There are over 30 new albums and reissues coming out today. I’ve distilled the new releases down to the ten I think are most worthy of your time. Plus I have nine major vinyl reissues for you, too. Here is New in Music This Week: September 18th:
My top pick this week is:
CLASSICAL: GERSHWIN VARIATIONS – Lucas Debargue / Orchestre de Paris / Elim Chan – Sony Classical
This is a truly inspired collection of the works of George Gershwin. The first half features Gershwin’s concert works: the three preludes, Piano Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue.
Interestingly, Debargue opens with Prelude 1 and then plays the Concerto in F with the Orchestre de Paris led by Elim Chan. Then it is the second prelude followed by Rhapsody in Blue.
Debargue performs a solo version of Rhapsody in Blue with new cadenzas by him. This first CD ends with the third prelude.
The second half finds Debargue playing variations on some of Gershwin’s best-known songs: Embraceable You, Fascinating Rhythm, I Got Rhythm, It Ain’t Necessarily So, The Man I Love and more.
The album closes with Summertimes – 20 Concert Variations & Finale, on a Theme of George Gershwin, in B.
For my entire life, I’ve been a fan of Gershwin’s music. I’ve also been a purist. Or I was until I heard what Marcus Roberts did with Rhapsody in Blue. Even then, I felt like you had to be as thoughtful as Roberts was with his greatly expanded version of Rhapsody in Blue.
Debargue approaches Gershwin’s music differently than Roberts did. Gershwin Variations is a marvelous record that is amazingly well performed.
There is an hour and fifty minutes of staggering playing to be savored here.
Here are the other fine recordings that are New in Music This Week: September 18th:
CLASSICAL: PHILIP GLASS FOR CELLO – Camille Thomas / Brussels Philharmonic / Oscar Jockel – Deutsche Grammophon
I don’t know about you, but I find the cello one of the most emotional of instruments. I also find tremendous emotion in the work of Philip Glass.
It should come as no surprise that I had quite the response to Thomas’ album.
From the opening track The Poet Acts from The Hours through to the Cello Concerto No. 1 this is a beautifully performed and fully realized recording. There is an hour and 42 minutes of music to relish here.
I strongly recommend this album for fans of Philip Glass and for those who love the cello as much as I do.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: HORIZONS – LIVE AT FESTIVAL PAAX GNP – The Impossible Orchestra / Alondra de La Parra – Fuga Latina
Festival PAAX GNP takes place in Mexico. This album comes from a 2023 concert there featuring the works of three very different composers: Yamandu Costa with Sérgio Assad, Paquito D’Rivera and Omar Massa.
All are concert works that are imbued, to varying degrees, with the sounds and instruments reflecting their countries of origin.
All three works were new to me. I’m assuming they might be new to you, too.
The album opens with D’Rivera’s The Journey: Concerto for Violoncello, Clarinet, Erhu and Orchestra. It is also known as The Rice and Beans Concerto. In the work, D’Rivera acknowledges the contributions of Black Africans and the Chinese to the culture of Cuba.
D’Rivera plays the clarinet in this performance. The work itself had its world premiere one year earlier.
Massa’s Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra, “Buenos Aires-Berlin” follows and finds Massa performing on bandoneon. This work had its world premiere in 2019 by the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Costa/Assad’s Ilhas Concertantes had its world premiere in 2022 in Brazil by the Orquestra Sinfǒnica Municipal. Costa plays guitar in this performance.
I found this first record from Fuga Latina to be a fine start. All three works are compelling and they are well performed. Horizons will be played several times by me.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: RUBISPHERES – Valerie Coleman / Mariam Adam – Bright Shiny Things
You probably already know the names of Adam and Coleman if you’re familiar with Imani Winds.
This glorious album focuses on works by Coleman. It opens with the three-movement work that gives the album its title. It was composed for clarinet (Adam), flute (Coleman) and bassoon (Monica Ellis).
Maombi Asante: A Prayer of Thanks features Coleman with Tai Murray on violin and Brook Speltz on cello.
Anchoring the recording is Portraits of Langston that finds Adam and Coleman joined by Alex Brown on piano and Dashon Burton as narrator.
The album closes with the three-movement Shotgun Houses featuring Adam with the Blair String Quartet.
Burton recites from Hughes’ Danse Africaine in the opening of Portraits of Langston about the low beat of the tom tom stirring your blood.
Rubispheres stirred my blood, my brain and my heart. This is a gorgeous new album.
GENRE DEFYING: THE ARCH – Kaoru Watanabe – New Amsterdam Records
Call it world music. Call it contemporary classical. Call it improvisational. Call it jazz. Whatever you call Watanabe’s music, you should put it near the top of your list of new albums to hear this week.
The Arch, a deeply personal project for Watanabe, is grace realized as music.
Watanabe plays so many different instruments on this album. Far too many to mention.
Watanabe strikingly combines traditional Japanese instruments alongside an array of acoustic and electronic instruments.
The result is a provocative album that encapsulates the tug of war of modern life while offering a path towards something more peaceful.
JAZZ: RENOVATION – Benny Green – Sunnyside Records
This is a good week for listeners who love to hear the piano. This is the first of two completely solo piano recordings.
Green performed the 13 songs here at Dizzy’s Club in Manhattan. What a treat for the audience members who were there. Eight original songs are featured.
From the opening track, For Duke Pearson through to the closer, Ernie’s Uncle, this was a nearly hour-long concert that finds a master musician doing what he loves to do.
Green has long been considered one of the finest on the piano and Renovation makes it abundantly clear why. The playing is crisp, intelligent, concise and impressive throughout. He knows how to reach deep into the instrument and, in doing so, into our hearts.
JAZZ: TOO LATE TO QUIT – Chris McCarthy – La Reserve
Life seems to be on pianist/composer McCarthy’s mind a lot. His previous albums include Still Time to Quit, Priorities, Life’s a Gig, Add a Zero and First Book Done.
McCarthy, as he did on Life’s a Gig, collaborates with vocalist Vanisha Gould. As it was then, they make great music together. Too Late to Quit features eight original compositions and Gould sings on five of them.
Playing with McCarthy are baritone saxophonist Eden Bareket, drummer Steven Crammer, trumpeter Takuya Kuroda and Sam Minaie on bass.
McCarthy’s original plan was to do an album of standards. Instead, he has written eight new ones. These songs sound like someone found a time capsule from 80 years ago with the music found on Too Late to Quit.
JAZZ: UNCUT – Chucho Valdés – InnerCat Music Group
It has been two decades since Cuban pianist/composer Valdés released a solo piano album. That was Cancionero Cubano.
With Uncut he reminds us that Valdés is a man constantly in touch with his times and our music.
Most impressively, this album was done in one continuous session with Valdés at the piano and playing all eight tracks.
The man is 85. He just sat down at the piano and let whatever was in his heart and mind come through his fingers and onto the 88 keys.
Uncut is a stunning accomplishment from a man who shows no signs of slowing down. I hope we don’t have to wait another 20 years for a new solo piano album. This one only makes me want to hear more and more and more.
JAZZ: A MIND IN MOTION – Zeju Zheng – Shifting Paradigm Records
Guitarist and composer Zheng makes his debut with this collection of six original songs.
A Mind in Motion offers a look inside the journey Zheng has made in the early stages of his career.
What impressed me most about this album is that it sounds like it came from an old soul and a seasoned musician. The songs are striking (the opening and closing tracks, constituting nearly a third of this album’s runtime, were written on the same day); the performances are terrific. Zheng is an artist to keep an eye on.
He’s joined by Chidiebere Emmanuel on drums, Drew Gess on bass and Arnie Sainz on piano.
MUSICALS ADJACENT: ONCE EVERY HUNDRED YEARS – William Finn / Danny Ursetti / Jeff Blumenkrantz / Demond Green / Zachary Noah Piser – Center Stage Records
William Finn is best remembered for a trio of shows that have been presented in various configurations: In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. He was also the composer and lyricist of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
He was, in short, one of the cleverest and most acerbic of songwriters, but he could also reduce you to tears with his music.
Once Every Hundred Years is a song cycle he wrote about life and relationships during the pandemic with Danny Ursetti. It was performed once during his lifetime, at his 50th college reunion. After he passed, the work was performed at 54 Below.
This thoroughly engaging and enjoyable album was recorded during that concert. Blumenkrantz, Green and Piser bring Finn’s final work to life as they sing Finn’s 21 songs.
I’ve listened to it twice and can guarantee you I will listen to it many more times than once every hundred years.
VINYL REISSUES:
CLASSICAL: CHOPIN: PIANO SONATAS NOS. 2 “FUNERAL MARCH” & 3 – Marc-André Hamelin – Hyperion
This album was originally released in 2009. No surprise to anyone who knows Hamelin’s work, but it received nearly universal acclaim. It was also recommended as part of BBC Music Magazine’s Building a Library in April 2022.
In addition to the two sonatas, it also includes Chopin’s Berceuse in D flat major.
CLASSICAL: MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION/PROKOFIEV: VISIONS FUGITIVES – Steven Osborne – Hyperion
I’ve always preferred the piano version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition over the orchestral one. It’s frankly way too bombastic with an orchestra and I believe should never be performed indoors.
On this recording, originally released in 2013, Osborne plays the work with a command of its many excesses. It’s quite a performance.
Fans of the digital or CD release should note that the vinyl edition does not include Prokofiev’s Sarcasms, Op. 17.
CLASSICAL: PERGOLESI: STABAT MATER; SALVE REGINA IN A MINOR – The King’s Consort / Robert King – Hyperion
This 1988 release was also received warmly upon its release. Some critics even consider it a definitive performance of Pergolesi’s work.
The soloists are countertenor Michael Chance and soprano Gillian Fisher.
Note that the vinyl does not include Pergolesi’s In caelestibus regnis found on the CD and digital releases.
JAZZ: ILLUSION SUITE – Stanley Cowell – ECM Luminessence Audiophile
This album was released in 1973 and received great reviews for the performances of pianist Cowell with Stanley Clarke on bass and Jimmy Hopps on drums.
There are six songs. All of them composed by Cowell.
What stands out is the musicianship by all three gentlemen. I only listened to this album this week and quite enjoyed all 40 minutes on Illusion Suite.
JAZZ: BLACK RHYTHM HAPPENING – Eddie Gale– Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
This album, recorded and released in 1969, was trumpeter/composer Gale’s second album and it features eight original tunes.
Joining Gale were Russell Lyle on saxophone and flute, Henry Pearson on bass, Judah Samuel on bass and eight vocalists. Guests include Elvin Jones on drums and Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone.
Thom Jurke in his All Music review says, “Love it or hate it, trumpeter Eddie Gale’s second Blue Note outing as a leader is one of the most adventurous recordings to come out of the 1960s.”
I like this album as a document of a time and place and as a call to action today.
JAZZ: THE HAWK RELAXES – Coleman Hawkins – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
This album was originally released in 1961. It finds tenor saxophonist Hawkins joined by Ronnell Bright on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Ron Carter on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums.
The album features such well-known songs as Just a Gigolo, More Than You Know and Speak Low. The Hawk Relaxes is 37 minutes of simplicity and grace.
JAZZ: MOODSVILLE VOL. 1 – Red Garland Trio with Eddie Lockjaw Davis – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
This 1960 release features pianist/composer Garland with tenor sax player Davis joined by Sam Jones on bass and Art Taylor on drums.
The eight tunes on here include two by Garland (Softly Baby and The Red Blues) and such standards as We’ll Be Together Again and Stella by Starlight.
Some argue that this is more of Davis’ album than the Red Garland Trio’s. It is a straight-ahead jazz quartet album.
JAZZ: MOODSVILLE, VOL. 8 – Frank Wess Quartet – Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds
Stella by Starlight appears again on this album by the Frank Wess Quartet. Wess plays flute and tenor sax on this and is joined by Bobby Donaldson on drums, Tommy Flanagan on piano and Eddie Jones on bass.
There are six additional songs including But Beautiful and Gone With the Wind.
As with Volume 1 above, and the entire series, Moodsville was a collection of albums performing mostly ballads to draw easy listening fans into jazz.
Wess was named in the Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll as best flute player from 1959-1964.
JAZZ: SOUL SYMPHONY – The Three Sounds – Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
Not familiar with The Three Sounds? They were a jazz piano trio that started in 1956. Soul Symphony was one of their last releases coming out in 1969.
The personnel at that point featured Carl Burnett on drums and Henry Franklin on bass. At this point they had Gene Harris on piano.
Monk Higgins, who arranged and conducted this album, wrote or co-wrote all five tracks. The title track is a massive work running nearly 26 minutes.
Joining them were Buddy Collette on flute and alto flute, David Duke on French horn, Alan Estes on percussion, Art Maebe on French horn and Fred Robinson on guitar. Alex Brown, Mamie Galore and Clydie King provided backing vocals. There’s also a string section led by Jim Getzof on the title track and Sid Sharp for the remaining tracks.
That’s all for New in Music This Week: September 18th.
Enjoy your weekend!
Enjoy the music!
Main Photo: Part of the album art for Rubispheres (Courtesy Bright Shiny Things)