soul picnic

• Soul Picnic CD on Amazon






Would you believe I bought another CD majorly on sale? And it's another major winner! ... btw, this is news since it's been a few years since I've routinely brought new CDs into my living space. Playlist includes tracks with fun, casual titles:

tracks:

1. Down to It
2. Soul Picnic
3. Made in the Shade
4. Some Like It Hot
5. Wanna Be There
6. Barbeque
7. Cool 'N Easy
8. Sweet Love

"Made in the Shade," "Wanna Be There," and "Sweet Love" all are so very joyful and forever listenable! The music and performances are way far too smooth to describe as funky, but the contained energy and clear recorded sound makes up for that and besides, who says all the music on Soul Picnic needs to be funky even when that's my mood? Highly recommend!

• My Amazon review: forever listenable

7 sacred songs

Some of my favorite Contemporary Christian piano repertoire:

• Lord, I Lift Your Name On High // Rick Founds

• We Bow Down // Twila Paris

• Thy Word Psalm is a lamp unto my feet ... Psalm 119:105 // Amy Grant and Michael W Smith

• Lamb of God // Twila Paris

• Lord, Be Glorified // Bob Kilpatrick

• Glorify Thy Name // Donna Adkins

• He Is Exalted // Twila Paris

Song of the Mississippi

• Song of the Mississippi by "various artists" on Amazon.

I chose this CD (because it was on sale) and because the title included "Mississippi." A song is music a river, a person, or an idea breathes and its surroundings hear; this song collection includes lovely, sometimes lively music with a classic "Americana" sound that easily helps you imagine river scenes, literature, and art along the vast range of the Mighty Mississipp, a river that carries legend, myth, individual stories and family histories along its lengthy course and upon its banks. I was born in the deep South of the USA - in many ways born a child of the river - but left before I started forming memories. However, I clearly recall my first adult encounter with the River Mississippi in front of the hotel where I was staying for a conference in St Paul, Minnesota. I walked across the street, stood beside the river, and wept at its beauty.

The Natural Encounters playlist includes a lot of "Only in America" titles:

1. As the River Runs
2. Slow Water Blues
3. Madame Rosie's Poker Parlour
4. Harmonica Hoe-Down
5. Catfish Tales
6. River Fiddlin'
7. Sweet Prospect
8. Reverend White's Get Right Revival
9. Mighty Like a Rose
10. Piano Jive
11. Riverboat Rag
12. Mississippi Moon
13. Jaw Harp Jam
14. Snag Boat Blues
15. As the River Runs (Reprise)

The sound is open and clear, with enough presence to fill the room. This is the kind of music you can leave playing in the background or stop a while for some careful listening. There are several additional CDs in the Natural Encounters series that I hope to find at an affordable price, trusting they'll be as listenable and re-listenable as "Song of the Mississippi."

• my Amazon review: Song of the Mississippi

CD: Pop Rock Christmas

• Pop Rock Christmas CD on Amazon.



These days I buy very few CDs and even have given away quite a few, but I got this CD after Christmas for a great price and I'm glad I did. "The First Noel" alone is worth far more than the price I paid and well worthy of many, many listenings; "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" isn't far behind. In 1998 Tom Wanca produced and arranged as well as playing keyboards and organ and singing background vocals for Sheer Panic. With a touch of rock and more than a hint of classic country, the designation "Pop Rock" fits well as the arrangements basically rock the rhythm and skew the harmonizations most people are used to.



Liner notes provide performance and production details and in the interest of accommodating anyone who may have turned off browser images and/or are relying on an app to read the screen to them, here's the playlist that you can see contains non-exotic secular and more sacred songs for Christmas:

1. Angels We Have Heard On High
2. Up On The Housetop
3. Over The River And Through The Woods
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. The First Noel
6. I Saw Three Ships





7. Jolly Old St. Nicholas / Jingle Bells
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Silent Night! Holy Night!
10. What Child Is This?

• my amazon review: country, rock, and pop for Christmas

Chopin Piano Concertos: classically elegant

Chopin: The Piano Concertos—Lang Lang, pianist; Zubin Mehta conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.


Given that Frédéric François Chopin lived during the 1^st half of the 19^th century and generally is considered a romantic compositor, "romantically elegant" might be a better review title, but pianist, orchestra and conductor all perform with more polished reserve and measured restraint then with passionate ardor and fiery abandon, so I'm going with classical.

Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 is my own favorite of the pair, and listening to both in a row is enjoyable, though both performances have a sense of sameness about them that's not necessarily a negative thing at all. Not surprisingly, Lang Lang's keyboard technique approaches perfection, the orchestra plays extremely well and the recording itself has an almost ideal level of brightness and presence. As an aside, to all the non-pianists reading this, despite stereotypes to the contrary, Chopin's music is well-suited to the human hand and not technically difficult in the way Liszt's (for example) is, but it does take many hours of practice to get all but his simplest, shortest pieces to high-end performance-readiness. If you like piano music and if you like Chopin, I'd definitely recommend this released-in-2008 recording.

• my amazon review: classically elegant

clear perfection!

•

The four Overtures or Orchestral Suites, BWV 1066-1069, by Johann Sebastian Bach are some of my all-time favorites. I love this recording by Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, the orchestra he founded and led for thirty years. I frequently find myself amazed at how well some older analog recordings have been digitally remastered and at other times distressed at the poor quality of others. This CD of a recording made in 1979 was released in 2007; the performances approach essence of perfection and the recording sounds clear and bright and rich.


• my amazon review: clear perfection!

Harris & Copland: 3rd Symphonies

Copland, Symphony #3; Harris, Symphony #3

 

With trilingual liner notes in English, German and French along with strikingly bright cover art featuring a DC-2 hovering above a horse-drawn stagecoach, this recording of two classic American symphonic standards is well-prepped for export! For both pieces Neeme Järvi conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. It's fair to say Roy Harris' Symphony No. 3 in one movement and five parts is an icon of 20^th century American music, and especially given that the final, 4^th movement of Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3 is a version of his "Fanfare for the Common Man," his 3^rd symphony isn't far behind in the category of iconic.

Basically I like the orchestra's playing under Maestro Neeme Järvi, who served as DSO Music Director from 1990 through the end of the 2004-2005 season. However, at times the music simply sits there, so in general I'd like to feel a greater sense of the narrative moving along and greater passion in the shapes of the phrases. Not surprisingly, the luminous sound of the Chandos recording is a joy to the ears! Do I recommend this CD? Definitely! It will give you another perspective on a pair of major orchestral works that are among my very favorites, and maybe yours, as well.

my amazon review: solid performances, clear sound

A Christmas Keeper!

• Christmas on the Border on Amazon

...A Spicy Holiday Recipe of Texas Blues, Hot Country, and Mexican Salsa as well as a project and production from the town of Nashville, Tennessee, a place doesn't exactly border Mexico (or Canada, for that matter). "O Holy Night" and "What Child is This" are rocked-up essential classics; I could listen endlessly to a memorably haunting "The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy" or "I Wonder as I Wander." The style of "Joy to the World" and "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman," both just enough different from what you're used to that you listen more carefully all make for a CD to play over and over and recommend, too. Except for the definitely secular "Up On the Rooftop" the songs are classic North American (USA and Canada) Christmas worship, church pageant and radio top-40 favorites.

Since I included playlists from my other two Christmas CD reviews, here are the songs on this one:

1. Children Go Where I Send Thee
2. Joy to the World
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
4. Go Tell It on the Mountain
5. The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy
6. O Holy Night
7. I Wonder as I Wander
8. What Child Is This?

How apt and how fun this is as an example of contextualizing the Gospel and incarnating Christianity with cross-cultural musical styles, a little of this and a little of that, each still in its original idiom yet woven into the other idiom. It reminds me of the C.S. Lewis Dawn Treader quote on my Facebook page: "...said the Lamb, "For you the door into Aslan's country is from your own world." ... "There is a way into my country from all the worlds," said the Lamb...and he was Aslan himself..."

I have the impression the CD title is supposed to reference Tex-Mex style and culture, but cross-culture border styles of Southern California/ Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona/ Northern Mexico I'm familiar with aren't exactly like this CD. "Christmas on the Border" and chili pepper art both suggest songs sung in Spanish or at least partly so--in these here parts we've been known to have macaronic English/Spanish liturgies and many of us speak passable Spanglish. That's simply a passing comment, though, and I predict you'll enjoy the energy, twang, and harmonic color of Christmas on the Border (the CD).

• my amazon review: A Christmas Keeper!

cool jazz christmas: CD

Eric Darken and company bring an enjoyable Christmas music collection with another project from Nashville, Tennessee in

• Cool Jazz Christmas: Refreshing Holiday Instrumentals.

For the most part the music conveys a sort of New-Agey, cool, casual and offhand sensibility that passes time pleasantly with an occasional sequence or riff that makes you want to listen again because it was unusual, unique and... repeatable. The sound is excellent and over all Cool Jazz Christmas is well-produced, but it's more the kind of performance you have playing in the background instead of sitting down with to savor every sound. However, "O Come, All ye Faithful" with Mark Baldwin on keyboards and sax by Mark Douthit is worth the price of the CD--I wanted to say there was a best out of all of tracks, and happily there is. The playlist is church, mall and radio standards, but even with quite a few newer songs and carols, what would the season be without these?

1. Winter Wonderland
2. Joy to the World
3. Deck the Halls
4. We Three Kings
5. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
6. Here We Come a Caroling
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. O Little Town of Bethlehem
9. O Come, All Ye Faithful
10. Pat-a-Pan

Front and back cover designs are beautiful enough (almost) to make me want them in LP-album cover size—remember when we used to leave our currently best and favorite ones out for show? The credits conclude with, "Above all, thanks to the Creator of such wonderful and meaningful music. Merry Christmas!" Amen!

• my amazon review: For a Cool Jazz Christmas

sounds like...

Community Christmas at the Cathedral!



Released in August 2007 and featuring producer Mark Baldwin's guitar that often sears, sometimes sings and at times laments, Red Hot Christmas Blues reminds us of the frequent messiness of life, the apocalyptic hope of Advent and the surprise of God's Nativitytide appearance in the Bethlehem manger. Except for the introductory "Christmas Blues" vocal bewailing wintry conditions of broken life and broken bank account, playlist titles are Christmas carols you get to sing in church and listen to on radio and MP3 throughout the season.

However, in liturgically logical order:

1. Christmas Blues
2. What Child Is This?
3. Silent Night
4. Go Tell It On The Mountain
5. I Wonder As I Wander
6. O Holy Night
7. Angel Shuffle
8. The First Noel

…these jazz illuminations carry a revelatory twist and provocative style you don't often get on the radio or at church. I cannot help but imagine Christmas Eve at the downtown cathedral or tall steeple, or just as easily these offerings could be from a smaller nearby parish with wide-open doors that invite and include all comers.

In 4 minutes and 47 seconds "Angel Shuffle," a wildly improvised version of "Angels we Have Heard on High" probably is my favorite among favorites on this CD. I won't try describing it but can assure you it's worth the price and the storage space—from someone (me!) who doesn't buy many CDs these days and gave away quite a few quite a while ago. Walter Bruggemann says only grief enables newness (something about getting out of denial, maybe?) and "Angel Shuffles" brings together sorrow, regret, loss and anger with the surprise of God's renewing presence in our very midst.


And would you believe, bible specialists Thomas Nelson published this music CD?! Not surprisingly, I love the artwork and package design by Christie Knubel. Finally, you easily can find Red Hot Christmas Blues on eBay and Amazon, so go for it!

• my amazon review: sounds like… Community Christmas at the Cathedral!

grace has appeared: event design