DMT34
The whole album Player, Piano is very nice. Most of it has no pulsing rhtyhm like the above. The music has a dose of melancholy, but I happen to love that.
DMT33
Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone – Link to album on Apple Music.
What a great way to end the year! Listen to this music, created by a group of hus in a hall somewhere in Rome. This is what we can accomplish. We can create beauty, we can work together for a common goal. Morricone orchestrated, conducted, and produced the album. The orchestra is the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta (Wikipedia), which Morricone uses a lot. Plus Yo-Yo Ma, of course.
DMT32
I am listening to it as I am writing this. Sakamoto loves Bach and it shows in this piece.
You might also checkout the album Playing the Piano 12122020. It is lovely. If you are unfamiliar with Sakamoto you will find hat there is lots to discover.
Over the past couple of days, Ryuichi Sakamoto (pictured), one of Japan’s greatest contemporary musicians, has made a pre-recorded solo piano “concert” available to stream in what might be one of his last public appearances. Sakamoto, who is being treated for stage-4 cancer, has had a remarkable career that spans 1970s synth pop and film scores, and he occupies a unique space in Japan’s cultural landscape.
and
“I hope to be able to make music until my last moment, like Bach and Debussy, whom I love,” he recently wrote.
What a legend.
Take a look at the wonderful documentary Coda from 2017. You can watch the trailer here. I bought the DVD and watched it several times.
And so much music for films: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence was the first one I experienced. Sakamoto was asked to act in the movie and promptly told the director he would only act IF he also got to do the music. Nice! Then came Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. Again, he was engaged as an actor. After composing a few pieces for the movie, during the filming, he eventually scored most of the movie. Then there are Almodovar’s High Heels, The Revenant, and so many more – IMDB lists over a hundred.
Found this video of a performance by Sakamoto and Alvo Nota in the Glass House, the famous building by Philip Johnson, located in New Canaan, Connecticut.
DMT31: Sinatra Day
I always know how old Sinatra is on his birthday because my dad was born two days earlier in the same year, 107 years ago. This is my favorite album of Frank Sinatra’s many records and was recorded 55 years ago, in 1967. It doesn’t really have a title and is simply called Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. Sinatra said of his singing that if he wanted to sing any softer he would have had to lay down. I mentioned the album before – link – and am playing it again right now.
Yesterday we spoke of Bittersweet and Jobim is a master of that feeling: saudade, sweet pain, longing…
What’s the use of the waves that will break
in the cool of the evening
what’s the evening without you
it’s nothing.
The brilliant arrangements by Claus Ogerman are sweet but I find that they are never saccharine. Such sweet blues. Read more about the album on Wikipedia. The album was recorded, in just two days, on 30. Jan and 1. Feb of 1967. Enjoy!
DMT30
Jon turned me on to this album years ago. I listened to it for the umpteenth time on the plane last night. Cinelu played most of the instruments. Drums are life.
DMT29
Check out the Bandcamp page of Miguel Alvarez. I discovered him this past week. Spanish upright bass player fusing Flamenco and Jazz. Very nice work.
