NEW IN MUSIC THIS WEEK:  SEPTEMBER 19th

Any time there is a new album by Cécile McLorin Salvant, it’s a good week. That’s just one great recording to be found in Cultural Attaché’s New In Music This Week: September 19^th.

My top pick is (no surprise here):

Genre Defying: OH SNAP – Cécile McLorin Salvant – Nonesuch Records

This all-too-brief album of 13 songs runs just under 35 minutes. But what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in quality and charm. 

Salvant, one of the finest jazz vocalists today, adds songwriter to her resume with twelve of the songs on Oh Snap. The one exception is a :27 excerpt of Brick House by the Commodores (as only she can do it. It’s 27 seconds of pure folly and joy.) She also proves she can sing in many other styles as well.

In the press notes Salvant is said to have never planned to release these songs. They were just part of her creative process. She played around with various plug-ins to create sounds for her music that span multiple genres. (I’ll let you figure those out when you listen to Oh Snap.)

What this album proves is that nobody puts Cécile in a box. Just when you think you know which way she’s going to go, she goes in a completely different direction. By taking what might seem like a wildly unusual turn, Salvant proves how adept she is at making the unexpected feel like just what we needed at that moment.

Joining Salvant on Oh Snap are pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Kyle Poole. Kate Davis and June McDoom offer cameos on Take this stone (the album’s third track).

I’ve been listening regularly to Oh Snap since early July. Each time I do, I discover something new. This is an album that appears slight at first glance, but reveals itself to be a complicated and rewarding feast of music.

You can watch Salvant and Fortner perform Oh Snap Live HERE.

Here are the other fine recordings in New In Music This Week: September 19^th:

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Concerto For Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy, Virelai/Kevin Puts/Stéphane Denève/St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Delos

Kevin Puts, the composer of the opera The Hours, has orchestral music on display in this recording. This record presents the world premiere recordings of all three works.

The album opens with his Concerto for Orchestra which was inspired by Amanda Gorman’s Hymn for the Hurting. The poem was written in response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Thes second work is Silent Night Elegy which is orchestral music from his 2011 opera Silent Night. The final work, written for the launch of Denève’s role as music director at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, has the subtitle After Guillaume De Machaut. 

Denève and the orchestra perform Puts’ music as if it had been music they’ve performed for decades. That’s a reflection of how closely they’ve embraced his compositions and the passion with which they perform them.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: FIRE ECOLOGIES – Christopher Stark/Unheard-of Ensemble – New Focus Recordings

This multi-media work, when presented on stage, contains music and visuals. The album opens with three minutes of the sounds of wildfires. It starts so quietly, I wasn’t sure I was hearing anything. But as wildfires do, they start small and get bigger.

Then the music comes in. Unheard-of Ensemble is comprised of four musicians: Daniel Anastasio on piano; Iva Casian-Lakoš on cello; Ford Fourqurean on clarinet and Matheus Souza on violin. Sounds of nature find their way back into Fire Ecologies. 

The blend of music and recordings begins its life in the haunting opening track. The subsequent pieces reflect tones that are whimsical, ominous and conclude with a sense of renewal.

Fire Ecologies concludes just as it began, with the sounds of nature that gradually give way to nothingness.

I was fascinated by Fire Ecologies and hope to see the full multi-media presentation at some point. In the meantime, this is very thought-provoking music.

FILM SCORE: PARIS – HOLLYWOOD – Alexandre Desplat/Orchestre de Paris – Warner Classics

I first discovered composer Desplat’s music when I saw the 2004 film Birth. I was immediately taken with the music. Later I had the chance to work with Desplat on several movies including Argo and The Monuments Men. 

Here Desplat gets to perform music from over a dozen of his film scores. Having the freedom to perform the music without the films themselves allows the composer to create various suites and expand out some of the music.

Amongst the films represented on this wonderful album are Argo, Birth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Imitation Game, The King’s Speech and The Tree of Life.

Desplat conducts the Orchestre de Paris.

If you’re a fan of Desplat’s music, or perhaps even better, if you’re not, this album will give you an overview of his career spanning many different genres (Godzilla is on here, too). 

You can listen to music from The Tree of Life HERE.

JAZZ: CINNAMON FLOWER – The Charlie Rouse Band – Resonance Records

This album was recorded in 1977. As a teenager this wasn’t on my radar. I was listening to Bruce Springsteen, the Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. So when this re-issue was announced, I was pleased to get an opportunity to hear this album which is presented here in two versions.

The first is the original album which contains overdubs that added strings and other instruments. The second version is the version without those overdubs. There’s also a bonus track, Meeting House.

Cinnamon Flower found Rouse leading a medium-size ban (11 players including Ron Carter) d to perform music with Brazilian influences. That was a bit of a departure for a musician best known for his work with Thelonious Monk.

I enjoyed both versions of this music but prefer the one without all the bells and whistles. It seems truer to Rouse’s intentions. 

If, like me, you were listening to other music in 1977, spend some time with Cinnamon Flower. Vinyl lovers: there is a limited-edition 2-LP set.

JAZZ: MY LIFE MATTERS – Johnathan Blake – Blue Note Records

With all the controversy surrounding the pulling of Jimmy Kimmel from his late-night slot on ABC, it seems as though speaking up has become a liability. For drummer/composer Johnathan Blake, not speaking up has greater risks. 

So he does on this powerful new record that tackles social injustice. Max Roach spoke out in his time. Blake is following in those footsteps with this album whose very title tells you a lot of what you need to know.

My Life Matters is structured as a mix of interludes and longer compositions. In addition to the title track, Last Breath, Requiem for Dreams Shattered, Always The Wrong Color, Can Tomorrow Be Brighter?, We’ll Never Know (They Didn’t Even Get To Try), offer up the narrative spine for Blake’s album. 

The interludes, whose titles include Broken Drum Circle for the Forsaken, A Prelude to An Unnecessary Yet Tragically Banal Oratorio, I Still Have a Dream and Prayer for a Brighter Tomorrow, add to that narrative, but also provide moments of contemplation.

Pianist Fabian Almazan, vibraphonist Jalen Baker, bassist Dezron Douglas and saxophonist Dayna Stephens all contribute mightily to the impact of My Life Matters. Vocalist Bilal and DJ Jahi Sundance are special guests. Derrick Hodge co-produced this album.

You can listen to Last Breath HERE.

JAZZ: SILFRA – Paul Dunlea & Trevor Mires – Whirlwind Recordings

A scuba diving trip inspired this rich new album. Silfra is the location of the tectonic plates of Europe and America meet underwater in Iceland. Whatever the inspiration, this is great music from the get-go.

Dunlea and Mires are both trombone players.  They are joined by Matt Cooper on synths; Ryan Keberle, also on trombone on two tracks; Billy Kilson on drums; Jim Ridl on piano and Ike Sturm on bass.

The two trombonists split the compositional duties on Silfra with Dunlea having written 4 and Mires three of the seven tunes.

I can’t honestly say what I expected when I put this album on. To have it reveal a depth of writing and playing I wasn’t ready for is perhaps the highest praise I can give Silfra. Do check it out. 

You can listen to the title track HERE.

OPERA: L’ANCÊTRE – Saint-Saëns/Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo/The Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo – Palazetto Bru Zane

This label has been actively recording forgotten operas by Camille Saint-Saëns. I haven’t heard others in this series, but I can tell you that L’Ancêtre is quite the discovery. It is one of Saint-Saëns later operas having had its world premiere in 1906.

It centers around two families at war with each other around the time of the Napoleonic Wars: The Fabianis and the Pietra-Néras. Nunciata is the matriarch of the Fabiani family. She demands that her daughter, Vanina, kill Tébaldo who was responsible for the death of Léandri, Nunciata’s grandson. But Vanina is in love with Tébaldo. 

It’s opera, so you know where this one goes. But the journey is utterly enjoyable and features some of Saint-Saëns’ best music. This recording comes from live performances of L’Ancêtre that took place in Monte-Carlo in October of last year.

This is a swift 90-minute recording that should serve as inspiration for other opera companies to perform this work. 

You can listen to the Act II C’est à moi de parler HERE.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: September 19^th.

Enjoy your week! 

Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the album art of Paris-Hollywood (Courtesy Warner Classics)