New in Music This Week: July 17th:

We’re just a few weeks away from an onslaught of new releases, but New In Music This Week: July 17^th has some pretty remarkable music across genres for you to explore. Let’s dig in.

My top pick is:

MUSICALS: PENELOPE: LIVE AT JOE’S PUB – Cast Recording – Joy Machine Records

It’s no coincidence that this cheeky musical about Penelope waiting for Odysseus to return from war comes out today. It’s a one-woman show and it packs quite a punch for its direct telling of this story from Penelope’s point-of-view by using humor, witty lyrics, catch music and a powerhouse performance by Grace McLean.

The music and lyrics are by Alex Bechtel. The book is by Bechtel, McLean and Eva Steinmetz.

We’ve seen and heard historical events turned into mediocre musicals (that inexplicably are still running). Penelope is a show that I hope gets produced. I like this music so much, I want to now see and hear anything Bechtel and McLean do.

The lyrics of Drunk Iliad are clever. McLean’s vocals at the end of Prayer (which either explicitly or accidently references as song from Merrily We Roll Along) are shattering. Rain (one of several instrumental tracks) is beauty simplified to point of becoming idyllic.  Take My Hand perfectly captures Penelope’s response to her husband’s return. Us is beautifully written and exquisitely performed.

If you can’t get tickets to Christopher Nolan’s film this weekend (or even if you can), you owe it to yourself to listen to Penelope: Live at Joe’s Pub.

Here are the other fine releases that are New in Music This Week: July 17^th:

CLASSICAL: FINZI: Requiem da camera, For St Cecilia & In terra pax – Florian Störtz / Gwilym Bowen / Hilary Cronin / The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge / Steven Grahl – Hyperion

This exquisite album opens with English composer Finzi’s For St. Cecilia, a work commissioned for the St. Cecilia’s Day Festival in 1947. He reached out to poet Edmund Blunden for the text he would set to music – all of it being a celebration of music itself.

His 1954 work In terra pax finds Finzi juxtaposing aspects of the Nativity with then present-day England. He said of the work, “the Nativity becomes a vision seen by a wanderer on a dark and frosty Christmas Even in our own familiar landscape.”

Requiem da camera was written in 1923-24 with revisions by Finzi in the 1930s. He uses the words of George Butterworth, John Masefield, Thomas Hady and Wilfrid Wilson Gibson as a way of honoring a teacher who was killed in World War I.

All three works are commonly scored for orchestras of varying sizes. This emotional recording uses organ reductions by Robert Gower for the first two works and the work fo Francis Jackson for Requiem da camera.

All three works, none of which I had heard before, are beautiful. This recording matches that beauty throughout.  This is a strong contender for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance.

CLASSICAL: THÈME VARIÉ – Elena Urioste / Tom Poster – Chandos

Thème varié features the work of six composers. I only knew two of them: Olivier Messiaen and Camille Saint-Saëns. The album focuses on French and Belgian composers who aren’t as well know. They are Charlotte Sohy (whose work gives this album its name); Mel Bonis; Guillaume Lekeu and Elsa Barraine.

Barraine’s Nocturne is recorded here for the very first time. I wanted to seek out more of her music and was glad to find there is more music to discover.

My favorite of them all was Sohy’s Thème varié.

The 72 minutes I spent with this album were well worth the effort. Not just because of the discovery of the four composers, but the playing by Urioste on violin and Poster on piano is exquisite.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: THE HOLY LIFTOFF – Terry Riley / Claire Chase / Jack Quartet / Samuel Clay Birmaher – Sono Luminus

All I need to be excited about a recording is to know that Claire Chase is playing on it. The bonus is that she commissioned this work from composer Riley. I’m already more than interested.

The Holy Liftoff more than rewards listeners with interesting music played by some of the best musicians working today (Chase and Jack Quartet). Riley is, of course, endlessly fascinating and always adventurous. Birmaher took Riley’s writing and created the 62-minute work recorded here.

I can only imagine what it must have been like on May 2, 2024, when The Holy Liftoff had its world premiere in Brooklyn.  This is an ecstatic work that, while not always floating on air, left this listener with nothing but a sense of joy and wonder.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: TRANS REQUIEM – Andrew Yee – New Amsterdam Records

This beautiful new requiem by composer Andrew Yee had its world premiere at New York’s Trinity Church Wall Street on September 18^th of last year.

This nearly 28-minute work follows closely the traditional requiem form as we know it from works like Mozart’s. But she has other things on her mind as the title suggests.

As Yee says in the press release, “I wanted to give trans folks the dignity of being grieved. We deserve that.”

No pun intended, but I was transfixed from the opening through to the surprising ending (which makes complete sense.) The music is extraordinary.

The text, particularly in Would You Have Mercy?, Light, I Am Afraid and Death Before Detransition provide the narrative spine for Trans Requiem. More importantly, they shed light on the journey one makes before fully claiming their identity.

Yee sings and plays cello. Katherine Goforth and Breanna Sinclairé also soloists. They are all joined by NOVUS, Trinity Choir and Trinity Youth Chorus. All of whom perform brilliantly.

For those interested, you can watch the premiere performance HERE.

JAZZ: BETWEEN US THREE – Paul Carlon – Truth Revolution Recording Collective

I’m accustomed to hearing Afro-Caribbean jazz music with more than three instruments. Or I should say, I was.

Saxophonist Carlon, bass player Alex ‘Apolo’ Ayala and congas/percussionist Chembo Corniel generate so much joyous energy and passion on Between Us Three that I was left thinking, well who needs all those other instruments?

This is music stripped down without losing any sense of its buoyancy. From Juan Ramirez Rivera’s Anabacoa through six Carlton originals and tracks written by James Heath, Woody Shaw and Wayne Shorter, these three musicians make a lot of music.

Whoever said less is more definitely can use Between Us Three as a fine example of what that expression means. Though I think my early teachers would correct the title to be Amongst Us Three.

I’d tell her to be quiet and enjoy the music.

JAZZ: DEAD WORDS – Christopher Dammann – Shifting Paradigm Records

Bassist/composer Dammann is joined by Jim Baker on piano; James Davis on trumpet and electronics; Jon Irabagon on stritch and effects and Mike Reed on drums on this impressive album.

Montrose B which opens the tracks launches us on a journey that ends up in a very different, but compelling, place once the album ends with This Is An Unraveling. That last track explains the path from beginning to end, yet the track itself doesn’t sound unraveled.

Untitled is cacophonous and feels quite improvised. White Gladis feels like a compromise between the first two tracks. Two Themes For Improvisation is my favorite track for the way the two themes clash with one another yet somehow make complete sense.

What Dammann has done here is put a kaleidoscopic examination of various forms of jazz over 60 years together in a way that is very much a part of music today. He, along with his musicians, make Dead Words live.

MUSICALS: THE JACK OF HEARTS CLUB – Original Cast Recording – Joy Machine Records

So popular was this musical by Jon Richardson when it ran in October at the Provincetown Theater, it has returned this summer for performances from July 16^th – September 6^th.

The Jack of Hearts Club takes place as summer is ending in 1963 at the bar that gives this show its name in Ptown. The owners, employees and patrons all must steel themselves for the end of the season and the lengthy time before they all come back together.

Though the show is unabashedly gay (joyously so), I think there’s a lot here for audiences of all stripes will enjoy it. This is written in the form of traditional musicals.

When the Clock Strikes One introduces us to the musical. Maybe I’m More is the I want song. Where I Belong is the 11 o’clock number.  The Get It In is the rousing end of show number. And from start to finish it is a thoroughly enjoyable recording.

If I were in Ptown, I’d invest time to see The Jack of Hearts Club. If you can’t make it there, listen to this album.

VOCALS: OVER MY HEAD – John Holiday – Pentatone     

This gorgeous album is not easy to classify. It could be classical. It could be art songs. It could be opera. Rather, it’s a bit of it all – all showcasing countertenor John Noliday.

I’ve been following Holiday since 2019 and just before he was a finalist on NBC’s The Voice in 2020.

What I knew then, and the world will get to know through his debut album, is what a talented artist Holiday is. And how thoughtful he is.

Over My Head is anchored by three song cycles composed by Theo Morrison, Robert L. Morris and Leslie Adams. Woven throughout are songs you’ll know (Fly Me To the Moon, Summertime, Strange Fruit and Amazing Grace.)

The album also offers the world premiere recording of Vocalist I, II and III composed by Carlos Simon.

All of this material, wisely chosen by Holiday, allows his glorious voice to shine. The totality of Over My Head allows his personal story to resonate loudly and clearly.

As he told me in our conversation back in 2019, “I believe my job as an artist is to be who I am with fierce joy and love. And I hope that the audience will see that emanating from the stage.”

Now he can add emanating from this record. They will.

VINYL REISSUES:

JAZZ: GOIN’ UP – Freddie Hubbard– Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series

Trumpeter Hubbard’s album was released in May of 1961 and features a great line-up of musicians: Paul Chambers on bass; Philly Joe Jones in drums; Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone and McCoy Tyner on piano.

The album has six tracks: Asiatic Raes; The Changing Scene; Karioka, A Peck a Sec; I Wish I knew and Blues for Brenda. The first and third tracks were written by trumpeter Kenny Dorham. The second and fourth tracks by Mobley. The fifth track by clarinetist Bill Smith. The last track was composed by Hubbard.

Goin’ Up is widely considered to be amongst Hubbard’s best recordings.

JAZZ: LEEWAY – Lee Morgan – Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series

This 1961 album from the amazing trumpeter Lee Morgan runs about 39-1/2 minutes and, like much of his music, is very impressive.

Joining Morgan on this album were Art Blakey on drums; Paul Chambers on bass; Jackie McClean on alto saxophone and Bobby Timmons on piano.

The four tracks are These Are Soulful Days; The Lion and the Wolff; Midtown Blues and Nakatini Suite.  The first and fourth tracks were composed by Calvin ‘Cal’ Massey. Track 2 was composed by Morgan and the third track was composed by McClean.

That’s all for New in Music This Week: July 17th.

Enjoy your weekend!

Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the album art for The Holy Liftoff (Courtesy Somo Luminus)