Pandapendu L'ete

The importance of Venice in the history of music needs no introduction. We know the reputation the doge's Chapel had acquired through the concerts and celebrations in the St Mark's basilica, and also the exceptions quality of the concerts that were given in the four charitable institutions of the city, known as 'ospedali', where young orphaned girls were given a musical education at state expense. Music lovers, whether from Venice or simply visitors, would eagerly make for the most reputed of these hospices, the Ospedale della Pietà, on Sunday mornings, after mass, and in lete afternoon, for vespers; religious and instrumental music were skilfully associated.

Eddy Louiss - Sentimental Feeling (1999) {Dreyfus Jazz FDM 36600-2}
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© 1999 Dreyfus Jazz | FDM 36600-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Hard Bop / Organ

French national Louiss is well known in Europe as a premier organist. It's unlikely that anyone has attempted what he's done here, save for Fleetwood Mac and the U.S.C. Trojan Marching Band on "Tusk." He combines his trio with a 40 member horn band he calls Fanfare. Perhaps bizarre for those used to the standard organ combo set-up, nonetheless it is a stylistically unique sound and approach.

Americana II, otherwise billed as AmerIIcana, is a sequel to Roch Voisine's album from the previous year, Americana (2008), a full-length collection of American country standards that was recorded in Nashville. Sung mostly in English with a few French-language versions appended as bonus tracks, Americana was a big hit in France, where it reached number three on the albums chart. Despite its success, it wasn't a great album. It features standards like "Ring of Fire" and "Crazy" that have been covered a million times over, and worse, the album was produced in a very plain country-pop style without any edge whatsoever. Tellingly, the album wasn't as well received in Voisine's native Canada, where listeners are more accustomed to country music.

Ann Murray is one of the leading mezzo-sopranos on the international scene. (She is not related to the famous Canadian popular music singer with a similar name.) The Irish-born singer was educated at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where she studied with Frederic Cox. She bases her career in London, where she sings regularly at the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With the former she has sung Charlotte, Rosina, Beatrice, Xerxes, and Ariodante.