Sunday Music Muse Day - Weather Report, Fred Hersch & Bill Frisell

This Sunday Music Muse Day marks the beginnings of this fall season.  It's feeling cooler and more leaves are starting to fall.  It's the perfect time to gather some good music CDs, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter, to listen to this coming winter.  First up is Weather Report Live in London.  Curiously, this CD doesn't list the performance dates. The personal line up suggest a later version of the group.  Checking Wikipedia, it seems to fall in the years 1984-85.  I have to rate this as good, but not essential for Weather Report fans.

Next up is Fred Hersch + Bill Frisell Songs We Know. It's piano and guitar duet session with Hersch on piano and Frisell on guitar play a nice collection of classic jazz tunes, many considered standard.  The light of the music is just right for settling in with a warm drink and maybe a good book.

Well, hope everyone is enjoying the first days of fall.  Let's try to remain positive in the swirling chaos the seems to brewing.  I might help to find some music the block the noise of the world.  Peace.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Weather Report, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Peter Erskine

It's a rainy Sunday Music Muse Day for me, so what better way to spend the day than listening to Weather Report Live and Unreleased. a two disc set of live performances recorded in the U.S. and London between 1975 and 1983, with five different versions of the band. The only constant is Joe Zawinul, keyboardist and Wayne Shorter, multi-saxophonist. Weather Report is one of my all time favorite groups, especially being  non-guitar based, which hooked me on a lot of fusion bands.  I first saw this on youtube and thought it was fan made bootleg, since I had never seen it.  I'm glad it is a official release.

Continuing with Weather Report is The Wayne Shorter Quartet Without a Net. This 2013 recording of live dates was Wayne's first Blue Note release since 1970.  Wayne shows he lost none of his sense of adventure on this 4/5 star rated CD.  Happy to said he's still going strong at 84 years old.

Just to make it an all Weather Report day, Peter Erskine Behind Closed Doors Volume One.  This CD by the former Weather Report drummer, is a collection of previously unreleased  tracks between march 1979 and March 1996, with a array of talented comtemptories, like John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Marc Johnson, Bill Dobbins, to name a few.  I've enjoyed Peter Erskine post- Weather Report music as a leader and composer.  I hope I come across Volume 2 soon.

It's still raining outside, but listening to music on these CDs brightens the forecast. Hope you find good music in your forecast.  Enjoy.

Father's Day Sunday Music Muse Day.Oliver Nelson, Charles Lloyd, George Benson,and Weather Report.

Today is Father's Day, so first of all, Happy Father's Day to all of you dads.  What better way to enjoy and celebrate the day than with some good music. Let's start with a classic, Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth.  The classic first track, Stolen Moments, alone makes this a must have.  (Actually I had a download copy from my friend Bruce Younger, that tied me over until I found this) It's nice to have the CD package, but they reproduced the original album liner notes so small, you'd need a magnifying glass to read it.

Next is real blast from the past, with a new release, Charles Lloyd Canto, on ECM.  I remember Charles Lloyd from his Waves (1972) and the cut TM, although critic didn't rate the album too well.  Canto receives high praises. I'm looking forward the exploring the music fully.

Next is, It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet (The Most Exciting Guitarist On The Jazz Scene Today, according to the label), his second recording as a leader,and his first on Columbia Records. I like listening to early Benson more jazzier stuff.  And thought his album Breezzin' was the start of his pop vocal, but he sang on his early album, too.  So, I stand corrected.

Last, is a 4 CD set, I waited months to find at a reasonable price, Weather Report - The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981.  I love Weather Report, and I'm always amazed that so much sound bring out of four or five musician depending on the line up. Their music is always a great addition to my collection Although, there are a couple of track where live show theatrics overshadowed the music, for example a Jaco solo the was very unfocused.  But, that nitpicking.

  Again, Happy Father's Day, and hope you make some good music part of your celebration.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Father's Day - Mike Melito, Bill Frisell, Miles Davis, and Weather Report

The Sunday Music Muse Day find us celebrating Father's Day with a nice array of music.  First up.  Local Rochester drummer Mike Melito New Connection CD.  Mike's a friend, and I enjoy seeing him play quite often.  I hope to see him at the upcoming jam sessions at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.   His latest is a very solid, swinging collection of tunes. Mike you'll be happy to know I even paid full price at the Bop Shop Records (they asked that be sure to mention them).  Mike's music was the great way to start Father's Day. 

Next is another interesting Bill Frisell CD.  Disfarmer is concept CD inspired by a photographer of stark Americana, black and white photos of every day farm folk of the middle west.  This is a amazing CD, the music caught to ear of my visiting mother-in-Law and the connection to the photographer intrigued her as she used to work as museum archivist. Well worth listening to.

Next, I continue my exploration of Miles Davis music with the CD, A Tribute to Jack Johnson.  This a actually a soundtrack to the 1970 film documentary about Jack Johnson, the first Black heavy weight boxing champion around the early 1900s. The play and film The Great White Hope is about his life.  I already have this on LP, but picked this up for the convenience of having it on CD. (I might start considering selling the LPs, soon)  Also, Jack Johnson's story brings to mind the great Muhammad Ali, who passed away recently.  Again, the music is solidly in the Bitches' Brew era, performed by the usual suspects.  I just can't get enough of it.

This last selection is a gold mine, and in a way an extension of the Mile Davis selection. Of course, Weather Report founders, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, left Miles to form Weather Report and the rest, as they say, is history.  Weather Report has to be my favorite post-Miles jazz fusion band (even without a guitarist) bar none. Quoting from wikipedia "Forecast: Tomorrow is a 3-CD/1-DVD career-spanning compilation of recordings of Weather Report. The 37 tracks are presented chronologically, beginning with three tracks pre–Weather Report, from ensemble duties with Miles Davis (both Zawinul and Shorter), Cannonball Adderley (Zawinul), and from a Shorter solo album. In addition to one unreleased track, the set closes with DJ Logic's remix of a Weather Report track.
The 4th disc in the package is a 2-hour DVD of a concert in Offenbach am Main, on September 29, 1978 for the German TV program Rockpalast. The boxed set includes a 100-page book with notes on the set by compiler Bob Belden, a long essay on the band by Hal Miller, and a reminiscence of the 1978 concert by drummer Peter Erskine ."

This was a really nice surprise to find.  I'm really going to enjoy this.  Hope you enjoyed your Father's day.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Oregon, Miroslav Vitous, Charlie Hunter, Return to Forever, Kneebody

I missed posting again last week, because of busy family weekend. Even though I pickup these CD last week I haven't had a chance to listen to them, so, maybe it was all for the best.  So this week's Sunday Music Muse selection include some old favorites, and some favorite musicians in different settings.  First up is the group Oregon Northwest Passage CD, featuring a favorite guitarist Ralph Towner.  Seven of the fourteen tracks are written or co-written by Towner and some are on another Towner solo releases.  It's nice to compare the different versions.

 Next up is Miroslav Vitous Infinite Search.  This is a reissue of the bassist's 1977 album, his first as a leader.   Miroslav Vitous was the original bassist and a founding member the legendary Weather Report.  The album Infinite Search was also released as Mountain in the Cloud, which is the cover I remember.  I thought I had the "Mountain" album, but checking  my collection and it's not there.  I seem to remember playing the LP, so it could have been an album I borrowed from the Lincoln Center Music library, which was a great way to preview music in the ancient, pre-internet days.  Vitous virtuoso playing moves freely between avant garde and free jazz.  This CD featured several key figures from the then-budding jazz fusion movement: John McLauglin, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, and Joe Henderson. Well worth a listen.

 Here's the Mountains in the Clouds LP cover.

Speaking of the Jazz Fusion, the next CD is Return To Forever, The Anthology, group the help define Jazz Fusion.  This Anthology is a nice compliment to the RTF Reunion CD I picked up a few months back.   One surprising note I discovered in the liner notes was Al Di Meola recalling how he came to join RTF.  He mentioned the guitarist Earl Klugh, of smooth jazz fame, actually followed Bill Conners before Al joined.  That was news to me.  I wonder if any tapes of those concert Klugh played with RTF still exist and will they ever see the light of day.

Next is another first outing, by 7-string guitarist, Charlie Hunter, with the Charlie Hunter Trio.  I just saw Charlie Hunter live a few weeks ago.  I've still deciding if I "totally" like his music.  It intrigues me enough that I keep picking up his CD, so there has to be something there.

So, that's this week selection.  Thanks for letting me share these.  Enjoy.