Sunday listening thread... finally!
19First off, I owe @sammydog01 an apology. A couple weeks ago I promised a listening thread. And I failed. Then I failed again. (I hope that being out of town and my kiddos and I being sick is good enough of an excuse to be forgiven!) So, here it is:
@luvche21’s Sunday listening thread #1: Cool Things That People Do With Instruments: An Introduction
Humans are fascinating. Whenever a level of expertise or awesomeness can be exploited in something, we sure go above and beyond what is expected. Instrumentalists and vocalists are no exception.
As a music librarian at an academic library, I have THE BEST job in the world - I get to listen to and discover music and get paid for it.
Tommy Emmanuel’s arrangement of Classical Gas
One of the most naturally nice and humble people that I have ever seen perform, and it’s easy to see when you hear him speak about his music. Awesome arrangement all around. Listen close at 3:18 when he bends the neck of his guitar to bend the harmonic chord he just played right before. If you need a rabbit hole of music listening, check him out. My favorites are his acoustic recordings, which he has quite an active Youtube channel featuring many of them.
Hiromi Uahera’s Choux a la Creme
By far one of my favorite performers. And not much beats jazz piano for me. Listen how she plays a whole jazz band worth of music on just the piano: there’s a melody, harmony, harmonic rhythm, and even a bass line at times. One of my favorite parts is at 2:55 where she mutes the lower strings of the piano to make it sounds like a bass solo. Super fun.
Andrey Vinogradov’s Russian folk music on the hurdy gurdy
Beautiful, but not overly impressive at the start. Give it a minute or two, and you’ll see why this recording made the list. There’s something about it that almost brings me to tears. Plus, it’s a fascinating instrument
Roman Andrukhiv covering Isn’t She Lovely on the accordion
Before we leave Russia, take a listen to this amazing jazz accordion arrangement of some Stevie Wonder. I thought this would be silly until I listened (and watched! definitely watch too!). I play 10 instruments (maybe it’s more now? I can’t remember…), but the button accordion like this one is an instrument that just blows my mind.
1:36
Wintergatan/Martin Molin’s Marble Machine
Need another rabbit hole? I’ve been watching the build videos for Martin Molin’s new design for his “Marble Machine X” that will replace this one (so that he can go on a world tour with it with his band, Wintergatan. Let’s just say that mechanical music machines are fascinating. If you want some more mechanical music, check out some Smooth Criminal.
Ben Ezra - Flamenco
I rarely ever click on links that say something like this one is called: “STUNNING FLAMENCO BASSIST !!” But oh am I glad that I did. Ben Ezra has some phenomenal solo bass pieces, tapping into percussive techniques to add more voice to the instrument.
Snarky Puppy (featuring Shaun Martin) - Sleeper
I would do myself a disservice if I didn’t share Snarky Puppy in my first listening thread. Definitely my favorite band. Some weird, funky, jazzy, rocky, stuff. Shaun Martin is featured here on the Moog & Talk Box. It’s an odd instrument that gives character to to the Moog through a human voice element.
Victor Wooten - Amazing Grace
Coming from one of my favorite albums (Live at the Quick, by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), Victor Wooten performs a phenomenal arrangement of Amazing Grace on the bass. Similar to the Hiromi Uahera film above, he does an amazing job at playing bass, harmony, and melodic parts all on one instrument.
Cory Henry - Wonderful Is Your Name
Jazz organ at it’s finest. Introduced to me through Snarky Puppy, Cory Henry was an organ prodigy at at early age. In a mini documentary about him, he could barely say that he was 4 years old in the same video that he was improvising on the organ with a band at church. Fantastic arrangement:
Derek Brown and Jeff Coffin - The Jackalope
Let’s end with some funky saxophone. This might be a little weird for some of you, but Jeff Coffin was one of my inspirations to study the saxophone (baritone for me, like Derek Brown in the video). There is a magical feeling of communication and understanding when playing music with someone, especially an instrumental duet or quartet. The sense of oneness when playing in a saxophone quartet during my undergrad years has never left me. I can sense that same feeling between these two when they play.
- 11 comments, 9 replies
- Comment
Yay! Music!
Nice!
@daveinwarsh that was my first thought as well whem I first watched the marble machine. I’m fascinated that not only it works, but that Martin created such a beautiful and creative piece of music from it! I’m very much looking forward to his next iteration! He does weekly build videos that are incredible to see the process as well.
I was prepared to miss Jason Toon even more, but you have done well.
Points for innovation. Haven’t sampled them all yet, but kudos for interesting choices!
@KDemo thanks! I hope you enjoyed them!
P.S. both of my sons (1 and 3 years old) love Snarky puppy. My one year old, who was falling asleep in my lap while I was pulling this together perked up and gasped excitedly (he’s been doing that a lot lately) when I played the above Snarky Puppy track. After his excited look, he went right back to sleep
Thank you for doing this for us. I hope you can do some more, maybe not every week 'cause it looks like you are pretty busy. But maybe every once in a while?
@Barney definitely! I’ve got a trip to Japan to visit my wife’s family in a couple weeks, them my 3rd year review (first step towards tenure, yay!) is due soon after that, so I may be incognito for a bit… But I hope to do more!
@luvche21 Yay!
When you want a whammy bar but your acoustic guitar doesn’t have one installed… o_O
@InnocuousFarmer impressive though isn’t it? The first time I heard it I rewound that part at least 10 times as my jaw dropped in amazement every time.
@luvche21 I was equal parts impressed and horrified. Kind of oscillating between the two. I wonder if his guitar is uh, designed to support that pattern of use.
@InnocuousFarmer Well, a performer like him that travels the world I’m sure has more than enough money to buy new guitars… but then again, I’m pretty sure he has used the same guitar for years and years, something about it somewhere in an interview that I listened to.
@luvche21 Thanks so much for doing this, pretty intriguing list! I know what I’ll be doing today.
Thank you for the Hiromi, she is so expressive musically and physically. I was beginning to think no one else was listening, but I’m glad to see her show up here.
For something a little more classical, but just as expressive, how about some Yuja Wang.
And please keep doing this. Eclectic playlists are always fun!
Oh man I do love hurdy gurdies. Every time I see someone play one of those, the experience is equivalent to — might as well be — a wild-eyed wilderness man sidling up to me at an angle, holding outstretched an obviously coked up Platypus, saying, “Hey look what happens when I wiggle its flippers.”
Nicely done. Thanks for the time and thought you put into this Playlist. I have a 6 hour car ride this afternoon. Nice to have some musical rabbit holes to fall down and pass the time.
@Frcal if you are EVER in need of some musical rabbit holes, let me know. My musical listening is basically rabbit hole after rabbit hole. And I’ve found some amazing rabbit holes.
Glad to see others appreciate this as much as I do! Fantastic list. My faves:
Hurdy Gurdy: Defies my senses that that much sound comes from one person on one instrument.
Accordion: That song always brings a tear to my eye, but this time it was also because the musician is in the zone.
Flamenco Bassist: Again, close my eyes and it’s one person/instrument making that sound?¿!
Jazz Organist: Cory Henry is a conduit of grace.
Thanks, @luvche21 Hope to see more of these.
@gregormehndel thanks for your impressions, I’m glad you enjoyed them as much as I do! All of those (from your list) except Cory Henry are all recent discoveries for me.