Recommended CDs
Here are a few stand-out discs, that I can recommend whole-heartedly. All sound wonderful and musically would all be included in my choice of Desert Island Discs. Enjoy !
Title: Voadeira
Genre: MPB (Musica Populare Brasileiro)
Released: 2002
A wonderful variety of spare, creative arrangements, giving each piece a unique feel. The most common emotional impression might be described as 'haunting' but some numbers delve into Satie-like humor or old-world melancholy. Melodies and harmonic progressions have surprising and pleasing turns. Easy to like on the first listening but interesting enough to deserve repeated listening. A beautiful voice paired with great song selection and creative arrangements.
In the best of Brazilian tradition, the music is well recorded, neither over-produced nor suffers from a heavy hand with the limiters & compressors. IaIa is a little more adventurous and sonically even more stimulating.
Artist: Gianluigi Trovesi
Title: Round About A Midsummer's Nights Dream
Genre: Jazz
Released: 2000
On "Round About A Midsummer's Dream" Gianluigi Trovesi combines a baroque trio (two violins and a cello) with a folk trio (accordion, contrabass and tambourine) and a contemporary trio (reeds, bass guitar and drums) to perform an hour-long suite inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare, jazz, jazz-rick, northern Italian folk songs and Renaissance dances all come together in this musical montage that mirrors the magical mixture of fantasy and reality of the Bard's timeless play. Naturally recorded, it is as much fun sonically, as it is musically.
Singer / songwriter grew up in Alaska and Argentina (to an American father and Argentinean mother). Lived in New York City for almost a decade, moved to Buenos Aires after the recording of this album, he's perfectly bilingual and shifts back and forth easily between Spanish and English (in the middle of many songs, such as "Star Estrella"), plays acoustic guitar, writes the songs, and fills the album with a wealth of witty wordplay. Since moving to Buenos Aires in 2000, he's become one of Argentina's biggest pop stars thanks to a mildly psychedelic American-style folk sung in English entitled "Down With My Baby," which is included on Sur O No Sur. "La Procesión," opens with an a cappella rendition of the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Give it away, give it away, give it away now/Give it away, give it away, give it away now") before breaking into an energetic hybrid of flamenco and cumbia topped off by some beautiful singing in Spanish. The rest of album is filled with the same kind of cultural paradoxes: mixes Western and Latin while peppering his nicely polished gems with salsa, samba, rock, rap, reggae, cumbia, country, hip-hop, and tango. I have given away at least a dozen copies of this CD to my friends..
Catch one of his music videos at You Tube
Artist: Gianmaria TestaTitle: Extra MurosGenre: Singer Songwriter (Italy)Released: 2004
Despite winning consecutive prizes at the Recanti Festival, an annual singer/songwriter competition, this northern Italian singer / songwriter never quit his day job as station master at the train station in Cuneo, Italy, and has been careful to schedule tour dates only when it did not conflict with his co-workers vacations.
Gianmaria’s warm, dusky voice tells stories of wind and memories, earth and fog, objects that soar from one horizon to another and ladies in train stations who head off on someone else’s arm without looking back. His music is personal and richly melodic, flecked with accents of tango, bossa nova, habañera and jazz, but as spare and essential as a pencil sketch, imparting great beauty with simplicity and directness.
Beautifully recorded, the double bass has a warm big hearted sound, Gainmaria's husky vocals are uncompressed, all of the accompaniments are superb, both sonically & musically. La Valse d'un Jour (2002) is quite different, but can also be recommended.
Artist: James HunterTitle: People Gonna TalkGenre: 1960's R&BReleased: 2006
It's rare to find a new CD where both the music and the recording set the standard for quality.
James Hunter proves to be a man of impeccable taste who has learned from his influences rather than simply imitating them. Hunter's voice has the kind of depth and nuance that invites comparisons to Sam Cooke and Boz Scaggs; his songwriting craft and impassioned performances recall Them-era Van Morrison - and like those artists, Hunter's music is timeless, sounding instantly classic and perpetually modern.
The fourteen songs on 'People Gonna Talk' were all written by Hunter. From the tight & right ska shuffle of the album's title track (with gorgeous string quartet accompaniment), to the locomotive groove of "Talkin' 'Bout My Love" to the hushed ballad "Mollena" which rests on a simple acoustic guitar/saxophone melody bed, the caliber of Hunter's compositions leave the listener at a loss as to how he remained undiscovered so long.
This is the kind of recording that makes me proud to be involved in high end audio. People Gonna Talk is highly recommended for both audiophiles and music lovers.
Artist: Ray CharlesTitle: Ray Sings, Basie SwingsGenre: Jazz VocalReleased: 2007
Concord Records exececutive producer John Burk discovered archival reels of Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra performing live together in 1973. Although the vocals were supeb, the accompanying orchestral elements were of extremely poor sonic quality. So they decided to bring the current Count Basie Orchestra into the studio and carefully and painstakingly laid down a new musical backdrop for Charles' spectacular vocals.
In theory, it sounds like it could be a mess, but the results are stellar. Charles has rarely sounded as inspired. He is at full power and completely in control on each of these recordings. Before hearing Ray Charles sing it, I presumed "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" to be one of those old standards that has been sucked dry of any possible interest. Here, Charles soars over a hot arrangement.
Ray's dead -- but his voice lives on. The Count's dead -- but his spirit is alive and well in the legacy band that bears his name.
Telarc are releasing this in Sept. as a multi-channel SACD, while Pure Audiophile have released this as a double LP; either would be preferable to the regular CD.
Multi Channel Music
Recommended Multi-channel SACDs - below
A slow revolution is underway that is closing the gap between exclusive home theater systems on the one hand and two channel on the other. Multi channel music seems to be the motivation for many music lovers to finally adapt an all-in-one system of two channel and multi-channel music and home theater.
Some lucky individuals have the space & resources to keep home theater separate, but an increasing number are finding that one system can do it all.
We have heard multi channel done correctly and find that it has the capability of immersing the listener in the original event and surpassing the experience of two channel music. Multi channel music places demands that most "home theater" systems cannot deliver - nuance, detail, definition; the little details that make music sound 'real'.
On a Higher Note (OAHN) is continually looking for new, fesh music, please contact us with your recomendations. While we enojy well recorded music, our primary concern is if the music itself is compelling,.
We are in the process of schedualing music seminars (see Events) around the country.
Recommended Multi-channel SACDs
(The PDF files containing the recommendations open in a new window.)
- Classical - Orchestral music
- Classical - Non-Orchestral music
- Blues, R&B, Gospel and Country music
- Jazz -Instrumental and Vocal
- Pop, Rock and World music
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