GA Russell

An intimate portrait of a great guitarist, filmed near the end of his musical journey. Here we see John Abercrombie gigging with Gary Versace and Adam Nussbaum in Lichtenstein, jamming with Rob Sheps, Eliot Zigmund and David Kingsnorth in New York, teaching music students at Purchase College, talking guitars with NYC luthier Ric McCurdy, and hanging out at home with wife Lisa and Al the cat. Along the way John reflects, with characteristic good humor, on a creative life lived outside the mainstream and traces his story from his first encounter with an electric guitar onwards. Subtly combining and contrasting images and sound, director Arno Oehri achieves a fine balance between music passages and interviews. The film’s soundtrack includes, in addition to the live performances, selections from many of John Abercrombie’s ECM recordings. WATCH THE TRAILER © *2018 ECM Records US, A Division of Verve Music Group. All rights reserved. You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. An intimate portrait of a great guitarist, filmed near the end of his musical journey. Here we see John Abercrombie gigging with Gary Versace and Adam Nussbaum in Lichtenstein, jamming with Rob Sheps, Eliot Zigmund and David Kingsnorth in New York, teaching music students at Purchase College, talking guitars with NYC luthier Ric McCurdy, and hanging out at home with wife Lisa and Al the cat. Along the way John reflects, with characteristic good humor, on a creative life lived outside the mainstream and traces his story from his first encounter with an electric guitar onwards. Subtly combining and contrasting images and sound, director Arno Oehri achieves a fine balance between music passages and interviews. The film’s soundtrack includes, in addition to the live performances, selections from many of John Abercrombie’s ECM recordings. ECM Wolfgang Muthspiel Where The River Goes Wolfgang Muthspiel: guitar Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet Brad Mehldau: piano Larry Grenadier: double bass Eric Harland: drums Release date: October 5, 2018 ECM 2610 B0028857-02 UPC: 6025 675 1712 2 Where The River Goes carries the story forward from Rising Grace, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel’s widely acclaimed 2016 recording, returning his cast of musicians to the same studio in southern France, for more of the intuitive magic and deep listening that characterised the earlier album. “The disc’s ambience,” said Downbeat of Rising Grace, “is meditative yet optimistic and joyful. Percolating grooves propel the flow; elemental melodies and classical harmonies provide signposts.” On Where The River Goes, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire and Larry Grenadier, now joined by drummer Eric Harland, again take a creative approach to the bandleader’s compositions, constantly stretching the forms, reharmonizing melodies, embellishing heads, delving into the texture of the pieces. And, though the quintet has, inevitably, been praised as an ‘all-star ensemble’, its energies are very democratically pooled. Solos in the conventional sense are rationed here – although the outgoing “Blueshead”, aMehldau composition, has energetic features for all five members of the band – but there is a great deal of inspired conversation among the participants, and a shared sense of freedom. One early instance is the dialogue subtly developed by Muthspiel and Mehldau in the middle of “For Django”, circling each other as they make new music. The opening minutes of “One Day My Prince Was Gone” are similarly intriguing, with multiple lines interweaving in extended free counterpoint before coalescing in Muthspiel’s theme. On “Panorama”, Muthspiel’s arpeggios are beautifully embroidered by Harland’s purring snare drum. Throughout the album Ambrose Akinmusire, juxtaposing pure clear trumpet tone with his vocabulary of painterly smears of sound, continually finds new angles to the material. Muthspiel praises the trumpeter’s fearlessness and has hailed him as “a great new force in the music.” The titular river of the album flows towards and away from the spontaneously created piece “Clearing”, situated at the center of the program and credited to all five players. For Muthspiel and cohorts playing “free” means finding and capturing form in the moment. On “Buenos Aires”, Muthspiel is heard alone, playing with an elegance that underlines the The New Yorker’s description of him as “a shining light” among contemporary jazz guitarists. * Born in 1965 in Judenberg, Austria Wolfgang Muthspiel studied classical violin before turning his attention to the guitar at age 15. Deep interest in jazz and improvisation led him to the US and studies with Mick Goodrick at the New England Conservatory. By the 1990s, Muthspiel was based in New York, playing with many of the city’s most creative players and establishing long-lasting musical friendships. He made his first ECM appearance on the 2012 recording Travel Guide as a member of a cooperative trio with fellow guitarists Ralph Towner and Slava Grigoryan (“Breathtakingly beautiful...a brilliant six-string summit meeting” – Downbeat). This was followed by Driftwood in 2013 with Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade. The association between Muthspiel and Grenadier goes back three decades to the guitarist’s membership of Gary Burton’s group. Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland have also played together in many contexts including, recently, a trio with Hungarian cimbalom master Miklós Lukács. Shared work at ECM includes Chris Potter’s The Sirens project. Both have also recorded with Charles Lloyd, and Eric Harland continues to perform with Lloyd’s ensembles. Larry Grenadier has furthermore appeared on ECM with the Fly trio with Mark Turner and Jeff Ballard, and with Enrico Rava. A solo album, The Gleaners, is in preparation for early 2019 release. Brad Mehldau’s previous ECM appearances include, in addition to Rising Grace, two albums with Charles Lloyd, plus Live At Birdland with Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. Where The River Flows was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines in February 2018 and produced by Manfred Eicher. * Wolfgang Muthspiel will be playing compositions from Rising Grace and Where The River Flows in the course of his autumn tour on which his quintet partners will be Mathieu Michel on trumpet, Colin Vallon on piano, Larry Grenadier on double bass, and Jeff Ballard on drums. The tour includes concerts in Estonia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland. For details: www.wolfgangmuthspiel.com and www.ecmrecords.com ECM Jakob Bro Bay of Rainbows Jakob Bro: guitar Thomas Morgan: double-bass Joey Baron: drums Release date: October 5, 2018 ECM 2618 B0029060-02 UPC: 6025 677 1120 9 Jakob Bro’s trio with two kindred-spirit Americans, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Joey Baron, follows its 2016 album Streams with an album recorded live in New York City over two nights at the Jazz Standard. Bay of Rainbows rolls on waves of contemplative emotion, with a gradually enveloping lyricism the lodestar. The three musicians explore five pieces from the guitarist’s catalog, including “Copenhagen” a favorite reprised from Gefion, Bro’s 2015 ECM album with Morgan and drummer Jon Christensen. Bookending the new recording are two versions of the richly melodic “Mild,” the abstracted second rendering illustrative of Bro and company’s ability to push and pull the music into mesmerizing new shapes, onstage and in the moment. The 40-year-old Bro – whose initial ECM appearances were on Paul Motian’s Garden of Eden and Tomasz Stanko’s Dark Eyes – just this past spring released his third studio album on the label as a leader: Returnings, which featured the guitarist in league with Morgan, Christensen and trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg. In its review of that disc, DownBeat praised Bro for creating “sound paintings of depth, warmth and beauty.” These words apply just as well to Bay of Rainbows, along with an added degree of spontaneous dynamism – as Bro’s partnership with Morgan and Baron has only deepened after five years of touring far and wide. The guitarist says: “This trio has played ‘Evening Song’ – an older tune of mine that I’ve done multiple ways already – hundreds of times, night after night, city after city, in different kinds of rooms in front of different sorts of audiences. So, the piece keeps evolving, and surprising me.” A prime example of how Bro, Morgan and Baron can morph a song from night to night comes with the two disparate versions of “Mild” on Bay of Rainbows. “It may sound strange to people, but the three of us never talk about the music, not even discussion of intros or outros, or where solos should be,” the guitarist explains. “It all happens on the bandstand. We have this shared desire to really listen to each other, to let the music breathe as we see where we can go moment to moment. Thomas might start something off, and Joey will react – and then when I come in, I have to adapt the way I play the song in order to respond to what they’re doing. Sometimes, the nights feel like one long improvisation.” The title of Bay of Rainbows refers to a humorous gift given to Bro’s baby daughter by his brother-in-law: a deed for a plot of land called Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows), which is on the moon. “It’s a poetic phrase and one I thought was evocative”, the guitarist explains. One track on the album, “Red Hook,” comes from Bro’s past life, as a young striver trying to learn the jazz ropes in New York City. “It was originally titled ‘Red Hook Railroad,’ because I was living in a ‘railroad’ apartment in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn at the time, sharing the place with bassist Ben Street and, sometimes, saxophonist Mark Turner. That was such an intense period for me, learning so much from these great New York musicians. To record a live album all these years later in the place where so many artists I admire live, a city with such a rich musical history, is very special for me.” Thomas Morgan has become an increasingly frequent ECM name, appearing on albums led by Stanko, John Abercrombie, Masabumi Kikuchi, Craig Taborn, Giovanni Guidi, David Virelles and, mostly recently, Bill Frisell (the duo disc Small Town). Bro likes to call the bassist his “musical soulmate.” He adds: “I loved his playing the first time I heard it. Thomas has a gift for supporting the song while also adding tension to it. He’s such a searching player.” Baron has been a pivotal presence in ECM sessions since the late 1980s, including albums led by Frisell, Abercrombie, John Taylor, Gary Peacock, Steve Kuhn and Marc Johnson & Eliane Elias. “Joey’s ears are all over the bandstand,” Bro says. “He isn’t a drummer just keeping time and adding color – he has as many ideas about where the songs should go as Thomas and I do. He has so much imagination, along with this joyful approach to music-making that I love.” As for his own playing, Bro says live performance enables him “get to the bottom of what I can really do on my instrument,” as he takes more room for himself than he might in the studio. The more kinetic side of Bro’s playing can be heard on Bay of Rainbows via the darkly atmospheric “Dug,” with its climactic guitar lines seeming to howl at the moon. Beyond such keening passages, Bay of Rainbows has the strongly contemplative aura that Bro says he’s “always striving for in my music, consciously and unconsciously, I suppose. I’ve always wanted to make the kind of music that I would want to listen to myself, and I can be drawn toward a certain meditative quality. I love albums that sustain a mood, whether it’s Brian Eno or John Coltrane, and I realize now that it’s a real challenge to do that live, to establish a vibe and keep hold of it, especially as you explore – you don’t want to lose the essence of a song. And that essence always derives from an emotion for me, something that I hope reaches the listener.” ECM Shai Maestro - The Dream Thief release date: September 28, 2018 Shai Maestro: piano; Jorge Roeder: double bass; Ofri Nehemya: drums The first ECM leader date for Shai Maestro (following his label debut with Theo Bleckmann on Elegy) features the gifted pianist fronting his superlative trio with fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder, and also playing alone. A solo interpretation of Matti Caspi's "My Second Childhood" opens the curtain on a program of characteristically thoughtful Maestro originals, each one with a story to tell. "Hearing the Shai Maestro Trio is like awakening to a new world", All About Jazz has suggested. "Expressions of joy, introspective thoughts and heightened intensity all come to the fore." Maestro's differentiated touch is special; he can convey a range of fleeting emotions in a single phrase. A deconstruction of "These Foolish Things", the album's sole standard, serves as a prelude to "What Else Needs To Happen", a somber meditation on inner city violence and its aftermath. The Dream Thief was recorded at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in April 2018, and produced by Manfred Eicher, and issued on the eve of a European tour with concerts in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, France, and Switzerland. ECM ECM Wolfgang Muthspiel - Where The River Goes release date: October 5, 2018 Wolfgang Muthspiel: guitar; Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet; Brad Mehldau: piano; Larry Grenadier: double bass; Eric Harland: drums Where The River Goes carries the story forward from Wolfgang Muthspiel's highly-acclaimed Rising Grace recording of 2016, reuniting the Austrian guitarist with Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire and Larry Grenadier, heavy talents all, and bringing in the great Eric Harland on drums. Much more than an "all-star" gathering, the group plays as an ensemble with its own distinct identity, evident both in the interpretation of Muthspiel's pieces and in the collective playing. The album, recorded at Studios La Buissonne in February 2018, and produced by Manfred Eicher, features six compositions by Wolfgang Muthspiel and one by Brad Mehldau, plus one group improvisation. It is issued in both CD and vinyl formats. ECM Jakob Bro - Bay of Rainbows release date: October 5, 2018 Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Joey Baron: drums Jakob Bro Trio on tour October 14 Winnipeg, MB (The Good Will Social Club) October 15 Minneapolis, MN (Icehouse) October 17 Chicago, IL (Constellation) October 18 Los Angeles, CA (Bluewhale) October 22 Baltimore, MD (An Die Musik Live!) October 23-24 New York, NY (Jazz Standard) October 25 Denver, CO (Dazzle) October 26 Tulsa, OK (Duet) October 27 Seattle, WA (Seattle Art Museum) October 28 Portland, OR (The Old Church) "There is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth," observed London Jazz News about Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's trio with two kindred-spirit Americans: bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Joey Baron. This poetically attuned group follows its ECM studio album of 2016, Streams - which The New York Times lauded as "ravishing" - with what Bro calls "a dream come true," an album recorded live in New York City, over two nights at the Jazz Standard. Bay of Rainbows rolls on waves of contemplative emotion, with gradually enveloping lyricism the lodestar. The three musicians explore five pieces from the guitarist's catalog, with the gorgeous "Copenhagen" a favorite reprised from Gefion, Bro's 2015 ECM release with Morgan and drummer Jon Christensen. Others - "Evening Song," "Red Hook" and the volatile "Dug" - are recast intimately and elastically for trio after having been initially documented by larger ensembles. Bookending Bay of Rainbows are two versions of the richly melodic "Mild," the abstracted second rendering illustrative of Bro and company's ability to push and pull the music into mesmerizing new shapes, onstage and in the moment.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/08/16/aretha-franklin-queen-soul-dead-at-76.html

No, last week the fellow who took Hostess out of bankruptcy backed out of his deal for Necco.

I'm still concerned about the future of Necco wafers.

Jim, Amazon has lots of Brach's candy corn, including "autumn", which I think is the same as Jeff's "Indian corn." I can't remember ever seeing it available by the scoop. Maybe 50 years ago at a Woolworth's.

Look what I found! 5 lbs. of candy corn - $18.99 prime https://www.amazon.com/Zachary-Confections-Corn-Candy-Pound/dp/B002MYF3T0/

I wonder why we are not seeing more offerings from Mosaic which are still under worldwide copyright. Maybe the Beehive and Woody Shaw Muse boxes did not sell as well as previous boxes did.

Week 9 Plays of the Week https://www.cfl.ca/2018/08/13/rainey-springs-his-way-to-number-one-in-timber-mart-plays-of-the-week/ ***** Week 10 power rankings https://www.cfl.ca/2018/08/14/nissan-titan-power-rankings-second-tier-emerged/ https://cflpowerrankings.wordpress.com/2018/08/15/power-rankings-after-week-9-2/ http://3downnation.com/2018/08/16/power-rankings-b-c-bye-week-blues/ https://lastwordonsports.com/2018/08/13/cfl-week-9-power-rankings-redblacks-control-east/ https://thegruelingtruth.net/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-week-10/ https://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-on-top-bombers-climbing-in-cfl-power-rankings-1.1158105

Great photo, Kevin! Thanks. I'm happy to believe the opinion of the many that it is the rare person who can tell the difference. However, what I read about the more expensive cables in the catalogues I receive discusses the thought and care that go into their design and manufacture. Certainly it has been my experience that the products of people who take their work seriously are better than the products of of those who are content to do things the "half fast" (as Pete Fountain would say!) way. Agreed?

Guys, I take it that nobody here really knows the answer to my OP question. Correct?

LISTEN / PRE ORDER Mark Turner tenor saxophone Ethan Iverson piano The initial musical connection between saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson was made in 1990s jam sessions in New York City, with both going on to individual success – Iverson in hit trio The Bad Plus and Turner as a solo leader and in such groups as the trio Fly (recording in both capacities for ECM). A decade after their first meeting, the saxophonist and pianist began an association in the Billy Hart Quartet, the two players featuring sympathetically on two widely lauded ECM albums by that band. Now with Temporary Kings – their debut on record as a duo – Turner and Iverson explore aesthetic common ground that encompasses the cool-toned intricacies of the Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh jazz school, as well as the heightened intimacy of modernist chamber music. The album presents six originals by Iverson (such as the nostalgic solo tune “Yesterday’s Bouquet) and two by Turner (including “Myron’s World,” which has acquired near-classic status among contemporary jazz players). There’s an off-kilter blues (“Unclaimed Freight”) and a strikingly melodic, almost Ravelian opening track dedicated to the Swiss town where the album was recorded (“Lugano”), plus an interpretation of Marsh’s playfully serpentine “Dixie’s Dilemma.” DUO ON TOUR September 13 Baltimore, MD (An Die Musik Live!) September 15 Chicago, IL (Constellation) September 16-17 Minneapolis, MN (Crooners) September 18 New York, NY (Jazz Standard) September 20 Cambridge, MA (Regattabar) October 10 Denver, CO (Dazzle) October 11 Santa Cruz, CA (Kuumbwa) October 12 Los Angeles, CA (Bluewhale) October 14 Portland, OR (Old Church) October 15 Seattle, WA (Earshot Jazz Festival) © *2018 ECM Records US, A Division of Verve Music Group. All rights reserved. Y

Aretha Franklin's family says that she is gravely ill. They are asking for prayers and privacy. http://www.showbiz411.com/2018/08/12/exclusive-aretha-franklin-queen-of-soul-gravely-ill-in-detroit-winner-of-18-grammy-awards

BREAKING: The Riders have cut Duron Carter. https://www.cfl.ca/2018/08/11/riders-release-receiver-duron-carter/ https://www.cfl.ca/2018/08/12/nye-no-surprise-in-carter-release/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/duron-carter-release-saskatchewan-roughriders-1.4782413 http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/riders-release-duron-carter/ http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/alouettes-gm-kavis-reed-says-he-will-contact-former-riders-receiver-duron-carter/ https://www.cfl.ca/2018/08/12/duron-carter-alouettes-reunion-works/ ***** Ottawa 24....Montreal 17 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2499/montreal-alouettes-vs-ottawa-redblacks/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/montreal-alouettes-ottawa-redblacks-recap-1.4782176 http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/not-so-fast-johnny-redblacks-comeback-to-beat-manziels-alouettes/ http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/post-game-video-alouettes-qb-johnny-manziel-its-not-about-wins-and-loses-right-now/ The Als played a solid game. The Redblacks took the lead with 15 seconds left. During halftime, The '69 Rough Riders were presented with their Grey Cup rings.

Jim, as I recall, The Cat and the Hat was on A&M, but the four listed above were on Arista.

Ben Sidran (4 albums on 2 CDs) - $10.94 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/America-Doctor-Little-Night-AtMontreux/dp/B07D4ZPSN1/ Free In America / Doctor Is In / Little Kiss In The Night / Live At Montreux

I'm enjoying re-reading all of this! Scott and Jim, is it your view that Uncle Skid is correct, and that lamp cord is as good as anything else?

Am I correct in believing that if a European CD's cover includes the logo of the original record company, that indicates that the CD is an authorized release utilizing the masters? Here is a Roy Orbison release of his Sun recordings. The cover seems to include the Sun logo. So can we conclude that this is an authorized release? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ZUIHI/

Winnipeg 29....Hamilton 23 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2498/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/hamilton-tiger-cats-winnipeg-blue-bombers-week-9-1.4781362 http://3downnation.com/2018/08/10/ticats-claw-back-but-comeback-falls-short-against-bombers/ http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/demski-bighill-lead-bombers-third-straight-win-eight-thoughts/ The Bombers were the better team, but the Ticats made it interesting, and trailed 26-23 with less than two minutes to go.

I like Gilberto with Turrentine and Stone Flower very much, but I don't often play the few others I have. In regard to the A&Ms, I love both the Jobims.

Pianist/Composer Yelena Eckemoff To Release "Better Than Gold and Silver," Her Jazz Settings of Biblical Psalms, September 21 2-CD Set Features Both Vocal & Instrumental Versions of Songs Inspired by 10 Sacred Texts Prolific Russian-Born Keyboard Virtuoso Is Accompanied by Tenor Tomás Cruz & Mezzo-Soprano Kim Mayo, Trumpeter Ralph Alessi, Guitarist Ben Monder, Violinist Christian Howes, Bassist Drew Gress, & Drummer Joey Baron Eckemoff to Perform CD Release Concert At St. Peter's Church, NYC, Friday, October 5 August 10, 2018 The prolific Russian-born, North Carolina-based pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoffadds a sacred dimension to the ambitious series of concept albums in her extensive catalogue her new 2-CD set Better Than Gold and Silver. Due for September 21 release on her imprint L&H Production, it's the first in a projected series of recordings featuring Eckemoff's settings of Biblical psalms. The new album includes both vocal and instrumental versions of 10 songs she conceived as works of modern jazz rather than part of the Christian music canon. While the album's lyrics -- beautifully sung by tenor Tomás Cruz and mezzo-soprano Kim Mayo -- are word-for-word verses from the King James Bible (the album's title is based on verse 72 from Psalm 119: "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver"), Eckemoff explains in her liner notes that the music is what she "heard behind the words." What she heard and composed is highly melodic, multilayered, intricately structured jazz that takes full advantage not only of her virtuoso pianism, but also of the distinctive talents of the all-star team of instrumentalists she enlisted for the project: trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Ben Monder, violinist Christian Howes, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Joey Baron. The genesis of Eckemoff's interest in composing jazz settings for sacred texts dates back to her time in her native Moscow, where she and her husband were searching for something to fill the spiritual void around them. They found it in the hymns and religious songs of the city's only Baptist church and its choir and pipe organ; soon, these former atheists were drawn into Christianity and baptized. Looking for texts with which she could musically commune with her newfound faith, Eckemoff turned to the psalms in a Russian bible, but had trouble understanding its Old Slavonic language. She searched in vain for an English bible in a country that banned religious texts. Eventually an American missionary she'd written to sent her a Bible adapted for people speaking English as a second language. Years later, having overcome overwhelming odds and emigrated to the U.S., Eckemoff was informed by a minister in her North Carolina hometown that she had been using the wrong version of the Bible. She discovered the King James version was indeed deeper, richer, and more poetic, and its psalms inspired this, her first collection of sacred texts in jazz settings. Yelena Eckemoff has been composing since she was four years old, her musical impressions taken from her mother, a pianist and teacher. Years of academic studies at Gnessins School for musically gifted children, followed by the Moscow Conservatory, provided a solid foundation in classical music. But as she grew into her teens she developed an interest in other musical styles, like pop, rock, and jazz, although this was a time when jazz recordings were scarce in Russia. Eckemoff attended Dave Brubeck's legendary concert in Moscow in 1987, a pivotal moment for her and many other Russian musicians. Though she had already started playing jazz before hearing Brubeck, this was one of the first jazz concerts she had attended, and she was so impressed she formed her own band and "tried to play jazz." L. to r.: Christian Howes, Ben Monder, Yelena Eckemoff, Ralph Alessi, Drew Gress, Joey Baron Stylistically, Eckemoff's writing and playing reference classical music, the blues, jazz-rock fusion, free-jazz and, occasionally, funk. Her recordings this decade have each dealt conceptually with a particular theme. Glass Song (2013), her first project pairing Arild Andersen and Peter Erskine (who surprisingly had never played together before), features songs about rain, melting ice, and clouds. A Touch of Radiance (2014), with Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George Mraz, and Billy Hart, is dedicated to happiness while Lions (2015), featuring Andersen and Hart, captures life in the savannah with songs about those majestic cats and their cubs as well as migrating birds and tropical rains. Eckemoff's previous release, Desert(May 2018), captures musically the mysteries and mesmerizing allure of one of nature's most daunting environments. Better Than Gold and Silver is an exceptional addition to the lineage of works inspired by religion like Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, and Steve Reich's own interpretation of the Psalms, Tehillim. "I've been smitten and humbled by the profundity of the psalms," Eckemoff confesses, "not only as sacred texts, but as a marvelous treasure of the poetic art. I found out for myself that there's a lot to be learned from these verses even in our modern world about the eternal questions of life and death -- what is the meaning of life, what makes people happy, what we leave behind after we die, and where to find strength to go about the daily labors and survive in the face of adversity." Yelena Eckemoff will showcase Better Than Gold and Silver -- with Tomás Cruz, voc; Ralph Alessi, tpt; Jeff Miles, g; Drew Gress, b; Jochen Rueckert, d -- at a free concert on Friday 10/5, 7pm, St. Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue, NYC. Photography: Alexander Popov "Better Than Gold and Silver" EPK Web Site: yelenamusic.com

Week 9 results BC 31....Edmonton 23 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2497/edmonton-eskimos-vs-bc-lions/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos-bc-lions-cfl-week-9-1.4779920 http://3downnation.com/2018/08/10/lulay-lulay-lulay-lulay-leads-lions-comeback-victory-over-eskimos/#comments Great game! BC's defense was terrific in the second half.

I've never wanted berries in my beer either.

camelcamelcamel.com

ECM Shai Maestro The Dream Thief Shai Maestro: piano Jorge Roeder: double-bass Ofri Nehemya: drums Release date: September 28, 2018 ECM 2616 B0029001-02 UPC: 6025 677 1112 4 “Hearing the Shai Maestro Trio is like awakening to a new world – a world of wonders, excitement, beauty and uncertainty,” All About Jazz has suggested. The Dream Thief, the first ECM release by Maestro as a leader, presents the Israeli pianist fronting the latest incarnation of his uncommonly interactive, atmospherically expansive trio, featuring new drummer Ofri Nehemya, a fellow Israeli, and its bassist from the start, Jorge Roeder, a native of Peru. The album also includes several searching solo performances by Maestro. His solo interpretation of Israeli singer-songwriter Matti Caspi’s “My Second Childhood” raises the curtain on a program of characteristically vivid Maestro originals. Maestro, who made his first ECM appearance on vocalist Theo Bleckmann’s 2017 album Elegy, made a name for himself playing in Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen’s popular band from 2006 to 2011. A resident of Brooklyn and a dual Israeli and American citizen, the pianist also played in star drummer Mark Guiliana’squartet and has recently worked in a duo with saxophonist Chris Potter. After four trio albums with Roeder and drummer Ziv Ravitz, Maestro drafted Nehemya into the group, which gathered to record The Dream Thief at the studio in Lugano. Maestro chose the darker-toned of two Steinway model D pianos on offer, apt for what he calls “the dreamy, cinematic quality” of the music he had written for the session. With Manfred Eicher producing, the atmosphere in the studio was one of being “open to the magic of the moment,” Maestro recalls. “I had a clear intention for the pieces, but I knew that Manfred likes to let the music breathe, to get to the essence of the music. For instance, my composition ‘Lifeline’ had been a double-time burner live, but Manfred suggested that we take it down about 50 bpm and concentrate on making the melody sing, in the way Charlie Haden might do. That really transformed the tune.” Another spontaneous creation was Maestro’s solo performance of Caspi’s “My Second Childhood,” a song about experiencing life anew via the eyes of a child. The Israeli composer is one of the pianist’s “all-time favorites – I grew up listening to him, and even took lessons with Caspi when I was 12,” he says. “I had arrived at the studio early before Jorge and Ofri, just to commune with the piano. I hadn’t planned to include that tune, but it just came out, as it’s so deep in my system. I have a real appreciation for the DNA of a great song, where the melody and the harmony go perfectly together. It’s the same thing with ‘These Foolish Things,” which is also such a beautifully crafted song. I was just improvising, and it morphed into a kind of avant-garde treatment – yet with the melody still like a red thread wound through it.” Maestro and Roeder have played together for about seven years, developing a synergistic partnership even though they come “from the opposite ends of music in a way,” the pianist explains. “Jorge has experience playing a lot of free music, while I studied both classical and jazz and have played a lot more arranged, rhythmically defined music. I’ve become freer playing with him. He can travel back and forth from off the grid to in the pocket, and he has such great ears. I can take the music where I want to go, and he’s right there with me, where we can almost improvise in unison.” Although Nehemya is new to the group, he and the pianist have an innate kinship. “Ofri and I share a lot of influences – we don’t even have to talk about things to come to the same emotional expressions,” Maestro says. “But he also has an advanced, new-generation rhythmic understanding, so he can really push and challenge Jorge and me.” Whether it’s “going with the melody or really burning and playing free, we always try to be attuned to the moment, trying to find that magic in it,” Maestro says. “With ‘Lifeline,’ ‘The Forgotten Village’ and ‘A Moon’s Tale,’ we were concentrating on melody, while rhythmic interplay was the focus of ‘The Dream Thief’ and ‘New River, New Water’.” As for the deeply moving end piece, “What Else Needs to Happen,” incorporating parts of speeches by Barack Obama, the pianist explains: “An acquaintance of mine, the saxophonist Jimmy Greene, lost his little daughter in the massacre at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. These school shootings in America have become so common, almost ‘normal’ – it’s surreal, insane. When I realized what happened for Jimmy and the rest of those parents, it felt so close – it was heartbreaking. I understand that in jazz a piece like this I could be ‘preaching to the choir,’ but ‘What Else Needs to Happen’ is about being open to the moment in another way. I think performing artists, because we have a stage, have a responsibility to speak about the world we live in today. Maybe the combination of Obama’s words and the music will help people hear and feel the emotional reality a bit more. It is, for me, at least some measure of resistance to that horrible new ‘normal’.” Reflecting on his influences when it comes to jazz piano Maestro concludes: “The tremendous history of jazz is a great inspiration but also a great challenge. We each have our own individual gift, which is the choices we make – whether we turn to major or minor, whether we play pianissimo or fortissimo at a key moment. I always try to remember to embrace history while not trying to be anything or anyone else – to let the music come out of me.”

I have been giving thumbs up to the albums I think are underrated, and thumbs down to the overrated. That's the idea, right?