The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

The arrangements for the Tamba 4 tracks "O Morro" and "Consolacao" originate from 5 na Bossa, a live concert from 1965 featuring Nara Leao, Edu Lobo and Tamba Trio (Luiz Eca, Bebeto, Ohana), recorded in Sao Paulo at the Teatro Paramount. I would guess the studio versions originated around this time frame, perhaps never released until We and the Sea (where guitar was overdubbed at a later time).

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The live tracks are also found on the two-CD Tamba Trio Classics anthology.

Teatro Paramount (currently named Teatro Renault):

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I like this one! A mid 70s album that goes back to the three-part vocal harmonies. Confusing since it's yet another album named Tamba Trio.
 
Well, this is interesting! I discovered this on the above Tamba Trio album:



Compare to this one (one of my favorites from Quintero's album):

 
Probably missed it since I don't listen to Sergio past Brasil '66. :D
 
Pop turned country singer Mac McAnally "Nothing But The Truth" (Geffen) from April of 1983 which has the song "Minimum Love" that went to # 41 (missing the Top 40) on Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Mac has more than 7 or 8 or more country awards!! A great sounding album which I downloaded on itunes for only $ 5.99!!
 
Probably missed it since I don't listen to Sergio past Brasil '66.
I like Sergio's version a lot better... seems like he really had the knack for adding just the right "pop" touches to Brasilian songs.
 
I like Sergio's version a lot better... seems like he really had the knack for adding just the right "pop" touches to Brasilian songs.
That's probably why I don't care for his post-A&M records. :laugh: But hey, to each their own! :thumbsup: I still like his pre-Brasil '66 recordings the best, and Brasil '65 to me is the high water mark.

Quintero's version is really nice though, and it's a lot more recent recording. The entire album Percussion Maddness is good since it's a mix of South American styles, and it was nice hearing a Brazilian song among montuno, mambo, salsa, Afro-Cuban, etc..
 
I like just about everything Of Sergio's until Bom tempo sadly Sergio was just getting too Hip Hop for my tastes there were a few good songs on timeless and Encanto had yet several more songs closer to the form of music I always expected from Sergio but sadly By the time Bom Tempo was released i finally just gave up hope of ever hearing anything resembling modern brazillian music as i understood it to be while i understand his desire to keep up with the times In my opinion he just went too much into hip hop and I didn't feel like it was really Him but to each their own At Least with Herb he managed to keep up with the times while Retaining his classic unique signature sound albeit with a few slight twists. I hope nobody is offended by my comments here but yet I remain hopeful that Sergio will make a new album that has more of his Pre brasil 66 Jazz sensibilities and a little dash of Brasil 66 but without the Hip hop sounds I heard so much hip hop when I was younger I got tired of it very quickly.
 
I hope nobody is offended by my comments here but yet I remain hopeful that Sergio will make a new album that has more of his Pre brasil 66 Jazz sensibilities and a little dash of Brasil 66 but without the Hip hop sounds I heard so much hip hop when I was younger I got tired of it very quickly.
I feel the same way. But I think his jazz/Bossa ship sailed decades ago, unfortunately. By the time of Brasil '65, I feel he had honed his unique piano sound to the point that his style was easily recognizable. Thankfully a lot of that carried over to the first three Brasil '66 albums. The next couple of Brasil '66 albums took on more of an MPB style as opposed to Bossa Nova, and his piano style was still in the forefront. I miss those days, and that style.
 
I haven't played this one in years:

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I am going to pay tribute to Lyle Mays all this evening, as he passed away on Monday from a recurring illness. I had wondered why he hadn't recorded or made appearances in recent years.

All the videos of "September Fifteenth" (with Pat Metheny) have been pulled from YouTube, but I'll leave you with "Close To Home" from his first solo recording, Lyle Mays. Which seems fitting.



This is what I have on tap. Although I'll skip the Eberhard Weber album and the Piano Jazz broadcast.

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So yeah, first thing in the morning I hit Qobuz and streamed the new Pat Metheny album released today, From This Place. I've already been streaming the pre-release tracks, but today the rest of the album (six remaining tracks out of ten) is available. This is his first full studio release since 2014's Kin (<-->), and the live-in-studio The Unity Sessions from 2016. Which is an uncommonly long stretch between recordings, as he was releasing at least one record per year.

I have to say that Pat's bassist here, Linda May Han Oh, is incredible--she really stands out at the end of "Wide and Far," and has an incredible technique I've never heard on any of Pat's albums in the past. She and Gwilym Simcock (piano) are two young musicians who were part of his Side Eye band, the band being a project where he works with up and coming new artists who were influenced by his music. Gwilym is also a fine player.

As I mentioned earlier, this album has an orchestral backing to it, featuring The Hollywood Studio Symphony (conducted by Joel McNeely). Pat went with this unit since he wanted that cinematic feel to the orchestral parts, and felt this particular unit provided it best. String arrangements on alternating tracks are by Gil Goldsten and Alan Broadbent, with Pat contributing one of his own (on "Everything Explained").

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I'll have more impressions once I get the formal review written. One neat hack I have with Roon Player is that I can hide tracks--I've had to do this with the title track, "From This Place," which 1) is a vocal track that I don't care to hear on an instrumental album, and especially 2) due to its political content. (It's not blatant but still, knowing the catalyst behind it, it's nothing I care to hear. There's enough butthurt out there today and I'm not party to any of it.)
 
Love the title song and I have his best of " a backward glance" it's a great starting point for anyone new to Michael Franks
 
In later years, I have felt that a low point in Michael Franks' recordings was what I refer to as his "electric boogaloo" period.

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Good songwriting as always, but the production on The Camera Never Lies? Ugh. Something like "I Surrender" is an assault on the ears, others are very dated with all the synths and drum machines, while other tunes like "Face To Face" try too hard to be Big Hit Records, which I would attribute to pressure from the record company. The better tunes are on side two, like the catchy "Island Life" and the moody ballad "Now You're In My Dreams." These two tunes, "Face To Face" and the title track are the only ones I can really listen to here. "Doctor Sax" is a cool idea but is, like some of the others, ruined by overly-busy production.

This was also the last album where the album covers stopped with the "porn star" vibe that started with Passion Fruit which are far from his true character.

Skin Dive was also a bit "electric boogaloo" and "hit-ready" but I've always found its production at least to be easier on the ears, and I played that one quite a bit. "Let Me Count The Ways" and "Secret's Safe With Me" actually did get a lot of airplay on our local jazz station, and the others have a nice flow to them.

Thankfully he turned the corner with Blue Pacific and went back to his earlier style, with electronics dialed back and used only for flavoring. His later records have had some of the best production across all his albums, as he works with those producers who can frame his unique music properly.
 
Over the weekend I picked up the 1980 LP Abba Super Trouper on the Atlantic label. Found it at a content sale for next-to-nothing. I’m not sure whether I like the ABBA originals or the the versions done by the ABBA-tribute group The Real ABBA Gold.
 
One tune I like from Oregon's Crossing is called "The Glide," penned by co-founder Ralph Towner. This original arrangement featured the melody on a synthesizer, followed by Paul McCandless on soprano sax and accompanied by various percussion including the tabla.

Their last album (perhaps their final album?), Lantern, features a straight-up jazz/swing version of the same tune. It's amazing how easily it adapted.

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Oregon, as of a couple of years ago, has ceased touring. The original members are approaching octogenarian status. 🙂 In addition, co-founding member Glen Moore left the group, and was replace by Paolino Dalla Porta (second from right). Even if this is their last recording, they've had a great run of it, having roots in the Paul Winter Consort back in the late 60s. (The co-founders split off from Winter's group to form Oregon.)
 
Final thoughts on the Metheny album above--it's a fine recording in some instances but in others, I have a distinct feeling of deja vu. I hear echoes of past tunes here. "Sixty Six" kind of riffs on the ideas of one of his most recognizable tunes, "Last Train Home." Others are reminiscent of tunes from the Secret Story album. The "butthurt political statement" tune is one I eliminated in Roon so I would never have to listen to it; it is the only tune in his entire catalog that features vocals (beyond the wordless vocalizings of past associates like Pedro Aznar, Nana Vasconcelos, etc.). The idea of that one tune really ended up souring me on the entire album.
 
On a positive note I finally tracked down a like new condition CD of Classical Guitarist Christopher parkening's 1972 album "Parkening plays Bach the CD version has added bonus tracks like many albums I wore the vinyl out and I couldn't find it on CD until now and I immediately ripped it into my computer and I'm waiting for delivery on Andres Segovia's more rare album Recital intimo( an import reissue of a 1975 recording originally released by RCA titled "The intimate Guitar") which I also had on vinyl and wore out I always enjoy some classical guitar especially in times like now
 
Those sound good--I did see a CD called A Bach Celebration on Qobuz but I would guess it is probably a different recording. There are 13 of his albums listed, as opposed to over 100 by Andres Segovia (most of which look like re-compilations). I may need to tap into these soon. :wink:

I've mainly been in a Debussy or Bartok mode in terms of classical music lately, as I've mentioned before. I see that my favorite version of Nocturnes is posted on YouTube. It is in three movements, but the first is perhaps my favorite of the three. "Nuages" ("clouds") is one of those works that floats along effortlessly--it is aptly titled. "Fetes" (roughly "festivities", as in holiday/celebration) is light and lively. "Sirenes" ("mermaids") is otherworldly. It's like these Nocturnes cover sky, land and sea. Bernard Haitink's treatment of this work (with the Concertgebouw Orchestra) is by far my favorite--he has just the right touch for it, and I understand he is quite fond of Debussy's works.



For Bartok, my go-to version of Concerto for Orchestra was recorded by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra...back in 1955, in stereo. Significant because there were no stereo LPs at the time, so the stereo version of this record (LSC-1934) was not released by RCA until 1958. RCA released it in stereo on a 2-track reel (which I would assume is a collector's item now--the only sale on Discogs was $140), and on monaural LP (LM-1934) in 1956. 1958 was also the recording date of a second Bartok album by Reiner, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Both are in this video (they were combined onto a single SACD):



You would not think, from the sound, that Concerto for Orchestra was recorded 65 (!) years ago!

The second movement of the Concerto for Orchestra (at the 10:00 mark) is my favorite. Bartok composed a concerto for the entire orchestra (as opposed to a single instrument) as he wanted to provide a vehicle to highlight individual instruments or sections of an orchestra. The second movement is the most clever. Pairs of instruments are featured, each pair using a different interval on the musical scale. The opening bassoons are a minor sixth apart. Oboes play their section a minor third apart. Flutes play theirs a fifth apart. And so on.

For the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (the second of three works on this SACD, beginning at 37:20), my favorite movement (starting just after the 44:00 mark) reminds me of a Warner Brothers cartoon. 😁 (I could have imagined Chuck Jones and team concocting some sort of "Wabbit Season" episode from this one.)
 
Another classical album I like is surprisingly by Mannheim steamroller keyboardist Jackson Berkey an album called "Ballade" recorded in the early 80s I downloaded the album sometime back and the title track is Debussy's Ballade and I loved it he did one earlier called " Sunken catherdral" which remains out of print although I have a song or two from it on sampler cd comps Jackson Berkey was a classically trained pianist and his solo albums are primarily classical piano and in my opinion well worth a listen.
 
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