Sunday Music Muse Day - John Stowell - Michael Zilber, Duke Ellington revisited.

This Sunday Music Muse Day actually finds it feeling like Spring.  I got to go shopping with just a light sweatshirt on. At Bop Shop Records, I picked up John Stowell / Michael Zilber Quartet Basement Blues. It's a tasty and energetic outing with Stowell on guitar and Zilber on saxophones and piano.  This 2016 session is their third recording together.  Eight out of the ten tunes are originals  by members of the band, with a tune by Bill Evens (Very Early) and Jerome Kern ( Nobody Else But Me).  It a nice way to greet the Spring.

By second second selection has me revisiting some Duke Ellington selections, the result of a minor discovery.  I had, what thought was, an album cover of the Duke Ellington Piano in the Foreground mounted in a simple glass frame.  The cover features Sam Woodyard, my father, on the cover. This was given to me in Paris by a friend of Sam's.  I wanted to reframe this, but I discovered  it a was a color xerox of the cover, and I would have damaged it if I removed it from the backing.  But, I wanted to have a framed version of the cover to mount on the wall.  So, I looked for a copy at Bop Shop Records.  Owner Tom Kohn and the staff were very helpful, even letting me search their basement stash of Ellington stock. after not finding the Piano in the Foreground album in main floor stacks.  I did found a copy, and picked up another Storyville Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, with Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra, because it had a band photo with Sam in it.  Now I have to find good spot to mount both covers. 

Seems like Spring finally here to stay. Try to enjoy it to the fullest.  Good tunes always helps.

Sunday Music Muse Day - John Scofield, Dave Liebman and John Stowell, Warped Sky: Stray Cloud - After a Gentle Rain

Welcome to another Sunday Music Muse Day. First up, John Scofield Country for Old Men. Scofield is one of my favorite guitarist best known for his modern playing style, post-bop to fusion.  Scofield's playing sometime seem like its going out of control, but he reins it in to the delight of listeners and critics.  This outing is sort of concept project which finds him playing "a sampler of Country Music, old and new.." he states in the liner notes, " I wanted to play these songs because I've always liked country music from a far.  I knew that if we picked the right songs could turn them into jazz."  I'm not a country fan but I did recognize several of the tunes, like classics "I'm an Old Cowhand" and "Red River Valley".  (We had to sing those in my elementary school)  He definitely give these a solid jazz "turn".  It a fun CD.

My next selection is also a concept project of sorts, Dave Liebman and John Stowell The Music of Sidney Bechet,  This duo's outing find saxophonist, Liebman, and guitarist, Stowell, exploring the music of Sidney Bechet, the New Orlean's born jazz pioneer of the 1920s. Summertime is the tune I'm most familiar with on this CD, but look forward to discovering the rest of the tunes.

My last selection is another installment of my Warped Sky: Stray Cloud project, a combination of songs from old tapes and new renditions of original tunes written and played by me in the 1980s. Today's tune is After a Gentle Rain.  It's a samba inspired by the Luiz Bonfa tune, The Gentle Rain. I used to play Gentle Rain with my buddy Peter Grosett. This video has my new version of my After a Gentle Rain played against a Band in a Box backing track, and Spoiler Alert: my vocals (it sounded much better in the shower). Also included is my original instrumental track made in 1982, on a nylon string guitar and an overdubbed lead. 

Again, It's fun working on these old tunes. I not aiming for perfection of musical execution, just "close enough for jazz" as they say, to ease my creative clutter. Enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day - MIles Davis, Gary Burton Quintet, John Stowell Michael Zilber Quartet.

After a break for a family vacation, I'm rested and back for another Sunday Music Muse Day with a little catching up to do.  First up is another Miles Davis Aura.  I have the LP, but I can't resist buying the CDs for convenience, since I only have my turntable connected to my computer, which I did when I planned to digitize my record collection, but I give up on that idea.  According to Wikipedia, "Aura is a concept album by Miles Davis, produced by Danish composer/trumpeter Pelle Mikkelborg, released in 1989. All compositions and arrangements are by Mikkelborg, who created the suite in tribute when Davis received the Leonie Sonning Music Prize in December 1984, the year Decoy was released."  It interesting that with the exception of guitarist John McLaughlin, acoustic bassist Niels Henning Oersted Pederson, and Mikkelborg, and all the players are unknown to me.  Mikkelborg I knew from several ECM records with guitarist Terje Rydal, and saxophonist Jan Garbarek.  Of course, the playing of Miles is the focus.

Next up is the Gary Burton Quintet, Dreams So Real - Music of Carla Bley.  As sub-title this a collection compostions by famed composer and band leader Carla Bley.  The quintet features Mick Goodrick on six-sting electric guitar and Pat Metheny on electric 12-string guitar.  Steve Swallow on bass, Bob Mose on drums, and Gary Burton Vibraphone. This is classic, highly rated recording, well worth a listen.

My last selection is the John Stowell Michael Zilber Quartet - Live Beauty.  This is live club date and it really has the nice small jazz club feel to it.  I have several early recording of guitarist John Stowell, from 1970s, in duets with bassist David Friesen.  Stowell just fell off my radar for many year.  But I did come across on him again recently.  Saxophonist Michael Zilber is new to me, but the pairing works very well.

I have a slight back log of CDs, but I'll limit this post to these three.  Enjoy.