I have seven selections for you as the best of what’s New In Music This Week: November 17th. Amongst them are some real discoveries but this week’s seven albums are topped by a legendary group of jazz musicians.
This week’s top pick is:
JAZZ: HOT HOUSE: THE COMPLETE JAZZ AT MASSEY HALL RECORDINGS (Live At Massey Hall/1953) – Various Artists – Craft Recordings
How’s this for various artists: Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Max Roach. This recording from Toronto’s Massy Hall is believed to be the first and only recording by this quintet.
There are two hours of music on this incredible compilation. Within the 19 tracks on this incredible release are the tracks from the original Debut Records LP release from 1953. They feature overdubs by Mingus. (Worth noting that Debut Records was Mingus’ own label.) There are also the six quintet tracks without overdubs.
Also included from this concert is Max Roach’s Drum Conversation which is a four-and-a-half-minute drum solo. The trio of Mingus, Powell and Roach perform six additional tracks: I’ve Got You Under My Skin; Embraceable You; Sure Thing; Cherokee; Hallelujah and Lullaby of Birdland.
This release is available on vinyl, CD and digitally. This isn’t just a historical recording, nor a 70th anniversary opportunity to re-sell previous material, this is damn fine jazz from a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble of jazz giants.
Here are the rest of my picks of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: November 17th:
CLASSICAL: LETTER(s) TO ERIK SATIE – Bertrand Chamayou – Erato
There is a fragility to Erik Satie’s music that is, perhaps, unlike anyone else’s. Well, perhaps almost anyone else except perhaps John Cage. I know what you’re thinking, how could that be possible?
French pianist Chamayou makes a convincing argument by putting five works by Cage amidst many of Satie’s best-known works including the three Gymnopédies and the seven Gnossiennes. There’s also a sixth work attributed to Cage found amongst the papers of James Tenney who was a disciple of Cage’s.
As it turns out Cage was inspired by Satie. I was inspired by Chamayou making this connection in a stunningly beautiful album.
CLASSICAL: BEETHOVEN: COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS – Dover Quartet – Cedille
In 2020, Dover Quartet (violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and cellist Camden Shaw) released a two-and-a-half hour recording of Beethoven’s Opus 18 String Quartets. In 2021 they released an equally long recording of Beethoven’s Middle Quartets.
In 2022 they completed the quartet cycle with the composers Late Quartets
This release combines all 16 quartet performances by Dover Quartet in a box set that runs over 8 hours and spans 8 CDs.
It’s not just a great opportunity to hear Beethoven’s complete quartets, but also to hear how this ensemble approached them as they went through the cycle.
CLASSICAL: MAESTRO: MUSIC BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Original Soundtrack) – London Symphony Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin/Bradley Cooper
Obviously this is the soundtrack to Cooper’s Maestro which opens in theaters on November 22nd before streaming on Netflix on December 20th.
This album does not just feature music by Bernstein. There’s also music by W.C. Handy, Gustav Mahler, Robert Schumann and William Walton. The album also features dialogue from the film.
What impresses most about this album is that Nézet-Séguin is conducting remarkably (as he usually does) and that Cooper and team have assembled some great artists to contribute to the album including Isabel Leonard and Tony Yazbeck. This appears to be the first recording of Bernstein’s music by the conductor since the live recording of Bernstein’s Mass with the Philadelphia Orchestra (released in 2018).
CLASSICAL: PROFESIÓN – Sean Shibe – Pentatone
This beautiful album of solo guitar performances by Shibe features music of three Latin American composers. Two of them are fairly well known: Alberto Ginastera and Heitor Villa-Lobos. The third, Augustín Barrios Mangoré from Paraguay was unknown to me before this recording.
Shibe performs Mangoré’s best-known work, La catedral, on this album. Like most of the works on this album, each of the three movements is relatively short. But the beauty of each and every one shines through in these performances.
JAZZ: GRAND COMPANY – Ray Gallon – Cellar Music Group
If you want a straight-ahead traditional jazz trio album look no further than this recording by pianist Gallon joined by bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lewis Nash. Of the nine tracks on this nearly hour-long album, six are originals by Gallon.
The covers are Duke Ellington’s Drop Me Off in Harlem (which opens the album); Nardis by Miles Davis and If I Had You by Etta Jones.
The original run the gamut from ballads to Latin-infused rhythms. The highlight of the album is the final track, Old Folks, which Gallon chose in tribute to his lengthy collaborations with Carter (the song was written by Willard Robison). It is filled with respect, admiration and emotion.
VOCALS: RAIN – Nora York – Good Mood Records
This was another discover for me. York, who passed away in 2016, was described in her New York Timesobituary as “a singer and performed who intrigued with bold mashups of jazz, rock and other genres.”
This collection of ten songs features original compositions written by York, most of them in collaboration with Jamie Lawrence. They had worked on two music theatre projects which are the source of much of this material.
The first was Water, Water Everywhere (which addressed climate change) and Jump (and adaptation of Tosca). To try to classify what genre of music any of these songs fits in would be pure folly. York was a one-of-a-kind performer/writer. If there’s any relative parallel to what she did it would be Ute Lemper, but even that isn’t a perfect match.
The album opens with Home Is Where the Heart Is, which is a beautiful song that is a great introduction to this singular talent. From there get ready for one of the most unique albums you’ll ever listen to.
That’s all for New In Music This Week: November 17th.
Enjoy the music and enjoy your weekend.
Main Photo: From the album cover for Rain by Nora York (Courtesy Good Mood Records)