Detail 2001

In the summer of 1956, the famed Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell arranged for Dizzy Gillespie to embark on a worldwide goodwill-ambassador tour sponsored by the State Department. Gillespie and an all-star big band featuring trumpeter Quincy Jones, the late trombonist Melba Liston, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson performed in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil to frenzied, beret-wearing fans. Recordings were made but they weren't commercially available and were played only for a select group of musicians before Gillespie's death in 1993. Now the sides have been released, showcasing Dizzy at his bebopping best.

Plaid are the London electronic music duo Andy Turner & Ed Handley. They are former members of The Black Dog and used many other names (such as Atypic and Balil) before settling on Plaid. They have collaborated with female singers Mara Carlyle, Nicolette and Björk, and have released records on the labels Clear, Warner, Black Dog Productions, and Warp Records.
Plaid - Double Figure (2001). Inspired to get back to basics after the release of the Trainer retrospective, Plaid returned in 2001 with an LP of tough machine music, closer to the melancholy beatbox style of their mid-'90s singles than the rangy, dynamic sound of 1999's Rest Proof Clockwork. Except for the cycling guitar-like lines on the opener "Eyen," there aren't many traditional-sounding instruments on Double Figure…

This premiere recording of six Vivaldi concertos is full of surprises. The works are entirely unknown because, unlike his other compositions, they were written not for publication but for substantial private commissions from wealthy patrons. Dating from his most mature years, they exhibit a style very different from his earlier concertos, which often sound almost mass-produced. Though they are still cast in the customary three movements and are full of the usual sequences, they are more unpredictable, dramatic, and daring; adventurous in form, harmony, and texture; with sudden contrasts of mood, character, and expression. The slow movements are meltingly beautiful, but no two concertos are alike, either in detail or overall effect. Some movements hardly seem to hang together; they appear to consist of collages of motives, punctuated by bursts of virtuosity.

Philippe Herreweghe directs these Schumann concertos with severity and urgency, with an impact that’s particularly strong in the opening movement of the A minor piano concerto. The soloist is Andreas Staier, who plays a mid-19th century J.B. Streicher instrument. But it’s not just the use of period instruments (this is certainly the kind of piano Schumann would have known) that proves so fascinating here; rather, it’s the minutely detailed way in which soloist and conductor interact during this performance. Note, for instance, how astutely Herreweghe’s wind players articulate the sorrowful first subject group after the soloist’s opening salvo, a passage that sets the tone for all that follows.

Since you can find plenty of excellent single-disc harpsichord Goldbergs with all repeats, why even consider this recording? For the simple reason that Kipnis offers one of the most technically accomplished, individualistic, and deeply musical recordings of the Goldberg Variations ever made–that’s why! You’ll have to search far and wide to find Goldbergs so brilliantly thought out yet seemingly spontaneous, so stylistically sound yet utterly unacademic, so unpredictable in detail yet profoundly true to the composer’s spirit.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt war der vielleicht wichtigste Pionier einer Musikauffassung, die hinter der spätromantischen Sichtweise auf die Passionen Johann Sebastian Bachs das originale Klangbild suchte. Dabei ging es ihm keineswegs um Authentizität als Selbstzweck, sondern vielmehr um ein Ausloten der Bach'schen Klangfarben und Ausdrucksmittel, die im Brahms- und Bruckner-Sound der großen Oratorienchöre und Symphonieorchester verloren gegangen waren. Inzwischen ist diese Auffassung etabliert und Harnoncourt weit ins romantische Repertoire eingedrungen. Die Zeit reinen Bach- und Mozart-Spezialistentums scheint vorbei. Mit der Neueinspielung der Matthäus-Passion begibt sich der Dirigent daher wieder zurück zu seinen Wurzeln.

The billed recital was the Bach-Busoni transcription, the Beethoven Sonata Op 111 and the Chopin Scherzos, and the rest – five items on a ‘bonus’ CD, finishing with Balakirev’s Islamey – amount nearly to a half-programme on top. The recording comes with buckets of applause, linking every item, and by the end of Islamey the audience is in a state of near frenzy (and the piano beginning to complain).

Harry Belafonte once wrote of blues singer Odetta: "Few possess the fine understanding of a song's meaning which transforms it from a melody into a dramatic experience." Pete Seeger heard this collection and declared, "I've been waiting for this album for 50 years!" In continuing her tribute to the classics, Odetta turns her legendary vocal talents to the songs of Huddie Ledbetter, better known to blues history as "Leadbelly." Like Odetta herself, Leadbelly was far more than just a blues singer. His repertoire ranged from children's songs to folk ballads, protest songs to work songs, gospel to jazz. Odetta tackles a handful of his classics in her own distinctive style, with moods ranging from melancholy and emotional (the mandolin-enhanced, saloon-flavored "Mother's Blues") to spirited and humorous ("When I Was a Cowboy")…

Whether or not this album's title refers to bluesman Robert Johnson's classic song of the same name, Katatonia is still singing the blues in their own way here, even if their style has nothing else to do with the blues as a genre. Continuing in the vein of their previous release, Tonight's Decision, this is depressing, heavy alternative rock with a notable Cure influence - Katatonia is not really playing metal anymore here. The production has been sharpened on this album compared to its predecessor, accentuating the quiet verse/loud chorus dynamics the band so often uses, making the loud parts hit harder and the softer parts come through with more detail. Meanwhile, frontman Jonas Renske has continued to grow as a vocalist, showing greater range while also maintaining that worried, defeated delivery…