Well, back to my blog. Maybe I will try this. I am a little weary of facebook these days.
I am listening to Lyle Lovett as I was five years ago when I left this blog. The album is call Pontiac. It is his second album. It is quite good. One of my favorites by this singer.
Pontiac of course makes me think of my home town. Growing up there so many years ago.
My music interests have been bouncing around a lot but it is primarily singer songwriters and jazz. Lately I am in a singer songwriter mood.
I saw Lovett twice and both as a warm up act. Once for Sting and once for Bonnie Raitt. He was great. I do not consider him country. I like the way he sings and I like many of his songs. His voice is very suitable for his music. He mixes jazz, blues, country and ballads up very nicely on his albums. I have most of them on CD.
I will try to use this blog for mostly music. Keep it postive, write reviews, and recommend artists and albums. Stuff like that. Enjoy. Let me know if you like something. I always appreciate sharing good music and thoughts.
Uncle Joe
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Friday, June 21, 2013
Lyle Lovett
Have not made a post in awhile.
I am not much for country unless it has a good touch of songwriting and folk in the artist. One such artist is Lyle Lovett. He chooses his material well and plays either with a small sparse band or a large mini-bi band. I have most of his albums and like them all to varying degrees. My favorite is Joshua Judges Ruth. That one should be in everyone's music library. Every song is good. It could be retitled Ballads and Blues. Two songs, Baltimore and North Dakota are excellent. He is excellent live, if you ever get a chance to see him, go. I saw him twice as an opening act for Sting and than Bonnie Raitt. He had his large band with him and for an opening act, his sets were a bit long but entertaining. The players in his band are very good. One other album, I would recommend is Step Inside This House. It is a tribute, all covers, to Texas Singer Songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt and many others. It is very nice and introspective to listen to. I got it as a download for 5$ from Amazon. It is a short double album (21 songs) so this price is a good deal. Check it out and you will not be sorry! The man has such a great voice for the ballads. Most of his songs have a way of getting in your head and sticking there. A very good country-folk artist!! A good classification for him is LBACSS, laid back alternative country singer songwriter!!
That is all for this entry. I have been busy with my music. I am trying to unload some of my cassettes and albums. It is not easy. It seems cassettes are a thing of the past and no one wants or plays them anymore. Vinyl is making a slight comeback but mostly for the popular stuff and not jazz or classical. I have some great jazz and classical and I hate to just throw them out.
I may buy a program for converting them to Digital. Golden Records is one and I have tried it and it seems to work well. Has anyone out there any opinions on this subject. One issue is this approach is very time consuming as the transfer is in real time.
MOG is a great streaming service and I have tried it out about one month now and I like it a lot. You can download the songs you like on your IPOD or IPHONE. It has lots of choices and the streaming is high quality. However, on a IPAD it is hard to tell the difference. It is a much better service than PANDORA.
That is all. Hope all of you followers (if any) are having a nice summer.
Uncle Joe
I am not much for country unless it has a good touch of songwriting and folk in the artist. One such artist is Lyle Lovett. He chooses his material well and plays either with a small sparse band or a large mini-bi band. I have most of his albums and like them all to varying degrees. My favorite is Joshua Judges Ruth. That one should be in everyone's music library. Every song is good. It could be retitled Ballads and Blues. Two songs, Baltimore and North Dakota are excellent. He is excellent live, if you ever get a chance to see him, go. I saw him twice as an opening act for Sting and than Bonnie Raitt. He had his large band with him and for an opening act, his sets were a bit long but entertaining. The players in his band are very good. One other album, I would recommend is Step Inside This House. It is a tribute, all covers, to Texas Singer Songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt and many others. It is very nice and introspective to listen to. I got it as a download for 5$ from Amazon. It is a short double album (21 songs) so this price is a good deal. Check it out and you will not be sorry! The man has such a great voice for the ballads. Most of his songs have a way of getting in your head and sticking there. A very good country-folk artist!! A good classification for him is LBACSS, laid back alternative country singer songwriter!!
That is all for this entry. I have been busy with my music. I am trying to unload some of my cassettes and albums. It is not easy. It seems cassettes are a thing of the past and no one wants or plays them anymore. Vinyl is making a slight comeback but mostly for the popular stuff and not jazz or classical. I have some great jazz and classical and I hate to just throw them out.
I may buy a program for converting them to Digital. Golden Records is one and I have tried it and it seems to work well. Has anyone out there any opinions on this subject. One issue is this approach is very time consuming as the transfer is in real time.
MOG is a great streaming service and I have tried it out about one month now and I like it a lot. You can download the songs you like on your IPOD or IPHONE. It has lots of choices and the streaming is high quality. However, on a IPAD it is hard to tell the difference. It is a much better service than PANDORA.
That is all. Hope all of you followers (if any) are having a nice summer.
Uncle Joe
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Duke Ellington
I love the old and some of the modern big band jazz. The master is the Duke. He wrote such great tunes for his soloists: Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, and many more. His band ran from the late 20s all the way to when he died in the 70s and his son carried it on for a while longer.
I have lots of Duke Ellington on CD and some vinyl. Two of my favorites are And His Mother Called Him Bill (a tribute to Billy Stayhorn) and The Far East Suite. Both are from the 60s and represent some of his more modern recordings. The album he did with Coltrane is also one of my favorites. And the one with Armstrong. The one with Coltrane is small band combo and the one with Louis is with a little larger group.
He has a touch of classical in his music, good arrangements etc. Anyways, if you do not have some than download one of the above and sit back and listen to American Classical Music.
Also, NAXOS has a new recording called Black, Brown, and Beige recorded by the Buffalo Philharmonic. It consists of nothing but Duke Ellington tunes recorded by an orchestra. I am sure the Buffalo orch. is not a major one but the disc received good reviews and high ratings. I am going to download a copy. It is only $5.99 on AMAZON and I have sampled it. Sounds great.
That is, remember It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing!
One more comment,
Other great big bands: Count Basie, Lew Tabackin and Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, and the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band. One old, one from the 60s-70s, and one more modern with a Eastern touch to much on the music. All great stuff.
Uncle Joe!!
I love the old and some of the modern big band jazz. The master is the Duke. He wrote such great tunes for his soloists: Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, and many more. His band ran from the late 20s all the way to when he died in the 70s and his son carried it on for a while longer.
I have lots of Duke Ellington on CD and some vinyl. Two of my favorites are And His Mother Called Him Bill (a tribute to Billy Stayhorn) and The Far East Suite. Both are from the 60s and represent some of his more modern recordings. The album he did with Coltrane is also one of my favorites. And the one with Armstrong. The one with Coltrane is small band combo and the one with Louis is with a little larger group.
He has a touch of classical in his music, good arrangements etc. Anyways, if you do not have some than download one of the above and sit back and listen to American Classical Music.
Also, NAXOS has a new recording called Black, Brown, and Beige recorded by the Buffalo Philharmonic. It consists of nothing but Duke Ellington tunes recorded by an orchestra. I am sure the Buffalo orch. is not a major one but the disc received good reviews and high ratings. I am going to download a copy. It is only $5.99 on AMAZON and I have sampled it. Sounds great.
That is, remember It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing!
One more comment,
Other great big bands: Count Basie, Lew Tabackin and Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, and the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band. One old, one from the 60s-70s, and one more modern with a Eastern touch to much on the music. All great stuff.
Uncle Joe!!
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Rod Stewart
I was calling him the Barry Manilow of today's music or of my generation.
Well, he finally released a new CD that is a throw back to the early days when he was making Maggie May(Every Picture Tells A Story) and Gasoline Alley. Two great albums from the 70s that helped define him. He did record some good albums with the Faces that were a little more hard rocking. In the 80s he tried disco and some of it sucked (like most music from that time). In the 90s, I guess he took a break because he never went into alternative. Than we had that awful streak of him dong standards in the style of Barry Manilow!! Singing really old tunes from the 40s and 50s with orchestra.
Well, I am glad to see him come back into the fold and I will have to check his new CD out. I always liked his voice and the way it fit his music. He had good musicians around him and usually chose some great tunes from other songwriters plus wrote some good ones himself. Hope he is back to stay.
Uncle Joe!!
I was calling him the Barry Manilow of today's music or of my generation.
Well, he finally released a new CD that is a throw back to the early days when he was making Maggie May(Every Picture Tells A Story) and Gasoline Alley. Two great albums from the 70s that helped define him. He did record some good albums with the Faces that were a little more hard rocking. In the 80s he tried disco and some of it sucked (like most music from that time). In the 90s, I guess he took a break because he never went into alternative. Than we had that awful streak of him dong standards in the style of Barry Manilow!! Singing really old tunes from the 40s and 50s with orchestra.
Well, I am glad to see him come back into the fold and I will have to check his new CD out. I always liked his voice and the way it fit his music. He had good musicians around him and usually chose some great tunes from other songwriters plus wrote some good ones himself. Hope he is back to stay.
Uncle Joe!!
Saturday, April 27, 2013
I have been real busy so I have not made any new posts for awhile.
I have been listening a lot to cello music. My favorite cellist is Rostropovich. I have a lot of Yo Yo Ma but the master is Rostropovich. His recordings of the Dvorak cello concerto are beautiful. Try the one with the London Symphony Orchestra. His Bach Cello suites are the best also. Almost any recording by him will be great. He was the master of the CELLO!! The Dvorak is the greatest cello concerto in classical music and the Bach cello suites are the best solo music for cello.
I also recently downloaded a recording of the Boccherini cello concertos, vol. 4 on Naxos on Amazon. It is extremely pleasant and relaxing to listen to. Boccherini is an underrated Baroque composer and all of his music is quite delightful.
I like the cello because of its sound and how it can demand attention and drown out other instruments. It can be extremely melodic as well. I am not a musician but I think it would be a very difficult instrument to play.
The other deals I found recently on Amazon are recordings of the complete String symphonies and solo concertos by Mendelssohn. They were only 8-9$ each and both downloads have over 4 hours of music. They are from the BIS label which make extremely good sounding classical music. Anyways, a real bargain of a boat load of music. Mendelssohn is quite pleasant and reminds me of Mozart. His really good stuff was written when he was in his teens!! So many great bargains of classical music on Amazon!! I will try to post some more stuff over the next few days. Have a nice and relaxing weekend!!
Joe P.
I have been listening a lot to cello music. My favorite cellist is Rostropovich. I have a lot of Yo Yo Ma but the master is Rostropovich. His recordings of the Dvorak cello concerto are beautiful. Try the one with the London Symphony Orchestra. His Bach Cello suites are the best also. Almost any recording by him will be great. He was the master of the CELLO!! The Dvorak is the greatest cello concerto in classical music and the Bach cello suites are the best solo music for cello.
I also recently downloaded a recording of the Boccherini cello concertos, vol. 4 on Naxos on Amazon. It is extremely pleasant and relaxing to listen to. Boccherini is an underrated Baroque composer and all of his music is quite delightful.
I like the cello because of its sound and how it can demand attention and drown out other instruments. It can be extremely melodic as well. I am not a musician but I think it would be a very difficult instrument to play.
The other deals I found recently on Amazon are recordings of the complete String symphonies and solo concertos by Mendelssohn. They were only 8-9$ each and both downloads have over 4 hours of music. They are from the BIS label which make extremely good sounding classical music. Anyways, a real bargain of a boat load of music. Mendelssohn is quite pleasant and reminds me of Mozart. His really good stuff was written when he was in his teens!! So many great bargains of classical music on Amazon!! I will try to post some more stuff over the next few days. Have a nice and relaxing weekend!!
Joe P.
Monday, April 1, 2013
NEIL YOUNG
Neil is my favorite singer songwriter. Not a great voice but it grows on you and it fits his music. He does what he wants. He goes from Crazy Horse to acoustic ballads to reworks of folk tunes. His guitar playing is unique. Acoustic, he can hold his own with anyone. Electric, again an acquired taste but some of his long solos are fantastic. Cortez the Killer is his best! Shades of Hendrix!
And the songs. So many great ones: Old Man, Heart of Gold, Rockin' In The Free World, Out of The Blue, etc.
I have most of his CDs. My favorites are Harvest, After the Gold Rush, Harvest Moon, Tonight's The Night, and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. 2012 was a prolific year for Neil. He released two CDs and wrote a book. What wouldn't Neil Say or Do?
One of latest CDs is called LeNoise (2011). It is only Neil solo but mostly with an electric guitar. A somewhat different approach. It was produced by Daniel Lanois who has produced some very good albums for Dylan and others. It is a little short for a CD but most of the songs are good to excellent. Favorite songs from the CD are Love and War, Peaceful Valley Boulevard, Rumblin', and Walk With Me. Not one of Neil's best but a solid album and a good listen every now and than. Worthy to go on my IPOD. I would rate it 4 1/2 stars.
There is a ton of bootleg Neil on the net if you do some searchin'. If you can find them, most of them are from soundboards and they sound quite good. He did a great solo tour in the late 90s and if you can find some from that era, they are great. I did go to see him once in the early 90s at the Richfield Coll. With Crazy Horse, it was a great and loud concert. No acoustic stuff that night.
Also, Neil has done some very good DVDs. His personal story is quite touching if you read up on him.
So, that is all and everything I want to say about NY for now. Long live Neil and RUST NEVER SLEEPS.
Joe P. April 1, 2013
Neil is my favorite singer songwriter. Not a great voice but it grows on you and it fits his music. He does what he wants. He goes from Crazy Horse to acoustic ballads to reworks of folk tunes. His guitar playing is unique. Acoustic, he can hold his own with anyone. Electric, again an acquired taste but some of his long solos are fantastic. Cortez the Killer is his best! Shades of Hendrix!
And the songs. So many great ones: Old Man, Heart of Gold, Rockin' In The Free World, Out of The Blue, etc.
I have most of his CDs. My favorites are Harvest, After the Gold Rush, Harvest Moon, Tonight's The Night, and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. 2012 was a prolific year for Neil. He released two CDs and wrote a book. What wouldn't Neil Say or Do?
One of latest CDs is called LeNoise (2011). It is only Neil solo but mostly with an electric guitar. A somewhat different approach. It was produced by Daniel Lanois who has produced some very good albums for Dylan and others. It is a little short for a CD but most of the songs are good to excellent. Favorite songs from the CD are Love and War, Peaceful Valley Boulevard, Rumblin', and Walk With Me. Not one of Neil's best but a solid album and a good listen every now and than. Worthy to go on my IPOD. I would rate it 4 1/2 stars.
There is a ton of bootleg Neil on the net if you do some searchin'. If you can find them, most of them are from soundboards and they sound quite good. He did a great solo tour in the late 90s and if you can find some from that era, they are great. I did go to see him once in the early 90s at the Richfield Coll. With Crazy Horse, it was a great and loud concert. No acoustic stuff that night.
Also, Neil has done some very good DVDs. His personal story is quite touching if you read up on him.
So, that is all and everything I want to say about NY for now. Long live Neil and RUST NEVER SLEEPS.
Joe P. April 1, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Jazz today. BLUE NOTE RECORDS
I love blue note as a jazz record company. Most of the music was made in the 50s and 60s. However the company is still around today. The best stuff was in the 60s and most of it was hard bop with trumpet, sax, bass, drums, and piano. There are lots of great jazz artists who made their best music on Blue Note. Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Grant Green, and many more. The latter are two of my favorites.
Grant Green made at least two dozen of his own albums plus guested on many others. He plays the electric guitar. His solos are beautiful. Check out an album called Idle Moments. Definitely five stars. I have most of his music on CDs. Horace Silver was and still is an incredible funky piano player. He is still alive. His best album is a classic, Song For My Father. Lots of his tunes have a Carribean sound. I think his father was born in the Virgin Islands. You will recognize the opening bars of the title song. Steely Dan borrowed it for Riki, don't lose that number. Anyways, another five stars for this album.
Also, on the above albums, Joe Henderson plays the tenor sax. Joe was great and most of his solos will blow you away. He also recorded many lps on blue note, on his own, some with Kenny Dorham, and often as a sideman. Try Basra by Pete LaRocca. An album that got re-released not too long ago. Another classic.
There is a good Blue Note app. for your Ipads. Subscription is only 2$ a month and you can play many of these classic albums with high quality streaming. It has articles about the music, some playlists, and some very cool photos and links to you tube videos of the music and musicians.
I will save Thelonious Monk for another day. He deserves a discussion all by himself. Can you say 'Round Midnight. However his best song for me is Ruby, My Dear.
Joe P. April 30, 2013
I love blue note as a jazz record company. Most of the music was made in the 50s and 60s. However the company is still around today. The best stuff was in the 60s and most of it was hard bop with trumpet, sax, bass, drums, and piano. There are lots of great jazz artists who made their best music on Blue Note. Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Grant Green, and many more. The latter are two of my favorites.
Grant Green made at least two dozen of his own albums plus guested on many others. He plays the electric guitar. His solos are beautiful. Check out an album called Idle Moments. Definitely five stars. I have most of his music on CDs. Horace Silver was and still is an incredible funky piano player. He is still alive. His best album is a classic, Song For My Father. Lots of his tunes have a Carribean sound. I think his father was born in the Virgin Islands. You will recognize the opening bars of the title song. Steely Dan borrowed it for Riki, don't lose that number. Anyways, another five stars for this album.
Also, on the above albums, Joe Henderson plays the tenor sax. Joe was great and most of his solos will blow you away. He also recorded many lps on blue note, on his own, some with Kenny Dorham, and often as a sideman. Try Basra by Pete LaRocca. An album that got re-released not too long ago. Another classic.
There is a good Blue Note app. for your Ipads. Subscription is only 2$ a month and you can play many of these classic albums with high quality streaming. It has articles about the music, some playlists, and some very cool photos and links to you tube videos of the music and musicians.
I will save Thelonious Monk for another day. He deserves a discussion all by himself. Can you say 'Round Midnight. However his best song for me is Ruby, My Dear.
Joe P. April 30, 2013
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