{"id":4151,"date":"2012-10-26T00:17:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T07:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4151"},"modified":"2012-10-27T21:27:10","modified_gmt":"2012-10-28T04:27:10","slug":"recent-listening-in-brief-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/10\/recent-listening-in-brief-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening In Brief (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Rifftides <\/em>staff is making its way through a few of the CDs that have accumulated while we paid attention to some of the other matters alluded to in the subtitle of this enterprise. You will find a previous installment two posts below, where October 23, 2012, will live forever in the archive, or as long as there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an archive. At this juncture it is unclear when you will find the next in this series, but please keep coming back; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost always something or other. <\/p>\n

Tommy Cecil and Bill Mays<\/strong>, Side By Side: Sondheim Duos<\/em><\/a> (CD Baby) <\/p>\n

Stephen Sondheim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theater songs are replete with terrific melodies. They are also loaded with harmonic surprises that lend themselves to improvisation—if the players have the intellect and chops to take advantage of them. Bassist Cecil and pianist Mays know how to capitalize\"\"<\/a> on unusual turns in chord structures. Their keen ears and quick thinking serve them well in this chamber music encounter. Sondheim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s melody lines and chord changes in pieces like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Broadway Baby\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Comedy Tonight\u00e2\u20ac\u009d inspire Mays to now and then summon up Thelonious Monk; great fun, but it is Mays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 originality that wins the day. Cecil solos with imagination and a fat bass sound that is comfortable and consistent from the bottom of his range to the top. Highlights: Cecil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stewardship of the enchanting melody of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Not While I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Around,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 expressiveness in his solo on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every Day a Little Death,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d their refractive interaction on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Terell Stafford<\/strong>, This Side of Strayhorn<\/em><\/a> (MaxJazz)<\/p>\n

The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153side\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the title is the extensive cache of Billy Strayhorn compositions that did not achieve the prominence of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Train\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lush Life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Happily, the latter is included in the trumpeter and \"\"<\/a>flugelhornist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s superb quintet album, but many listeners may not be acquainted with the Strayhorn gems \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Multicolored Blue,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d “U.M.M.G,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Smada\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lana Turner.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stafford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing in those pieces and others by Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 and writing partner will be a stimulating introduction. On \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lana Turner,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d without imitating Louis Armstrong he conjures up Amstrong\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spirit. Although in his solos there are also traces of trumpeters from Cootie Williams to Harry Edison to Freddie Hubbard, Stafford confirms that at 45 he is an independent voice, one of the most important trumpeters of his generation. Tim Warfield is on soprano and tenor saxophones in the front line with Stafford. They have fine support from pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Dana Hall.<\/p>\n

Also Recommended<\/strong><\/iframe><\/div>\n

\n

Brad Mehldau<\/strong>, Highway Rider<\/em><\/a> (Nonesuch).<\/p>\n

I have been trying to catch up with Brad Mehldau recordings. Maybe\"\"<\/a> someday I will. This one has been out for a couple of years. It has the pianist with saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummers Jeff Ballard and Matt Chamberlain, bassist Larry Grenadier, and on several tracks an orchestra of strings and woodwinds. The playing is splendid throughout. The orchestral pieces have moments of disturbing beauty.<\/p>\n

Anne Sofie Von Otter, Brad Mehldau<\/strong>, Love Songs<\/em><\/a> (Na\u00c3\u00afve)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first disc contains a song cycle for which Mehldau wrote music to poems by Sara Teasdale, Philip Larkin, e.e. cummings and other poets. He accompanies Von Otter, a glorious Swedish mezzo-soprano. The second disc allows Mehldau to project his personality, which is a match for Von Otter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, in songs by a range of writers. Among them are L\u00c3\u00a9o Ferr\u00c3\u00a9, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Joni Mitchell and John Lennon.<\/p>\n

\n

Anne Sofie Von Otter<\/strong>, Speak Low: Songs By Kurt Weill<\/em><\/a> (Deutsche Grammophon)<\/p>\n

With an orchestra conducted by John Eliot Gardiner and piano\"\"<\/a> accompaniment by Bengt Forsberg on some pieces, Von Otter sings nine songs from Weill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s The Seven Deadly Sins<\/em> and others from Lady in the Dark<\/em>, Happy End<\/em> and One Touch of Venus<\/em>. She runs the gamut from formidable in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Zorn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (“Anger”) to pleadingly seductive in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Speak Low.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This is how you would hear Weill in the theater—if you were lucky. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rifftides staff is making its way through a few of the CDs that have accumulated while we paid attention to some of the other matters alluded to in the subtitle of this enterprise. You will find a previous installment two posts below, where October 23, 2012, will live forever in the archive, or as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}