If I find a nightclub where she is singing, I might never leave. Blue Coast. DSD256. [The little Matrix Mini-i Pro 3 acquits itself well on this recording. It’s no RingDAC, but on both the Focal Utopia and ZMF Vérité C, it is quite convincing. And at less than 1/10 the price of Bartok, it’s a great little box to tuck into a room where one wants access to one’s Roon/UPnP library, multiple streaming sources, etc.]
Tidal: Songwriter Mix: Written by Daniel Lanois
Allman Brown - Darling, I’ll Be Alright
A tribute to Thelonious Monk
It all began almost 15 years ago and they are still going strong: Sven Hammond. Since its creation in 2006, main man Sven Figee and his band of brothers have played hundreds of shows, both in their home country the Netherlands and abroad. They have 5 studio albums and 4 live albums under their name and still sound as fresh as ever.
Starting recordings in 2019 the band went back to their roots as an instrumental, Hammond driven outfit. ‘Monk’s Dream is the first song released from their upcoming album ‘Sphere’ (due for release spring 2021). An album dedicated to the music of jazz legend Thelonious Monk. Sven: ‘It was back in the days in a little bar in The Hague where I started to play the music of Monk and where the seed was planted for this idea; an entire album with his compositions but in our own way. Arranged to fit collaborations with contemporary artists and their music. Hip Hop and soul in the blender with Monk’s hard bop jazz. A very exciting project and an amazing mix of styles that actually works out!’ The album has become a mix of instrumental and vocal tracks with appearances of soon to be announced artists.
With this album, the band has set the tone for an exciting new round of shows and is more ready than ever to bring their exciting, grooving, dirty and always soulful sounds to international stages in 2021 and beyond.
Tidal FLAC 44.1kHz 24bit, MQA 44.1kHz
Such a gentle, pretty album:
One of those that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. When I was just 15 years old, I saw the Allman Brothers play in a local joint in Macon, Georgia shortly before Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident. My family had just moved to Macon for my father to take a teaching job at the local college, a move I bitterly resented. Except for this. Eric Clapton once said that Duane did things on the guitar that Clapton only dreamed of. It’s true.
Qobuz 24/96
Interesting choice. I have not been a Currentzis fan considering his interpretations be too often over the top, However BBC Radio 3 had a 5 1/2 hour long programme yesterday playing only Stravinsky pieces (50 years since his death) back to back with no identification such as a linking presenter. They call this format a “River of Music”. This means that each piece is heard “naked”. There was a wonderful excerpt from Les Noces which excited me and I was desperate to find out who it was. When I looked on line ( each piece was identified after it had finished on the R3 website) it was Teodor Currentzis and his band MusicAeterna. So maybe my prejudice needs revising. I look forward to hearing your recommendation.
I was intrigued by the album review, so gave it a listen. I liked it so much that I bought it!
Maybe you should give it a whirl. You may be pleasantly surprised…
Interesting. I use this album to test trial components. Just yesterday I swapped out a Shunyata V14 Digital power cable connected to the dCS Vivaldi Upsampler for the Alpha V2. The latter was far better, though I’d not expected it to do so. But the transients of the cymbals and much else from this album really showed the difference. And in both cases the cables were connected to the Everest.
I’m on a real “pretty, gentle” bent the last few days it seems.
Especially love this track:
DSD 256 (NativeDSD)
