These are videos that I like

Let’s continue the ECM Records takeover of Bird is the Worm with some videos.

Even casual readers of this site will know that I’m a sucker for certain qualities in a music video.  One of those are when a city skyline appears in the background.  And, so, here’s a video of the Marcin Wasilewski Trio at the 2016 Jazztopad Festival at Dizzy’s Club in NYC.  One of my very favorite albums is Wasilewski’s 2008 release January.

Learn more on ECM Records.  Available at Amazon.

This next video far predates the latest release from saxophonist Andy Sheppard, but it’s too cool not to feature.  The saxophonist teams up with percussionist Kuljit Bhamra on a rendition of “Dear Prudence.”  The video is plenty fun all on its own, but this charming cover of a favorite song really makes this a special video.  We recently featured a write-up of Sheppard’s recent release Romaria.  Credit to Scot Alessi for putting this video together.

Learn more at ECM Records.  Available at Amazon.

Okay, I’m not entirely sure what exactly this is from, and I place equal blame on Google Translate and the various middle school and high school teachers who failed miserably at teaching me French.  With that out of the way, my best guess is that there was an art project at a festival where concert goers were asked to sketch while they were listening to the music.  Here’s a video that might explain more, and here’s the site that video links to.  The music in this video features Mathias Eick.  A write-up of his latest album Ravensburg posted just yesterday.

Learn more at ECM Records.  Available at Amazon.

And we’ll wrap up with a video that should look pretty familiar to you.  It was featured along with the write-up for the lovely new release from the trio of drummer Shinya Fukumori, tenor saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave and pianist Walter Lang, titled For 2 Akis.  But the video is so cool, I just had to feature it again.

Learn more at ECM Records.  Available at Amazon.

As I’ve mentioned countless times on this site (and elsewhere), Bill Frisell is one of my top three favorite musicians ever.  As such, I find as many excuses as possible to feature his music.  One of those routes is video.  Which is why I find it inconceivable that I haven’t run into today’s videos much much much sooner.  Why these videos?  Because they feature my favorite Frisell ensemble, the musicians who joined him for the guitarist’s excellent 1996 release Quartet:  Trumpeter Ron Miles, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and tubist-violinist Eyvind Kang.

According to their YouTube page, they’ve been up for nearly ten years.  I can’t see how that’s possible.  With disturbing frequency, I google keyword searches with the above musicians’ names, just to see if there’s a one-off concert or a bootleg concert recording or A VIDEO of these musicians performing.  How I haven’t stumbled upon these videos prior to last week, I’ll never understand.  The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is it’s part of a vast, evil conspiracy by Google to prevent me from enriching my life (and yours) with the music of this particular ensemble.  It’s the only thing that adds up.

In any event, here’s three videos from the quartet’s April 8, 1997 performance in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  First up is the song “Dead Ranch.”

The next song is a rendition of “The End of the World.”

And wrapping things up is a performance of “Strange Meeting.”

I’m pretty certain if you anagrammed the three song titles, it would spell out something like “Hide these songs from Dave.”  Google, I’m on to you.

And in case you were interested in learning more about Ljubljana, Slovenia, here’s a Rick Steves’ Europe video that features the city.

Have a great Sunday!

It won’t be long before my February recommendations post on the The Bandcamp Daily, but before they do, let’s revisit some of the recordings that made January’s list so special.

First up is a promo trailer for Life of Sensitive Creatures, the new release from Tony Tixier.  The pianist rolls out one gorgeous melody after the next, and spends the duration of each tune giving those melodies substance and personality.  It’s a wonderful example of the modern piano trio session, and everybody needs albums like this in their music library.

If you want to skip the write-up and just go check the album out, you can give it a listen and purchase it on Whirlwind Recordings’ Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

Next up is a live video from Jessica Lurie.  This in-studio performance happened out near Lurie’s previous home turf at Tacoma, Washington’s KNKX Public Radio.  The song they perform in this video, “Calder’s Circus,” is a track from Lurie’s new release Long Haul.  It’s a slightly different line-up than on the recording, but the performance falls right in line with it.  You can check out more videos from this performance on the KNKX YouTube page.  Also, Lurie’s trombonist, Naomi Moon-Siegel, has something new of her own that you’ll be reading about in February’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp column.

Your video personnel:  Jessica Lurie (sax), Naomi Moon-Siegel (trombone), Andy Coe (guitar), Ben Feldman (bass) and Tarik Abouzied (drums).

If you want to skip the write-up and just go check the album out, you can give it a listen and purchase it on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

And let’s wrap up with a video from Chris Abelen‘s Songs on the Eve of Dismissal.  A gospel for those consigned to cubicle life, the trombonist’s new album captures the angst and ennui of the career office employee.  It was the last of my recommendations for January’s Best of Bandcamp Jazz column, but definitely not the least of them.

If you want to skip the write-up and just go check the album out, you can give it a listen and purchase it on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available at Amazon.

And follow this link to check out more of my Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations on The Bandcamp Daily.

We’re happy to feature the video premiere of the latest facet of Matthew Golombisky’s Cuentos project.  The core of the project is the bassist’s 2017 release, the two-volume Cuentos, which hit the shelves back on September 1st on Ears & Eyes Records.

These cuentos, or short stories, focus on the bassist’s life in the two cities of Oakland and Chicago, with an entire volume of music dedicated to each, and featuring musicians from those cities.  The music that accompanies this video is from the Chicago crew of trumpeter James Davis, guitarist Bill MacKay and bassist Jeff Greene.  The video footage is of a tiny village in the Patagonia region of Argentina, called Quila Quina… a handful of domiciles up against the side of a mountain and embraced by a crystal clear lake.

You can listen to more of the album, and purchase it, on the artist’s Bandcamp page.  It’s also available on Amazon.

We’ve previously featured another video from this project.  Be sure to check it out.