To what are you listening?

#51

OK, Piano Players. Keyboardists in general I guess, though I don't know of many specifically jazz organ or harpsicord players.

So. In my book its Oscar Peterson and John Lewis at the top. Sorry Keith Jarrett and Dave Brubeck and all you other great tinklers of the ivories.

Peterson was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, and later in life, when a stroke took away some dexterity in his left hand, it was said that "a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands."

I really like John Lewis in all his incarnations as the driving force of the Modern Jazz Quartet, solos, and collaborations. I've been listening to "Kansas City Breaks" a fair bit lately. But I kinda wanted to show his solo work on Bach.

This is Bach done Jazz. Its been done before by many but Lewis is the supreme master of it in my opinion (Jacques Loussier not withstanding). He is an excellent 'straight' interpreter of Bach, but then gives just the right jazz touches that enhance the original without overwhelming it.

#52

#53

#54

Thank you for introducing us to John Lewis, keith!!!!!!!!

#55

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 28, 2022 12:12 pm Thank you for introducing us to John Lewis, keith!!!!!!!!

Please enjoy. If you like jazz, his Modern Jazz Quartet is considered legendary. His discography is quite extensive.

Interesting side note:

On the album I posted above, "Preludes and Fugues... Book 1", Lewis has given each track a subtitle from, I assume, bidding in bridge. The first track "Prelude No. 1" is subtitled "One No Trump".

#56

https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-193- ... %20Blanche

Episodes 193 and 194 follow a woman named Blanche through courtship, a murder trial, and the history of divorce in America. Lawyers will recognize a famous legal procedure rule and those who have seen The Women will recognize South Dakota's influence on divorce history.

Flatpoint High · #57

As of this poast, Funk Radio on Pandora

RTH10260 · #58

‘Phantom of the Opera,’ Broadway’s Longest-Running Show, to Close
The theatergoing audience has been slow to return after the pandemic lockdown, and the show hasn’t been selling well enough to defray its running costs.

By Michael Paulson
Sept. 16, 2022 Updated 4:39 p.m. ET

“The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running show in Broadway history and, for many, a symbol of musical theater, will drop its famous chandelier for the last time in February, becoming the latest show to fall victim to the drop-off in audiences since the pandemic hit.

The closing is at once long-expected — no show runs forever, and this one’s grosses have been softening — but also startling, because “Phantom” had come to seem like a permanent part of the Broadway landscape, a period piece and a tourist magnet that stood apart from the vicissitudes of the commercial theater marketplace.

But in the year since Broadway returned from its damaging pandemic lockdown, the theatergoing audience has not fully rebounded, and “Phantom,” which came back strong last fall, has not been selling well enough to defray its high weekly running costs.

The show will commemorate its 35th anniversary in January, and then will play its final performance on Broadway on Feb. 18, according to a spokesman. The cast, crew and orchestra were informed of the decision on Friday.

The show will continue to run elsewhere: The London production, which is even older than the one in New York, closed in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, but then returned, with a smaller orchestra and other cost-lowering reconfigurations, a year later. A new production opened last month in Australia, and the first Mandarin-language production is scheduled to open in China next year. Also: Antonio Banderas is working on a new Spanish-language production.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/thea ... osing.html

#59

RTH10260 · #60

no, I am not listening, but it fits here

Taylor Swift becomes first musician to claim entire Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100
Singer has surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the top songs for a week last year

Associated Press
Mon 31 Oct 2022 21.46 GMT

Taylor Swift scored a 10 out of 10 to become the first artist in history to claim the Top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, with tracks from her latest album, Midnights.

Billboard reported on Monday that Swift has surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the Top 10 songs for a week in September 2021.

“10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES,” the 32-year-old pop star tweeted.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/ ... rd-hot-100

#61

"Voices of Light" by Richard Einhorn. It's an amazing work of choral and orchestral music.

In 1928, Carl Theodor Dryer made a silent film based on the transcripts from Joan of Arc's trial called "The Passion of Joan of Arc". As noted by Wikipedia:

It is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema, especially for its production, Dreyer's direction and Falconetti's performance, which is often listed as one of the finest in cinema history. The film summarizes the time that Joan of Arc was a captive of England, depicting her trial and execution

Dryer's final cut of the film was reedited under pressure from the Archbishop of Paris and governmental censors.

There were many attempts to "recreate" Dryer's final version, but it wasn't until 1981 that an actual copy of his final version was found. It was discovered in a mental hospital just outside Oslo, Norway.

In the 1920's, films often had their musical score played by a live orchestra in the theater, so the movie itself did not have musical accompaniment. Richard Einhorn was inspired by the rediscovered film and wrote an oratorio for it. It's available as a stand-alone album or can be found on the Criterion Collection's Blu-Ray release of the film along with 2 additional scores: one by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Portishead’s Adrian Utley; and one by composer and pianist Mie Yanashita.

I know this seems to be more about the movie than the music, but the background of the piece is important. A couple interesting tidbits about the recording, quoting again from Wikipedia:

The libretto is based on excerpts from a variety of ancient writings, most of it from medieval female mystics. The text incorporates accusations from Joan of Arc's actual contemporary accusers. The language of this work is a mix of Latin and Middle French.

According to a 2017 interview with the Criterion channel, Richard Einhorn visited the church where she prayed which is still standing, located near her home. He took along a recorder and recorded the sound of the church bells. These bells are relevant to her story as Joan said the bells triggered the voices from the angels. The bells that can be heard in the original recording are these very bells from her church the way they would have sounded to her.

I highly recommend checking out Voices of Light, either on it own or with the movie. It's just SO gorgeous, it's almost spellbinding.

#62

Yanno, good for Taylor Swift. The white supremacists tried to co-opt her, but she's quite liberal.

I'm not a fan of the music, but I like the lady.

mojosapien · #63

mojosapien · #64

#65

Love The Guess Who! Saw them live in Little Rock in the early 70's. Fabulous concert which ended with American Woman.

#66

Clean up on isle 5.... double post...

#67

MsDaisy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 9:35 am

Put your ear buds in and crank it up!

#68

!

Message from: Foggy

We have so many music threads I'm thinking about creating a subforum just for music. And we haven't even brought over my own personal favorite, the Rock'n'Roll Christmas Music thread, so there's another one.

Without Joe Ruby around, I gotta find my own way on forum organization. But when I notice a particular genre that generates a lot of related threads, it's a clue that they ought to be easy to locate.

#69

Might I suggest Performing and Visual Arts or something similar? It will give space for the art, photography, dance, or theater posts we have? It would make it easier to find these topics than in the general one.

#70

northland10 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 3:24 pm Might I suggest Performing and Visual Arts or something similar? It will give space for the art, photography, dance, or theater posts we have? It would make it easier to find these topics than in the general one.

Yes, that makes sense, and then when I run across art, photography threads, etc. I will move them. No emergency, I think people know how to find stuff around here.

And I'm not putting Arts or Photography (or Music) under American Culture or International Culture, because they transcend national borders or sumpin' ...

#71

Off Topic

Oh yeah, has anybody figured out the difference between General Stuff and Whatever Doesn't Fit Elsewhere?

Because I been stumped about that since the day I created 'em.

#72

I don't know what music video thread is gonna win out in the music stakes going forward, so I'll use this one that I started.

This here is keeping me working right now ...

#73

Foggy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 3:45 pm
Off Topic
Oh yeah, has anybody figured out the difference between General Stuff and Whatever Doesn't Fit Elsewhere?

Because I been stumped about that since the day I created 'em.

I reckon that "General Stuff" must be something to do with Military Industrial Complex.

"Whatever Doesn't Fit Elsewhere" is obviously about Automobiles that weren't designed to be able to carry a full set of golf clubs.

#74

Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:29 pm Hello.

My name is Slim Cognito

And I am listening to Taylor Swift.

I'm sorry to hear that - I hope you get better soon!

#75

Keith -

Fogbow