Tucson's musical savant Howe Gelb has released an album of mostly instrumental keyboard music, Ogle Some Piano. It's a curious disc, even by Gelb's eccentric standards – nineteen tracks of piano meanderings in a variety of styles: jazz, rock, pop, tin pan alley and experimental avant-garde weirdness. And the titles seem a parody of art-rock pretentiousness: "Spangle Bib of Radiant Value," "Hammered and Hampered, We Then Took the Deeds Down by the Dozen," and "Someday They Will Have a Name for What Ails You as Opposed to Being Saddled with Speck Elation" are representative. The best tracks include Joey Burns on double bass and John Convertino on drums, making these tracks more or less Giant Sand pieces. There are also contributions from the usual suspects, including Nick Luca and Craig Schumacher of Wave Lab studios in Tucson, and the late great Rainer Ptacek as well.
Occasionally out of the blue skies comes an album that can truly be anointed as a progression , beyond the valleys of symphonic, through the dense forests of experimental and over the mighty Italian RPI peaks. Celebrated multi-instrumentalist and prolific maestro bassist Fabio Zuffanti (having a glorious recent past with the legendary Finisterre , the heady La Maschera di Cera, the pastoral Histsonaten, folky Aries, experimental Zaal and La Zona, to name just a few) has outdone himself with this supremely evocative and original offering. Firstly beyond the vivid green artwork that glorifies the music even more, the amalgamation of keyboardists Agostino Macor (the next Wakeman/Emerson in my opinion) and Boris Valle has only managed to make us prog fans fantasize even further over ivory pleasures, with colossal use of piano and mellotron throughout the wheezing, highly cinematographic arrangements. ..
Ultra-Lounge is a series of compilation CDs released by Capitol Records, featuring music predominantly from the 1950s and 1960s in genres such as exotica, space age pop, mambo, television theme songs, and lounge. Many of the volumes have since been made available for purchase via digital download. Each CD featured detailed liner notes along with two related drink recipes, tips on how to serve drinks to guests, and often photographs of sculptures made out of bartender items and other objects.
The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune…
There is a strange but beautiful irony that occurs when an artist writes a great song upon the death of a loved one. Doubtful that Brian Culbertson was aiming for one of Somethin' Bout Love's (Atlantic) most emotionally rich tunes when he wrote the powerful gospel of "I'm Gonna Miss You" for his late manager Howard Lowe II, but he and co-writer/vocalist Lori Perry achieve just that. Unlike similar tunes in American culture that come across as generic, the poignant lyrics are specific to the artist-manager relationship, adding to the tune's uniqueness.
His movie star good looks, his brilliant natural gift for the trumpet and his seductive vocals turned Chet Baker very quickly into a jazz cult icon in the '50s. The 10 tracks here featuring his vocals as well as trumpet date from that period. His soloing is clear toned and spacey, with long lyrical lines that twist the melodies. His almost conversational tenor vocals are disarmingly simple and stick closely to the bare bones of the melody with just the subtlest variation. All the tracks here are classics and include his trademark "My Funny Valentine," the lovely "I Fall in Love Too Easily," a quietly swinging "My Buddy" and a haunted "You Don't Know What Love Is."