Thursday 30 September 2010

On Shuffle

This morning, gently coming round, drinking coffee and enjoying a day off work, I thought about the best early morning jazz to listen to. I came up with these three songs. There are plenty of others, but I think this is a pretty good early morning jazz selection.

Colour Yes by Matthew Halsall. There's so much right with this track. Nat Birchall's sax playing is gorgeous, it's rare to see a song get over a third of the way in before the band-leader starts playing. When Halsall's trumpet arrives it's more than worth the wait, this is 9 minutes plus of sheer brilliance.
The musicians are:

Matthew Halsall - Trumpet
Nat Birchall - Soprano Saxophone
Adam Fairhall - Piano
Gavin Barras - Contrabass
Marek Dorcik - Drums

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Suspended Variation II by Tomasz Stanko Quartet. Last week I posted a live version of Cinema Paradiso by the Marcin Wasilewski Trio. The Tomasz Stanko Quartet features all three members of the Marcin Wasilewski Trio and Tomasz Stanko on trumpet. This is phenomenal music, it's from the album Suspended Variation which certainly deserves a place in your record collection.
The musicians are:
Tomasz Stanko - Trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - Piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - Contrabass
Michal Miskiewicz - Drums

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I Remember Clifford by Lee Morgan. It wasn't ever my intention to feature songs from band leaders who play the trumpet. You may remember I posted John Coltrane's Lazy Bird from the album Blue Train a while back, that also featured Lee Morgan on trumpet. One of Lee Morgan's influences, and briefly a teacher, was Clifford Brown and this song was written in his memory by saxophonist Benny Golson. Clifford Brown died when he was only 25, having recorded for only four years but playing on 17 albums, Lee Morgan lived until 33. He recorded, as leader and sideman, 86 albums in a 16 year career. Happily Benny Golson is 81 and still recording and touring.
The musicians are:
Lee Morgan - Trumpet
Benny Golson - Saxophone
Gigi Gryce - Saxophone
Wynton Kelly - Piano
Paul Chambers - Contrabass (who also played with Lee Morgan on the above mentioned Blue Train, along with a whole host of other superb albums)
Charlie Persip - Drums

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Sunday 26 September 2010

Covers for Sunday

I'm back on track now, caught up with everything and finally have enough time to bring you Covers for Sunday again.

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Closer by Love Darling (originally by Kings Of Leon). A lovely cover, very different from the original, one of the nicest covers I've heard for a while.

Sweet Child O' Mine by Luna (originally by Guns N' Roses). A nice, laid back cover.

The Drawback by Telekinesis (originally by Joy Division) An excellent, short cover.

Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer (originally by Eddie Cochran). Rock version of an old rock and roll classic, this works very well without straying into parody.

Say It Ain't So by Kristy Brannon (originally by Weezer). Stripped back folk cover of one of my favourite Weezer songs.

The Eraser by Christian Scott (originally by Thom Yorke). I wanted a jazz cover to finish the blog off and I've been wanting to post this for a while. Given how popular Died In love was when I posted that I expect you'll all like this.

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Saturday 25 September 2010

Icarus Himself

I've featured Icarus Himself before, two songs from the excellent debut album Coffins.

In case you've forgotten them here are the links again:

Sometimes I Can't Stand You, But That Doesn't Mean I Don't Want You Around by Icarus Himself (this may very well be the most played song on iTunes for me)

Precedents - Icarus Himself.

I described them as lo-fi, sarcastic, funny and cynical indie rock.

Now they've got a new EP out, (in fact it was released in May, I should have posted about it ages ago), called Mexico.

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Mexico is all the things that Coffins is, but more. It may be that the more restricted focus of the EP format has led to more concentrated songs, whatever the reason this is a huge step forward from the already excellent Coffins. The songs are still minimalist and lo-fi, but in a much more textured way. Mexico sounds like Coffins with equal parts of Beirut, specifically the trumpet, and Wolf Parade, specifically Language City, mixed in. The songs sound murkier, the vocals less to the fore, but this just brings the songs together as a whole.

I know I'm not doing a great job of describing the sound, but that's because it is hard to describe. It's like a really weird case of deja vu, the first time you listen to it the EP sounds familiar but new. Anyway, I'm going to stop trying to describe it now and let you hear for yourself:



It's hard for me to pick a favourite track, but I think I'll go with Seen It Coming (Mexico) the last track from the EP. Give Mexico a try, you will love it.

Buy it (and debut album Coffins) here

Visit their myspace here They're doing an 11 gig tour of some of the northern states (4 of the gigs are in Wisconsin) later this month and into October, dates are on myspace, and you can stream 2 songs from Mexico and 4 from Coffins while you're there.

Live - Cinemo Paradiso

Here's some live jazz from a piano trio that, for a change, isn't The Bad Plus. Of course everyone who reads this knows how much I love The Bad Plus, and I seem to have introduced/converted some of you to their greatness as well. However part of the reason I post jazz here is to introduce people who don't normally listen to jazz to exceptional music. The other part is because I still haven't got my jazz blog up and running yet.

Anyway. Here's the Marcin Wasilewski Trio. Contrast them to, say, The Bad Plus, or the Esbjörn Svensson Trio and it'll give you a good example of how different and versatile piano trio jazz can be. All three bands had the same instruments and play the same genre but their music is easily recognisable as different from the others. The thing that unites them is the quality of the music.

This interpretation of Ennio Morricone's composition is a very laid back, beautiful peice of music. It has Slawomir Kurkiewicz playing his contrabass with a bow to start the song and Michal Miskiewicz drums with brushes. These are two of my favourite sounds in music.

Cinemo Paradiso (mp3) - Marcin Wasilewski Trio, live.

Thursday 23 September 2010

On Shuffle

Still short on time, hopefully I'll be able to catch up in the next couple of days. Until then, here's a selection of music I've been listening too lately.

Politics In Space by Kate Miller-Heidke. This is an absurdly catchy song and very enjoyable.

This Is How It Feels by Inspiral Carpets. If you only know one Inspiral Carpets song it's almost certainly this.

Dream A Little Of Me by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. This has been covered many times, but for me this is the best version. Louis Armstrong's trumpet playing fits in perfectly with the song and his voice fits with Ella Fitzgerald's flawless vocals.

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Who're You by Fela Kuti & the Africa 70. I've known about Fela Kuti for a few years now, but it's only recently that I've really started listening to him. That's just wasted time, it's some of the best music I've ever heard.

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On Green Dolphin Street by Lee Konitz. Now 82 Lee Konitz has been releasing albums as a band leader since 1949. He released two last year making for a 60 year career, so far. To put it in context that's 20 years longer than Leonard Cohen's recording career, so far. He also played alto sax on the 1949 sessions that would become Miles Davis' Birth Of The Cool. He's a real giant of jazz, this recording comes from the 1974 album Satori. I think the interplay between Konitz on alto sax and Martial Solal on piano on this track is especially brilliant.

Monday 20 September 2010

Live - Invitation

Another week with little time and less blogging. I'm sorry to everyone who reads my blog, I'll make it up to you. I'm especially sorry to everyone who is waiting for me to reply to an e-mail, I will get back to you as soon as I can.

In the meantime here's some superb jazz to tide you over, Roy Hargrove's interpretation of the jazz standard Invitation. Invitation was composed by Bronisław Kaper for the movie of the same name.

Invitation (mp3) by Roy Hargrove, live.

Thursday 16 September 2010

On Shuffle

I know I've been neglcting you all lately, and I'm short of time now. I hope the following six songs will help you to forgive me a little.

All Tomorrow's Parties (single version) by The Velvet Underground

Seven Come Eleven by Benny Goodman Sextet

Fine Print by The Henry Clay People

Merchandise by Fugazi

You're Gonna Miss Me by 13th Floor Elevators

Tirade Of A Shitty Mom by $100

Monday 6 September 2010

Covers for Sunday

Let My Love Open The Door by M Ward (originally by Pete Townshend). I won't waste my time or yours telling you again how much I enjoy M Ward's work. The original was Pete Townshend's first solo single release.

I Know There's An Answer by Sonic Youth (originally by The Beach Boys). If you're even a little bit familiar with either of these bands, and let's face it you are, you can probably guess how good this is.

Alison by Everything But The Girl (originally by Elvis Costello). I'm not a huge fan of Everything But The Girl, perhaps because my elder brother was. This comes from 1992 and gives a reasonable taster of their sound before the huge hit that was Missing.

London Calling by Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt and Dave Grohl (originally by The Clash). I was a bit sceptical about this before I heard it, I thought it might be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I was wrong, this is excellent.

Addicted To Love by Tom Hanway & Blue Horizon (originally by Robert Palmer). Another bluegrass cover, and an excellent one at that, I know how much you all enjoy these.

C.R.E.A.M. by El Michels Affair (originally by The Wu Tang Clan). A while back I posted the El Michels Affair's cover of Bring Da Ruckus. This is cut from the same cloth; laid back, funk & soul influenced genius.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Live - Cut My Wings

Seasick Steve just came out of nowhere, his popularity in Britain seeming to blossom overnight. From unknown to playing the Hootenanny in, seemingly, one small step his brand of electric blues was combined with the persona of an American stereotype that everyone here recognises. But the persona, 'real' or not, should distract from the music. To judge Seasick Steve on how he dresses in no different from kids jumping on popstars bandwagon's because of the way they look or TV viewers voting on X Factor because someone seems nice.

In truth not all of Seasick Steve's music is that great. Post-Dog House Music especially there have been songs that haven't worked, perhaps the albums wouldn't have gained the same level of attention and acclaim if not for the persona. Never mind, when he's on form his music is phenomenal.

Cut My Wings (mp3) - seasick Steve, live at Reading in 2007. Future historians will also be able to use this video to prove that once we did have sunny days in England, even if only in the south.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Live - Rapper's Delight

Remember when hip-hop was all about funk, when it featured disco beats and verses about bad meals at a friend's house? I am, of course, talking about Rapper's Delight, the first hip-hop record. It was released in late 1979 and the video, fashions and all, illustrates the era pretty perfectly.

Rapper's Delight (mp3) - The Sugarhill Gang, live.