Common Belong

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most prolific composers in the history of music – also literally, with his twenty children, but mainly in terms of his exceptional output. In spite of this, those of his works which appeared in print during his lifetime are less numerous than the proverbial tip of the iceberg. This does not imply that his music did not circulate: indeed, at his time, the favourite means of dissemination of musical works was through manuscript copies. Printing was reserved for works which were considered as particularly meaningful, and which represented the composer at his or her best; for works which had, therefore, also a “promotional” dimension, and which could foster the composer’s career by obtaining him or her fame, reputation, and possibly also a prestigious post.

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most prolific composers in the history of music – also literally, with his twenty children, but mainly in terms of his exceptional output. In spite of this, those of his works which appeared in print during his lifetime are less numerous than the proverbial tip of the iceberg. This does not imply that his music did not circulate: indeed, at his time, the favourite means of dissemination of musical works was through manuscript copies. Printing was reserved for works which were considered as particularly meaningful, and which represented the composer at his or her best; for works which had, therefore, also a “promotional” dimension, and which could foster the composer’s career by obtaining him or her fame, reputation, and possibly also a prestigious post.

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The Funky Knuckles belong to a new generation of improvising musicians, challenging the constraints of genre, but never losing sight of the groove. This is not your typical funk band… or jam band… or jazz band. The Funky Knuckles are something different entirely. This is the improvised music of the new generation, and it is continuously being re-defined, even as it is performed. In recent years, Texas has gained a reputation as a hotbed for groove-oriented improvised music, and The Funky Knuckles have been a part of that movement for over a decade. It is a common occurrence to hear world-class musicians sitting in at their weekly residency in Dallas, and band members can be seen as sidemen with Janet Jackson, Stanley Clarke, and Larry Carlton. The Funky Knuckles are releasing their fourth album, “Delicious” in November 2019 on Ropeadope, and will be touring domestically around the release.

The twenty sonatas on this recording show Handel writing for the professional musicians of his London opera orchestra; they demand considerable skill and stamina both from the soloist and the continuo. Prominent bass parts give the sonatas a contrapuntal strength and vitality, and Handel keeps the elements of display and purely musical argument in admirable balance in these works. For this reason, they are among the most attractive Baroque solo sonatas and deserve their lasting popularity.

New Jersey-born blues-rocker Walter Trout spent decades as an ace sideman, playing guitar behind the likes of John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, and Joe Tex. In 1981, he was also tapped to replace the late Bob Hite in Canned Heat, remaining with the venerable group through the middle of the decade. While filling in one night for an ailing John Mayall, Trout (also a Bluesbreaker for some five years) was spotted by a Danish concert promoter who agreed to finance a solo tour. Assembling his own backing band, he released his debut LP in 1990, Life in the Jungle, trailed a year later by Prisoner of a Dream. Albums including 1992's Live (No More Fish Jokes), 1994's Tellin' Stories, and 1997's Positively Beale Street followed.

Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (1933-2010) thought two sentences in his search for the answer to the question what music is to be closest to capturing the root of the problem the words of Zbigniew Herbert: art is a transmission of important spiritual experiences and the thought of Pope John XXIII: it is a common thing, but the way is uncommon. The impact of both definitions on the composers oeuvre is particularly evident in the songs he had been writing since his first compositional attempts (falling in the mid-1950s) until 1996. Although Goreckis songs do not belong to the composers dominant expressive genres, he would return to them on a regular basis, considering them an important way of articulating the deepest, most personal, intimate experiences. This album, thanks to excellent soloists highly appreciated around the world, not only allows us to commune with the art of the outstanding Polish composer, but is also a great opportunity to hear the most representative Polish vocalists of several generations.