You don’t need Thile and Mehldau to justify the standing of Dylan or Mitchell. But their fresh new readings may still amplify and even enhance the originals.
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254: Vince Guaraldi/We Five, ‘Cast Your Fate to the Wind’
Life can be quirky.
So you might as well cast your fate to the wind.
And don’t sit under ledges where pigeons are roosting.
225: Brad Mehldau, ‘The Falcon Will Fly Again’/Luis Bonfa, ‘Manha de Carnaval’
A great contemporary artist inspired by an iconic original. Lilting, uplifting, in π/4.
Continue reading...244: Bill Evans/Miles Davis, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’
Moledro — a feeling of resonant connection with an artist.
Some disparate notions about Bill Evans, all of them moledros.
242: Dhafer Youssef, ‘Les Ondes Orientales’ (with Tigran Hamasyan)
Dhafer Youssef, a Tunisian oudist and muezzin-styled vocalist, with Tigran Hamasyan an Armenian pianist. If I gave grades, this would get 100.
Continue reading...209: The Real Group: ‘Monica Vals’ (‘Waltz for Debby’)
When they say ‘The voice is the only instrument made by God’, they’re thinking of Margareta Bengston of The Real Group singing Bill Evans’ ‘Waltz for Debby’. Four minutes in heaven.
Continue reading...037: Lee Konitz, ‘Alone Together’ (w. Charlie Haden & Brad Mehldau)
Taken by the corona virus at 92, a great musician, a paragon of integrity, a role model. Rest peaceful-lee.
Continue reading...192: Les Double Six of Paris, “Moanin'”
The hard-bop jazz vocal sextet Les Double Six of Paris–their sources, their contemporaries and their followers; and why vocal jazz groups loved singing Count Basie.
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