Beethoven - String Quartet 5 [Quatuor Turner]

I actually prefer Beethoven's early String Quartet [1-6], than his later Quartets [12-16], i feel Beethoven got too inner reflective for his own good, these Quartets are simple tunes, and Beethoven seems to have arranged them from worst to best, with each subsequent Quartet saying and delivering something more, plus it's good to have a full set of these Quartets on two discs.

Quatuor Turner are strangely a conglomerate of four Countries, and on the Harmonia Mundi label as 'Nouveaux Interpretes' [New Interpreters], a series devoted to emerging Artists and Groups, they made these recordings in 1994, these 2 discs come in a double 'fatbox' case, the front picture [by Eric Larrayadieu] is a close up group shot of the Quartet, almost all of their faces being slightly cut from the shot, but a nice huddled pic.

I came to know this String Quartet by listening to the Borodin String Quartet play it on a cassette, i really marvelled at the first movement, full of fun and vigour, on this listen i also found the last two movements great too, the third movement variations are a delight, and the last movement is opening up for me, but it's still the opening movement i liked the best, 

Here's the first movement being played on YouTube, with Jascha Heifetz on first violin.

Dvorak - Symphony 9 [Mackerras-Prague Symphony Orchestra]

I marvel at the invention of this Symphony, Mackerras gets a ovely reading here, very well recorded, allowing for inner detail, it was thrilling to listen to the more quieter instruments showing what their roles are, and it's nice to hear Dvorak's invention here, this is a live recording as well, with applause at the end, but the audience are certainly quite, i listened to this early last year as well [29th January 2011], how 'different' i heard this same old warhorse today, makes me realize i'll never get bored or think there's nothing more to discover about this work.

Charles Mackerras is Australian, he died in 2010 at the age of 84, he recorded this disc in 2005, the front cover photograph [by David Port], shows Mackerras in a relaxed pose, very nice subdued light, producing autumn tones on his face, and nice contours on the shirt, very well done.

On this listen i found myself loving the last movement, in certain ways i felt the Symphony got better the longer it went on,

Here's Gustavo Dudamel conducting the fourth movement on YouTube.

Chuck Prophet [Feast Of Hearts]

I decided to go out for a lazy walk in the late afternoon today, and picked this disc to take with me, this is the first time it gets in my Blog, i've had this disc since 2003, it took a while to grow on me, i remember one episode where i was driving round London listening to this disc, and it really hit me hard, it's great when a nice disc becomes a superstar!, out on the walk i marvelled at the invention of Chuck Prophet, his subtle musicianship, and his clever lyrics, you can feel his intensity, the instrumentation seems simple at first, but it's also cleverly layered, and it has this natural evolution, he certainly knows how to tighten the pleasure screws in your brain.

Chuck Prophet is an American Singer-Songwriter, he's now 48 years old, he first started out with the Rock group Green On Red, and he went solo in 1990, he now has 14 solo albums, and this is his fourth, i've tried some of his other albums [The Hurting Business, and Soap And Water], but i wasn't impressed, Age Of Miracles is the next album i'll check out of his, i bought this disc in a local second-hand shop, i must admit it was the front cover that caught my eye [photography by Kim Stringfellow], a washed out a yellowy shot of Prophet in what looks like a Motel room, sitting on the edge of the bed in a superb pose, notice the flowery top, really is a treat, in some ways i can feel the loneliness, a really great visual product.

The tracks which rose above the rest were 1, 4, 8 & 10, my favourite song is track 8 'Oh Mary', a real lyrical song, full of nice momentum, with a nice beat to it, Prophet can have a lazy delivery with singing, there's a certain Country twang to it, layered guitars and a drum beat propel it forward, there's no chorus as such, rather the whole thing fuses into four verses that just keep going, i like the lyrics at the start of the third verse,

I get up in the morning

My head is buzzing like a cheap TV

On into the evening

Pour myself a shot of sympathy

It's one of those treasured albums, and it was so good to listen more carefully, and to discover that the music and lyrics really do fit more than i've ever noticed before, i recommend this album if you want to delve into Chuck Prophet.

Here's Chuck Prophet singing 'Oh Mary' on YouTube.

Nicholas Payton [Payton's Place]

This was the disc that started my Blog off, the very first entry [1st January 2010], but i also played it just over a year ago [23rd February 2011], it's getting nice exposure, and each time i play it i marvel at the invention of Payton, and his ability to create something funky and upbeat, the small combo [mainly quintets] is used very effectively, no one seems to play background accompaniment, each musician muscles in on the action, looking at the track listing, Payton also has a propensity to write for the 5-6 minute market, of the 12 tracks, two thirds fall into this bracket, is there a production line formula developing in his works.

Nicholas Payton is American, born in 1973, he is now 38, and he recorded this disc in 1997 and 1998, one of the great things about this disc is the front booklet cover and back inlay, they are truly superb [photography by Barron Claiborne], aided by a shocking bright red background, colours 'seem' to clash, notice the red, yellow, green, blue on the back inlay, almost the whole rainbow of colours!, and doesn't yellow on the back make the track listing stand out that much more?, plus it's deliciously off kilter, a truly superb album, out of 76 Jazz discs i own, this is my fourth favourite, a stunner of an album.

Right from the word go, as soon as the album opens [i always play a disc like this on random, however the first track i listened to was the first track on the album] it has this phenomenally delicious funky drum and cymbal beat, and here's one of the major strengths of the album, the Drummer [Adonis Rose], and the way he's recorded, he doesn't just play drums, but plays a load of different drums!, and his sounds are caught in the mix in a stunning way, you can hear the different sized toms clearly and sharply, it's dynamite to get the drums right in the recording, there were three tracks which were just terrific to hear, tracks 1, 5 & 9, and here's a synopsis of each,
1 Zigaboogaloo [YouTube video starts after 23 seconds] - Like i said what an opening, a drum intro to just get so excited about [0:00-0:06], and then the Pianist lays down a funky groove with it [0:06-0:16], this is the canvas which the horns paint on, and their theme is also just a funky and bubbly tune [0:17-1:31], so infectious, Payton's solo right afterwards is high spirit, nicely sharp and screaming, and growling at times too [1:30-2:49], Saxophonist Tim Warfield's solo by comparison is quite muted and mellow and low down, i like the way both horns fill in over the second half of the Pianists solo [4:39-5:14], the return of a theme is always a special moment [5:14+], and the ending finishes on a nice loud horn blast! [5:51], and finally what a great name for a track!.
5 Concentric Circles - Again what a title!, and also again, what a wonderful drum solo intro [0:00-0:18], where the treble tom sounds so atmospheric, nice sharp and snappy!, and yet again there's a funkiness to it, the sax solo [Tim Warfield] is nicely jagged and broken, and filled out bubbly by the piano [1:00-2:25], and so is the trumpet solo also [2:26-4:03] Anthony Wonsey [piano] stamps out chords all over the place, very effective, the drummer [Adonis Rose] gets an astonishing solo in [5:25-6:18], timed to perfection, and right at the end the Bassist gets a lovely resonant strike in [7:02].
9 Paraphernalia - This is a Wayne Shorter tune, used originally in the Miles Davis Band, and what a great creation it is, it starts off with the most inventive Bassist [Reuben Rogers] intro [0:00-0:23], full of lovely reverberation, the piece rocks back and forth between the slow rhythm section, and the fast horn section, Tim Warfied [saxophone] has a nice solo [1:30-4:28], which slowly develops in intensity, speed, and volume, Nicholas Payton does the same in his solo [4:29-7:34], lazy and slow at first, and i like the way it's just speeds up, the rhythm section really go mental [6:25+], the Bassist especially, and everyone joins in, a track of great variety, and well held together.