風街ろまん Happy End

Taj Mahal - Sing A Happy Song: The Warner Bros. Recordings (1976-1978) {2CD Set, Rhino Handmade rel 2014}
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© 1976-1978, 2014 Rhino Handmade / Warner | 603497 774920
Blues / Folk Blues / Electric Country Blues / World / Contemporary Blues / Modern Acoustic Blues

Mahal's stint with Warner Bros. was not among his most artistically productive, documenting an era in which he become preoccupied with fusing his brand of blues with Caribbean rhythms and steel drums. This double-CD set contains the entirety of three 1976-1978 LPs for the label, in addition to some unreleased material. Those three LPs – 1976's Music Fuh Ya (Musica Para Tu), 1978's Evolution (The Most Recent), and the 1977 soundtrack to the little-known film Brothers – form most of what's on this compilation. There's a sameness to Mahal's easygoing blues-on-the-beach approach, and a sometimes irritating reliance on Caribbean steel drums for color, that wears down the listener's attention span in such a large dose.

Erroll Garner - The Most Happy Piano - The 1956 Studio Sessions (1956) {2CD Set, Columbia–American Jazz Classics 99021}
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© 1956, 2010 Columbia / American Jazz Classics | 99021
Jazz / Swing / Bop / Piano

This release contains the complete 1956 studio sessions by the Erroll Garner Trio! Includes the complete original Columbia albums The Most Happy Piano, The One and Only Erroll Garner, He's Here! He's Gone! He's Garner!, and Garner Encores in Hi-Fi. Most of this music appears here on CD for the first time ever, and in their original recording order. All of the other tunes from these albums (which contained some trio tracks from previous sessions) have been added here as bonus tracks.

The liner notes neglect to mention in what year this April 29th birthday performance was recorded, but given the orchestra's lineup and set choices, 1953 or 1954 is likely. Unlike the majority of recently-discovered live tapes, this dance at Portland's McElroy's Ballroom was professionally recorded (by the great engineer Wally Heider) and so the sound is astonishing. This five-CD series is easily the best representation we have of Ellington's early-'50s lineup in an intimate ballroom dance setting.

Kurt Weill - Speak Low: Songs & The Seven Deadly Sins - Anne Sofie von Otter (1994) {Deutsche Grammophon 439 894-2}
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© 1994 Deutsche Grammophon | 439 894-2
Classical / Early 20th Century / Vocalize / Vocal Music / Ballet Chanté

Kurt Weill's ballet with songs is one of this century's greatest theatrical works. It has all the wit and melodic appeal of The Threepenny Opera and social conscience of Mahagonny, but more warmth and musical sophistication than either. It's also all over with in about 40 minutes. Some critics believe the piece was intended as a sort of love poem to Weill's wife, Lotte Lenya; given the tenderness of much of the music, it's hard to disagree. Lenya herself recorded the piece in the 1950s (a recording recently reissued by Sony) and this very much newer performance is welcome particularly for Anne Sofie von Otter's highly intelligent and musical way with the text. The other songs, from both Weill's Berlin and Broadway periods, make the perfect filler.

TOY have announced details of their new album, Happy In The Hollow, which is released on Friday January 25th 2019. Their fourth album, and their first for Tough Love, is unquestionably their most direct and propulsive album to date.