Exciting & Inexpensive Live Performances This Week

This is it. You’re packing up your dorm room, storing your notes for further study (or shredding them, depending on how your academic semester went), and saying goodbye to friends for the summer. Maybe you’re graduating, excited to take it easy for the summer or to do just the opposite – jet set.

Before you take off, we recommend you attend any of these awesome live performances in and around DC. From the Millenium Stage to the 9:30 Club to the Bach Sinfonia – there’s something for everyone!

Nuevo Mundo Barocco! (New Baroque), presented by the Bach Sinfonia

Sunday May 5 at 3pm

Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center at Silver Spring

7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring MD 20910 (Directions here)

* Metro accessible via Red Line to Silver Spring! *

“Latin flair meets Baroque majesty on Cinco de Mayo! Over the past three decades researches have uncovered a treasure trove of music in the Cathedral cities and missions of Mexico and South America. Both Jesuit missionaries from the old world Europe as well as native composers produced radiant music for liturgical services and civic occasions. A chance to hear some great 17th and 18th century music of the ‘Other Americas’.”

Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano

Richard Savino, baroque guitar

Daniel Abraham, artistic director

Tickets only $15 for students and can be ordered online or can be purchased at the venue

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Millenium Stage Performances at the Kennedy Center

FREE Performances every day, no ticket required!

All performances are at 6pm

Upcoming Performances include The Old Bay Ceili Band (Tuesday May 7) and a showcase from the Levine School of Music (Wednesday May 8)

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Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra at Bohemian Caverns

Monday May 6,  8:00-11:00pm

2001 11th St. NW

* A necessary DC experience! * $10 cover

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Bela Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio

Friday May 10 at 8:00 pm

The Music Center at Strathmore

5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda MD 20852

Tickets $28 and Up

From Strathmore: “Béla Fleck has been nominated in more Grammy categories than anyone in history, and has taken home 14 of the statuettes, wandering gleefully across genres and bringing together eclectic and utterly amazing groups of musicians. This season, Strathmore favorite Fleck brings a brilliant collaboration with one of today’s most lauded jazz ensembles, with Marcus Roberts on piano, Jason Marsalis on drums and Rodney Jordan on bass. “There was an improvisational, what’s going-to-happen-next feeling to the entire show. After a stunning rendition of ‘Lullaby of Birdland,’ Fleck picked up a microphone: ‘I’ve never been terrified in such a friendly way before.’” (Savannah Unplugged).”

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The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival 2013

Saturday May 11 – Sunday May 12, 10am-6pm

* Located at Woodmont Triangle, less than 6 blocks from Bethesda Metro Station *

It’s not necessarily a musical performance but outdoor craft markets are wonderful!

Cene’s Staff Picks

  Austin Peralta – Endless Planets (CD 10056)

The final album from the young jazz pianist – released about a year and a half before his untimely death last fall – is both a melancholy marker of what could have been and a rousing, modern jazz  album, brilliant in parts, and never less than interesting. Peralta wrote all the tunes on the album, and, while he is the leader of the group, his collaborators have lots of opportunity to stretch out, particularly the talented alto player, Zane Musa. It’s not a perfect album, but there aren’t many better jazz albums by 20-year olds in the history of the art.

Morton Subotnick – Silver Apples of the Moon/The Wild Bull (CD 10011)

My man, Morton. “Silver Apples of the Moon” and “the Wild Bull” are both classics of early(ish) electronic composition. While it’s hard to describe either of them as easy to listen to, both are surprisingly engaging, and reward repeat hearings. The synthesized bloops and rapid-fire tape effects take on a structure that’s not necessarily evident on first listening, and after a few times through, you start looking forward to your favorite parts.

Kashmere Stage Band – Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (CD 10047)

The Kashmere Stage Band was a high school (seriously!) band out of Houston, that happened to put out some of the funkiest large-group recordings of the era. This release has one disc of the official release versions, a disc of alternate takes and live recordings, and a DVD documentary of the band (a nice corollary to the Thunder Soul doc that came out recently), so it’s about as definitive an overview as you’re likely to get. They run through strong covers of contemporary funk hits like James Brown’s “Super Bad,” Dennis Coffey’s “Scorpio,” and Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft,” but the originals are just as good. It’s an album that will make you regret all the days you wasted in high school not being as superbad as the KSB.

Herbie Hancock - Thrust (CD 10010)

At the Music Library, we’ve been listening to a lot of those funky mid-70s Herbie Hancock records lately, especially Secrets and Head Hunters. Thrust might be the best of that bunch. The album consists of four extended tracks giving the band a chance to stretch out. Hancock plays an extended array of classic synths and electric pianos, and is accompanied by his longtime collaborator and multi-reedist, Bennie Maupin, and the textbook perfect funk rhythm section of Paul Jackson on bass and Mike Clark on drums. Bill Summers handles percussion, adding a relaxed Latin feel to “Butterfly,” the album’s sole ballad.

 

Krzysztof Penderecki - St. Luke’s Passion & Threnody (CD 9973)

This double-disc release combines two of Penderecki’s most famous and affecting works – “St. Luke’s Passion” and “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima” – and throws in a few more great pieces such as “Dimensions of Time and Silence,” which sounds exactly like you’d expect from the title. My favorite piece is the expansive, atonal, swirling, spooky Passion. Once heard, it’s not easy to forget.

Intersession additions (say that five times fast)

Just because finals have wrapped up doesn’t mean we’re not still hard at work adding fresh materials for you. This week, we have one computer music classic, lots of jazz, funk, and soul, and a few DVDs to round it out.

CDs

Morton Subotnick – Silver Apples of the Moon / the Wild Bull (CD 10011)

Herbie Hancock – Thrust (CD 10010)

Ella Fitzgerald – First Lady of Song (CD 10014)

Bix Beiderbecke – The Art of Bix Beiderbecke (CD 10013)

Anita O’Day – Sings for Oscar (Peterson) / Pick Yourself Up (CD 10012)

Various – Hitsville USA: the Motown Singles Collection 1959 – 1971 (CD 10015)

DVDs

Backbeat (MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 344)

The Buddy Holly Story (MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 346)

Wattstax – 30th Anniversary Special Edition (MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 347) *note – you should watch this one*

Cene’s streaming staff picks

This week, I’m highlighting picks from a couple of our streaming audio databases: Naxos Jazz and American Song.

Melvin Sparks :  Legends of Acid Jazz 

Hard-edged soul jazz guitarist, Melvin Sparks, was a popular sideman in New York during the late-60s and 1970s, and released several funky records as a leader as well. This lengthy compilation pulls from the latter, and includes driving versions of Sly Stone’s “Thank You,” War’s “Spill the Wine,” the Coasters’ “Charlie Brown,” and several of his funkiest originals.

 

The Temptations : Psychedelic Soul

An expansive, 2-disc set covering the Norman Whitfield era (roughly 1968-1973) in Temps history. Despite the loss of lead singer, David Ruffin, the group and Whitfield were firing on all cylinders, creating some the most inventive soul music anywhere, and scoring hit after massive hit. “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Runaway Child, Running Wild,” “Masterpiece,” “Psychedelic Shack,” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” were all top-10 hits.

Third Guitar : “Lovin’ Lies b/w Sad Girl“

A great find on American Song! Third Guitar’s two 1968 45s on Rojac (this one and “Baby Don’t Cry” b/w “Don’t Take Your Love From Me”) have long been coveted by soul collectors, and with good reason. “Lovin’ Lies” features intense vocals and rolling percussion. “Sad Girl” is a great ballad in the style of the Impressions.

The Stylistics : Greatest Hits

The Stylistics were never better than on their ballads, and this set – despite being a slight, 10 track budget comp – nonetheless manages to include most of the best of these. “Break Up to Make Up,” “You Are Everything,” “Betcha By Golly, Wow,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” are all among the best sweet soul tracks ever to come out of Philly.

Gato Barbieri : In Search of the Mystery 

A hard left turn from my other four picks, this is Barbieri’s first session as a leader, coming hot on the heels of his time with Don Cherry’s group. It’s as forceful and (sometimes) grating as anything Albert Ayler or Pharoah Sanders was doing at the time, and an interesting peek at the beginnings of a career that would shortly turn towards innovative Latin-inspired works, and then a long glide towards commercial popularity.

 

Latin Soul legend, Joe Bataan, FREE on Friday

Living in DC has its benefits, like free stuff all over the place. For example, this Friday the 19th, Joe Bataan is going to be taking part in a talk and giving a free performance at the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium. All the information is on the event website, and in the flyer below.

This is a great opportunity to see this Latin soul pioneer in person. Don’t miss out!

 

Some More Staff Picks by Alex

Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky

This collection puts together a huge amount of Stravinsky’s work. What I like about it is that every group either features Stravinsky as a soloist or as the conductor. The result is a series of recordings that highlight the sounds Stravinsky created in a way I haven’t seen elsewhere. Sometimes cast of as a bit of a vanity play by the composer, this nonetheless provides a good look at what he intended when writing his music.

CD 3247

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First Impulse

The Creed Taylor Collection: 50th Anniversary

This collection celebrates the work Creed Taylor did in bringing about the Impulse label. It does this by providing CD’s of Impulses first 6 LP’s. These releases cemented Impulse as a heavy hitter in the Jazz charts in the 60′s. With this collection, not only do you get the music but a spiffy booklet containing the original liner notes and more!

The first part of the collection is my favorite, containing the reunion of J.J. Johnson and Kai Windig. The CD is a combination of two LP’s: The Great Kai & J.J.: Brand New, Swinging Together Again and The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones. Kai and J.J. are a great duo, bridging together Bop and Swing in a fashion that is unmistakable. Creed Taylor doesnt skimp on the Rythm either. The CD features plenty of stuff from Bill Evans, Art Taylor and Sticks Evans.

I would be remiss however, if I did not mention the other albums in the collection. Next up is the classic Ray Charles album Genius + Soul = Jazz followed by Out of the Cool by the Gil Evans Orchestra

But wait, it gets even better!

It also has the Oliver Nelson Sextet playing the album The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Coltrane’s quartet playing Africa/Brass. You really can’t go wrong with this collection.

CD 9349

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Debussy: Complete Orchestral Works Vol. III

Not much to say about this one. It contains  three great piano works (Orchestrated by Caplet and Büsser) on top of the Danses sacrée et profane. Great works, performed well.

CD 6124

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BWV 1080: J.S. Bach’s “Art of the Fugue”

I give up! I really like the Art of the Fugue. Last time, I posted a recording by the Pittsburg Symphony Brass. This one is a more traditional recording, performed by Gustav Leonhardt and Bob van Asperen.

CD 6565

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Head Hunters: Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Harvey Mason, Bill Summers.

Need I say more?

CD 9546

New recordings added to the National Recording Registry

The Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board has added twenty-five recordings (as it does every year) to the National Recording Registry, which aims to protect and preserve recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.”

This year, there’s the usual slate of historic recordings, like an Edison cylinder designed to play inside of a doll and radio broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow and the Native American cultural program, “Indians for Indians;” important moments in classical music, like Bernstein‘s debut with the New York Philharmonic, and Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra;” and a heavy dose of pop music – Prince’s Purple Rain made the cut, as did Donna Summer, Parliament, the Grateful Dead, the Sugarhill Gang.

The full list is as follows. Bolded items are recordings we own – either on CD or streaming:

1. Edison Talking Doll cylinder (1888)

2. “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star,” Lillian Russell (1912)

3. “Ten Cents a Dance,” Ruth Etting (1930) 

4. “Voices from the Days of Slavery,” various speakers (1932-1941 interviews; 2002 compilation)

5. “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” Patsy Montana (1935)

6. “Fascinating Rhythm,” Sol Hoopii and his Novelty Five (1938)

7. “Artistry in Rhythm,” Stan Kenton and his Orchestra (1943)

8. Debut performance with the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (Nov. 14, 1943)

9. International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s (1944-1946)

10. “The Indians for Indians Hour” (March 25, 1947)

11. “Hula Medley,” Gabby Pahinui (1947)

12. “I Can Hear It Now,” Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow (1948)

13. “Let’s Go Out to the Programs,” The Dixie Hummingbirds (1953)

14. “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1954, 1958)

15. “Bo Diddley” and “I’m a Man,” Bo Diddley (1955)

16. “Green Onions,” Booker T. & the M.G.’s (1962)

17. “Forever Changes,” Love (1967)

18. “The Continental Harmony: Music of William Billings,” Gregg Smith Singers (1969)

19. “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Vince Guaraldi Trio (1970) (CD 5057)

20. “Coat of Many Colors,” Dolly Parton (1971)

21. “Mothership Connection,” Parliament (1975) (CD 9430)

22. Barton Hall concert by the Grateful Dead (May 8, 1977)

23. “I Feel Love,” Donna Summer (1977)

24. “Rapper’s Delight,” Sugarhill Gang (1979) (CD 3410)

25. “Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution (1984)

Music About Presidents

In honor of Presidents’ Day we have found music that is all about presidents!

James Brown, “Funky President”

James Brown’s tune is about the decidedly unfunky Gerald Ford, whose propensity was for falling down rather than getting down. Brown paid him the ultimate tribute with this powerhouse cut, featuring a super-solid drumline and killer sax courtesy of David Sanborn and Pee Wee Ellis. It was also sampled to death in its later years.

The Ramones, “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg”

President Reagan’s quirky nickname, “Bonzo,” commemorated the 40th anniversary of World War II that canceled an excursion to a concentration camp in order to view a Nazi SS cemetery. This political faux-pas was the subject of many rock songs including The Ramones’ “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg” which prompted the lyric “You’re a politician/don’t become one of Hitler’s children.”

The Minutemen, “If Reagan Played Disco”

For every scheming politician there is a cacophonous punk rock song to lampoon him. The Minutemen’s one-minute-ish tribute to Reagan consists of only these lyrics, “”If Reagan played disco, he’d shoot it to sh*t/ You can’t disco in jackboots/Born, born on a white horse/he’d sing lame lyrics/and try to reach the working man.”

Animaniacs, “The Presidents”

The Animaniacs  created a song that named every US president (up to Bill Clinton, due to production date) to the tune of the William Tell Overture.  This iconic cartoon series ran from 1992-1998.

New Year, New CDs

Pop/Rock

Buddy Holly – The Definitive Collection (CD 9548)

Little Richard – The Georgia Peach (CD 9544)

The Animals – Retrospective (CD 9543)

Elton John – Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (CD 9550)

The Lovin’ Spoonful - Greatest Hits (CD 9554)

Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (CD 9552)

The Eagles - Their Greatest Hits (CD 9553)

Sly & the Family Stone – The Essential … (CD 9547)

Parliament – The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (CD 9555)

 

Jazz

Lester Young – With the Oscar Peterson Trio (CD 9545)

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (CD 9546)

 

Contemptorary

Nigel Waddington – Bigger Pictures: Music for Big Band, Orchestra and Soloists (CD 9542)

Julia Wolfe – Dark Full Ride (CD 9549)

 

Baroque

Bach – The Art of the Fugue (Pittsburgh Symphony Brass) (CD 9551)

New CDs & HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I know most people are already gone for Thanksgiving break…so all ya’ll still on campus – come grab these awesome new CDs before everyone else gets back!!!

Gold are my Flowers & A Civil War Song Cycle (CD 9503)

Beethoven - The Early Quartets - The Budapest String Quartets (CD 9504)

Bob Dylan – the collection - Blonde on Blonde & Blood on the Tracks & Infidels (CD 9505)

The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary (CD 9506)

Bobby Darin - The Hit Singles Collection (CD 9507)

70, Girls, 70 (CD 9508)

The Byrds - Greatest Hits (CD 9509)

Pearl (CD 9510)

The Fugs (CD 9511)

Deep Purple - Machine Head (CD 9512)

The Quintessence – Quincy Jones and his Orchestra (CD 9513)

The Best of the Everly Brothers – 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection (CD 9514)