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What are you listening to? Part III
- Thread starter S.B.G
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Oh, this is absolutely gorgeous; thank you for posting it and for reminding me to listen to it.
Beautiful.
Chris Thile and Billy Strings did a few duets on CBS Saturday this morning; fire!
Saturday Sessions: Billy Strings and Chris Thile perform "I've Been All Around This World"
Get ready for the Grammys with this special Grammy Award edition of Saturday Sessions! Billy Strings is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist, and Chris Thile is a master mandolin player and composer. Both are nominated for separate Grammy Awards and have long admired each other. Here...
www.cbsnews.com
Yup, two amazing pickers indeed !Chris Thile and Billy Strings did a few duets on CBS Saturday this morning; fire!
Saturday Sessions: Billy Strings and Chris Thile perform "I've Been All Around This World"
Get ready for the Grammys with this special Grammy Award edition of Saturday Sessions! Billy Strings is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist, and Chris Thile is a master mandolin player and composer. Both are nominated for separate Grammy Awards and have long admired each other. Here...www.cbsnews.com
Ok, so my Apple Music "Listen Now" Jazz tab included this interesting album by a jazz artist named Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah from New Orleans.
Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning
Interesting mix of West African influence as well as local New Orleans music.
Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning
Interesting mix of West African influence as well as local New Orleans music.
Every year, since I was a teen, I've watched the Grammy Awards. And for the last 15 years or so, I've always promised myself "this is the last time"; but, there was almost always a small slice of an artist that caught my ear, and I ended up being a fan (Seal, Take 6, some mexican guitarist, etc). So far tonight, I haven't seen any new artist that I'd be interested in (and right now there's a rapper in football pads painted with truckbed liner who's performance is so bleeped out, there's no music there).
But.
Joni Mitchell performed! Her intro mentioned something that really stuck: because of childhood polio, and her recent aneurysm, She's had to learn to talk, walk, sing, and play, three times in her lifetime. She sang a slower version of "Both Sides Now", with an all-star backup band (Jacob Collier played piano, very tastefully, until the end of the song; hey, he's still a kid). It's been years since I've had tears running down my cheeks, but despite the warts, this was beautiful. What an incredible artist.
But.
Joni Mitchell performed! Her intro mentioned something that really stuck: because of childhood polio, and her recent aneurysm, She's had to learn to talk, walk, sing, and play, three times in her lifetime. She sang a slower version of "Both Sides Now", with an all-star backup band (Jacob Collier played piano, very tastefully, until the end of the song; hey, he's still a kid). It's been years since I've had tears running down my cheeks, but despite the warts, this was beautiful. What an incredible artist.
Man, I hope I can find this on youtube...
Just found out Melanie passed away on Jan 23th.
I love many of her songs, Flower Power memories...
I love many of her songs, Flower Power memories...
What??? John Coltrane and Stan Getz on the same tune? With Oscar Peterson on piano? Yes, please!
Absolutely! The sopranos singing "Hosanna in excelsis" at about 1:20 into the Sanctus (at least in the recording I'm listening to) is simply stunning. I mean, I love the entire piece, but wow!
Why I like that particular part so much is the harmony. B flat minor-G flat major-D flat with A flat in the bass-B flat with A flat in the bass.
Also, the "Hostias, et preces tibi, domine" lyric is amazing, too (in the Offertory section).
Oh, YESSSSSS!!!! What a wonderful aural treat!
If you are exploring various interpretations of the Sanctus, might I also suggest that you take a listen to the spellbinding Sanctus by Karl Jenkins (from The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace).
Around a decade ago, I heard an astonishing and spine-tingling live performance of the Sanctus by Karl Jenkins from a very well regarded choir on Christmas Day morning while attending Christmas Mass with my brother - Henri IV of France (one of the most attractive monarchs that France ever produced), once remarked that "Paris is worth a Mass", well, that year, I thought that Christmas Day was worth a Mass, too.
And then, there is the astonishing Sanctus from the "Missa Luba (An African Mass)"; it was used in Lindsay Anderson's brilliant (1960s) movie "If".
And, of course, for a stunning (and superlative) Requiem, you cannot surpass the agonising brilliance of W A Mozart.
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I had posted this somewhere else and it belatedly occurred to me that it would fit in very nicely in this thread, so here goes....
So the other evening I went into YT to listen to a song by a new group (and promptly decided I didn't care for it), and then for some reason had the urge to listen to Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi," which of course I enjoyed, as always (I've got it in my iTunes collection, but since I was in YT anyway, that's why I listened to it there). The side bar listed an interview with Joni at the Library of Congress at around this time last year when she received the Library's Gershwin Prize. That interview was really cool and I enjoyed it thoroughly. During it, they mentioned a "concert" that had followed the actual ceremony of the presentation of the certificate and prize to Joni, so I looked for that on YT, too, and watched it as well. Delightful!
I had already earlier enjoyed videos of the wonderful concert at the Newport Jazz Festival that happened in 2023 and the Kennedy Center Honors celebration of Joni's music, too, but somehow the Gershwin Award at the Library of Congress celebration had slipped by me.
There, Joni sang two songs -- "Summertime" (Gershwin) and "The Circle Game" (one of her own now classic, most loved songs). Pretty amazing considering that at the time she was once again singing these two beloved songs, she was 80 years old! Her "pipes," as she laughingly refers to them now, aren't bad, especially given her age and her survival through several major health situations.
Actually, I always thought that when she was younger, at the top of her career game and singing in a soprano voice that she was overreaching a bit and should have dropped into a slightly lower register.... Over time and especially now, thanks to the natural aging process, she's definitely in a lower register, of course. The important part is that she's still able to carry the tune, stay in key, and maintain pitch.
What's interesting is that she has always considered herself an artist (painting, drawing, etc.) first and foremost, and also a writer (primarily poetry). The music? It just somehow came along and happened.... Another way of creatively expressing herself and sharing thoughts and concepts which, although personal to her, turned out to be quite relatable to many listeners.
It's really neat that there has been a lot of celebration of Joni over the past several years, with major music and various other organizations, fellow artists and fans definitely showing her their appreciation and love for her creativity and her incredible body of work over several decades, plus their admiration of her as a person. This has been really nice to see!
Actually, I suspect that I am not the only person around my age (just a few years younger than Joni) who, back then, early on in Joni's career and even later, too, didn't really pay much attention to her, what she was doing, and didn't take the time to appreciate what she was creating. I heard some of her songs, of course, but I was busy with my own life, marriage and career and didn't take the time to really listen to the songs, the lyrics, and to notice how really poetic and also musical, not to mention just how unique and distinctive they were.
For a long time I had gone along with the vague impression that she was a folk song composer/singer, which really was not the case at all. She was much more versatile than that. A bit of folk, a bit of pop, a smattering of jazz, a little classical thrown in there, too..... Extraordinary, really, how she blended and jumped in-and-out of various genres and made it all sound cohesive, interesting and captivating. Now, so many years and years later, I am finally really enjoying and truly appreciating the wonderful music that Joni Mitchell has brought us through the decades. Better late than never, eh?
In "Big Yellow Taxi," Joni wrote and sang, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone....." These tributes and awards being presented and honoring her over the past couple of years are definitely showing Joni and the rest of the world that yes, we do know what a treasure we've got and how much we appreciate this and we're letting her know it, too, right now, in celebrating her while she's still with us to hear this, enjoy this, and simply savor the experience..... She is loved and the world is letting her know it.
So the other evening I went into YT to listen to a song by a new group (and promptly decided I didn't care for it), and then for some reason had the urge to listen to Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi," which of course I enjoyed, as always (I've got it in my iTunes collection, but since I was in YT anyway, that's why I listened to it there). The side bar listed an interview with Joni at the Library of Congress at around this time last year when she received the Library's Gershwin Prize. That interview was really cool and I enjoyed it thoroughly. During it, they mentioned a "concert" that had followed the actual ceremony of the presentation of the certificate and prize to Joni, so I looked for that on YT, too, and watched it as well. Delightful!
I had already earlier enjoyed videos of the wonderful concert at the Newport Jazz Festival that happened in 2023 and the Kennedy Center Honors celebration of Joni's music, too, but somehow the Gershwin Award at the Library of Congress celebration had slipped by me.
There, Joni sang two songs -- "Summertime" (Gershwin) and "The Circle Game" (one of her own now classic, most loved songs). Pretty amazing considering that at the time she was once again singing these two beloved songs, she was 80 years old! Her "pipes," as she laughingly refers to them now, aren't bad, especially given her age and her survival through several major health situations.
Actually, I always thought that when she was younger, at the top of her career game and singing in a soprano voice that she was overreaching a bit and should have dropped into a slightly lower register.... Over time and especially now, thanks to the natural aging process, she's definitely in a lower register, of course. The important part is that she's still able to carry the tune, stay in key, and maintain pitch.
What's interesting is that she has always considered herself an artist (painting, drawing, etc.) first and foremost, and also a writer (primarily poetry). The music? It just somehow came along and happened.... Another way of creatively expressing herself and sharing thoughts and concepts which, although personal to her, turned out to be quite relatable to many listeners.
It's really neat that there has been a lot of celebration of Joni over the past several years, with major music and various other organizations, fellow artists and fans definitely showing her their appreciation and love for her creativity and her incredible body of work over several decades, plus their admiration of her as a person. This has been really nice to see!
Actually, I suspect that I am not the only person around my age (just a few years younger than Joni) who, back then, early on in Joni's career and even later, too, didn't really pay much attention to her, what she was doing, and didn't take the time to appreciate what she was creating. I heard some of her songs, of course, but I was busy with my own life, marriage and career and didn't take the time to really listen to the songs, the lyrics, and to notice how really poetic and also musical, not to mention just how unique and distinctive they were.
For a long time I had gone along with the vague impression that she was a folk song composer/singer, which really was not the case at all. She was much more versatile than that. A bit of folk, a bit of pop, a smattering of jazz, a little classical thrown in there, too..... Extraordinary, really, how she blended and jumped in-and-out of various genres and made it all sound cohesive, interesting and captivating. Now, so many years and years later, I am finally really enjoying and truly appreciating the wonderful music that Joni Mitchell has brought us through the decades. Better late than never, eh?
In "Big Yellow Taxi," Joni wrote and sang, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone....." These tributes and awards being presented and honoring her over the past couple of years are definitely showing Joni and the rest of the world that yes, we do know what a treasure we've got and how much we appreciate this and we're letting her know it, too, right now, in celebrating her while she's still with us to hear this, enjoy this, and simply savor the experience..... She is loved and the world is letting her know it.
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@Clix Pix : There's a DVD of this concert, in LA, where she's backed by the best Jazz musicians of the time; Metheny, Jaco, Michael Brecker, so many others, and I have the disc but right now I can't remember the title (it's past my bedtime). Hopefully someone else can identify the video concert.
This wasn't a "smattering" of jazz; she played mostly her own tunes, and her backup band just blew it out of the water, and she held her own beautifully.
I've been a huge fan of Joni my entire adult life, and greuled thru the Grammies a couple nights ago just to see her perform. She's in her 80's now, and because of polio and an aneurism, has needed to teach herself to walk, talk, play, and sing THREE times now, more than I could do. What a wonderful artist.
This wasn't a "smattering" of jazz; she played mostly her own tunes, and her backup band just blew it out of the water, and she held her own beautifully.
I've been a huge fan of Joni my entire adult life, and greuled thru the Grammies a couple nights ago just to see her perform. She's in her 80's now, and because of polio and an aneurism, has needed to teach herself to walk, talk, play, and sing THREE times now, more than I could do. What a wonderful artist.
Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock and several other stellar musicians perform "Summertime""
The album is by Herbie Hancock and is called "Gershwin's World."
The album is by Herbie Hancock and is called "Gershwin's World."
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