Emilia 2020

Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916.

A decade in the making, this is the fifth album and first live publication for Portland-based singer-songwriter, Emilia Dahlin titled, “…Green Things To Grow”. Dahlin, also an activist who’s interested in how to use music to build healthier communities, transformed an industrial warehouse on Portland’s Fore River waterfront into a pop-up venue for a one-evening community event last fall. Handcrafted stages and walls embraced listeners sitting at long, candle-lit tables and the audience shared a hot middle-eastern meal made by a New Neighbor together before the show. The audience and musicians made music as a whole and two local Non-profits were invited to speak about their missions. The album captures the vital connected feel of this special night.

Six days into the European leg of the LTIA tour Crimson are hitting their stride but on this murky audience recording John Wetton’s sore throat is having an impact and you can hear him straining on Easy Money in particular. He manages to rest it up for a while in the following improvisation, turning in some of his trademark monster bass work.
The improv that comes out of a delightful reading of Book Of Saturdays, still being played with accompanying tambourine at that point, continues the reflective mood with some charming interplay between bass and Fripp’s luscious chords setting up space for a gorgeous violin solo from Cross.