Stop and Hear the Music

Spotify

lovelyn — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:03:21 +0000

I love music and I love listening to music. In high school and college I used to be absolutely addicted to buying music. Than it was cassettes. Later I bought Cd’s. Than I moved on to MP3s. Purchasing music can get to be expensive, especially if you purchase the volume of music I used to.

Recently, I discovered a music service that lets you listen to any music you want online for free. You hear a few ads now and then just like you would on the radio, but there aren’t very many ads at all. The service is call Spotify. Right now it’s only available in Europe. All you have to do is download a Spotify player. You can search for any artist you want, choose an album and listen. They have an enormous selection of music. I’ve been listening to music that I normally wouldn’t have listened to. If I suddenly wonder what a musician’s latest album is like all I have to do is search for it. It’s great!

If the ads annoy you, you can subscribe to the Spotify service. A day pass gives you 24 hours of commercial free music for £ .99 or you can have commercial free music all the time for £9.99 a month. It’s a great service. I’ve been listening to all kinds of things on it.

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Musical Musings

lovelyn — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:42:53 +0000

This blog has gone through many changes and still hasn’t quite found a good fit. It is out as my simple musings about music. Disheartened by poor traffic, I started writing a more focused site about jazz musicians. Then I took a long, long break.

Now I’m back, and I’ll be posting weekly. I love music and I think this blog is most fun for me when I’m just writing about the music I love no matter what the genre. So from this day forth this blog will be about whatever I feel like writing about music. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will.

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Mark Smith — RIP

lovelyn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:39:46 +0000

A base player my husband knows died suddenly on November 2, 2009. He wasn’t answering his phone before a gig and the other musicians he was supposed to be working with that night went to his home and found him dead. I didn’t know him, but it’s such a sad story that I felt like I had to write something about it.

Smith played with a ton of people including The Waterboys, Leo Sayer and Tony O’Malley. Here’s a video of Smith preforming with Tony O’Malley at the 606 Club on October 19th of this year.

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Natacha Atlas — Ana Hina

lovelyn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:54:16 +0000

I hadn’t heard of Natacha Atlas until recently and though I don’t usually review this type of music I have to say that I like this CD a lot. Atlas is half English and half Egyptian. She focuses on her Middle Eastern heritage in her music.

The only Atlas album I’ve heard is Ana Hina. The album is great from start to finish. What I like is her relaxed style of singing. She never strains or pushes her voice. Anyway you should check out some of her music. This video isn’t from the same album but it’s good none-the-less.

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Oran Etkin — Kelenia

lovelyn — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:15:05 +0000

I have to admit that the first thing I thought when I saw the cover of this CD was, “I don’t like bass clarinet.” I don’t. I never have. My aversion to bass clarinet actually prevented me from listening to it for a long time. When I finally did get around to listening to it, I was pleasantly surprised.

Oran Etkin’s album Kelenia is a blend of music from different traditions. You should know from reading my past reviews that I like albums that combine world music and jazz elements. I don’t like just any music that fits falls into this category. Recently, I’ve been sent some CD’s in this category that are stinkers to say the least. This album definitely isn’t a stinker.

Etkin is a clarinetist and saxophonist. Originally from Israel, Etkin currently lives in New York. His band, Kelenia, is composed of American and Malian musicians who combine their varied musical influences to make a great sound. The band includes Oran Etkin on tenor sax, clarinet and bass clarinet, Balla Kouyate on balafon, Makane Kouyate on calabash and vocals on a few tracks, and Joe Sanders on bass. A few tracks feature Lionel Loueke on guitar, John Benitex on bass, and Abdoulaye Diabate on vocals.

I like all of the songs on this album, except for the rather unfortunate cover of It Don’t Mean a Thing.

Download a one of the songs from the album for free below and consider getting the whole album.
Click here to download Nama (mp3)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

Buy the MP3 or CD from Amazon.

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Gary Husband “The Things I See”

lovelyn — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:31:21 +0000

Okay, so this is an old album, but it only came into my possession recently so it’s new to me.

Originally released in 2001, The Things I See contains Gary Husband’s interpretations of Allan Holdsworth tunes. It’s a solo piano album and it’s so good that it was re-released in 2004.

I’ve been listening to this album recently while writing. This very good writing music. Something about it captures my imagination. I recommend checking it out.

Here’s a video of Husband playing the piano.

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David “Fathead” Newman “Goldfinger”

lovelyn — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:59:34 +0000

David “Fathead” Newman was born in Corsicana, Texas on February 24, 1933. Soon after his birth his family moved to Dallas. Once he graduated from high school, he started playing with local bands. He attended Jarvis Christian College where he studied music and theology.

After two years in college, Newman started touring with Buster Smith. They toured Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and sometimes California playing dance halls. It was on one of those tours that he met Ray Charles. They hit it off immediately and Newman started playing in Charles’ band in 1954. He played with Charles for 12 years.

Newman recorded his first solo album with Atlantic Records in 1959. It was called Fathead: Ray Charles Presents. After recording that album, he moved to New York were his career took off. He recorded many other albums with Atlantic Records. He also recorded with Prestige and Warner Brothers. He gigged with Lee Morgan, Billy Higgins, and Kenny Drew, Sr. Soon he was touring the East coat, Europe and Japan with his own band.

He played as a studio musician for a while and in the 80’s recorded several mainstream jazz albums. Newman had a successful and active career throughout his life. He died on January 20, 2009 from complications of pancreatic cancer. When I heard this news I was quite sad. I met him a couple years ago and he was a really nice man.

Here is a performance with The David Leonhardt Jazz Group playing Goldfinger.

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Grand Pianoramax “Showdown”

lovelyn — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:59:57 +0000

I’m always interested in bringing exciting bands to your attention and this is one. Grand Pianoramax is a drum and piano duo that combines jazz, funk, and hip hop influences with spoken word. Swiss born, Leo Tardin is the mastermind behind the group. He won the first Montreux solo piano competition in 1999.

If you live in the New York area, check them out tonight at the Canal Room. The drummer Tardin uses changes from time to time so tonight he’ll be playing with Jojo Mayer. Spoken word will be preformed by Mike Ladd and Celena Glenn.

Here’s a video of Grand Pianoramax featuring Celena Glenn.

Grand Pianoramax
“Nikola Tesla” (mp3)
from “The Biggest Piano in Town”
(Backdrop/ObliqSound)

Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Puretracks
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album

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Kenny Drew “St. Thomas”

lovelyn — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:25:14 +0000

Kenny Drew was born in New York City on August 28, 1928. He started studying classical piano when he was 5. He was introduced to jazz at 12. His influences include Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson. Drew attended the High Schools of Music and Art in New York.

Drew’s first professional job was at Pearl Primus’ dance school. During that time, he also played in a local band with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, and Art Taylor. He also played in local jam sessions.

Drew first appeared on a Blue Note recording in January 1950. The album included Howard McGhee, Brew Moore, and J.J. Johnson. In 1953, he made his first album as a band leader. That album included Curly Russell and Art Blakey.

Drew moved to Los Angeles and formed a quartet with Joe Maini, Leroy Vinnegar and Lawrence Marable in 1955. They recorded together that same year with Pacific Jazz. In December of that same year, they recorded another album, this time with Jazz West. The album was called Talkin’ & Walkin’. In 1956, Drew played on Chambers’ Music with Paul Chambers, John Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones.

In 1957, Drew moved back to New York for a few years before moving to Europe. He settled in Copenhagen where he ran a publishing company and continued to play gigs and record.

Drew died died on August 4, 1993.

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LaRue Nickelson “Dark Water”

lovelyn — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:53:31 +0000

LaRue Nickelson’s first solo CD, Dark Water, has nothing to do with the horror movie. I’ve seen the movie and listened to the CD. Trust me, they have no similarities.

Dark Water features LaRue Nickelson on guitar, Steve Davis on drums, Joe Porter on bass, Jermey Powell on sax, and Patrick Bettison on piano. Track 5, Robert and Rhoda also features Kirk Adams on slide guitar. All of the music on the CD was written by Nickelson.

This CD has an introspective quality that sends the listener into a reflective mood. From the first few musical phases you’re completely immersed in fluid harmonies. The melodies splash pleasantly around in your head long after your done listening to the CD. The instrumentation meshes well together. None of the musician seem to be fighting for center stage. This is a good CD for chilling out on a Sunday afternoon or listening to on your iPod as you take a walk on a beautiful spring morning.

I especially like the first track, Dark Water and the sixth track, Hey Mr. Porter. Check out LaRue Nickelson’s website or his My Space page. Dark Water is available on CD Baby and true most digital distributors.

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