Manafonistas

on life, music etc beyond mainstream

2022 30 Dez

A sort of best of 2022 list

von: Brian Whistler Filed under: Blog | TB | 3 Comments

I haven’t listened to a lot of new music this year, instead opting to make more music and transcribe tunes and learn them. Here are just a few that have caught my ear and also a random short list of television shows that have gotten me thru a fraught year.

 

    1. Ruins and remains- Wolfert Brederode
    2. Isabela – Oded Tsur
    3. Benjamin Lackner- Last Decade
    4. Fossora – Bjork
    5. Steve Reich – Runner
    6. Julia Hulsman – The Next Door
    7. Vermillion – Kit Downes
    8. Charles Lloyd – Ocean trio (saw them a few months back – mesmerizing.)
    9. Aaron Parks – Volume 1 and Volume 2 (superb pair of trio albums)
    10. Esborn Svensson – Home S (short album of found files of Esborn improvising solo piano. An incomplete but compelling glimpse of another side of this underrated pianist and what could’ve been…)
    11. Daydream – Alan Pasqua (possibly released in 2021)  -Beautiful solo album of standards- gorgeous recording as well
    12. Jakob Bro/Joe Lovano – Once Around the Room

 

 

Remasters/re-releases:

You Must Believe in Spring – Bill Evans (excellent remaster of a perfect album.)

Revolver -Beatles (a great remix that pays homage to the original mix but ,makes everything clearer and punchier. Extras are great too, but no surround mix, except streaming Dolby Atmos, which I don’t have access to yet.)

Shows:

Severance (Apple TV) – strikes an incredible balance between sci fi thriller and social commentary while retaining a dark, sly sense of humor. Simply brilliant

Station 11 (HBO Max) – excellent good adaptation of the book. Differs greatly from the book in all the right ways. (Could be from 2121)

Ramy (Hulu) simply one of the most innovative, freshest shows on television. Whatever it is, it isn’t just a comedy, although there are plenty of laughs. Many episodes are purely dramatic. Takes the viewer into worlds most don’t have access to. Courageous writing. Reinvents itself almost in every episode. This year’s Season 3 was the best yet.

Handmaids Tale (Hulu) – Finally caught up thru the 5th Season. Slow moments but redeems itself towards the end of the season. Continues to be a Great show.

This entry was posted on Freitag, 30. Dezember 2022 and is filed under "Blog". You can follow any responses to this entry with RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments

  1. Michael Engelbrecht:

    Freitag, 30. Dezember 2022 um 20:38

    What a joy to read this!

    Now wait a minute, i‘ll send to you and your partner something very special.

    Keep it as a secret Fort Knox-style till the end of January…

    It will ring some bells within you two, I have no doubts about it. Because, apart from being personal it has a deeply human dimension, we can all share one way or another.

    ….

    And, i have never heard of Alan Pasqua, i only know Michael Di Pasqua.

  2. Brian Whistler:

    Freitag, 30. Dezember 2022 um 23:45

    Thanks Michael, whatever you are sending will be welcome. Sounds great.

    As for ALan Pasqua, an amazing pianist with quite a pedigree. Before he became the acoustic pianist he is today, he toured with Dylan in the 70s and is on at least one live album – he also toured with Ringo’s band, Toured with Joe Cocker and a bunch of other seminal rockers. He also did a stint with Tony Williams Lifetime! When he was in college, his main teacher was the great Jaki Byard, so he has a serious jazz background.

    I would start by listening to My New Old Friend, which I consider to be among the top 10 trio albums of all time (maybe top 5,). An absolutely perfect record. A mix of gorgeous originals (he’s a fabulous composer,) and reworked standards, I put it right up there with Chick’s Now He Sings Now He Sobs and even the Evans Vanguard sessions. It really is that good. Daydream was done during lockdown and it’s a beautiful solo piano album of standards. Alan’s playing is resourceful, elegant and always full of surprises. I have seen him perform solo a number of times. He’s very open and asks for requests. One nite, someone asked him to play Giant Steps in every key. He smiled and said, “Just give me a minute.” He closed his eyes – you could almost see the gears turning as he thought about the changes in every key. He then proceeded to play the tune, and improvised flawlessly over the changes, modulating a 1/2 step up after each chorus. It was quite a feat to witness, and it was exciting and very musical. But then, I can’t imagine Pasqua ever playing something that wasn’t entirely musical.

  3. ijb:

    Montag, 2. Januar 2023 um 20:22

    Yeah, nice, I remember how much you raved about Alan Pasqua, and that album with Peter Erskine, „My New Old Friend“.

    Nice to see that there are more music lovers here favoring Björk’s new album – and then in between all those jazz albums!
    And of course the Brederode sextet album!

    Also, good to see you like the Benjamin Lackner album. I wasn’t sure if I should buy it. They’ll be performing in Berlin later this month; so I finally have to buy the album. I haven’t heard the new Hülsmann album, either, but good to see our most renowned Berlin jazz pianist these days has a big fan in NoCal.

    „Vermillion“, though, is not actually a Kit Downes album, but one by the trio Enemy, a band of equals, as one can thoroughly see at their concerts. Their first (and next) albums are released as „Enemy“ (they recorded a new one this past fall in Berlin at Hansa), but because M. Eicher was not so keen on the band name, ECM released it with the three musicians‘ names on the cover alphabetically.

    I haven’t heard (of) the Steve Reich album, Runner, before. I need to check that out.

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