1.) Without a Song - Sonny Rollins (Quartets)
2.) Amor em Paz - Gerry Mulligan with Jane Duboc (Paraiso)
3.) As If It Were the End - Pat Metheny (Secret Story)
4.) O Outro Lado - Marcio Faraco (Interior)
5.) Waiting for You - Joyce (Music Inside)
6.) Take the A Train - Marian McPartland (The Single Petal of a Rose)
7.) Space Track - Freddie Hubbard (Without a Song)
8.) Trampolim - Monica Salmaso (Trampolim)
9.) Ritual - Kenny Barron (Sambao)
10,) Sabara - Batocoto (Batacoto)
The other day I was listening to my Ipod on the subway, as always, set to shuffle (with 13,100 songs, I'm always bound to get some surprises) and suddenly Rahsaan Roland Kirk's version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune I Say a Little Prayer turned up and I simply loved it: the joyous bass drum at the end of the first chorus and the triple paradiddle at end of the second, not to mention, the siren at the end of the melody leading in to the improvised section.
How pleased I was, then, to see it in a live version on Youtube and can share it (although it is different than the studio version I listened to from the Volunteered Slavery CD):
Kirk has always been one of my favorite musicians. he was taken care of us much too soon, but was a rare musician who had a good business sense: several years ago I read an interview with Steve Turre and Hilton Ruiz who mentioned that he paid unemployment insurance for them, so that they had some compensation when he passed away on the road. A shame there aren't more like him.In the late 1970's and during the 1980's Gil Scott-Heron was probably my favorite musician. I admired his intelligence, his songwriting - along with Brian Jackson - his voice and his passion. He even made the detestable Fender Rhodes electric piano listenable. My first exposure was to his song, The Bottle:
It's effective, even danceable social commentary. How sad it is to see that he has become that which he protested against. This is is so ineffably sad:
1,) Cerebro Eletronico - Marisa Monte (A Great Noise)
2.) The Delightful Deggie (Big Band version) - Lee Morgan (Delightfullee)
3.) Tales of Brave Ulysses - Cream (Disraeli Gears)
4.) Belle - Al Green (The Definitive Greatest Hits)
5.) The Surrey With the Fringe On Top - Wes Montgomery (Impressions: The Verve Years)
6.) O Barquinho - Joe Pass (Tudo Bem!)
7.) Suas maos - Luciana Souza (Brazilian Duos)
8.) The Blues Walk - Clifford Brown (Clifford Brown)
9.) Brother Can You Spare a Dime - Andy Bey (It Ain't Necessarily So)
10.) O Rio Para Tras - Celso Fonseca (Rive Gauche Rio)
To build a little upon Reg's remembrance of Hank Jones, it's worth pointing out that he's the last of a line. He was the brother of Thad and Elvin Jones, extraordinary, gifted musicians in their own right.
While Elvin, a drummer, may have had the best sheer technical chops of the three of them:
and Thad may have had the best compositional skills (there are few jazz compositions more beautiful than A Child is Born):
Hank had the biggest heart of the three of them, especially given his gifts as an accompanist; for years with Ella Fitzgerald and in his nineties with Roberta Gambarini:
The world is now a little dimmer with the last of the Jones brothers gone. Rest in peace, Hank.
There is precious little that I can add to Ben Brantley's review of Fela! from six months ago other than to echo it.
I do not believe that I have had a more rewarding experience at a Broadway show in the years I've lived here. Sahr Ngaujah is a revelation; he completely inhabits the character in a role that surely must be one of the most strenuous I have ever seen.
Don't miss it.
. . . With practically no time to post.
But at least on Friday I get to see this show:
On Saturday I get to see one of the best voices in jazz: Andy Bey:
I haven't had this much culture in one weekend and not been on vacation. Sweet!
I'm beginning to wonder if this is a new subgenre of Brazilian guitar playing. First, the Siquiera Lima duo
Next, the incomparable Assad brothers:
And finally, 4 Tissimo Quartet:
I can only say wow!
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