These are videos that I like

Feb 8 2019

You deserve some videos. Let’s watch some videos.

 

You deserve a video post.  Yes, you.  And here it is.  Let’s begin…

Oh my god, I love this first video.  It’s from Christoph Irniger Pilgrim and it’s the tune “Improvisation in C Major,” which is on his latest release Crosswinds.  This gorgeous video is shot by Kohei Yamaguchi.  Yes, music world, more videos like this please.  More music like this, too.

This video has all the attributes that veteran readers of this site know I look for:  trains, boats, moody city skylines, seagulls, city street scenes… I’m probably forgetting some stuff, but you get the point.  It’s got it all…

I included Crosswinds in my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp column, so go check that out and tell them I said hello.

Here’s something a little different from Mikkel Ploug.  It features Ploug’s “A New Logic,” which is a melody transcription of philosopher Alain Badiou.  It also includes dance by Tilman O’Donnell and was filmed at the Århus Rådhus.

Be sure to also check out Ploug’s 2018 release Faroe.

And let’s wrap up today’s column with an in-studio performance of the song “Rue du Jour” from the upcoming new release by Fanny Gunnarsson.  The new album will reportedly be released in March, so you won’t have long to wait to hear more.

The quartet is Fanny Gunnarsson (piano), Karolina Almgren (soprano sax), Kristian Rimshult (bass) and Hannes Olbers (drums).

And be sure to check out Gunnarsson’s 2017 release Mirrors.

 

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Feb 3 2019

You deserve something beautiful, so here is a post about Spindle Ensemble

 

I spend countless hours searching down new music, and yet, still, there are times I find myself dumbstruck at the sound of a beautiful recording that, instead, found me.  I’m still not sure what led me to the music of Spindle Ensemble, but I am sure it was random good fortune.  A playlist shuffle or an accidental choice of link or a YouTube autoplay or just dumb luck… and it ended up with me hearing a track from their live EP at Cellar Tapes Studio.

I heard this music and my jaw dropped from how gorgeous is was.  I stopped everything I was doing and just listened.  Didn’t even try to figure out which of my twenty(ish) open windows the music was coming from.  Didn’t want to do anything to shatter the moment.

But eventually I came to find that those responsible for the music are violinist Caelia Lunniss, vibraphonist (and marimba) Harriet Riley, cellist Jo Silverston and pianist Daniel Inzani (who also doubles on accordion), and they go by the name Spindle Ensemble.  Their EP can be heard as a video recording, and you can also purchase the album on their Bandcamp page.

They also have a full-length recording, which came out just a little over a year ago.  It’s called Bea, and it is no less lovely than the EP.  Bea was recorded in the converted village chapel of Grand Chapel Studios.  Two of the pieces from the video EP are performed on this recording, as well.

You can purchase Bea on their Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

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Jan 24 2019

Bobby Previte’s Rhapsody: Live at Roulette NYC

 

Bobby Previte‘s Rhapsody was this site’s 2018 Album of the Year.  Here’s a performance of that recording just a little over a year ago at Roulette NYC.

We’re gonna celebrate this album as many ways as we can.  It’s a stunning performance.

Also be sure to check out other videos on Previte’s Vimeo page.

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Jan 1 2019

It’s a new year, and I choose to start it with a Bill Frisell video

 

Welcome to 2019.  Let’s begin with a Bill Frisell video.

This song is called “Egg Radio” and it appears on Frisell’s excellent 1995 recording Quartet.  I saw that quartet (of Frisell, trumpeter Ron Miles, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and violinist-tubist Eyvind Kang) perform at the Boulder Theater in Colorado shortly after this album was released.  It was arguably the greatest concert I’ve ever seen, measured in terms of the pieces performed, where I was at in my discovery of Bill Frisell’s music, the wonderful venue and its location, and everything that was going on in my life at the time and especially on that day, and how significant all of those things remain even now as I type this out.

Their performance of this song nearly brought me to tears.  Frisell is magic with a melody, so expertly crafted but delivered with exquisite care and thoughtfulness, and how his quartet contentedly sighed the melody of “Egg Radio” that night while balancing it with a rocking cadence like the most comforting lullaby was how I wanted my heart to beat for the rest of my life.

This song, both from the studio recording and that live performance in Boulder, Colorado, is forever etched on my timeline.  I hope the new year brings all of us a few moments just like that.  We all deserve to attain that kind of happiness.

Welcome to 2019.  Thanks for joining me.

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Nov 5 2018

This is how a post about a Roller Trio video becomes a recommendation for J Frisco

 

So, earlier today I put together one of my Sunday video posts.  Featured among the videos was something new from the Roller Trio.  It was a live performance video from earlier this year in Leeds, and featured a tune from their new album New Devices (I adore that album).  As I was tracking down an appropriate video to feature, my search results brought back something rather odd and extremely fun.  It’s this… an interpretative dance to an older Roller Trio tune… in a kitchen.

Obviously I was going to feature that thing.

I did a quick google search on the track to confirm I was attributing that song to the correct album.  That’s when I noticed there was another video out there featuring the same girls dancing to Roller Trio.  This time, on stage.  I thought, hey, fun, the band invited the girls to reenact their little dance video at one of their shows.

Well, that led to another google search, because if I feature someone in a post, I’m giving them a shout-out and, hopefully, provide some links to projects of their own.  As it turned out, they do have a project of their own.  The J Frisco in the video title is the name of their trio.

Say hello to J Frisco, a trio of keyboardist Jemma Freese, saxophonist Lara Jones and guitarist Megan Roe.  From what I’ve heard so far, the Leeds-based musicians take an experimental approach to jazz, where ambient minimalism is the unlikely source of chaos and dissonance. Here’s a live performance of the song “Gender,” which is one of the tracks on their new album, Naked, out later this month.

Here’s a link to their Bandcamp page.  The new album isn’t up, and I haven’t yet confirmed even that they’re retailing it there.  However, there are two tracks loaded up, and they do a pretty decent job of showing their range when working in an ambient medium.

Even better is this collaboration with Archipelago at the Lancaster Jazz Festival.  I’m pretty well addicted to this piece.

J Frisco has plenty of other music loaded up to their Soundcloud page.  I recommend checking that out. Their YouTube page, too.

As I learn more about their upcoming album, I’ll pass along what I discover.

It’s posts like this one that keep me doing what I do.

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