Notting Hill

a lonely man walks through the seasons...
the best scene in this movie.

来年の５月にロンドンに行く予定になったので、
もう一度この映画を見ました。
これ何回目？もう数えられない。。。
とにかくノッティング・ヒルへ行きます！

On the road

[ecm 2287] Carla Bley - Trios (2013)

Carla Bley - piano
Andy Sheppard - tenor and soprano saxophones
Steve Swallow  - bass

Utviklingssang
Vashkar
Les Trois Lagons (d’apres Henri Matisse)
- Plate XVII
- Plate XVIII
- Plate XIX
Wildlife
- Horns
- Paws Without Claws
- Sex with Birds
The Girl Who Cried Champagne
- Parts 1, 2 & 3


Recorded April 2012

ECM 2287


Carla Bley returns to her long running drum-less threesome featuring electric bassist Steve Swallow and tenor saxman Andy Sheppard with an album by this ensemble next week. Trios is the name, though there’s only this one trio performing the songs, all five numbers which Bley had written and recorded on prior albums. This small combo was last represented on record with 1995′s live album Songs With Legs.

For the first time on a Carla Bley-led record, she’s recording under direction of a producer other than herself for this album, and that person is ECM head Manfred Eicher. Along with that, she is recording for the ECM label proper for the first time (her records from the WATT imprint are only distributed by ECM). Since this trio has been an ongoing entity for some twenty years, it’s doubtful that there was much left for Eicher to add in terms of arrangements, but he did choose which Bley songs to record and the running order of those songs, which did much to shape the character of Trios.

Eicher’s influence is felt right from the start in choosing the program to begin with a slower, quieter tune, “Utviklongssang,” a protest song that means “Development Song” in Norwegian. There’s no anger to be found here, however, it unfolds like a flower beginning with Swallow’s patented lyrical bass lines. For those looking for extended soloing from Bley herself will have to look elsewhere, she is locked in on melody and harmony and leaves the choicest improvising moments to her two cohorts. In fact, the performance follows the very simple strategy put forth by Bley: “We just play the music and take some solos. We play it very close to the way it was written.” Since “Utviklongssang” is a well-written folk strain with a Nordic flavor, it’s a strategy that works rather well.

“Vashkar” here bears very little resemblance to the best-known fusion explosion by Tony Williams’ Lifetime (and the Lifetime semi-tribute band Spectrum Road). Here in the composer’s hands, the cracks and crevices of this Middle Eastern tinged melody are revealed, thanks to a perfect alliance between Bley and Swallow.

The remaining three selections are each three-part suites, great examples of Bley’s ability to weave a theme throughout several episodes and make it sound come off uncomplicated with an appealing flow. “Les Trois Lagons” is one, multi-sectioned composition that already started life in trio clothes, a fifteen minute sweep of styles beginning with Sheppard’s bop chops, moving to one of Swallow’s gorgeous moody expressions and finally, Bley’s spiraling descending figure.

It’s apparent that “Wildlife” was conceived for a larger ensemble than this one, but Bley manages to script the parts for each performer that gets the many harmonic ideas of the song across with just three musicians. The program ends with “The Girl Who Cried Champagne,” previously interpreted in a variety of settings like 1986′s Sextet and the big band record Fleur Carnivore (1989). It’s intimate and inviting in this latest rendition, Sheppard plays in a jovial, almost playful manner that illuminates Bley’s bouncy, circular figure. That figure gets slowed down and reharmonized in the middle section while Swallow does his thing making the bass sing before returning to the original arrangement for the final part.

Carla Bley has over the course of fifty-plus years left us with a voluminous body of work of both diverse and consistent quality. Over time, these songs will certainly be dissected and resurrected in greater frequency by many progressive-minded jazz musicians after her. But there’s nothing wrong with the re-evaluation starting now, and by Bley herself. Trios points the way for how others might want to approach her vast, rich catalog.

------ by S. Victor Aaron



伝説の女。。。

Autumn in New York 。。。

in this street,

inside this old building,

in this room,

behind this door,

there is an amazing jazz world,
this is the place to find rare and out-of-print jazz......

Best place to score original jazz vinyl!

owner, Fred Cohen, is extremely knowledgeable, funny and friendly.

For your reference:

http://www.jazzrecordcenter.com/

http://www.grandlifehotels.com/culture/under-the-radar-the-jazz-record-center/

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/bassistwei/14384322

The Coop (Harvard)

Harvard University

The Sea

from my iPhone.

忙到騰雲駕霧

累到七葷八素

Cover of Today

Tzadik系之音樂不予置評
封面的確很有辨識度～

Evian : Baby & Me

Baby is a gift from god～

The Before...

1994

2004

2013

Best conversation ever.
The two really have good chemistry together~

X Japan - Without You

出会いの数だけ、別れはある。

本当に

つらかったわ。

Chet Baker - She Was Too Good To Me （1974）

Personnel: 

Chet Baker: vocals, trumpet
Paul Desmond: alto saxophone
Hubert Laws: flute, alto flute
Ron Carter: bass
Bob James: electric piano
Jack DeJohnette & Steve Gadd: drums


Tracks List：

01 - Autumn Leaves
02 - She Was Too Good To Me
03 - Funk In Deep Freeze
04 - Tangerine
05 - With A Song In My Heart
06 - What'll I Do
07 - It's You Or No One
08 - My Future Just Passed


Chet Baker entered my life before I was a teenager, when someone in my family brought the classic "Chet Baker and Strings" into our home -- presumably by accident -- and left it sitting around for a few weeks. Since no one at home listened to LPs (except my Dad's Opera sets), any albums (from Gilbert and Sullivan to Tchaikovsky to Sigmind Romberg) not played within a short time after their arrival in the home simply moved upstairs became mine. Hence, Chet Baker was my first introduction to Jazz. Diluted by the string arrangements, to be sure, but Jazz it was (including, e.g., the late great Zoot Sims)!

That was the 1950s. I returned to jazz and to Chet Baker after many years, during which Chet's life (and especially his teeth) had gone to [his addiction], and he had regained his chops with amazing effort. Now, again, he was beginning to rise in the public eye -- though nothing like the interest triggered by his death some years later (walking out of a 2nd story wondow "by accident"). One of the prominent comeback albums when I checked back in was the gorgeous, "She Was Too Good to Me."

Like my much earlier introduction, this album is lush with strings, and rich, crystal clear production. (Many of the also-lyrical 1950s albums are musically superb, but lacking clear production.) Here, though, I was introduced to my first Chet Baker vocals, later learning that this was among his most tuneful, on-key vocal sessions.

Chet Baker is the most lyrical of all jazz trumpeters -- even including the extraordinary Joe Wilder and Joe Newman. Chet's tone is always thick and buttery, rather than sharp and brassy. (Thinking only of his trumpet's tone, the buttery texture of Chuck Mangione's horn comes to mind, although Chet dwarf's Mangione in every respect.


By J. Winokur




What'll I do
When you are far away
And I am blue
What'll I do?

What'll I do?
When I am wond'ring who
Is kissing you
What'll I do?

What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?

When I'm alone
With only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do?


What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?

When I'm alone
With only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do?

Cover of Today

曾經去過的地方，留在記憶裡，不過是一些氣味，一些情景。
譬如第一張圖，深夜從酒吧出來，
所有歐洲的街道，都是那樣子了。。。

I'm The Luckiest Girl in The World ~

I got promoted, and I'm going to Harvard!
I'm the luckiest girl in the world !!
Everything is worth it.
lalalala lalala ~ ~ ~

Cover of Today

半沢直樹

『リーガル・ハイ』以来、この男の演技にハマった。
彼の目、笑っているのか？やはり笑っていないなのか？
実に、面白い。。。