dowd) and the complete notes by Ralph J. Gleason, plus the great sonics, this is a winner. Nesuhi Ertegun supervised the album. The 1960 personnel change around for the five tracks here on the two sides of the vinyl. It includes, besides Lewis on piano, Paul Gonsalves and Benny Golson on tenor sax, Jim Hall on guitar, Connie Kay on drums and Herb Pomeroy on trumpet. Lewis was for a time the director of the Monterey Jazz Festival, and he has a much more complex musical personality than just the pianist of the Modern Jazz Quartet. This album includes two of his original tunes: “Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West” and “Afternoon in Paris.” Their beauty is brought out more than […]
SHOSTAKOVICH: “The Jazz Album” – Ronald Brautigam, p./ Peter Masseurs, trumpet/ Royal Concertgebouw Orch./ Riccardo Chailly – Decca vinyl
A terrific orchestral version of some of Shostakovich’s jazziest works, on remastered vinyl! SHOSTAKOVICH: “The Jazz Album” – Ronald Brautigam, p./ Peter Masseurs, trumpet/ Royal Concertgebouw Orch./ Riccardo Chailly (TrackList follows) – Decca vinyl 483 0960 (12/23/16): Shostakovich had a constantly changing relationship with jazz during his composing years in the Soviet Union. His famous “Tahiti Trot,” (which is really an arrangement for “Tea for Two,” came about as a challenge by conductor Nicolai Malko to orchestrate Youman’s “Tea for Two” in the space of an hour. Shostakovich did it in 40 minutes, and the resultant work has been a big hit in Russia. In his student years, Shostakovich visited jazz musicians and performances with reported his delight at jazz bands, but later jazz was regarded with suspicion and hostility in certain quarters as a residue of bourgeois culture and decadence. In 1934, however, he participated in a jazz competition whose aim was to raise the level of Soviet jazz from “cafe” music to music with a professional status. He then wrote his three-movement Jazz Suite No. 1. During the early 1930s Shostakovich wished to get back to concert tours with himself at the piano and wrote this Piano Concerto […]
March 2017 Editorial Page
Our March free drawing is 16 CDs from Harmonia mundi titled Resonances Music and Monuments. It is eight two-CD packages sharing the musical memories of places and monuments of Europe. You will hear the voices of the great abbeys, Paris 1900, Sanssouci, the Alhambra, music of Westminster, Venice and Vienna, and the court of Frederick the Great. You can learn more about the at their web site All you need to do to enter the drawing is simply click below on the Register To Win banner and fill out the few fields we request. The lucky winner of the set will be announced here next month. Sorry for the delay selecting the winner of our Feb. drawing, which was for the 4-SACD package of the Russian Futurist Movement, from Cybele Records. The lucky winner is Robert McGrew of Collinsville, MS. Congrats! EDITORIAL AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a local program in San Francisco and then in 1985 as a weekly national radio series hosted by John Sunier, and aired for 13½ years on up to 200 public radio and commercial stations. In September 1998 its web site for program listings was expanded to this free Internet publication. March 2017 is […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
