Bohren & Der Club of Gore- Dolores

Artists:Bohren & Der Club of Gore
Album: Dolores
Year: 2008
Genre:Avantgarde, Ambient, Jazz, Minimalism
Country:Germany

Formed in the German city of Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1992, Bohren & Der Club of Gore (their name is partly an homage to the 80s Dutch noisecore band Gore) set out with the self-proclaimed intention of processing a love of rock's more extreme forms into 'doom-ridden jazz music'. This mission has resulted in five albums of oppressive intensity, but with Dolores a silver strip of dawn can be seen at the edge of their louring sky.

The similarities are less constant on Dolores, but it remains impossible to listen to Bohren (which means 'drilling' in German) without being reminded of David Lynch and his composer Angelo Badalamenti. Try listening to second track 'Karin' and its sultry combination of vibes, brushed drums and humming bass without thinking of Audrey's dance in the Double R diner in Twin Peaks. Even when their methods aren't so similar, Bohren still tap into precisely the same wee small hours blend of sexuality, battered glamour, mournfulness and undefined threat that Badalamenti's compositions evoke.

'Dolores' is a stunning, mesmerising 60 minute journey that lurks beneath the surface, confusing, confounding and oddly uplifting all at once.
0Carefully chosen, strained notes of either a guitar or piano, punctuated by periodic thumps of a bass drum, create a moody atmosphere with an underlying sense of positivity or rebirth. And thanks to production that is crisp and clean, it is recommended that you dig out those pricier headphones to fully experience the unique sound experience of Delores.

This album is not recommended for those who are depressed. However, if you are looking for some background music to plow through that Camus novel, or just generally in a contemplative mood, then Dolores is the perfect album for you

 Official site

Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft - Duplex Ride

Artist: Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft
Album: Duplex Ride
Year: 1998
Genre:avant-garde
Country:Norway





Sidsel:Epilogue

T


his is a CD that appears to respect no boundaries! Norwegian vocal artist Sidsel Endresen has emerged as one of the foremost Nordic voices in the last decade with avant-garde jazz albums on the ECM label such as 'Exile' and 'I Write'. Bugge Wesseltoft, a respected jazz pianist and synthesiser artist, has always been at the leading edge of contemporary musical exploration, achieving considerable success lately with his 'new Conception of Jazz' series. (Amazon.com) Absolute poetry!

Myspace

Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

Artist:Kashiwa Daisuke
Album: Program Music I
Year: 2007
Genre:Avantgarde, Electronica, Experimental, Jazz,
Country:Japan








myspace

Born in Hiroshima, Kashiwa Daisuke started off as the composer and guitarist of postrock band Yodaka in 2001. Having evaluated their sound, the band has been praised by Jim O’Rourke. Being inspired by the band’s psychedelic sound due to a postrock approach, and by Maurizio Bianchi, he started a solo project in 2004.

As a solo artist his idea is to create not only acoustic, but also electronic filmy soundscapes and atmospheres, by melting together a variety of classic instruments, spoken word snippets, and crisp beats. With a proper amount of ambient music, all of these form an exquisite sound experience.Program Music I is his second album came in 2007, only featured two tracks, but whose runtime is still over an hour. Its rich textures and depths were noted, with one critic claiming, “It’s a combination of sound and image, rather than probably sound landscape, in terms of itself.”

One of the most impressive releases to come out in a very long while. Program Music I is absolutely brilliant experimental electronic combined with beautiful modern classical to create some of the most interesting music to listen to for an hour!
Highly Recommended

POLY QUARTET - perfumed dreams (2008)

Artist: Poly Quartet
Album: perfumed dreams
Year: 2008
Genre:Jazz,Ambient
Country:Greece



colorez feliz

F
our Greek musicians meet each other in Holland...They work with various “multi-ethnic” groups for about 3 years until they form the Poly Quartet centred on the ‘Perfumed Dreams’ compositions of Andreas Polyzogopoulos. This is a cycle of compositions written in the course of the past three years: ten compositions inspired by Mediterranean aromas and the sound-colours of Northern Europe and sketching out the dreams that impassion our life, the dreams that enable us to believe in

utopias…

Poly Quartet gets 1st place in "Motives For Jazz" Contest, Play Festival, Hasselt, Belgium.

MySpace

Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue

Artist: Nina Simone
Album: Little Girl Blue
Year: 1957
Genre:Jazz, Soul
Country:United States



Don't smoke in bed

Little Girl Blue is the debut album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone (1933–2003) for Bethlehem Records. It was also released as Jazz As Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club. Nina was in her early twenties at the time of this album, and still aspiring to be a classical concert pianist.

"Little Girl Blue, released in 1957, was Nina Simone's first recording, originally issued on the Bethlehem label. Backed by bassist Jimmy Bond and Albert "Tootie" Heath, it showcases her ballad voice as one of mystery and sensuality and showcases her up-tempo jazz style with authority and an enigmatic down-home feel that is nonetheless elegant. The album also introduced a fine jazz pianist. Simone was a solid improviser who never strayed far from the blues. Check the opener, her reading of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," which finger-pops and swings while keeping the phrasing deep-blue. It is contrasted immediately with one of the -- if not the -- definitive reads of Willard Robison's steamy leave-your-lover ballad "Don't Smoke in Bed." The title track, written by Rodgers & Hart, features "Good King Wenceslas" as a classical prelude to one of the most beautiful pop ballads ever written. It is followed immediately by the funky swing in "He Needs Me" with a smoking little piano solo in the bridge where Bach meets Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons. It's also interesting to note that while this was her first recording, the record's grooves evidence an artist who arrives fully formed; many of the traits Simone displayed throughout her career as not only a vocalist and pianist but as an arranger are put on first notice here. "My Baby Just Cares for Me" has a stride shuffle that is extrapolated on in the piano break. Her instrumental and improvising skills are put to good use on Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait," which is transformed into something classical from its original bebop intent. "You'll Never Walk Alone" feels more like some regal gospel song than the Rodgers & Hammerstein show tune it was. Of course, one of Simone's signature tunes was her version of "I Loves You, Porgy," which appears here for the first time and was released as a single. Her own "Central Park Blues" is one of the finest jazz tunes here, and it is followed with yet another side of Simone's diversity in her beautiful take on the folk-gospel tune "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," with quiet and determined dignity and drama. Another of her instrumentals compositions, "African Mailman," struts proud with deep Afro-Caribbean roots and rhythms."For The Love Of Soul Jazz - TheDadDyMan

Master Female Audiophile II

Artist:VA
Album: Master Female Audiophile II
Year: 2007
Genre:Jazz, Lounge
Country:VA

This compilation includes the beautiful and timeless voices of Simone, Malene Mortensen, Maria Winther, Kari Bremnes, Jenny Evans and more!

TRACK LISTINGS

01.Elisabeth Kontomanou - The Good Life
02.Simone - Close To You
03.Malene Mortensen - Desperado
04.Veronica Mortensen - In My Life
05.Katrine Madsen - Can't Buy Me Love
06.Josefine Cronholm - Don't Weep
07.Maria Winther - You Must Believe In Spring
08.Sir's Svale Band - Love For Sale
09.Rim Banna - The Mirrors Of My Soul
10.Inger Marie Gundersen - I Don't Want To Talk About It
11.Jenny Evans - What Joy
12.Katia Cardenal - Dulce Marioneta
13.Elisabeth Karster - Pardon, Goddess Of The Night
14.Niki King - Tenderly
15.Kari Bremnes - Wave On Rock

Mike Westbrook - Bright as Fire (Settings Of William Blake)

Artist: Mike Westbrook
Album:Bright as Fire (Settings Of William Blake)
Lyrics:William Blake arranged by Adrian Mitchell
Year: Recorded January 1980, Issued on CD 1991
Genre: Contemporary Jazz
Country:United Kingdom

Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook (born March 21, 1936 in High Wycombe) is a highly successful British jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces..more

Personnel:
Phil Minton - vocal, trumpet
Kate Westbrook - tenor horn, vocal, piccolo
Mike Davies - piccolo trumpet, trumpet
Dave Hancock - trumpet
Henry Lowther - trumpet
Malcolm Griffiths - trombone
Alan Sinclair - tuba
Alan Wakeman - sopranino, soprano & tenor saxophones
Chris Biscoe - soprano & alto saxophones, alto clarinet
Dave Barry - drums, percussion, tympani, tubular bells
Georgie Born - cello
Chris Laurence - bass
Mike Westbrook - piano, speech


*****Reviews*****

"...Arguably the most majestic work to appear in recent years. It's marriage of Inspirational lyrics and uplifting scoring, performed by some of the most talented musicians in Europe, harks back to the jazz suites of Ellington..."
THE GUARDIAN

"Mike Westbrook makes full use of his two striking vocalists, Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton, and coaxes fervent performances from horn men Chris Biscoe and Alan Wakeman. He finds music to snatch the ecstasy of 'I See Thy Form' and desolation of 'London Song', turns 'A Poison Tree' into a blood-curdling tango. and fashions a magnificent anthem for 'Let The Slave/The Price of Experience' , Blake's great paeans to freedom, dignity, and compassion."
THE WIRE

"Perhaps the greatest work in all British jazz"
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY.

"Westbrook's settings are among the greatest British music of the century...bold, optimistic and inspiring".
THE INDEPENDENT.

"Bright as Fire pulls no emotional punches, Blake's visionary words matched by some of Westbrook's most trenchant writing".
THE TIMES

Nina Simone - folksy nina

Year: 1964
Genre:Jazz,Blues,R&B,
Country:United States

A
lthough she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles besides her classical basis, such as jazz, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop music. Her vocal style is characterized by intense passion, a loose vibrato, and a slightly androgynous timbre, in part due to her unusually low vocal range which veered between the alto and tenor ranges (occasionally even reaching baritone lows). Sometimes known as the High Priestess of Soul, she paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions. Within one album or concert she could fluctuate between exuberant happiness or tragic melancholy

Clogs - Lullaby For Sue

Artist: Clogs
Album: Lullaby For Sue
Year: 2003
Genre:Ambient,Jazz,Chamber,
Experimental,Neo-Classical
Country: Australia,United States









Clogs are four classical musicians hailing from Australia and the United States.Clogs create music that is highly visual, but the visions they create are of places unknown. Yet for all that they invoke familiar emotions: love, despair, happiness, loss.Think myriad stars in Aussie skies; red desert violins; gnarled attic guitars; medieval bassoons; junkyard metal percussion. Lullaby for Sue is an exploration into sounds that could very well date back to the days of Mozart, but also have the same cinematic scope as, say, Rachel’s or Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Regardless of the comparisons, Clogs is a very intricate and sophisticated sound.


"An interesting, and often quite beautiful, record, this. There's in a way too much meat and potatoes here to skate over in a mere review, so I won't try to verbally break it down too much. Clogs play classical compositions that straddle the boundaries with experimental rock, and while 'Lullaby For Sue' often feels like pure impressionism, a constantly shifting atmosphere, there are moments that remind me of the strings of dEUS, some territory between Trent Reznor and Philip Glass, the mesmerising looped motifs of Can, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and even (one particular part of 'Who's Down Now', the second track) 'Soul Bossanova' by Quincy Jones! The soundscapes are mainly created on violin/viola, bassoon, guitar and percussion, though there is a single very beautiful vocal track, 'Gentler We', on which main composer, Padma Newsome sings. The record is often quite melancholy, often abstract and contemporary, as if illustrating a silent movie, and there is a lot of space. It ain't the record to fire you up for a night on the town, but certainly creates a brilliant autumnal atmosphere for naked thought, and crazy daydreams.(drownedinsound.com)"

Keith Jarret - The Melody At Night, With You

Artist: Keith Jarret
Album:The Melody At Night, With You
Year: 1990
Genre:Jazz
Country:United States












Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) is an American pianist and composer. He is considered one of the most important jazz pianists, renowned for his elaborate solo improvisations.In 2003 he received the Erhielt “Polar Music Prize”—the alternative Nobel prize for music.

****Reviews****

"Keith Jarrett is an accomplished jazz pianist. Many of his recordings and live performances are characterized by passionate and brilliant solos - but this recording is different. Jarrett has chosen a series of standard tunes and presents them as if he's performing a personal concert for you and your fellow-listeners. The piano (extended in its dynamic range) speaks volumes here. The tunes are quite familiar, but I heard several as if for the first time; 'My Wild Irish Rose' quickly loses its over-sentimental character, and the simple American tune 'Shenandoah' acquires heartbreaking dignity. Highly recommended."

"I can't seem to pull myself back to work and away from this beautiful music. I have always loved Keith Jarrett solo, and he has satisfied my desire for beautiful, loving, classic solo piano with this CD. The songs in and of themselves are classics, and I have known many of them since childhood. "My Wild Irish Rose", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Shenandoáh" - all lovely, familiar, and I find myself humming along. I am not a jazz fan, but I am passionate about the piano. This CD really answers my call for the perfect recorded piano music."

"Wow! This is the rare jazz record of late that I cannot get out of my CD player. Passion, simplicity, and an absolute command of space and silence echo throughout. As an earlier fan noted, the version of "Blame It On My Youth" is another definitive reading of this piece by Jarrett, who turns it into absolute poetry.This is the perfect record for quiet, romantic times, a great record for contemplation."

Sidsel Endresen - Bugge Wesseltoft Duo - Out Here In There

Artist: Sidsel Endresen - Bugge Wesseltoft
Album: Out Here In There
Year: 2002
Genre:Jazz,piano jazz,Fusion
Country:Norway










Sidsel & Bugge Duo is the latest instalment documenting the astonishing musical empathy between awesome singer Sidsel Endresen and keyboard wizard Bugge Wesseltoft. This state-of-the-art union between singer and accompanist sees two master musicians creating music in the moment.


Theirs is a total music situation - who can say where the song ends and the accompaniment begins? Each becomes the other, a pulsing of one heartbeat as words and music are shaped by a cross flow of impulses woven into a complete whole the moment they are flung into space. Don't miss it!!

Keith Jarrett - Sacred Hymns of GI Gurdjieff

Artist: Keith Jarrett
Album: Sacred Hymns of GI Gurdjieff
Year: Germany in March 1980
Genre:Piano,Jazz













This is a deeply meditative set of tracks played beautifully, and with great intensity by Keith Jarrett.Jarrett, for many years, has been a follower of the teachings of Armenian composer, mystic, and philosopher G. I. Gurdjieff. In 1980 he recorded for ECM an album of his compositions Sacred Hymns of G. I. Gurdjieff. The pieces have a spare, stark quality imbued with fragility and spirituality. A lovely disc; great performances...Highly recommended for those looking for tranquility and beauty!

Track Listings:
1. Reading of Scared Books
2. Prayer and Despair
3. Religious Ceremony
4. Hymn
5. Orthodox Hymn from Asia Minor
6. Hymn for Good Friday
7. Hymn
8. Hymn for Easter Thursday
9. Hymn to the Endless Creator
10. Hymn from a Great Temple
11. Story of the Resurrection of Christ
12. Holy Affirming, Holy Denying, Holy Reconciling
13. Easter Night Procession
14. Easter Hymn
15. Meditation