mikeweil

Up - I am aware this needs an update, I will take care of it as soon as the Tjader disco is done.

To me, Dunlop always was the perfect drummer for Monk.

Sound samples are never reliable with harpsichord music - in my experience it takes an excellent sound system to cope with all those overtones. I never trust the sound of these samples - Violaine Cochards second disc, e.g., sounds not as good as the first, although it's the same instrument (a fantastic reconstruction from a fragmented instrument built by Laurent Soumagnac: click here)

The tempo choices of recent recordings are very adequate - the pioneers of period instrument playing tended to choose tempos as told by 20th century teachings, but research has shown the palette of tempos was much wider, and some were indeed fast and furious. Couperin had a virtuoso side to his playing, too. This is also supported by research on the titles of Couperin pieces and the meanings and persons they refer to: amazon link - see also on Jane Clark's site janiculum

I had to dump one myself for such reasons ...

He was releasing albums on his own label, Silveto, after his tenure with Blue Note, and on Columbia and Impulse - maybe he was under contract with one of the latter two at the time that One Night With Blue Note concert was taped.

Oh no ...... R.I.P., and many, many thanks for being yourself all these years.

My favourite Francois Couperin discs are these: Violaine Cochard, two discs on Ambroisie: Pierre Hantai with mostly later pieces: They play the same instrument, and it is fascinating how different it sounds with both - the recording is excellent in both cases, but their touch is very personal. The cheapest complete recording btw, is Michael Borgstede's on Brilliant Classics: Skip Sempé made one CD with a nice selection on Deutsche Harmonia mundi, it is out of print, but worth looking for.

I have plenty of single Couperin discs I could recommend, but these should have their own thread.

Pres' covers will rule in this thread!

The brush catches any dust and probably neutralizes any static electricity, just like a conductor, but only when it is wire connected to the metal housing of the amp, just like you connect certain turntables.

MG, could you post a scan of the writing? Tjader biographer and me perhaps know some people to verify whether it is Tjader's handwriting. Nice album, btw, that grooves real hard. Willie Bobo handles the skins.

What else is there to start with ...

Urrghh - I have that Mickey Tucker album .... this track sounded familiar enough to me, but I didn't take the time to check my collection. Tucker was great - I have all of his albums as a leader and can recommend any of them. So it was Coles and Wess playing Morning Star ... this is the only Coles leader date missing in my collection - I always wondered what it sounds like. Will have to listen once again. Great compilation! Some real stumpers indeed!

Sad news indeed, A very versatile player, and an excellent one! I first heard him on one of Herbie Mann's Afro-Jazz Lps, where he delivered a great bowed solo, on some of the albums Brownie mentioned, and Lee Konitz' Nonet. An unsung hero of the bass, IMO.

I played this a lot when it was new - McCann's take on large ensemble improvising after Bitches Brew. Still like it. There was a radio moderator over here, a pop guy, who really loved and featured it extensively.

Hans, I'll be out of town for a week, until then you can have a look at my German language Ancient Music forum: Prospero

There is not that much, most of it was for violin, before that, for viola da gamba. The repertoire outside of Bach was negelected until recently, but there were solo violin pieces by Westhoff and Walther (not his cousin). Most CDs include only part solo music. Telemann composed quite a few, the flute pieces were played by Konrad Hünteler on a wonderful Denner flute found in an attic in perfect condition: I saw him play the one Bach solo flute Partita on that flute in concert - unforgettable. Andrew Manze recorded Telemanns pieces for solo violin: The following two CDs include a few solo violin pieces each, the last two are all solo:

I had a more detailed listen into Ophelie Gaillard's recording, and put it on top of my wish list. She has a great, almost virile tone, excellent intonation, lost of expression, thanks a lot for the recommendation. This, btw, was released on Aparte, an new, dedicated French label which has some fine French harpsichord recordings in their catalogue. I had a listen to part of Hidemi Suzuki's last evening and was disappointed, I have to withdraw my recommendation. His intonation leaves to be desired in the 5th and 6th suites, and compared to Gaillard he is almost bland. What a pity.

Blue Moon still has their reissues available - I think I should check his records out, after all these recommendations. The Soft Sell, in particular, looks interesting, with Jimmy Rowles and all.

It was drummer Joe Dukes' date, who was a member of McDuff's band at the time. IIRC there were reisues under Benson's and/or McDuff's names. The link tomatamot posted doesn't work properly - click here for better results.

Yes I know the drill ... ad 1) of course they have to be very good - AFAIK the percentage is about the same in all camps ad 2) I like Wendy Carlos, and all .... but it doesn't move nearly as much as some period instrument recordings. The playground has room for verybody. I don't like people saying their approach is the only one - I must admit I read or hear HIP-haters putting down HIP more often than the other way around.

Of course there is no one size fits all approach - not among the players of the "romantic" school (to which I referred when I said "these players") nor among "HIP" players. I have several recordings of Bach's major works lying around that I like, all with different approaches. Even if Bach was dissatisfied with some aspects of the instruments he had at his disposal, when he wrote something down, it certainly was with those in mind that he knew his music would be played on. And he took them to their limits, but it always works when one uses the instruments he had. I reasearched a lot into harpsichord music: There still are only a handful of recordings playing his pieces on the types of Thuringian harpsichords he used. (One reason of course is, that the harpsichords Zacharias Hildebrandt made for him are lost, and others by this maker known to exist in Poland are are hard to access.) The recordings I have on Silbermann or Harass type harpsichords sound wonderful as well as logical. The sound builds in a special way because overtones mesh beautifully on a harpsichord and the ancient tunings work their part, and they mesh differently compared to Flemish or French types, which Bach most probably never played during his career, but which many "HIP" nevertheless prefer. There are many questionable or fashionable approaches in the HIP world, and a lot of contradictions, just like in the old school. There still are only a handful or organ recordings using the instruments the closest to his sound ideas, like the magnificent Hildebrandt organ in the St. Wentzel church at Naumburg, which he co-designed. And so on - in the case of Bach we are far from having a representative view of his personal world of sound. What happened over the centuries was that the approach changed from always new music to wanting to hear the same over and over, the audiences grew larger so the instruments had to be adjusted to fill larger rooms etc. Although HIP is now half a century old (or even older, when we look back at Landowska and the like), and its pioneers are leaving our world (like Gustav Leonhardt in January), we still are at the beginning. That all this music is timeless (otherwise it couldn't touch us today) and time-bound at the same time is very fascinating, IMHO. My personal part is that I grew up with the sound of an 1840's piano (which I realized only a few years ago) and grew somewhat tired of the - in my ears - over-expressive vibrato-drenched sound of conventional string players. Others may be fascinated by Starker's or Tortellier's approach, and connect this with their own soul, that's perfectly right with me. And with all HIP players, many of whom are influenced by these. It's just that they think they can get closer to what they want with ancient instruments or copies, and I can follow them there.

They're not losing it, just an approach in search for a different one. The music always is more than the notes, it also encompasses the sound, and that is linked to instruments. Cellos or violins in Bach's time sounded different, that's a fact. The introduction of steel strings and higher tension and modern tunings changes the sound a lot. Like Skip Sempé stated: "In most fine music written before the 1950s, the sound and the composition were linked by the composer. Some performers do not care about this, and some listeners don't care either, but that was clearly the method behind the tradition in question. Without any doubt, this is the manner in which harpsichord music was conceived." I appreciate the approach of a lot of these players, but I just can't get around to like their sound.