Sunday Music Muse Day - Mark Isham, Miroslav Vitous Group with Michel Portal

This Sunday Music Muse Day finds us featuring CDs with the common theme of "remembering" other musicians and groups. First up is Mark Isham Miles Remembered: The Silent Way Project.  Mark Isham, plays trumpet and keyboards in a wide range of genres including jazz, electronica, and he composes soundtracks for TV and film.  He played on several of my favorite albums, David Torn's Clouds about Mercury, and Andy Summer's Charming Snakes.  (He also allowed Lisa to use one of his tunes from his first album, Vapor Drawing, for an animation short she animated and produced) Miles Remembered is his tribute to the music that inspired him at the start of his career. I think he does a good job with this to capture the essence of Miles music without directly copying it. This is definitely worth a listen.

My second selection is Miroslav Vitous Group with Michel Portal Remembering Weather Reporter.  Vitous was one of the founding members of Weather Report, the legendary Jazz Fusion group, with Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter.  He left the group when their music shifted from its "free jazz" roots to a more commercial sound that brought the band great success.  So, I'm assuming this CD is Vitous' version of what (his) Weather Report music should sound like. I'm sorry to say I found it disappointing.  It does present a "Free Jazz" feel, but if this was the direction WR had stayed on, I doubt I would have been a fan for long.  Being an ECM release, it was worth giving it a listen.  I have, and enjoy other Mirolav Vitous recordings. But this, as a take on Weather Report's music, just falls flat for me.

Next week is Thanksgiving. Here's wishing everyone a wonderful, peaceful holiday with family, and friends.  Be sure to enjoy and share some music with favorite holiday dishes.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Ralph Towner, Mark Isham

 This Sunday Music Muse Day find us getting a our first real touch of winter. Friday saw a light blanket of snow covering the lawn, although it didn't last long, Saturday was cold cloudy and gloomy.  Sunday start overcast and grey, gave way to scattered clouds and patches of blue sk, but still chilly.  I tried pick some music to reflect the weather, introspective and sober,  First up is Ralph Towner Batik. This a favorite Towner album of mine, released in 1978.  In considering selling my record collection I bought a new CD of it.  I admit I like the original album cover, front and back, more than the updated CD package.  At least the music is as great as I remembered.  It a trio set with Towner on 12-string and classical guitars, and piano (which was actually his first instrument),  Eddie Gomez on bass, and the amazing Jack DeJohnette on drums. I know this was one of the records that hooked me on ECM records. If you don't own I highly recommend it.

Here's the vinyl album cover front and back.  The hand lettering give it more character.

My second selection is Mark Isham Blue Sun, a trumpeter with a extensive and varied discography ranging from rock, pop, and jazz, and to children's Rabbit Ears Storytime Classics.  I first came to know him as New Age artist with his first album Vapor Drawings on Windham Hill records label.  Lisa, my wife, even got permission from him to use one of his tune for a animation short she did in the '80s.  Blue Sun is pleasant CD with some nice laid back tunes and upbeat selections to round it out as soundtrack for a gloomy winter day.

Here's his Vapor Drawings album on the Windham Hill record label, know for acoustic New Age music.

Hope everyone finds tunes to help through these chaotic time as we move toward the winter holidays.  Stay safe, stay healthy, wear a mask.