Another in an occasional series…
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Orchestral Works (ECM New Series)
Dennis Russell Davies conducts the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Lesser-known (at least to me) works recorded in 2002, including “Danses Concertantes” for chamber orchestra (1942), the ballet “Apollon Musagète” (1927) and three Igor-orchestrated madrigals by Gesualdo (1960).
Scott Reeves, Congressional Roll Call (Creative Jazz Records)
Homemade packaging, but the music sizzles. Reeves plays trombone and a fabulous-sounding thing called the alto flugelhorn. An amalgam of two sessions, from 1996 and 1999, the latter featuring James Williams (R.I.P.) on piano. (Kenny Werner plays on the earlier cuts.) Mostly original music by Reeves.
Jon De Lucia, Face No Face (Jonji Music)
One of several astonishing debut releases I’ve heard this year (Francisco Mela, Walter Smith III and Gilad Hekselman are among the others). De Lucia, alto/soprano saxophone, plays mostly originals with a young, hypercreative New York lineup: Nir Felder on guitar, Leo Genovese on piano, Garth Stevenson on bass and Ziv Ravitz on drums. Sumie Kaneko plays koto and shamisen on “Edo Komoriuta,” a traditional Japanese lullaby.
Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind (Music Maker)
I can’t say enough about this “African-American string band based in the Triangle area of North Carolina.” Here are three people who have yet to reach their 30s, playing unadulterated old-time hillbilly music. From the back cover: “Rooted in the traditional music of the foothills and mountains of North and South Carolina, this unique ensemble is made up of two Carolina natives, Rhiannon Giddens (b. 1977 – banjo, fiddle, voice) and Justin Robinson (b.1982 – fiddle, voice) as well as a songster from Arizona, Dom Flemons (b.1982 – guitar, banjo, jug, harmonica, snare & voice).”
Visit the site of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc., “dedicated to helping the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern musical traditions gain recognition and meet their day to day needs.”
Gil Evans, The Complete Pacific Jazz Sessions (Blue Note)
Two reissues combined: New Bottle, Old Wine (1958) and Great Jazz Standards (1959). This is classic Gil, featuring Johnny Coles, Cannonball Adderley, Curtis Fuller, Budd Johnson, Elvin Jones and countless others. In spirit and in packaging, the collection reminds me of another, more contemporary must-have: Don Grolnick’s The Complete Blue Note Recordings, which brought together Weaver of Dreams (1989) and Nighttown (1991).
Bill Carrothers, Shine Ball (Fresh Sound-New Talent)
Wildly inventive free improvisations for prepared piano (Carrothers), acoustic bass (Gordon Johnson) and drums (Dave King of the Bad Plus).
Charles Koechlin (1867-1950), Les Heures persanes op. 65 (Hänssler Classic)
A contemporary of Stravinsky’s, probably one of my top-five favorite composers. Heinz Holliger conducts the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart in a reading of “The Persian Hours,” composed for piano between 1913-1919, scored for orchestra in 1921. From Otfrid Nies’s liner notes: “Koechlin… did not live to hear a complete performance of either the piano or the full orchestral version….”
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