mikeweil

Brandywine Baroque organizes concerts and recordings with historic instruments from the Flint Collection, videos give a good impression in perfect sound. https://www.brandywinebaroque.org https://www.plectra.org

There a plenty of great sounding historic harpsichords or copies in the USA - when you have a chance go hear them played. There is a nice group of players in New York. https://www.rpechefsky.com

Knowledge about instruments and their construction has increased enormously over the last decades. The harpsichords Landowska used were made by piano builders trying to use methods of piano construction, which in the end did not yield satisfying results. (These instruments mockingly were described as "egg slicers" in Germany) It has a lot to do with string tension and tuning pitch, as well as soundboard construction, housings and pinboards. Only in the 1960's did builders start to study and meticulously copy historic harpsichords, and they learned a lot in that process. They now are on the same level as the great instrument makers in the 17th and 18th centuries. And they now know the differences between different historic workshops and regional styles etc. The sound of Landowska's or Ruzickova's harpschords has a lot to do with this. (I just got a 10 CD box with remastered Landowska recordings but still have to listen to it.) Plus, most engineers and record producers stll have to learn how to record these instruments properly. They love the sound ambience of churches, but harpsichords are not suppoosed to sound good in there. Saloons, private apartments, much smaller rooms with little reverb, and intimate acoustics are appropriate. Many of Gustav Leonhardt's best recordings were made at his house in Amsterdam. Overtones are very important, for the timbre. Church reverb absorbs these. As I said, a very complex subject.

I think these categories - in case they already were in use - were not taken that seriously by musicians. I think they never were - I know comprarable examples in Baroque etc times. Much of the problem comes from the (unnecessary?) desire to make judgements, evaluations and the like. Are critics always musicians that kind of didn't find their way into music mnaking?

Same here!

All the CDs by Tobias Koch! https://www.genuin.de/_new/artist_1.php?lan=de&k=49 For Opus 1-4, this rare disc: https://www.discogs.com/release/29520091-Robert-Schumann-John-Van-Buskirk-Schumann-Piano-Works And this one: There are cheap copies of the last one on amazon.de

This is one of the best Schumann discs I have!

Kinga Głyk – Real Life

Just put it in the player! And ordered a copy of the Norris Turney a few minutes ago.

Oh well ..... two albums I actually have. That I did not recognize Poindexter is a big shame, having researched his discography. I bought the Charles Williams because I love Larry Willis and the way Pierre Sprey's recordings sound. Will have to pull this out. That series on Mapleshade is a treasure trove. Thanks, Dan!

A friend invited me to join him to see Salvador Sobral on Thursday. The samples sound interesting ...

Take away the bebop from Shearing and listen to his solo piano pieces. Here's Jean Wiener's take on Gershwin, recorded 1928: Of course they do not swing like the American black pianists. Gershwin swung , in his way.

There's a tradition in France and Great Britain of pianists playing "jazz", that is what they thought it to be at the time. The Thibaudet track belongs to that, in my ears. I think of Bily Mayerl, or Jean Wiener. In Germany, Erwin Schulhoff and Paul Hindemith made money with playing in cabarets and even composed ragtimes and dance stuff. I remember a letter by Hindemith where he offered it to his publisher as he thought it would sell. (There was a lot of this before the Nazis put an end to this.) From this it is not very far to Ravel or Milhaud and their (genuine) insterest in jazz. To me. Gershwin belongs more into this tradition than jazz. Take someone like George Shearing coming out of this tradition. The Cuban and Carribean pianists playing dance stuff with their conservatory training is a similar stream, take Lecuona.

Reminds me of this one: p.s. there's a bare foot!

Shame on me! Track 1 is indeed the opening track of Pony Poindexter's Barcelona album. Urghh! I must admit I listenedn to it only once or twice and never since I put his discography online. Whre's the next rabbithole?

Doesn't sound like Poindexter to me.

Listening to complete my comments/guesses. Track 6: Opening drum roll sounds very Blakey-ish. I thought about Donald Byrd / Pepper Adams, but .... Nice. I would listen to more from that group. Track 7: Very interesting, heavy groove, trombone in an organ combo. No idea who this is. Track 8: Bird's "Now's the time". I like it a bit slower. I know that tenor player. A bit of Ammons, but too many slurs for him. Fun jam session, they definitely have a good time. But I am no good at identifying players anymore as I do not listen to jazz that much currently. Track 9: Another old Calypso-type tune. Again it looses its charm when played that fast and just used for running the changes. The title escapes me, but I have a much slower version that is downright cute. Track 10. Dizzy Atmosphere? You seem to love versions that raise the tempo! Another loss in charm. All comptetent players, but all racing like the are on cocaine. Track 11: Night In Tunisia. Now here's someone taking his time! He knows how to play the break! Some clever quotes, literally and stylistically, in the solo. He knows the history of jazz piano. Who is this? Track 12: Okay, this, too, looses the charm of the original, but I kinda like this approach here. Again traces of Ammons. Title escapes me right now. Track 12: Misty - with feeling. That's a very nice closer. Thanks for the compilation. Without these BFTs I would listen to much less jazz right now. Too much music to listen to, too little time.

Many aspects play a role here. Racial and segregational issues, economics, taste - all interwoven in a very complex fashion. As long as black, white, jewish etc. is an issue and musicians have to make money with their profession under these conditions, there will be happenings like this. Basically, you use whatever you hear and inspires you. What grows out of it is another thing. But y'all know this.