At the age of 47 and on the cusp of the breakthrough that is every artist's dream, the comedian John Kawie suffered a devastating stroke which he thought would derail his career... and life. With the sardonic wit that landed him gigs as a writer/contributor for comedians such as Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, and David Brenner, John focused on his experiences with the stroke and created BRAIN FREEZE, a hysterical, poignant, and affirmative journey through the bumpy road to recovery and beyond. Recorded live at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City in front of a rollicking full house, BRAIN FREEZE is sure to delight those who know just how healthy a laugh can be and to help teach us all that (to quote John) life is indeed at the curb!
The poems and songs of the Gruuthuse Manuscript originated in Bruges around 1400, and the collection is named after the later owner, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse. The songs form the most well-known part of the collection: love songs, bawdy songs and drinking songs. The Gruuthuse Manuscript contains the largest collection of Dutch language songs from the medieval period, and it is the largest collection of songs with music notation. The form of the songs also attests to the fact that these songs were intended for connoisseurs. The poet uses forms fixes, the canonized forms of French songs of the late medieval times: ballades, rondeaus and virelais, and the wide variety of the forms used is remarkable. Instrumentalists have been around all over Europe during the 15th century, but musical manuscripts unambiguously showing a repertoire for instrumental ensembles from that period are scarce. The instrumental repertoire on this album contains arrangements and polyphonic ensemble pieces from about 1450-1470. The arrangements are either instrumental versions based on pre-existing polyphonic models or arranged monophonic tenors.
Christian Immler writes of this new release: "What remains? And to what extent are composers, when they compose, aware of how urgent that question is? In my opinion, these are the main themes that confront us in a "swan song" (a composer's last work- or, as in the case of our recording, the last opus in his vocal output). In the second part of Schwanengesang- in the songs based on poems by Heine- Schubert attains an unprecedented economy- or rather concentration- of means: the demands thereby made on the performer are literally "unheard of." The text and the music express themselves so directly that the listener can find no refuge in musical solace. Brahms's Vier ernste Gesange, written in 1896, one year prior to his death, paint an entirely different picture. I find that they reveal his inner struggle for personal truthfulness, his hope to attain an all-subliming love after so many years of painstaking sacrifice, while somehow managing to retain a certain kind of faith... Samuel Barber's last vocal work, the Three Songs Op. 45, has fascinated me ever since my student years, because of the songs' multi-faceted style, their refined text and the music's melancholy, morbid beauty. The second song, A Green Lowland of Pianos... elegantly whisks us off into an entirely different universe... As ambiguous as life itself, and undoubtedly as scintillating and multi-facetted as Leonard Bernstein's own personality: that is how his swan song, Arias and Barcarolles, presents itself. This musical potpourri of daily-life situations acted out by singers makes an explosive Broadway entrance in the first song."
(2-CD set) In the 'Roots of Rock'n'Roll' series, this volume covers 1951, a year flowing with lively, rhythmic and humorous master-pieces - all the ingredients for pure Rock'n'Roll. Fats Domino, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Wynonie Harris are still around. But they have to make room for the newcomers who are to add spice to Rock'n'Roll - Little Richard, Bill Haley, Big Mama Thornton. OMIT-3/4/08-Capitol
Posthumous Songs of Alexander Zemlinsky / Kimbrough, Baldwin
Centaur Records
CD
$17.99May 21, 2021
This selection of Posthumous Songs covers the period 1889-1909, with one song from 1933. Here one senses Zemlinsky's earliest development and years of musical study, as he tests his skills on some of the finest German poets. That he was fully up to the task is immediately evident upon listening. The American baritone, Steven Kimbrough, studied at the University of Birmingham, Alabama, and at Princeton Theological Seminary (graduated in 1962). He had further studies in Italy. Kimbrough is well known as a recital and concert singer through many appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and with symphonies in the USA and abroad. He is the foremost interpreter of the "turn-of-the-century" school of Viennese composers (most of whom were effaced by Hitler's Third Reich), as is demonstrated by his many highly praised recordings. He has presented in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere a recital of their songs under the title "Forbidden Composers."
Marty Haugen’s musical, That You May Have Life, proclaims the Gospel of John through song. An eclectic array of musical styles sets the stage for each chapter, bringing the emotion of the characters to life. Musical selections range from beautiful melodic ballads to lush choral harmonies. Haugen incorporates narration, sung dialogue, and song in a way that conveys more than just the biblical texts. This musical includes such familiar narratives as the woman at the well, the raising of Lazarus, and the washing of the feet at the Last Supper. The depth and breadth of each tale blooms forth, enticing us into a personal relationship with these familiar biblical figures. That You May Have Life sings these stories “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Marcos Valle -"Samba '68 (Verve Vault Series)" [180g Heavy Vinyl LP] Samba '68, released on Verve, introduced Brazilian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marcos Valle to a wider international audience. Already established in Brazil through songs such as "Samba de Verao" ("Summer Samba"), Valle worked here with producer Creed Taylor on a recording that pairs Brazilian rhythmic forms with contemporary American studio orchestration. The sessions include vocals by Anamaria Valle and arrangements by Eumir Deodato. The repertoire features English-language versions of compositions co-written by Valle, including "So Nice (Summer Samba)," "Chup Chup, I Got Away," and "Safely In Your Arms," alongside additional material that reflects his economical writing and feather-light rhythmic approach. The album documents a meeting point between Brazilian popular music and international pop-jazz studio practice at the end of the 1960s. The Verve Vault series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. Towa Bird returns with her sophomore album Gentleman - 11 songs that navigate the tension between masculine and feminine archetypes, delivered with undeniable confidence and swagger from one of music's most promising voices. Featuring the singles "Dirty Habit" and "Dog," with contributions from Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna, Gentleman sharpens Towa's guitar-driven rush into a world of queer romance and self-assured style - equal parts charm, humor, vulnerability, and bite. Produced by Patrick Wimberly (MGMT, Blood Orange, Solange.) Pressed on red vinyl. Kenny Dorham -"Whistle Stop (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition)"
Noel Rosa creait la chanson populaire urbaine, le bahianais Dorival Caymmi imposait la magie afro-bresilienne et Vinicius de Moraes fut le poete par excellence de la bossa nova. Aux cotes de ces trois geants, l'anthologie ouvre aussi le spectre a la chanson romantique de Catulo da Paixao Cearense et de Candido das Neves ainsi qu'a quelques autres plumes de reference (comme Orestes Barbosa, Cartola, Ronaldo Boscoli, Humberto Teixeira...). Noirs, mulatres ou blancs, originaires de Rio de Janeiro ou du Nordeste, auteurs - compositeurs - interpretes comme Noel Rosa ou Caymmi ou seulement paroliers, ils epousent les evolutions stylistiques de la chanson populaire bresilienne sur un demisiecle et leur talent litteraire donne a leur versification un halo hautement poetique. Noel Rosa fathered popular urban songs. Dorival Caymmi breathed Afro-Brazilian magic into them, and Vinicius de Moraes was the poet par excellence of bossa nova. This collection also celebrates other in uential artists in Brazil, the likes of Catulo da Paixao Cearense, Candido das Neves, Orestes Barbosa, Cartola, Ronaldo Boscoli and Humberto Teixeira. Whether they were black, white or mulatto, from Rio de Janeiro or Nordeste, composer songwriters or lyricists, each of these artists contributed to the stylistic evolution of popular Brazilian songs for half a century. Their literary talents made their verse a thing of extraordinary poetry.
All songs written by Wilson Blount, published by Little Big Beat Musikverlag/GEMA aka Bad Love Music/BMI, except as otherwise noted. Recorded at Bessie Blue Studios in Stantonville, TN in December 2018 Additional recordings at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL
This CD extols the hot "Chicago Style" jazz of the 20s and 30s. Led by octogenarian, guitarist Marty Grosz, the band features a contingent from The Fat Babies who hold forth at the Green Mill on Chicago's north side and special guest Jim Dapogny. In 1948 Marty Grosz hitchhiked from New York to Chicago in search of "Hot Music". He returned to New York in 1950, made his first records, and then, after a stint in the Army, returned to Chicago where he played for 21 years. A"too-good-to-be-true" offer lured him back to New York, to Carnegie Hall, The White House, and all over the globe. Marty has amassed an acoustic discography that's seventy-seven pages long. 16 songs.
2018 release. On Seymour Reads the Constitution!, Brad Mehldau Trio performs three Mehldau originals combined with interpretations of pop songs (Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson), jazz tunes (Elmo Hope, Sam Rivers), and one work from the American songbook (Frederick Loewe's "Almost Like Being in Love"). Brad Mehldau moved to New York City and first came to prominence as a member of current label mate Joshua Redman's quartet in the 1990s before becoming a bandleader himself. His trio, which tours the world extensively, made eight acclaimed recordings for Warner Bros. The pianist's time with Nonesuch has been equally productive.
