Keith Jarrett [Standards - Volume One] 

Early in my Blog, i played this disc and reported on my experiences [1st February 2010], and what i wrote there i echo here, this disc had now come around for some nice re-listening, my disc collection is such that it takes nearly 18 months for an album to be played again!, but boy when i do play a treasured album again, it's a treasured experience, and hearing these three guys playing 'telepathic' Jazz is so exciting.

Keith Jarrett was born in 1945 in America, making him now 66, he recorded this disc in 1983, the front cover is very sparse, no picture, as is fairly usual with ECM issues, they don't do a lot for me, but the music on the inside is fantastic.

However much i enjoy tracks 1-4, and i certainly was wowed by them, it's the final track 5 closer 'God Bless The Child' that is just stunning, it's fifteen and a half minutes of pure Jazz heaven, it's just perfection, and remains my very favourite Jazz track of all time, just a little way in, and the piano changes tack, there's a superb refrain [1:24+], and a track that was already full of inspiration, now reaches into the heights of the sublime, Jarrett really gets into the piece with his vocalise [2:26+], and the notes of the piano with Jack DeJohnette's rhythmic drumming, is so mesmerising, and when the chorus comes in, Jarrett uses some very nice treble notes [3:49+], and the refrain that Jarrett brings in towards the end of Gary Peacock's Bass solo [6:03+], where he changes the key, is so gut wrenching, later after Jack DeJohnette's Drum solo, Jarrett creates a trance like stabbings in readiness to bring in the main theme again [9:26-9:52], and when that main theme returns [9:52+], it's like a million knots being untied, it's so loaded with resolution, towards the end Jarrett brings in the verse again [11:23+], and embellishes the tune with some lovely bass warblings [11:26 & 11:29], Gary Peacock is excellent at this point too, the piece develops a sort of outro / coda feeling, but it goes on and on, and the three musicians just seem to like to jam, it develops quite an intensity, Gary Peacock's outro is really nice, and Jack DeJohnette's closing down of the piece is superb, a genius of a creation.

Here's Keith Jarrett playing this piece on YouTube.

Vivaldi - Oboe Concertos Volume 1 [Schilli/Jonas-Failoni Chamber Orchestra Budapest] 

Naxos have issued the complete Vivaldi Oboe Concertos on two discs, this includes all the Double Oboe Concertos [with Diethelm Jonas on the second Oboe here], and i feel that it's these Double Oboe Concertos that are the best thing here, each has a certain character, and once you get familiar with certain tunes in certain movements, you just can't get them out of your head, Vivaldi created roughly 500 Concertos, just the sheer number, all created in his Baroque style, can sound very 'samey', but you can start to pick out favourite bits, unlike say the Bassoon [which Vivaldi composed a fair number of Concertos for], which i don't think really works for Vivaldi, the Oboe on the other hand works just great.

Stefan Schilli i believe is German, this disc was recorded in 1992, as is usual with Naxos discs, the front covers have a tendency to leave a lot to be desired, they aren't very inspired in my mind.

Well i so much enjoyed three separate movements on this disc, the opening movement of RV 534, the slow middle movement of RV 452, and the opening movement of the Double Concerto RV 536, and it's this Concerto i would like to talk about, the oboes really just double up, they don't play any different from each other, or play separately from each other, the opening is just pure genius invention, the two oboes play piercingly high treble, i guess it's in their nature, it's quite a high instrument, and the strings fill in the oboe silences with downward string notes [0:00-0:31], after a string tutti, the oboes come back in, and play a nice variation of the opening [0:53-1:10], with cleverly added embellishments, and this is the way that the music continues, orchestral tuttis punctuated by oboe solos, each new oboe solo seems to become slightly more varied and virtuosic than the last, the third solo is the best [1:27-1:49], adding some nice higher 'flutterings', and the last solo [2:06-2:26], returns to the more flatter unembellished opening, once you get this in your head and heart, it becomes really endearing.

Here's Christopher Palameta & John Abberger playing the Double Oboe Concerto RV 536 on YouTube.

Rolling Stones [Steel Wheels] 

This is my favourite Stones album, and it was the first one i ever listened to, i came late to the Rolling Stones, they weren't particularly a successful 'singles band' for me, so i didn't pick them up in the Seventies in the charts, i bought this album on cassette tape in 1993, and very quickly i liked it, i tried quite a number of other Stones albums too, but each one only has 2 or 3 worthy songs on it, this has a good half a dozen, and lots of different styles too, but it's that hard beat and edgy Rock i like about them, Jagger is the perfect singer for this type of Band, snarling and irreverent, apart from greatest hits packages, this is the place i would recommend anyone to start on their studio albums.

The Rolling Stones are probably the most enduring Rock Band on the planet, they recorded this album in 1989, the front cover artwork is excellent, showing power saw discs, i like this silver and black montage, with the Band name in silver-blue at the top, certain Stones albums are less than inspired visually, this is one of their very best.

It was so good to listen to this album today, reminds me why i like it so much, the tracks that especially impressed me were 4 & 6-7, the first half of the album is so excellent, real rockers in there, Jagger & Richards really know how to put music together, here's a synopsis of these three tracks,

4 Hold On To Your Hat - lovely guitar riffs right at the start, screaming guitar too, and that hard beat by Drummer Charlie Watts, with Mick Jagger in angry screaming mode, from beginning to end it never lets up, i like the words 'Don't give me no shit, don't give me no crap', Jagger in top form.

6 Blinded By Love - not one of the usual tracks that is my best, but on this listen i found it fantastic, Jagger's vocal delivery is almost comical in places, but so creative too, at the end of each line, Jagger strings out each word in a nice but silly melisma snarl, it's very much a track that has a Country influence, one of the instruments i newly notice is the fiddle [played by Phil Beer], it gives it a kind of Bluegrass feel, very effective.

7 Rock And A Hard Place - another hard rocker, with another superb riff, the chorus is even better, those guitars have an extra infectious riff, there's a counter-melody halfway through [2:07-2:36], and Jagger sings 'Guiding dream churches, with the silver spires, and our rogue children, are playing loaded dice', i also like the way there's a nice refrain [3:06-3:36], with Jagger and drummer Watts singing / playing a duet, and at the end the female gospel singers come in.

Here's 'Rock And A Hard Place' on YouTube.

Chopin - 4 Ballades [Tiberghien] 

I think it was inspired to couple the Brahms and Chopin Ballades together, last month i wrote about the Brahms Ballades [5th June 2011], and this month i would like to turn to Chopin's efforts in this genre, unlike Brahms who composed his 4 Ballades early in his life all as one opus number, Chopin composed his over a 7 year period between 1835-1842, never intended as a 'set', apart from his Etudes and Preludes, all of his solo piano music were composed as individual pieces, and yet there's a great unity in these pieces.

Cedric Tiberghien is French, he recorded this disc in 2006, the [photo by Eric Manas] is a really nice pose, and the lettering is clever too.

If you look at the back insert that i scanned, you'll find that the 4 Chopin Ballades are split up as tracks 1-2 & 7-8 hmmm?, i don't see the point of this, but i guess it's only one of access to the music, the two Ballades that i really enjoyed the most were the first and the last, and especially the Ballade 1 was exciting and moving, after a very slow introduction, the main tune appears [0:39+], but it's just not a straightforward piece, it goes all over the place like a Rhapsody, seemingly at first it's a quiet reflective piece, but there's faster and louder outbursts [2:32-3:05], some very nice pianism from Tiberghien, Chopin uses a counter tune to the main tune [3:58-4:19], so perfectly weighted, i love those two separate treble notes [4:10 & 4:13], they are so superb, like a bell chimed twice, and right after Chopin switches to slightly more sour notes [4:19+], and the music builds up to a superb climax of the main theme [5:06-5:38], such passion and feeling from Tiberghien!, the counter theme returns [6:57+], but this time with louder embellishments, and the chiming bells are now louder double notes [7:04 & 7:06], very effective, and just goes to show how Chopin decides to change things for variety and sheer perfection, i love the way he just builds up to things [8:10-8:17], and then just unleashes a superb finale [8:17-9:00], loads of cascading notes, and a sort of false ending to finish with too, it's a real tour de force.

Here's Cedric Tiberghien playing Ballade 1 on YouTube.