at the Case Memorial Library, Orange, CT
"The British legend John Mayall ... schooled a generation of
musicians in the blues and [his] bravura harmonica solo on 'Room to
Move,' from the 1969 album 'The Turning Point,' introduced countless
people to the range and excitement of the genre" ("Night Life," New Yorker, 2/4/13).
posted by casebook at 9:20 AM
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"[O]n their third album ... the band head off towards a more organic, nature-infused sound
(there are bee and swamplife samples) while Yannis [Philippakis] sings lyrics so
personal ('Cause I'm a bad habit/One you cannot shake/And I hope that I
change') that they apparently made him 'cringe to listen back to.' ... In trying to locate a more primal, honest sound the band
went to great lengths, recording in a cramped, smelly studio they
hadn't used since they were teenagers. ... 'At one point we even made these
poor studio interns collect bones,' says Yannis, who can switch in an
instant from being reserved and slightly distant to an enthusiastic
storyteller. 'We were inspired by voodoo, these Haitian rhythms. We
collected some ourselves, from butchers in Willesden High Road. ... We boiled the flesh away so we could
use them as percussion! We wanted to get primitive! ... We hit them together and
it sounded like two paintbrushes clinking together. So much effort and
so little reward! But it's good to give in to the ritual and mysticisms
of making a record rather than sitting down with a nylon string guitar
and strumming'" (Tim Jonze, "Foals on Holy Fire," Guardian, 4/25/13).
posted by casebook at 9:58 AM
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"Karl Berger, the jazz pianist, vibraphonist and conductor of
improvisers, ran a workshop for his orchestra before its performance at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn on Thursday night. He uses a few simple hand signals for
duration, attack and pitch, and the musicians wanted to be sure they
were interpreting the specifics correctly. But Mr. Berger seemed more
concerned with telling them something very general. 'Hear your sound as if you’re playing the sound of the whole group,' he
told them, after they played a few motley, heaving phrases in unison
together. (Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra plays written material —
melodies and frameworks — but much more of its music is orchestral
improvisation in which there are, strictly speaking, no wrong notes.) 'You are the sound. You’re not just the voice within the sound. You’re
the sound.' They played some more vast chords. ... The German-born Mr. Berger, 78, played with the trumpeter Don Cherry in
Europe in the early 1960s, then moved to New York, where he worked in
Cherry’s band and in the city’s wider circles of free and experimental
jazz. (He can be heard on Cherry’s 1966 record 'Symphony for Improvisers.') ..." (Ben Ratliff, "An Incubator of Jazz Improvisation," New York Times, 4/19/13)
posted by casebook at 9:37 AM
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"1 is a compilation album by the Beatles,
released on 13 November 2000. The album features virtually every
number-one single released in the United Kingdom and United States from
1962 to 1970 by the Beatles. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the
band's break-up, it was their first compilation available on one compact disc. 1 was a commercial success, and topped the charts worldwide. 1 has sold over 31 million copies. In addition, 1 is the seventh best-selling album since early 1991, the best-selling album in the US from 2000 to 2009, and the best selling album of the decade worldwide. It is also the fastest selling album in history. ... Compiled by producer George Martin and the (then) three surviving members of the band, 1 includes the 27 Beatles songs that went to number one in the United Kingdom on the Record Retailer magazine charts and/or the United States on the Billboard magazine charts. It is worth noting, however, that the song 'For You Blue' was listed in Billboard chart compilations at No. 1, as a double A-sided single with 'The Long and Winding Road', but Capitol Records treated 'For You Blue' as strictly a B-side and did not promote it as an A-side. Meanwhile, 'Day Tripper' was included on 1, since it charted at No. 1 in the UK as a double A side with 'We Can Work It Out'" (Wikipedia).
posted by casebook at 9:47 AM
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"In that marvelous period between 1964 and 1968, these sons of Detroit's tough North End -- Renaldo 'Obie' Benson, Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, Lawrence Payton and Levi Stubbs -- lived at the north end of the pop charts. A dozen of their first 15 releases made the Top 20 and five crashed the Top 10. Few of the millions who bought these rock 'n' soul singles realized the quartet, which formed in 1954, had spent a decade as an accomplished live jazz act, applying complex vocal harmonies to sophisticated standards and show tunes. But despite universal respect from fellow musicians and nightclub audiences, they lacked the fame and fortune that came with hits. Berry Gordy changed that when he signed them for Motown Records in 1963. ..." (CD notes by Stu Hackel).
posted by casebook at 12:42 PM
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"'Say, Hoagy, why don't you try writing music?' The way Hoagy Carmichael remembered it, he and Bix Beiderbecke were lazing around the Kappa Sigma fraternity house in Bloomington, Indiana, one evening in 1924, listening to Stravinsky's The Firebird on a windup Victrola, when Bix popped his question. Carmichael said nothing, but he thought about it. He'd been considering the idea for some while, but it took his friend's nudge to get the machinery moving. Of all the aspects of Bix's playing, what fascinated Hoagy most was his way of appearing to compose jazz cornet solos. ... Hoagland Howard Carmichael was 24, more than three years older than Bix, but musically far his junior. Though officially studying law at Indiana University, he spent most of his time at the piano, especially the battered upright at the Book Nook, a campus hangout. Within days after his conversation with Bix, Hoagy unveiled his first effort, a band number he called Free Wheeling. Beiderbecke liked it right off, changed the title to Riverboat Shuffle and scheduled it for his next recording date. The tune spread through the emergent hot music world of the mid-1920s; all sorts of groups, including the prestigious Benson Orchestra of Chicago, began putting it on record. ..." (liner notes by Richard M. Sudhalter).
posted by casebook at 9:56 AM
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"'People, Hell and Angels' (Experience Hendrix/Legacy Recordings) is a
follow-up to 2010’s 'Valleys of Neptune,' a set of unreleased tracks
recorded with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. ... The new album consists of a dozen blues-rock songs that Hendrix recorded
with other musicians. ... Hendrix experimented with different
lineups and in some cases expanding his arrangements beyond a power
trio. His playing dips at times into a jazz idiom but more often returns
to his R&B roots, as he reunited with musicians he had known from
his days as a sideman on the chitlin’ circuit. Four songs on the album ... come from two sessions
with the bassist Billy Cox and the drummer Buddy Miles. This was the
trio, known as the Band of Gypsys, with which Hendrix toured in early
1970. Two other tracks ... feature the same band
Hendrix assembled for the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. ... There is also 'Let Me Move You,' a stomping R&B groove featuring the
saxophonist and singer Lonnie Youngblood, whom Hendrix had backed up as
a young studio guitarist" (James C. McKinley Jr., "Exhuming the Last of Hendrix's Studio Sessions," New York Times, 3/6/13).
posted by casebook at 1:27 PM
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The CDs we collect and describe can be borrowed on site at the Case Memorial Library by patrons of any Connecticut library. In addition, patrons of most libraries belonging to Libraries Online, Inc. (LION) can have our CDs delivered to their home libraries for pickup. Those libraries include Branford, East Lyme Public, East Lyme High School, Essex, Guilford, Ivoryton, Mitchell College, Middletown, Meriden, Old Lyme, Stony Creek, Wallingford, Yalesville, Woodbridge, and Westbrook.
