New Arrivals

So in the same session as the post below, I was in Borders, in the internatinal section and also picked this one up. It features one of my favorite players of the oud, a Middle-Eastern lute, Simon Shaheen. He's here with his group, Qantara and the two tenors, Wadi Al-Safi and Sabah Fakhri. If you're into orchestral Arabic music, you'll dig this disc. It's not crappy Euro-Arab pop, but old-style, done in the vain of Umm Khaltoum or Fairuz. It's put out on Ark21 so it should be easy to find. Also, here's the iTunes link.

New Arrivals

I was at Borders the other day, looking through the international section when I came across this disc: L. Subramaniam, Inde du Sud, Le Violon de l'Inde du Sud (The Violin of South India). It features Dr. L. Subramiam on the violin. I really, really love Indian music. Ragas. Kirvanis. You name it. It's a quartet with violin, a mridangam and two tamburâs. I can say I highly recommend the disc. The sound quality's good, too. Definitely one for low lights and a cup of chai. Here's the Amazon link.

New Arrivals

I don't think I've found a piece of music by Gil Evans that I don't like. He is perhaps most famous for his work with Miles Davis (Sketches of Spain is a classic). But he's also done a lot of other work - good work. While listening to WXPN sometime a couple of weeks ago I came across this recording: The Individualism of Gil Evans, here released on Verve. This is also important as it is Evan's only date as a leader in the mid 60's. The session features such standouts as Kenny Burrell on guitar, Wayne Shorter on tenor, Phil Woods on alto, Thad and Elvin Jones on trumpet and drums respectively and Jimmy Cleveland on trombone. The CD offers nine tracks including two previously unreleased to the original Lp. My two favorites on this are Time Of The Barracudas and Las Vegas Tango. I would highly recommend this to fans of Evans as well as any one looking for a very listenable jazz album but don't know a lot about the genre. (Amazon.com Link)

Pandora - An Interesting Concept In Internet Radio/Music Store

My cousin Tracy sent me a link to this new site called Pandora. They're a sort of Internet radio station where you can pick artists you like and they'll come up with a mix of their stuff plus artists they think are related to that artist. So, for example, if I said I liked Dexter Gordon, Pandora would pull up some Gordon but they'd also add in some Von Freeman, Sonny Rollins and whatever else they might think I'd like. You also have the option of seeing if the song in particular is available from the iTunes Music Store as well as the whole album from Amazon.com. From the first look, it's a neat concept. I say from the first look because I have this love/hate relationship with the Internet and buying music. At one end, I'm a traditionalist. I wanna go into a store, peruse their stock and maybe talk with the store owner who knows about what he's got and could maybe recommend something to me - turn me on to something new. The other end is that I don't wanna pay so much for my music! I used to go to little used CD shops and buy stuff 'cuz I could get something for around $10. A new disc starts at $20. For that same $10 I can get a new album off of the iTunes Music Store. Is it just the instant gratification? I don't think so. I like going to the store and getting my music. I'm a ritualist. I like things that have a process. What I do like though, is getting twice the music for my buck. Again, for $20, I can get two albums instead of one. But in that process I feel as if I'm contributing to the demise of small music shop owners. This iPod thing is really something. Always a dual-edged sword. Well, either way, I am intrigued by Pandora. Check it out and lemme know what you think. You can also listen to the station that I've created on Pandora. You can listen to it here. Thoughts, comments & questions are always welcome.