The Non-Classical 'I'm Currently Listening To...' Topic

Chris Thile: Bass & Mandolin [With Edgar Meyer]





Terrific virtuoso playing from two very talented and committed musicians who work well together.

Lindisfarne: Fog on the Tyne

Still listening to this! Also Memoriam's latest album is wonderful metal \m/

Vocado: Northern Lights (2011)

Well, that was unexpected and unintended. JPC lists this under Classical Music (link), I did not check the information and for under 2 euro I snapped it up, expecting a compilation CD of choral works by Scandinavian composers. Uh, no. It is jazzy pop style a cappella singing of Swedish and English songs. The good news - it is actually quite good, and fortunately I have a broad taste. Still a bargain. Track listing in the link below.

Absolute Ensemble : Absolute Zawinul
conducted by Kristjan Järvi (Intuition, 2009) – recorded in 2007. overdubs recorded between 2007–08.


Zawinul died of skin cancer in 2007 at the age of 75, and it’s quite thrilling to get a final recording from him now that is neither a rehash of his most popular Weather Report material nor a disappointing last dose of the Syndicate. Instead, Zawinul’s last work is a stirring collaboration with the Absolute Ensemble, a classical chamber group directed by Kristjan Jarvi. Members of the Syndicate are on hand too, but the primary sound of Absolute Zawinul answers this question: What if a sympathetic acoustic ensemble could effectively orchestrate Zawinul’s contemporary ideas, bringing them a sonic body and humanity that erased 80 percent of the gimmicky facelessness that was always the Syndicate’s downfall?

And here it is. Some of the music still sounds like recent Zawinul — with the world music chants, the polyrhythmic grooves, and the too-frequent vocoder moments from the man himself — but it is immensely richer here, as reimagined for strings and flutes, bassoons and trumpets. The sounds of Zawinul’s piquant synthesizers are still here, but that is no problem, as no one humanized the synthesizer like JZ. But setting it against a large acoustic ensemble that is playing Zawinul’s own ideas with contrapuntal conviction gives the Viennese master his first true foil since the partnership with Wayne Shorter ended in 1985. (more)

John Martyn: One World





I like this album but I much prefer Martyn in the Folk idiom where his superb guitar playing skills came to the fore.

I AM YOUR NEIGHBOR
Zoe & Cloyd

Organic Records

FOREIGN LEGION
Tin Hat

BAG Production

Nice and not so metal.

Rice & Webber: Jesus Christ Superstar




One of the great things about the 1970s for me was the concept of the Rock Opera. This was one of the better ones.

UMMAGUMMA
Studio
Pink Floyd

Harvest/Capitol/EMI

Eva Cassidy, a natural and beautiful singer, left too young.