Various Artists [Boom Selection 'The Essential Urban Soundtrack']

Now here's something really different from the usual in my Blog, some nice R n B / Hip Hop / Rap, yes i admit that there's a fair bit of these two discs that didn't hit the spot with me, but... i so much believe in delving into every genre of music, that i force myself to listen to even the fringes of my musical loves, there's great music everywhere in every genre of music if you so open your ears and crumble down the walls of prejudice, that's what i'm trying to do, to get away from becoming ever deeper entrenched in Classical music as an entity with the exclusion of all else, music is best listened to with the cross fertilization of all its genres. 

I once referred to Rap music as CRap music!, hahaha, well it's still not really my thing, and yet, someone who's creative, and has good music for the lyrics, can still amazingly make it work, yes there's a lot of crap Rap music out there, but don't discard it all, there's actually some gems lurking, this compilation was released in 2002, the front cover caught my eye [photo by Phil Silcock], a picture of a guy facing away from the camera, headphones over the ears, and that shaved head at the back, all couched in a blue tinge, and the gold lettering over the top, it really is a good visual product. 

Most of the tracks didn't do much for me, but even here i notice that a number have possibilities, and with some more listening they could really catch on, here's where i'm excited by music, the breaking down of hard fixed ideas, and realizing after all this time i've probably been wrong, it's like hating foreign food, but then one day you eat something, and suddenly your exploring Indian and Chinese etc, the three tracks that i really thought were excellent were 5-6 & 25, and here's a short synopsis of each of them,
5 Tweet - Oops Oh My, 
6 Missy Elliott - 4 My People, 
25 Mary J Blige - Family Affair, 

Wessell Anderson [Warmdaddy In The Garden Of Swing]

I remember when i first got into this record, it was early in my love of Jazz, when things were first blossoming, i took it to this camping event, and as i snuck down to sleep that night in my car, i played this over and over again, the first track made a real impression on me, those were great times when i was wowed by the newness of Jazz, and excited by this new genre in my life, this was another disc i played early in my Blog [12th February 2010], this disc still moves me, it's still a great record, one of the very best Jazz discs i own. 

Wessell Anderson is an American Saxophonist, specialising in the Alto Sax, but also plays the Sopranini Sax on this disc, he released this disc in 1994, i bought the follow up disc made a year later, the 'Ways Of Warmdaddy', but i wasn't impressed, his next record is a live date at the Village Vanguard in 1998, and that's where the discs have dried up, i don't know the reason for this, he grew up as a prodigy from the Marsalis Brothers, and did a stint in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, i actually bought this disc on the strength of the cover [photo by Katrin Thomas], but now that seems a strange reason, i guess it's not all that inspiring, the guy in the foreground is his son [now a Jazz Trombonist i believe], now Wessell Anderson is more of a Sidesman.

Brahms - Violin Sonata 1 [Halim/Gillot]

Here's a new set of Brahms's Violin Sonatas that i purchased recently, yes another set!, it goes along nicely with the other ten or so sets i have! haha, actually this is quite a different and individual set, when the music began, i was quite taken aback, Halim's violin sounds really dark and deep, i actually had to check to see if this wasn't a viola transcription of these works, the final assessment is that the jury's out on this disc, i really need to listen to it some more. 

Atef Halim is unknown to me, he was born in Cairo, so i assume he's Egyptian, he recorded this disc in 2004, i like the front cover, two pictures, one of Halim [by Kiyoshi Udagawa], and the other of Gillot [by Wilfred Guyot], pleasing enough, but the Halim photo is out of focus!. 

Like i said above, it's the darkness / deepness of the violin that you first notice, the recording is very upfront, not some concert hall recording, but rather like an intimate front row seat, or maybe even closer, the violin more prominent than the piano, a believable acoustic, the piano leaning towards the left, and the violin the right, almost as if you're sitting between them, all of the three movements i felt were inspiring, but maybe the third movement just pips the others, 

Here's Ida Haendel playing the last movement on YouTube.

Various Composers - Flute A La Francaise 'French Flute Music' [Hutchins/Hutchins]

I like these Flute recitals, especially where the disc concentrates on a certain aspect of the music, and here it's French music, and a nice mix of different Composers, with a nice mix of varied works, but it all gels together, it has a certain continuity to it all. 

Timothy Hutchins is Canadian, he certainly isn't a household name, this disc was recorded in 1995, and the front cover is a mosaic of sections of the flute [photo by Richard Jenkins], the picture isn't in focus, but the lettering is well laid out and pleasing. 

I really like the two Faure openers, short and sweet, very well played, and very memorable tunes, but it was the Ganne work that i found so incredible, and the last Flute recital disc featured this same work [26th September 2010], it lasts just over 7 minutes on this recording, the opening Andante has a nice exotic feel to it, and a superbly memorable tune to boot, the flute plays silky and smooth [0:07-1:02], it's good to hear the piano play a short solo version of the tune inbetween [0:35-0:41], and when the opening tune returns, it's such a wonderful moment [2:45-3:47], the flute then has a solo [3:42-4:51], where it has these echo effects it creates [3:48 & 3:54], really inventive and atmospheric, right after it launches straight into the more virtuosic Scherzo, which creates a thrilling finale, but not as memorable as the initial Andante that preceded it.

Here's Minja Marcetic playing Ganne's Andante et Scherzo on YouTube.