mikeweil

A fantastic new release! Immerseel presents a personal selection of seven masters of French 18th century harpsichord music music on three original instruments, excellently recorded, the perfect box for anybody wishing for an exemplary compilation of pieces, but also great for someone like me who knows all these pieces as it is thrilling to hear how he chooses tempos and how he articulates his embellishments. Highly recommended! With this release Immerseel appears as the grand old gentleman of Flemish harpsichord playing. Why did he keep this for himself for so long? He rarely recorded as a solo harpsichordist, mostly solo and chamber music on fortepiano, and as a conductor with excellent results. Next I will spin this excellent rare SACD:

The latter.

Very good idea!

Jim, how could you do that to me?

Great idea to include both tracks of that jam. And thanks for the reminder. One of the best examples of the genre I ever heard.

... and last night:

I listened to all four versions by King Pleasure last week, and Benson IMO misses the point. He makes a cute ballad out of it. Interesting that they credit the lyrics to Eddie Jefferson on that album.

There is a Jon Hendricks album where he scats which is really great. Sings a vocalese solo, too, from Feeddie Freeloader. Excellent. The other stuff I heard sounds okay to me, there are a lot of jazz instrumentalists whoses singing is a lot worse, but quite a few who are much better singers, too.

While umpacking Christmas decoration stuff, we spinned a few:

Ella's Christmas album is really good, but my favourite is this, and not included in most compilations:

Yesterday, Lyonel Feininger retrospective exhibition, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt am Main. The first time a complete overview is presented, not just his famous paintings of architecture, but also early carricatures, children's toys, drawings, photographs. Highly recommended. Very good biographical accounts. https://www.schirn.de/ausstellungen/2023/lyonel_feininger/ My favourite painting from the exhibition.

Okay, so I will try to find a perfect BFT track.

I just ordered a copy.

I'm in, of course - any theme or so? Great idea, btw!

That reminds me of what Joachim Ernst Berendt wrote about Brubeck in his book, talking about "unswinging phrases" and the like. Brubeck was classically trained and many of his rhythmic ideas have a lot more to do with Darius Milhaud and such, and for that you need a straight rhythm section. His concept of rhythm was beyond simple swing feel.

Did they? Was that record (Brazilliance) distributed in Brazil?

I don't think so. Ruy Castro, e.g. mentions neither Almeida nor Shank. Gilberto's music comes from the Samba Cançao tradition, which was of little importance to Almeida's music.

Chronologically, you're correct. But stylistically, the music Almeida and Shank played was not Bossa Nova, but a blend of Choro, Baiao and other semi-classical and folkloric styles. Bossa Nova as such did not exist before the first Jobim-Gilberto recordings. To somebody not familair with all details of Brazilian music, it sounds similar due to the use of guitar, and Almeida, too, played bossa nova later in his career, but not with Shank, as it did not yet exists as a musical style.

IMHO Guitar Forms would have been a top notch album if they had done all of the tracks with Evans. The combo tracks do not live up to that standard. Just my two cents, of course.

I'm not surprised, as Herbie Mann was one of the first to really get the Brazilian feel, much better than Getz or most others. A compilation with all of Mann's versions of Brazilian tunes would be great. "One Note Samba was originally issued twice, one a Mann LP and on an album with half Joao Gilberto's first bosssa nova tunes, licensed from Odeon in Brazil. An earlier version was on a United Artists LP: Never heard the Shank LP, btw.

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