GA Russell

RIP Chris! My favorite of his stories told here was the time he checked on Bessie's Amazon web page. It said, Customers who purchased this also purchased...a vacuum cleaner!

Ricky Ray has retired. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/ricky-ray-retirement-cfl-1.5127626 https://3downnation.com/2019/05/08/i-just-cant-do-it-anymore-ricky-ray-calls-it-a-career/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/ricky-ray-announces-retirement-after-16-seasons/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/ricky-ray-officially-retires-cfl/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/numbers-look-ricky-rays-career/ https://www.cfl.ca/players/ricky-ray https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/cfl-issues-statement-ricky-ray/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/cfl-issues-statement-ricky-ray/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/maas-looks-back-former-teammate-ray/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/remarkable-ricky-tributes-pour-following-ray-retirement/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/08/oleary-reminiscing-legacy-ricky-ray/

Wirecutter now lists the Mackie Studio Monitor, Black w/green trim, 3-inch (CR3) as the best "budget" computer speakers for $99.00 per pair. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KVEIY4E

The draft was Thursday. As you might expect, most chosen were linemen. https://3downnation.com/2019/05/02/cfl-draft-live-grading-the-picks-as-they-happen/ ***** The previous week was the NFL draft. No Canadians were selected, but a couple signed contracts afterward. https://3downnation.com/2019/04/27/all-cfl-draft-prospects-go-unselected-in-nfl-draft/ https://3downnation.com/2019/04/27/laval-defensive-end-mathieu-betts-signs-with-chicago-bears-as-undrafted-free-agent/ ***** Simeon Rottier has retired. https://3downnation.com/2019/05/03/eskimos-ol-simeon-rottier-retires/ ***** The Ticats have cut Alex Green, Justin Cappiciotti and twelve others. https://www.cfl.ca/2019/05/06/ticats-release-14-players-including-alex-green-justin-capicciotti/ ***** The Argos have cut Dexter McCluster https://3downnation.com/2019/05/06/argos-release-former-nfler-dexter-mccluster/ ***** BC cut two former first round picks, Charles Vaillancourt and Danny Vandervoort. https://3downnation.com/2019/04/30/b-c-lions-dump-two-former-first-round-draft-picks/ ***** BC also cut Solomon Elimimian. https://3downnation.com/2019/04/30/lions-officially-release-lb-solomon-elimimian/ ***** Johnny Adams has retired. https://3downnation.com/2019/04/29/eskimos-db-johnny-adams-retires/ ***** The 2019 Hall of Fame inductees will be... Jon Cornish David Williams Mervyn Fernandez Terry Greer Ernie Pitts Jim Hopson Frank Smith https://3downnation.com/2019/04/24/2019-canadian-football-hall-of-fame-class-features-stamps-cornish-riders-hopson/ ***** Eddie Steele has retired. https://3downnation.com/2019/04/18/it-sure-sounds-like-canadian-defensive-lineman-eddie-steele-is-retiring/ ***** The XFL announced today that its games will be televised by Disney/ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 and Fox/FS1/FS2. There will be a 10-week season running from Feb. 8 (the weekend following the Super Bowl) through April 12. Then one weekend of playoffs and the championship game April 26. https://www.xfl.com/articles/xfl-to-air-on-abc-espn-fox-sports-and-fs1 https://www.wsj.com/articles/xfl-strikes-tv-deals-with-fox-and-disney-11557146700

Bill, I have been wondering about how it would affect English artists. Would Georgie Fame have a more difficult time making a living on a European tour?

Thanks! I saw him in Sept. of '68 with Eric Gravatt and I think Steve Novosel, and I might be interested in something from then.

John, what are the recording dates of those three?

 “Areni is a virtuoso singer and master of the art of improvisation, but her uniqueness is in the musical vocabulary that she uses to improvise. Her knowledge of Armenian secular and sacred music, contemporary classical music, and jazz allows her do things that are absolutely unique, utmost creative, daring and most of all soulful.” – Tigran Hamasyan New Album: Bloom Areni Agbabian: voice, piano; Nicolas Stocker: percussion On her ECM debut, Areni Agbabian - improvising vocalist, folk singer, storyteller, pianist -focuses the range of her skills in music that casts a quiet spell. She draws deeply upon and reinterprets her Armenian heritage, interspersing these elements among her own evocative compositions. “Throughout Bloom, Agbabian delves intensely into Armenian culture, including a stunning take on the sacred hymn “Anganim Arachi Ko.” Breathing deeply, her vocal emphasizes sharp timing to convey a quiet minimalist power. Agbabian also composed a new version of the country’s folk tale “The Water Bride” in which Nicolas Stocker’s percussion and her own singular piano notes seem to choreograph a ritualistic counternarrative. Still, Bloom’s most fascinating feature throughout is Agbabian’s own voice as Stocker’s percussion highlights or frames its distinctive qualities. And, without ever directly saying so, Agbabian’s sparse intonation encourages deeper listening to her own music as well as to the national sounds she transforms.” – Aaron Cohen, DownBeat ★★★★ BUY / LISTEN © 2019 ECM Records US, A Division of Verve Music Group. All rights reserved.

FOR TICKETS AND INFO CLICK HERE “one of the best small jazz festivals in the country if not the world.” –San Francisco Chronicle © 2019 ECM Records US, A Division of Verve Music Group. All rights reserved.

Thanks Bob! I'll look forward to hearing Mealing on piano.

sonnymax, I had that! The flip side to I Can See for Miles. Great memories.

Thanks Bob! Do you have the album titles? I'm not finding anything under "Rendell-Carr Antibes."

I have just learned tonight that an old favorite of mine, organist John Mealing, played with Rendell-Carr. Can anyone recommend an album he is on with the group?

Artist Title Time Russ Spiegel Organ Group Wait a Minute 05:53 Russ Spiegel Organ Group Rainy Blues 04:58 Russ Spiegel Organ Group Miami Girl 07:54 Russ Spiegel Organ Group Up the Creek 06:19 Russ Spiegel Organ Group The Serpentine 07:28 Russ Spiegel Organ Group Count Up 06:22 Russ Spiegel Organ Group Unruly Julie 07:53 Russ Spiegel Organ Group A Quick One 05:46 Russ Spiegel Organ Group "Wait a Minute!" Format(s): Jazz Airplay Start Date 4.29.19 Wait A Minute! by the Russ Spiegel Organ Group comprises eight catchy, funky original guitar-and-organ-based tunes from the pen of guitarist and composer Russ Spiegel and provides lots of interest and variety from track to track. For those who are not familiar with his previous albums, this is an excellent introduction to Russ Spiegel’s distinctive musical style. Track Listing: WAIT A MINUTE (5:53) RAINY BLUES (4:58) MIAMI GIRL (7:54) UP THE CREEK (6:19) THE SERPENTINE (7:28) COUNT UP (6:22) UNRULY JULIE (7:53) A QUICK ONE (5:46) All songs composed by Russ Spiegel (GEMA) Published by Ruzztone Music - ASCAP Personnel: Russ Spiegel - Guitar Tom Kelley - Alto Saxophone (except on Rainy Blues and Unruly Julie) Jim Gasior - Hammond organ Rodolfo Zuniga - Drums Special Guests: Brian Lynch: Flugelhorn on Miami Girl, Trumpet on Up the Creek Juan Turros: Tenor Saxophone on Rainy Blues Ten years after his last well-received release, guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, producer and writer, Russ Spiegel, comes up for air with a surprisingly original and upbeat collection of catchy tunes. The music on Wait a Minute! is enriched by Russ’s strong, individual voice and is supported by top-notch Miami-based musicians Jim Gasior on Hammond organ, Tom Kelley on alto saxophone and Rodolfo Zuniga on drums. The album is further enhanced with guest appearances by Grammy-award winning trumpeter Bryan Lynch and tenor saxophonist Juan Turros. All the compositions and arrangements are by Spiegel himself, with the opening title-track “Wait a Minute” getting things off to a funky start. The double-time 12-bar “Rainy Blues” follows with special guest Juan Turros on the tenor saxophone. ‘Miami Girl’ features a lovely flugelhorn solo by Brian Lynch, a former sideman of Horace Silver, Phil Woods and Eddie Palmieri, among others. Lynch also excels on the subsequent shuffle blues, ‘Up the Creek’, which provides a change of pace after the Latin/funk rhythms of the previous tracks. There’s a flavor of both blues and funk in the odd-meter, ‘The Serpentine’, with inspired solos by Kelley, Spiegel and Gasior. A different and definitely more boppish approach is heard in ‘Count Up’, which Spiegel had previously recorded with his New York big band on the CD Transplants. Its title derives from the 16-bar sequence borrowed from John Coltrane’s ‘Countdown’, which itself was a contrafact combining the harmonic movement of ‘Giant Steps’ with the overall chord structure of ‘Tune Up’ – a composition recorded by Miles Davis. ’Unruly Julie’ is in 5/4 time, giving this 12-bar blues a distinctive feel. Kelley sits this tune out and after Spiegel and Gasior’s solos, Zuniga takes a Joe-Morello-inspired drum solo. Finally, ‘A Quick One’ restores the basic quartet, returning us to the tempo and funky feel of the opening track, as well as including another quietly sensational solo from the leader. Russ Spiegel received his undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Afterwards, he spent more than a decade living and performing in Europe before returning to the US. Russ settled in New York City, earning his master’s degree in jazz performance at City College of New York and went on to receive his doctorate in Jazz Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music as a Henry Mancini Institute Fellow. Russ has performed with numerous international performers such as Charlie Antolini, Tim Armacost, George Arvanitas, Benny Bailey, Stefan Bauer, Madeline Bell, Tony Bennett, Han Bennink, Angela Brown, Petula Clark, Gene “Mighty Flea” Connors, Bob Degen, Barbara Dennerlein, Joel Frahm, John Goldsby, Red Holloway, Owen Howard, Tony Lakatos, Rich Little, Little Willie Littlefield, Emil Mangelsdorf, Hendrik Meurkens, Bernadette Peters, Steve Potts, Scott Reeves, Jim Rotondi, Jürgen Seefelder, Jesse Sharps, Tom Varner, Bill Warfield, Frank Wess, Jimmy Woode, Frankfurt Opera, and the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra. Not only is he in demand as an internationally performing artist, Russ also travels the globe giving workshops and masterclasses in jazz guitar, ensembles, and jazz composition and arranging. Russ has released several CDs, is a commissioned composer and arranger, scores music for film, and has appeared in a number of feature films and television shows as both a musician and actor. Press Quotes: Channeling the spirited energy of hard-bop with the progressive aesthetics of rock music, Spiegel carves out his own niche in the contemporary jazz scene. —Troy Collins, All About Jazz Spiegel plays with a clear, bright sound and his solos reveal a sure-footed rhythmic instinct and a harmonic sense which may be rooted in bebop but which also leans towards the future. —Charles Alexander, Jazzwise (London) An eloquent guitarist. —Jerry D'Souza, All About Jazz Intellectual to the core, melodic and elegant, [Spiegel's] music will engage and challenge you at the same time. —Ed Blanco, EJazzNews A killer guitarist that’s simply welcome all over the world, Spiegel lays it down without pretense or drama and lets his clean lines and solid playing provide all the drama and dynamic tension non-smooth jazz should have, even when he’s playing it light and easy. A tasty cat you should definitely get to know. —Chris Spector, Midwest Record Promotional Video: "Wait a Minute" Russ's Website: www.russguitar.com

The Tierney Sutton Band "ScreenPlay Act 3: The Golden Age" Impacting: April 26 2019 Format(s): Jazz, Non-Commercial, NPR Artist Title Time The Tierney Sutton Band The Sound of Silence 05:32 The Tierney Sutton Band Moon River / Calling You 04:41 The Tierney Sutton Band Two For The Road 04:48 The Tierney Sutton Band Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend 03:24 ScreenPlay Act 3: The Golden Age Welcome to the third chapter from the TSB ScreenPlay collection. This time around we bring you four songs from the Golden Age. They possess many of the same characteristics as Broadway show songs from this period, although none of them actually appeared in a Broadway show. Powerful, emotional content combined with plot and character development, which many film directors of the same era wished to convey in their movies were the hallmarks of these songs. In this chapter, we explore the music of Paul Simon, Henry Mancini and Bob Telson including a Mancini/Telson mashup. “The Sound of Silence” is a Paul Simon song which was released as a B side single by Simon & Garfunkel in 1965. While Mike Nichols was editing his hit 1967 film The Graduate, he utilized the song in several scenes as a place holder until a final substitute was found, but he eventually decided that the Paul Simon song was his best option. Trey Henry and Ray Brinker conceived this complete re-imagination of the S&G hit, creating irony by utilizing widely contrasting dynamics and textures which range from meditative to massive, as well as the frequent TSB device of two basses playing together simultaneously. The end result is a sonic rollercoaster ride featuring a brilliant Christian Jacob piano solo. “Moon River/Calling You” is a cross pollination of two beautiful ballads that are melded together seamlessly by Trey’s and Tierney’s arrangement. “Moon River” was a song written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for Audrey Hepburn to sing in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Its more contemporary partner, “Calling You”, was written in 1987 by Bob Telson for the 1988 cult hit, Bagdad Cafe. While the lyrics of “Moon River” inspire hope and anticipation, “Calling You” is a tale of desolate isolation. Tierney manages to tell these disparate stories, each in their appropriate context, flawlessly blending them together in perfect symbiosis with the arrangement, her heartfelt interpretation both hopeful and haunting. Once again, the two basses appear side by side. In 1967, Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse wrote the title song “Two For the Road” for the eponymously titled film, also starring Audrey Hepburn. Mancini was often heard to say that of all his songs, this was his favorite. The lyric tells the tale of a couple in love traveling life’s road, with all of its beautiful scenery and juddering potholes, secure in the knowledge that “as long as love still wears a smile” they will always travel this road together. Tierney and Christian embark upon the musical version of this journey, voice and piano negotiating the twists and turns with an empathy that is as moving as the story it tells; understandable since they’ve spent two and a half decades on this road together! The final song in this chapter is Jule Styne and Leo Robbin’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, originally sung by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Robbin’s spectacularly un-PC lyric is given a light, ironic and humorous read by Tierney, accompanied by the master of all time and dynamics, her drumming partner for a quarter of a century, Ray Brinker. I defy you to listen to this melodic/rhythmic frolic without smiling. It’s an irresistible involuntary response. So that’s Act 3, “The Golden Age”. Enjoy! Please stay in touch with us by visiting tierneysutton.com for news, interviews, podcasts, videos and the like. Just press the ScreenPlay tab. Act 4 is just around the corner!

Marcus Shelby Places Suite Exploring Negro League Baseball At the Heart of "Transitions," Set for June 7 Release by MSO Records Bassist-Composer-Bandleader's Latest Features Four-Part Suite, Seven Standards Performed by His 15-Piece Big Band, Special Guests Mads Tolling & Tiffany Austin Performances as Resident Artistic Director At SFJAZZ, 5/23-26 April 26, 2019 Bassist, composer, and bandleader Marcus Shelby brings together three of his greatest passions -- African-American history, baseball, and big-band jazz -- on Transitions, the latest work by his 15-piece Marcus Shelby Orchestra, set for a June 7 release on his own MSO Records. While the album offers Shelby's lush arrangements of classic tunes by Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Cole Porter, its centerpiece "Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues" is an original four-part suite inspired by the history of Negro League Baseball. It also features superb work by two special guests, violinist Mads Tolling and acclaimed vocalist Tiffany Austin. Shelby's work to date has established his penchant for deep musical dives into African-American history and culture. Transitions is not a full-length opus like his 2007 oratorio Harriet Tubman or 2011's Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but it is unquestionably on the same ambitious path as those two works. It's also a natural choice of subject matter for San Francisco-based Shelby, a self-described baseball aficionado who (when he's not on the bandstand) can often be found cheering on his beloved San Francisco Giants. "I did a whole theatrical project that premiered last September at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival," he explains. "It re-created the environment of a Negro League baseball park. This suite was inspired by the research I did for that project. But it's more about these four cities -- Pittsburgh, New York, Chicago, Kansas City -- that were very central to the Negro Leagues." Those were also central to the development of jazz, and Shelby's pieces reflect the parts they played in that development. The suite's opening "Transition 1 (Pittsburgh)," a nod to two powerhouse teams (the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays), also reflects the city's blues tradition and the hard swing generated by native-son drummers from Art Blakey to Jeff "Tain" Watts. Its finale, "Black Ball Swing (Kansas City)," celebrates the Kansas City Monarchs -- "the best known, most respected team of all time in the Negro Leagues," Shelby says -- with both the riff-driven style of the Count Basie Orchestra and the supercharged bebop of Charlie Parker, both Kansas City exports. Transitions also includes one composition each by Charles Mingus and George Shearing, along with two by Cole Porter and three by the grand master of big band writing, Duke Ellington. It's "an album that mirrors a live performance," he says. "It's like seeing one of our concerts. It felt good to break away from doing programmatic music to playing some straight-up blues and swing and standards." The Duke's gorgeous but rarely played "On a Turquoise Cloud" is a feature for guest violinist Tolling, while his "Mood Indigo"and "Solitude," along with Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland"and the two Porter tunes, are vehicles for Tiffany Austin's vocals. Marcus Shelby was born February 2, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska, moving to Sacramento, California at the age of five. He played the bass as a teenager, but his real passion was for baseball and basketball, earning a college scholarship in the latter. At 22, however, a concert by the Wynton Marsalis Quartet reignited his love of music, and he returned to school at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, where he studied with Charlie Haden and James Newton. First gaining attention in Los Angeles as a cofounder (with drummer Willie Jones III) of the hard-bop band Black/Note in the early 1990s, Shelby relocated to San Francisco in 1996. He quickly established himself as an essential creative force on the Bay Area arts scene, leading both the Marcus Shelby Trio and the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra and earning increasingly prestigious commissions from dance companies, theatrical productions, and presenters. Shelby opened a new chapter with the release of 2006's Port Chicago (Noir), a major orchestral work inspired by the World War II incident that saw 50 young black seamen convicted in the largest mutiny trial in U.S. naval history. Since then he's focused his creative energy on a series of meticulously researched, hard-swinging works exploring African American history, like 2007's Harriet Tubman (Noir) and 2011's Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Porto Franco). Marcus Shelby will perform as Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ, 201 Franklin St, San Francisco, Thursday 5/23 through Sunday 5/26. The four-night run will feature the artist in collaborations literary (with Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket), political (with Angela Davis), and Ellingtonian (with Faye Carol, Kenny Washington, and Mads Tolling), along with an evening dedicated to the performance of "Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues." Remember Rockefeller at Attica - Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra Web Site: marcusshelby.com

Maybe you're right, sonnymax!

Wirecutter yesterday recommended the U-Turn Orbit Custom turntable, which starts at only $179.00. The price goes up if you add a cue lever or a preamp. https://uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-basic-turntable

ECM Areni Agbabian Bloom Areni Agbabian: voice, piano Nicolas Stocker: percussion Release date: April 26, 2019 ECM 2549 B0029232-02 UPC: 6025 675 2590 5 Areni Agbabian casts a quiet spell with her art, as an improvising vocalist, folk singer, storyteller and pianist. Her voice has been described as “bell-toned” by The Guardian and “lush” by theLos Angeles Times, the music she creates with it “intensely focused, moving toward some kind of hidden truth,” according to The New York Times. Agbabian’s ECM debut, Bloom, has a richness that belies its spare ingredients: just her evocative voice and piano, along with the subtly ingenious percussion of Nicolas Stocker (who was last heard on ECM with Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile ensemble). Born and raised in Los Angeles into an Armenian family, Agbabian came to international attention via performances and recordings with groups led by Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan. Bloom draws deeply on the singer’s Armenian heritage, as she reinterprets sacred hymns, a traditional spoken-word tale and a dark folk melody transcribed by the great Armenian composer and ethnomusicologist Komitas. She intersperses these among her own vocal and instrumental compositions, which channel a wide world of influences, from Komitas to Tigran Mansurian, from Morton Feldman to George Crumb, from Patty Waters to Kate Bush. The melody that recurs through the highlights “Petal One,” “Petal Two” and “Full Bloom” glows with an aural and emotional purity that’s characteristic of Agbabian’s music. Agbabian recorded Bloom at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano, Switzerland, with ECM founder Manfred Eicher producing. The two had met some years before at a post-concert dinner in Paris, with Eicher then listening to her first solo album, Kissy(bag). About the experience of working with the producer for Bloom, Agbabian says: “First of all, the studio in Lugano is a warm wooden room with a natural reverb and projection, perfect for this sort of acoustic music. With his years of experience, Manfred guides an artist to the correct balance musically. As far as my songs went, he suggested a few changes that made them more appropriate for a studio recording as opposed to concert performance. He also suggested that I play slightly different takes of the same material, which created recurring motifs that gave the album narrative shape. There are a couple of pieces credited to Manfred, ‘Rain Drops’ and ‘Whiteness,’ that serve as parentheses within the storybook feel of Bloom. He had suggested that I play a mid-range chord in E-flat and slowly make my way up the keyboard with an airy feel. He conducted these moments live in the studio space.” Stocker also contributes two solo percussion pieces to the album, “Light Effects” and “Colored.” About the collaboration with the percussionist, Agbabian explains: “When I was invited to check out the studio in Lugano, I met Nicolas while he was playing a Nik Bärtsch session. I could immediately tell that Nicolas was a very kind person, and I really liked the color palette of his percussion setup, which he extended with unique bells and gongs. We ended up working together intensively for a few weeks before recording, both in L.A. and Zurich. I added a few items to his percussion set, such as Tibetan singing bowls. Also, the piano preparations on some of the pieces ended up giving us a unified percussion sound, especially on my piece ‘The Water Bride.’ And ‘The River’ was a pure improvisation by the two of us from which his polyrhythmic groove in ‘Colored’ emerged.” Agbabian has been a singer since she was an infant, already humming melodies at the age of 11 months. Growing up in a world of sound, she was hitting xylophones and drums by age 4, making up melodies and rhythms. She sang rhymes and folk songs with her aunt, a trained opera singer and Armenian music specialist, and her mother, a storyteller and Armenian folklorist. These women imprinted the Armenian language, its tones and inflections, into her mind and body. At age 7, Agbabian began a study of classical piano that lasted for 20 years. Throughout this period, she continued her vocal work, and by her early 20s, she had sung in many choirs of Armenian sacred and Bulgarian folk music, eventually performing traditional Armenian folklore and music professionally. She gradually integrated these byways of her musical journey into an individual musical path. After some years performing in the improvised music scene of New York City, Agbabian returned to her hometown of Los Angeles. She joined Hamasyan’s quintet, touring the world and recording two albums with him; she also wrote the lyrics to “Lament” on his Shadow Theater LP. As a vocalist, Agbabian has worked not only in jazz and folk music but also in contemporary opera, dance, new music and multimedia performance, with her credits including the opera What To Wear by Bang on a Can composer Michael Gordon. She released her solo album Kissy(Bag) in 2014. Of late, Agbabian has been performing Armenian and Persian music in Los Angeles with Lernazang, a group of young folk instrumentalists; she also collaborates with guitarist Gagik “Gagas” Khodavirdi, her husband. Throughout Bloom, a sense of spiritual yearning makes itself felt, strikingly so in Agbabian’s own deeply introspective songs “Patience” and “Mother,” as well as in the Armenian sacred hymn “Anganim Arachi Ko.” The connection between the traditional material and the original songs is virtually genetic. She explains: “Armenian music is in my DNA. It speaks to me on a spiritual level that I cannot explain. In fact, the sacred music eventually is what changed my life. It was through it that I came to know God, and through the imagery of the Biblical stories of the Resurrection written in grabar (classical Armenian) that my heart was transformed. Intellectually, it is probably more difficult than any other music I have studied, European classical music included, especially because of Armenian music’s linguistic and rhythmic challenges, the microtonality and the memorization. I’m in my fourth year of participating in sacred music study and practice. This requires an understanding of ritual time, and supporting the cerebral process of understanding music with conscious listening of my whole person.” ECM Stephan Micus White Night Stephan Micus: kalimbas duduk, bass duduk, sinding, dondon, fourteen-string guitar, steel string guitar, Tibetan cymbals, cane whistles, vocals Release date: April 26, 2019 ECM 2639 B0029979-02 UPC: 6025 773 6220 0 Though the purity of the moonlight has silenced both nightingale and cricket, the cuckoo alone sings all the white night. (Anonymous, Japanese) “I’ve always been inspired by moonlight,” says Stephan Micus. “Often I go walking, swimming in the sea or, best of all, cross-country skiing when the moon turns the snow into millions of diamonds. Moonlight for me has a special magic.” Stephan Micus has a strong and physical relationship with nature, landscapes and the people who inhabit them, all over the world. You hear that in his music which is created for instruments he has collected in years of travels and re-fashioned for his own use. He plays all the parts and multi-tracks them with up to 22 layers on the ‘Fireflies’ track on this album. By contrast, ‘The Moon’ and ‘All the Way’ are solo pieces recorded in one take. On White Night, his 23rd solo album for ECM, Micus takes us on a journey into an imaginary world entering at ‘The Eastern Gate’ and exiting at ‘The Western Gate’. In between the gates unfold the different scenes of the composition: ‘The Bridge’, ‘The River’, ‘The Moon’ and so on. Aside from the 14 string guitar, to conjure this world Micus plays instruments from Armenia, Tibet, India, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia and Ethiopia, most of them in combinations never heard before. For each of his albums, Micus uses a defined cast of instruments to create its distinctive sound world. On White Night, the leading characters are African ‘thumb pianos’ (kalimba) and the Armenian duduk, two instruments which are extremely different in their personalities. The duduk always has a trace of melancholy, whereas the kalimba is imbued with a spirit of joy. To combine the two is like bringing two irreconcilable spirits together. The technical name for the kalimba is a lamellophone, which comprises metal tongues attached to a resonator. They are known by different names in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa - mbira, kalimba, sanza, ndingo etc. On this album Micus uses instruments he has collected in Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia and Ethiopia. “These are old and unique instruments,” he says. “Most of them I found in remote villages and so each one has its own story connected with the people I met, with the landscapes and these memories help me create the music for them, something an instrument bought in a shop could never do. In most cases I change the tunings according to the music which evolves when I start improvising on them. My first kalimba I bought in Tanzania some 26 years ago.” “Whenever I travel I take a kalimba with me on my journey. It’s such a great instrument to carry along,” says Micus who has a practical relationship with these instruments. “It’s small and doesn’t disturb anyone. This enables me to keep working on some tunes and rhythms even if I am on the road.” One of the solo tracks at the heart of the album is ‘All the Way’, played on a kalimba Micus bought in a village where the indigenous San people have been settled in Botswana. This is a one-take performance on an instrument of 22 keys. “I admire the way that for thousands of years, the San lived on the land without leaving any traces or without doing any damage to it, just like the Australian aborigines or Native Americans. But strangely people have always looked down on these people, while really we should honour them for this great achievement”. This kalimba solo is a tribute to all people who respect our planet and preserve its amazing beauty. Another kalimba, from Tanzania, that Micus uses on ‘The River’, has small rings on its keys creating a buzzing sound like waves and splashes in the water. On ‘The Bridge’ and ‘The Forest’, Micus uses a kalimba specially created for this album. He commissioned the South African instrumentalist Phillip Nangle to build an instrument with just bronze keys instead of the usual steel ones. Bronze gives a warmer, more mellow sound, which makes a superb accompaniment to Micus’ voice singing his lyrics in an invented language. Micus has made two trips to Armenia to learn to play the duduk, the plaintive, oboe-like instrument which lends its melancholy tone to so much Armenian music. The first time he studied with Djivan Gasparyan, the second with Gevorg Dabaghyan, two musicians who are considered by many to be the greatest living masters. He’s used the duduk on two previous albums Towards the Wind (2002) and Snow (2008). Traditionally the bass duduk is only used as an accompanying drone, playing just one or two notes. But on the opening and closing tracks ofWhite Night Micus uses it for soulful melodies that frame his story with themes of deep profundity. You’ve never heard a duduk go as low as this. The other solo in the center of the album is ‘The Moon’, a duduk solo, played on a much smaller instrument than the standard one. The composition has nothing to do with traditional Armenian music, but certainly evokes the lonely, misty and ethereal shimmer of the moon in the night sky. For many of his CD booklets Micus chooses a small text to intensify the particular mood of each album. For White Night he’s chosen a Japanese poem, so the track ‘The Poet’ could represent the anonymous writer reciting his verse about the entrancing birdsong in the white, moonlit night. Other striking instruments we hear are Indian cane whistles multi-tracked many times, which in ‘Fireflies’ alternate with Micus’ own voice in chorus. “They are simple cane flutes which you play like a recorder. I bought them on the street somewhere costing a few cents each.” And there are the Tibetan cymbals which Micus bought in Ladakh. These are ritual temple instruments and their clashing rhythms bring a ceremonial quality to the opening and closing of this album. It’s a reminder that Stephan Micus’ music has a profundity, that connects to cultures all over the world and their musical expression. But as he says, “it makes no sense for me to play traditional Armenian duduk.” His desire is to take us on a journey, using rare and obscure instruments combined in a novel way, to reach out to our universal emotions. “Nowadays people in cities have lost contact with the moon,” says Micus. “I have lived all my life in the countryside and have had the privilege to experience many nights around the full moon. That’s why I dedicate this album to the moon which has always been a source of magic in many cultures. Music too is a source of magic which is where the two connect.” ECM Michele Rabbia/Gianluca Petrella/Eivind Aarset Lost River digital release date: May 31, 2019 CD release date: June 7, 2019 Michele Rabbia: drums, percussion, electronics; Gianluca Petrella: trombone, sounds; Eivind Aarset: guitar, electronics Lost River is an evocative post-ambient, richly textured sonic event, and one of the outstanding beyond-category recordings of recent ECM history. Drummer Michele Rabbia and guitarist Eivind Aarset had played many duo concerts, and Rabbia had also worked with trombonist Gianluca Petrella in other contexts, but this recording marks a premiere for the trio. Spontaneously improvised for the most part, and with mysterious detail flowering inside its soundscapes, Lost River keeps revealing new forms. Rabbia's drumming is freely creative and propulsive, and enhanced through his use of electronics. Aarset's flowing playing will delight listeners who have enjoyed his Dream Logic project and his contribution to recordings with Nils Petter Molvӕr, Tigran Hamasyan, Andy Sheppard and others. Petrella's role as a principal instrumental voice will surprise those who know him only as a great "jazz" soloist with Enrico Rava and Giovanni Guidi; his broad range is very well deployed in Manfred Eicher's widescreen production on this recording, made in Udine in January 2018. ECM Paul Bley / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian When Will The Blues Leave digital release date: May 31, 2019 CD release date: June 7, 2019 Paul Bley: piano Gary Peacock: double bass Paul Motian: drums In 1999, a year after recording the splendid reunion album Not Two, Not One, Paul Bley's highly innovative trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian took to the road with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. When Will The Blues Leave documents a terrific performance at the Aula Magna di Trevano in Switzerland. Included here, alongside the angular freebop Ornette Coleman title track, are Paul Bley's "Mazatlan", brimming over with energy, Gary Peacock's evergreen "Moor", Gershwin's tender "I Loves You Porgy" and much more... All played with the subtlety of master improvisers, recasting the music in every moment.

The league has announced this year's Hall of Fame inductees. Jon Cornish Mervyn Fernandez Terry Greer Ernie Pitts David Williams Jim Hopson Frank Smith https://3downnation.com/2019/04/24/2019-canadian-football-hall-of-fame-class-features-stamps-cornish-riders-hopson/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/04/24/call-hall-2019-hall-fame-class-revealed/ https://3downnation.com/2019/04/24/davis-riders-hopson-books-a-spot-in-the-hall/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/04/24/oleary-hall-fame-nod-opportunity-cornish-inspire/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/04/24/cornish-this-is-the-best-team-ive-ever-been-a-part-of/

Thanks, Mike. I was thinking he may have been on Mark Murphy Sings, Murphy's third Muse album.

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RIP. Did he make an album with Mark Murphy?

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The Complete Pye?