New In Music This Week: November 14th

To be honest, New In Music This Week: November 14^th could have had multiple top picks. This is one of the best weeks for new recordings in quite some time. But an NEA Jazz Master, realizing a long-held dream, came out on top. But you should explore all nine albums on this week’s list.

My top pick is:

JAZZ: SONGBOOK – Kenny Barron – Artwork Records

In a song composed by Sigmund Rombert, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II wrote “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” Legendary jazz pianist Kenny Barron is proving there’s no such thing as growing too old to dream. 

The 82-year-old has released an album of 13 original compositions reworked with lyrics by Janice Jarrett. The songs are good. Very good. Otherwise, he would never have gotten Ann Hampton Callaway, Kurt Elling, Tyreek McDole, Catherine Russell, Cécile McLorin Salvant and others to perform them.

Regular readers know I despise the idea of re-imaging something. In the case of Songbook, Barron and Jarrett have not reimagined these songs, they have expanded them. By giving these thirteen songs lyrics, they have more fully defined Barron’s vision in stunning ways.

The highlights for me are the three songs that Salvant sings (Thoughts and Dreams, Sunshower and Song for Abdullah. The always reliable Callaway and Russell are also in fine form as are all the singers on Songbook.

You can listen to Kenny Barron and Cécile McLorain Salvant perform “Song for Abdullah” HERE.

With any luck, Barron has more long-held dreams that will come to fruition. If they do, and are as compelling as the music on Songbook, we’re all in for real treats.

Here are the other fine releases to be found on New In Music This Week: November 14^th:

CLASSICAL: BAROQUE ENCORES – David Fray – Erato Records

Often when a pianist offers encores after a recital of a performance, it is either to show off or to provide counterpoint to the music that preceded the encore.

Pianist Fray has chosen 19 short pieces for this sublime album that, in and of itself, could form the basis of a concert. In fact, it did. 

The composer I wasn’t familiar with on this album is Pancrace Royer who was hired by King Louis XV of France to be music teacher to his children. In l’enfant oublié, a program Fray created with his wife, Chiara Muti, they tell the story of the eldest son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette who died at just seven years old. 

Two of Royer’s pieces from his Premier livre de pieces de clavecin are performed here and have inspired me to listen to other of his works.

You can listen to Royer’s Suite en mi: V: Le rappel des oiseaux HERE.

The other composers featured on Baroque Encores are Bach, Couperin, Handel, Rameu and Scarlatti. 

What stands out most is the simplicity, grace and subtlety of both the works Fray has chosen and his approach to performing them.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: TRANSCRIPTION AS TRANSLATION – The Orchestra Now/Leon Botstein – AVIE Records

You are probably familiar with Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1. You are certainly familiar with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Piano Sonata.

But you may not be familiar with the full orchestral transcriptions of these works. But you will be with this fine album by TŌN and Botstein.

George Szell, best known for his tenure as Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra composed the transcription of Smetana’s quartet. Felix Weingartner, one time director of the Vienna Philharmonic, composed the transcription of Beethoven’s sonata.

Both works maintain the integrity of their sources yet come alive in ways that only a full orchestra can accomplish. The original works will always be there in countless recordings, but I found Transcription AsTranslation to be a wonderful way to spend 80 minutes. 

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: ADÉS: THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL SYMPHONY & VIOLIN CONCERTO – Leila Josefowicz/Minnesota Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård – Pentatone Music

This album offers the first-ever recording of Thomas Adés’s The Exterminating Angel Symphony. It is an arrangement for orchestra of music from his opera that was inspired by the classic film by Luis Buñuel.

It’s a challenging opera, but a deeply satisfying one. As is this recording. It proves, as if it were truly necessary, that Adés is one of the most endlessly fascinating composers of our time.

You can listen to “Entrances” from “The Exterminating Angel Symphony HERE.

Violinist Josefowicz tackles Adés violin concerto which is also known as Concentric Paths. The world premier was in 2005 by Anthony Marwood who was also the first violinist to record the work. Augustin Hadelich also recorded the work.

The second movement is where I can tell when a musician is at one with Concentric Paths. Josefowicz is at the top of her game with this recording. Her playing is lyrical when needed, clear when it appears most complicated and assured through the entire piece.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: GABRIELA LENA FRANK: CONQUEST REQUIEM/ANTONIO ESTÉVEZ: CANTATA CRIOLLA – Nashville Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Giancarlo Guerrero – Naxos

When a work is as powerful as Frank’s Conquest Requiem, I wonder why it took two years to get this recording out in the world. This is the work of a composer at the peak of her powers (though I anticipate it only seems like the peak now). 

Conquest Requiem looks a colonization through Spain’s quest of the Aztecs. At the center is a young Nahua woman named Malintzin. She was enslaved in 1519 when Hernán Cortés invaded what is now known as Mexico.  She was both Cortés’ interpreter and the mother of his son, Martín. 

History has treated her well over the centuries as a strong woman who is now seen as both a symbol to Mexicans and as a woman caught up in the horrors of the time.

Frank’s requiem brilliant using many of the common components of the form (including a Dies Irae and Confutatis) while combining it with both Latin and indigenous text and traditions. 

You can listen to “Conquest Requiem II: Dies Irae, Cuicati de Martín HERE.

Joining the Nashville Symphony for this world premiere recording are baritone Andrew Garland and soprano Jessica Rivera.

Estévez’s work has the subtitle Florentino, et que canto con el Diablo (Florentino, who sang with the Devil.) This is the composer’s best-known work and for good reason. It, too, is a powerful choral composition from the Venezuelan composer. 

Soloists Aquiles Machado, tenor and baritone Juan Tomás Martínez Yépez handle the vocal duties while bandoneon musician Daniel Binelli and maracas player Alcides Rodriguez handle the specialized instrumental parts.

The Nashville Symphony, under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero, do a wonderful job with both pieces.  Both works were recorded live in concert.

JAZZ: BETWEEN DREAMS & TWILIGHT – Mauricio Morales & Adam Hersh 

Collaboration is front and center on this outstanding album by bassist Morales and pianist Hersh.  Of the nine tracks on this album, they each wrote three tracks individually and co-wrote the remaining three.

In listening to Between Dreams & Twilight, it is the dreams that resonate the most. The entire album feels like a wonderful dream for both these artists and for listeners.  Hersh says it best in the press release, “The space between dreams and twilight; it’s like the emergence of the career, putting yourself out there on a bigger scale than maybe what you’ve done previously.”

You can watch and hear “Eurybia” HERE.

Or as Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Morales and Hersh have taken their shot and succeeded brilliantly.

Morales and Hersh are joined by guitarist Mike Moreno, drummer Gary Novak, the Rogue Lemon String Quartet and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

JAZZ: I LOVE LIFE even when I’m hurting – Dave McMurray – Blue Note Records

I don’t know about you, but anyone who entitles an album as McMurray has done here, is going to be someone I hope will bring the highs and lows of life to beautiful musical life. Which is exactly what McMurray has done here.

He opens the album with a 72 second track, This Life, which serves as the thesis statement for the music that will follow. That music is infectious and emotional and cathartic and celebratory and moving. 

Six of the songs were composed by McMurray. He also covers The Wheel by The Grateful Dead, Al Jarreau’s We Got By and Yusef Lateef’s The Plum Blossom.

You can listen to the title track HERE.

McMurray is joined by vocalist Herschel Boone, drummer Jeff Canady, guitarist Wayne Gerard, bassist Ibrahim Jones, vocalist Kem, percussionist Mahindi Masai, keyboardists Maurice O’Neal and Luis Resto and bassist/producer Don Was.

Not only is this great music, it’s a mantra we could all use.

JAZZ: MIRROR, FLOATING ON THE WATER – Zhengtao Pan – Outside in Music

This is a classic example of don’t judge a book by its cover. When I first read about his album, I took one look at the artwork and thought, this seems like a work designed for young girls and/or fans of anime.

Boy, was I mistaken. Composer/arranger Zhengtao Pan has created an endlessly fascinating work that pairs a jazz ensemble with a string quartet. 

Pan plays bass on five of the tracks – all but one were composed by him. Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine begins the second half of this inventive and creative recording.

You can hear the title track HERE.

Not having been familiar with Zhengtao Pan, I’m going to explore other recordings of his. This is his second release in 2025 with a third album, his second big band recording, due next year.

Moral of the story: don’t let your first impressions be your only ones.

JAZZ: RUST – Amaury Faye – Hypnote Records

What happens when you take a Frenchman out of France and put him on Frenchmen Street and the surrounding areas of New Orleans? You are likely to get a sweet, chaotic and vibrant album like Rust. 

Pianist/composer Faye is joined by tenor saxophonist Julian Lee, drummer Herlin Riley and bassist Amina Scott on this album that reflects all the best qualities of New Orleans. (Which basically means not going anywhere near Bourbon Street.)

You can hear the title track HERE.

The nine songs on Rust will make those of us who love New Orleans feel like we’re right back there soaking up all the sounds (musical and others) while talking a stroll through our favorite neighborhoods. But the strength of this album is not just the feeling it gives, but the complete musicianship that showcases Faye’s fine compositional skills.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: November 14^th.

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the album art for Kenny Barron’s Songbook