Album Picks
Westwood Song, by David Hicks
Mar 28, 2020
My music pick for this month is a piece of jazz music composed in 1975 but not
published until 1985 and never recorded in its entirety (20 plus minutes) until just this
year. You may have heard an 11 minute and 30 second version of the piece, recorded
(1979) by Roger Bobo with Roger Kellaway on piano, but this is the first recording of
the work in its entirety.
“Johnny Smith”, by Grant Stoner
Mar 26, 2020
My album pick for this month is the self-titled Johnny Smith, Verve 1967 vinyl, V6-8692. For those in the know, Johnny Smith is one of the great jazz guitarists.
“Telemann Tafelmusik”, by Grant Stoner
Mar 26, 2020
My album pick for this month is Telemann Tafelmusik, EMI, Harmonia Mundi, 1977 vinyl (Quadrophonic) LC 0761. Telemann is one of my favorite composers,
Qobuz Library Option, by Larry Deniston
Mar 26, 2020
Well, this month’s contribution isn’t really a music pick, but rather a fun way to listen to music with Qobuz (I don’t recall if other services have this function).
St. Lawrence String Quartet: Haydn, Op. 20, by Jim Edwards
Feb 28, 2020
My current favorite recording is a three-LP set released last year by the St. Lawrence String Quartet containing all six quartets in Haydn’s Op. 20.
Aldous Harding, “Designer”, by Stefan Zorn
Feb 28, 2020
Do you ever hear songs that just shake you to your core? Why does this happen to us? Is it the lyrics, the music, some memory that they bring up?
Sasha Cooke, “If You Love for Beauty”, by Kevin Olson
Feb 28, 2020
This classical recording on Yarlung Records of Sasha Cooke singing Leider is beautiful. Lovely. Captivating.
Now Leider isn’t for everyone. I sometimes find it too stylized.
Prokofiev, “Lieutenant Suite” by Bernie Heeder
Feb 24, 2020
I found this vinyl recording in a used bin for $6.00 marked Mint. It must have been an audio file recording, Japanese/German project. It is a Deutsche Grammophon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado –
Steve Vai, “Passion and Warfare”, by Grant Stoner
Feb 21, 2020
My album pic for this month is Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare. 1990 Relativity Records Vinyl. Guitar fans take note, this is one of the greatest guitar albums ever.
Nightfall, “Little Big Town”, by David Hicks
Jan 31, 2020
I find Little Big Town to be kind of a folksy name for a musical group. Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook formed the quartet twenty years ago and in equitable fashion they all take turns singing lead vocal at various times on various tracks and in addition they always harmonize well together.