Lori Bell • The Music of Djavan

Excelente flautista, que se reparte entre la música clásica y el jazz como en esta grabación en la que reinterpreta a Djavan.

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Review by Ken Dryden
Flautist Lori Bell explores the music of Brazilian composer Djavan in this rewarding studio session. Bell is a gifted player who doesn't resort to hot-dogging on her instrument, she is interested in getting each song's melody across without theatrics. She and pianist Tamir Hendelman (a brilliant up-and-coming player) arranged the quartet selections. The leader's lyricism is magnificent in "A Ilha (The Island")." The breezy contemporary setting of "Serrado" features an overdubbed flute in the introduction, with the leader joyfully propelled by the rhythm section. The hip samba "Luz (Light)" will appeal to smooth jazz fans who want to expand their musical horizons. Vocalist/percussionist Anna Gazolla adds an enticing, sexy vocal to "Capim." Orchestrations by Kuno Schmid are featured in three songs, with one of them, "Faltando Um Pedaço (Missing a Piece)" adding guest Angelo Metz on guitar. Recommended.
 

 

 

www.loribellflute.com ... 

 

 

Les McCann ‎• Talkin' Verve

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Talkin' Verve collects 16 of the funkiest tracks Les McCann recorded for Verve. Of course, funky can be a relative term -- McCann was the coolest pianist this side of Horace Silver, and his laid-back style may not sit well with the hipsters who are this disc's intended audience. If they keep in mind that the pianist never led a small organ combo, they'll be pleased by this swinging soul-jazz and its warm, friendly atmosphere. Some of the songs are a little slight, but even those are given appealing, coolly funky arrangements that are quite engaging, and that's what makes this a welcome sampler.

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Reseña de Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Talkin' Verve recoge 16 de los temas más funky que Les McCann grabó para Verve. Por supuesto, funky puede ser un término relativo... McCann era el pianista más guay de este lado de Horace Silver, y su estilo relajado puede no encajar bien con los hipsters que son el público objetivo de este disco. Si tienen en cuenta que el pianista nunca dirigió un pequeño conjunto de órganos, estarán complacidos por este swing de soul-jazz y su atmósfera cálida y amistosa. Algunas de las canciones son un poco leves, pero incluso esas se dan con arreglos atractivos, frescos y funky que son bastante atractivos, y eso es lo que hace que este disco sea un muestrario bienvenido.

 

 

 

Reforming Music: Music and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century

 

Five hundred years ago a monk nailed his theses to a church gate in Wittenberg. The sound of Luther’s mythical hammer, however, was by no means the only aural manifestation of the religious Reformations.
This book describes the birth of Lutheran Chorales and Calvinist Psalmody; of how music was practised by Catholic nuns, Lutheran schoolchildren, battling Huguenots, missionaries and martyrs, cardinals at Trent and heretics in hiding, at a time when Palestrina, Lasso and Tallis were composing their masterpieces, and forbidden songs were concealed, smuggled and sung in taverns and princely courts alike.
Music expressed faith in the Evangelicals’ emerging worships and in the Catholics’ ancient rites; through it new beliefs were spread and heresy countered; analysed by humanist theorists, it comforted and consoled miners, housewives and persecuted preachers; it was both the symbol of new, conflicting identities and the only surviving trace of a lost unity of faith.
The music of the Reformations, thus, was music reformed, music reforming and the reform of music: this book shows what the Reformations sounded like, and how music became one of the protagonists in the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century.

 

The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the end of the 18th Century