Tag: jazz
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Danijel Cerovic: Silvius Leopold Weiss, Lute Works
Weiss (1687–1750) was a German composer and lutenist, who served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. He was one of the most prolific composers of music for the lute, and one of the best-known, most accomplished and best paid lutenists of his day. He composed more than 600 pieces for the…
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Ben Avison: Lovers’ Leap
Avison has a gentle voice and writes gentle tunes, which means there’s a danger his songs could be merely bland. We receive albums that are so unutterably dull that we can think of nothing to say about them (good or bad) but this is not one. Although on a couple of occasions he does veer…
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Bosphorus Trio: Piano Trios (Turkish)
We like a bit of Turkish in the Review Corner. We went to a wedding in Istanbul (as you do, a chum married a Muslim) and did much for Anglo-Turkish relations by dancing energetically to Turkey’s top wedding banger, from Ömer Faruk Bostan. The wedding was just under the bridge on the cover of this…
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JoJo: Good to Know
You know when you go on holiday and sit at a beachside bar, all chilled and happy, and listen to the feel-good RnB played over the radio? This is the sound of that music if it was good, the kind of album you’d bring home and play, and feel relaxed and happy by association.…
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Jon Anderson: 1000 Hands
The lad from Accrington hasn’t rushed this one: it’s an album he started 28 years ago. The title is a reference to the fact that numerous guest musicians perform, including Yes bandmates Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe, as well as the likes of Ian Anderson, Steve Morse and Chick Corea. Thankfully the album…
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Larkin Poe: Self Made Man
Larkin Poe’s last album was, to put it kindly, a little unmemorable so we were totally not expecting the opening track on this new one: a huge, bluesy Led Zep meets Black Keys riff that needs to be played loud, from the opening high hats onward. Remarkably, they keep the standard up, more impressive because…
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Hari’s World (book)
Hari is a green elephant and his mission in life is to never let children forget safety, doing this via books, characters and hand puppets (we’ve got a Hari himself). The aim appears to be for parents to read the books to their younger kids and use the puppet to reinforce the message while making…
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Sabaton: The Great War
This came out a while back but we forgot to review it (we bought it, so no PR company cares). While we remember World War I and the horror of the trenches in sombre fashion, Swedish metallers Sabaton evoke the glory of battle and the hot, red blood pumping in your veins; the lyrics don’t…
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Leonardo Balada, Clarinet Works, Caprichos Nos. 6and7 / Double Concerto
Barcelona native Leonardo Balada’s work has been labelled “Dalí’s surrealism in music”. (According to the sleeve notes, the great artist said of him: “I consider the young composer, Mr Leonardo Balada, to possess a remarkable talent!”). The release notes say this is an aspect of his work explored in this programme “through the technique…
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The Dears: Lovers Rock
Montréal quintet The Dears, led by husband and wife duo Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak and a floating assemblage of musicians, have been going for some years but never really cracked it (assuming that getting more famous and playing bigger venues is their definition of success). We bought an album when they were on the…
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