Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Music Week

Music: current count 30524 [30499] rated (+25), 293 [287] unrated (+6).

Despite the late posting, cutoff was Monday afternoon (including Monday's incoming mail). Count is low mostly because I took time off to shop for and cook Birthday Dinner last week. Went with French, mostly dishes from the South country, definitely nothing gourmet or nouvelle cuisine-ish. Made a terrific cassoulet with duck, an even better veal marengo, a slightly inferior boeuf bourguinon, my usual ratatouille, and a simply divine gratin dauphinois, as well as a few spreadables (chicken liver, duck rillettes, salmon rillettes, herbed cheese, tapenade), and a pretty yummy flourless chocolate cake. Took three solid days: one shopping, two cooking. More extensive notes in the notebook.

During that time, I listened to golden oldies, including all of Rhino's The R&B Box. Before (and slightly after) I got stuck in Will Friedland's The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums, playing things he liked that I hadn't heard, and other things by artists listed that I thought might be worthwhile (mostly Frank Sinatra's Capitols). When I first picked up the book at the library, I had heard 19 of 57 listed albums (33.3%). Now I've raised that to 51 (89.4%), unable to find albums by Bobby Troup (Sings Johnny Mercer), Lena Horne (At the Waldorf Astoria), Barb Jungr (Every Grain of Sand), Carmen McRae (As Time Goes By), Jimmy Scott (Lost and Found), and Jo Stafford (Sings American Folk Songs). I don't have time to figure out a grade spread, but safe to say we don't agree on very many of these.

One thing I like to do when I'm doing these dives into old music is to knock off U-rated albums in my database, but I had trouble locating (much less finding time for) unrated boxes of Sinatra and Mel Tormé. (I also have an unrated Bing Crosby box somewhere. In fact, I should spend some time with Crosby, but as it happened I had heard Friedland's two Crosby selections, so I skipped over him.) Maybe someday I'll write my own vocals list. It should be very different, as only 13 albums on Friedland's list did A- or better for me.

Streamnotes due October 31. Need to get cracking on that. I should also note that Robert Christgau's new essay collection, Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism 1967-2017 came out last week.

New records rated this week:

  • Danny Bacher: Still Happy (2018, Whaling City Sound): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop: Abundance (2013-16 [2018], Anzic): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Colin Edwin & Lorenzo Feliciati: Twinscapes Vol. 2: A Modern Approach to the Dancefloor (2018, RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Fat Tony: 10,000 Hours (2018, self-released): [bc]: B+(**)
  • The Marie Goudy 12tet featuring Jocelyn Barth: The Bitter Suite (2018, self-released): [cd]: B
  • Robyn: Honey (2018, Konichawa/Interscope): [r]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

  • Robyn: Robyn Is Here (1995 [1997], RCA): [r]: B+(*)
  • Robyn: My Truth (1999, RCA): [r]: B+(**)
  • Robyn: Body Talk, Pt. 3 (2010, Konichiwa, EP): [r]: B+(***)
  • Frank Sinatra: Songs for Young Lovers (1954, Capitol, EP): [r]: B+(***)
  • Frank Sinatra: Swing Easy! (1954, Capitol, EP): [r]: A
  • Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours (1954-55 [1955], Capitol): [r]: A-
  • Frank Sinatra: Close to You (1957, Capitol): [r]: B+(*)
  • Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me (1957 [1958], Capitol): [r]: B+(**)
  • Frank Sinatra: Come Dance With Me! (1958 [1959], Capitol): [r]: B+(***)
  • Frank Sinatra: No One Cares (1959, Capitol): [r]: B-
  • Frank Sinatra: Nice 'n' Easy (1960, Capitol): [r]: B+(***)
    • Frank Sinatra: Sinatra's Swingin' Session (1960 [1961], Capitol): [r]: A-
  • Mr. Tophat Feat. Robyn: Trust Me (2016 [2017], Smalltown Supersound, EP): [r]: B+(**)
  • Mel Tormé With the Marty Paich Dek-Tette: Lulu's Back in Town (1956, Bethlehem): [r]: B+(***)
  • Mel Tormé With the Marty Paich Dek-Tette: Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire (1956, Bethlehem): [r]: A-
  • Mel Tormé: Tormé (1958 [1959], Verve): [r]: B+(**)
  • Mel Tormé: I Dig the Duke/I Dig the Count (1961, Verve): [r]: B+(***)
  • Mel Tormé: Compact Jazz: Mel Tormé (1958-61 [1987], Verve): [r]: B+(***)
  • Mel Tormé: The Best of Mel Tormé [20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection] (1958-61 [2005], UME): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • François Carrier/Michel Lambert/John Edwards: Elements (FMR)
  • Annie Chen Octet: Secret Treetop (Shanghai Audio & Video): November 9
  • Coyote Poets of the Universe: Strange Lullaby (Square Shaped, 2CD)
  • Jake Ehrenreich: A Treasury of Jewish Christmas Songs (self-released)
  • Christopher Hollyday: Telepathy (Jazzbeat Productions)
  • Adam Hopkins: Crickets (Out of Your Head)
  • Jason Kao Hwang Burning Bridge: Blood (True Sound)
  • Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis: Una Noche Con Rubén Blades (Blue Engine)
  • Lawful Citizen: Internal Combustion (self-released): November 9
  • Carol Liebowitz/Birgitta Flick: Malita-Malika (Leo)
  • Jack Mouse Group: Intimate Adversary (Tall Grass): January 1
  • Jorge Nila: Tenor Time (Tribute to the Tenor Masters) (Ninjazz): January 4
  • Chris Pasin: Ornettiquette (Piano Arts)
  • The David Ullman Group: Sometime (Little Sky)
  • David Virelles: Igbó Alákorin (The Singer's Groove) Vol I & II (Pi)
  • Way North: Fearless and Kind (self-released): November 2
  • Kenny Werner: The Space (Pirouet): November 2

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