#^d 2018-10-31
#^h Music Week
Music: current count 30524 [30499] rated (+25), 293 [287] unrated (+6).
Despite the late posting, cutoff was Monday afternoon (including
Monday's incoming mail). Count is low mostly because I took time off
to shop for and cook Birthday Dinner last week. Went with French,
mostly dishes from the South country, definitely nothing gourmet or
nouvelle cuisine-ish. Made a terrific cassoulet with duck, an even
better veal marengo, a slightly inferior boeuf bourguinon, my usual
ratatouille, and a simply divine gratin dauphinois, as well as a few
spreadables (chicken liver, duck rillettes, salmon rillettes, herbed
cheese, tapenade), and a pretty yummy flourless chocolate cake. Took
three solid days: one shopping, two cooking. More extensive notes
in the notebook.
During that time, I listened to golden oldies, including all of
Rhino's The R&B Box. Before (and slightly after) I got
stuck in
Will Friedland's
The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums, playing things he liked
that I hadn't heard, and other things by artists listed that I
thought might be worthwhile (mostly Frank Sinatra's Capitols).
When I first picked up the book at the library, I had heard 19
of 57 listed albums (33.3%). Now I've raised that to 51 (89.4%),
unable to find albums by Bobby Troup (Sings Johnny Mercer),
Lena Horne (At the Waldorf Astoria), Barb Jungr (Every
Grain of Sand), Carmen McRae (As Time Goes By), Jimmy
Scott (Lost and Found), and Jo Stafford (Sings American
Folk Songs). I don't have time to figure out a grade spread,
but safe to say we don't agree on very many of these.
One thing I like to do when I'm doing these dives into old music
is to knock off U-rated albums in my database, but I had trouble
locating (much less finding time for) unrated boxes of Sinatra
and Mel Tormé. (I also have an unrated Bing Crosby box somewhere.
In fact, I should spend some time with Crosby, but as it happened
I had heard Friedland's two Crosby selections, so I skipped over
him.) Maybe someday I'll write my own vocals list. It should be
very different, as only 13 albums on Friedland's list did A- or
better for me.
Streamnotes due October 31. Need to get cracking on that.
I should also note that Robert Christgau's new essay collection,
Is It Still Good to
Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism 1967-2017 came out last
week.
New records rated this week:
- Danny Bacher: Still Happy (2018, Whaling City Sound): [cd]: B+(*)
- Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop: Abundance (2013-16 [2018], Anzic): [cd]: B+(**)
- Colin Edwin & Lorenzo Feliciati: Twinscapes Vol. 2: A Modern Approach to the Dancefloor (2018, RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(**)
- Fat Tony: 10,000 Hours (2018, self-released): [bc]: B+(**)
- The Marie Goudy 12tet featuring Jocelyn Barth: The Bitter Suite (2018, self-released): [cd]: B
- Robyn: Honey (2018, Konichawa/Interscope): [r]: B+(**)
Old music rated this week:
- Robyn: Robyn Is Here (1995 [1997], RCA): [r]: B+(*)
- Robyn: My Truth (1999, RCA): [r]: B+(**)
- Robyn: Body Talk, Pt. 3 (2010, Konichiwa, EP): [r]: B+(***)
- Frank Sinatra: Songs for Young Lovers (1954, Capitol, EP): [r]: B+(***)
- Frank Sinatra: Swing Easy! (1954, Capitol, EP): [r]: A
- Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours (1954-55 [1955], Capitol): [r]: A-
- Frank Sinatra: Close to You (1957, Capitol): [r]: B+(*)
- Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me (1957 [1958], Capitol): [r]: B+(**)
- Frank Sinatra: Come Dance With Me! (1958 [1959], Capitol): [r]: B+(***)
- Frank Sinatra: No One Cares (1959, Capitol): [r]: B-
- Frank Sinatra: Nice 'n' Easy (1960, Capitol): [r]: B+(***)
Frank Sinatra: Sinatra's Swingin' Session (1960 [1961], Capitol): [r]: A-
- Mr. Tophat Feat. Robyn: Trust Me (2016 [2017], Smalltown Supersound, EP): [r]: B+(**)
- Mel Tormé With the Marty Paich Dek-Tette: Lulu's Back in Town (1956, Bethlehem): [r]: B+(***)
- Mel Tormé With the Marty Paich Dek-Tette: Mel Tormé Sings Fred Astaire (1956, Bethlehem): [r]: A-
- Mel Tormé: Tormé (1958 [1959], Verve): [r]: B+(**)
- Mel Tormé: I Dig the Duke/I Dig the Count (1961, Verve): [r]: B+(***)
- Mel Tormé: Compact Jazz: Mel Tormé (1958-61 [1987], Verve): [r]: B+(***)
- Mel Tormé: The Best of Mel Tormé [20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection] (1958-61 [2005], UME): [r]: B+(**)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- François Carrier/Michel Lambert/John Edwards: Elements (FMR)
- Annie Chen Octet: Secret Treetop (Shanghai Audio & Video): November 9
- Coyote Poets of the Universe: Strange Lullaby (Square Shaped, 2CD)
- Jake Ehrenreich: A Treasury of Jewish Christmas Songs (self-released)
- Christopher Hollyday: Telepathy (Jazzbeat Productions)
- Adam Hopkins: Crickets (Out of Your Head)
- Jason Kao Hwang Burning Bridge: Blood (True Sound)
- Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis: Una Noche Con Rubén Blades (Blue Engine)
- Lawful Citizen: Internal Combustion (self-released): November 9
- Carol Liebowitz/Birgitta Flick: Malita-Malika (Leo)
- Jack Mouse Group: Intimate Adversary (Tall Grass): January 1
- Jorge Nila: Tenor Time (Tribute to the Tenor Masters) (Ninjazz): January 4
- Chris Pasin: Ornettiquette (Piano Arts)
- The David Ullman Group: Sometime (Little Sky)
- David Virelles: Igbó Alákorin (The Singer's Groove) Vol I & II (Pi)
- Way North: Fearless and Kind (self-released): November 2
- Kenny Werner: The Space (Pirouet): November 2