The Whole Music Experience

Ben Powell New Street Independent/Ben Powell Music Perhaps it is not too strange that an English child prodigy-turned jazz player interprets French gypsy jazz, aka French swing.   Violinist (both classical and jazz), Ben Powell pays tribute to the legendary French violinist Stéphane Grappelli on his independent recording New Street.   However, New Street travels beyond a tribute album to French swing players, in that Powell honors American jazz legends too such as Thelonious Monk on Monk 4 Strings and adds classical music touches, such as the reference to Bach on the end of Judith. Powell performs with his quartet (Tadataka Unno on piano, Aaron Darrell on bass and Devin Drobka on drums) and with a Stéphane Grappelli tribute trio (Gary Burton on vibraphone and Julian Lage on Guitar) and by including both ensembles, Powell explores intriguing sonic territory.   One interesting side note, the trio performs Gary composed by Grappelli for Gary Burton who plays...

Joel Frederiksen & Ensemble Phoenix Munich Requiem for a Pink Moon An Elizabethan Tribute to Nick Drake Harmonia Mundi Curiosity reared its head when I received press information about the early music ensemble lead by Lute player Joel Frederiksen covering the folk songs of Nick Drake.   After researching the modern revival of early music and folk traditions from the 1960s and 1970s, I already knew about a fusion between early European and folk music, and in fact, famous folk songs, Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair hail from the renaissance.   However, Joel Frederiksen and Ensemble Phoenix Munich cross the paths of English folk musician Nick Drake (1970s) with the melancholic lute songs of the Elizabethan John Dowland on the folksy Requiem For A Pink Moon , titled after one of Drake’s classics. In case you are wondering about the overall effect, the songs take on a 1970s folk revival feel despite the musicians performing the songs on early music instruments...

Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat Twinklings of hope Kirkelig Kulturversted (Norway) Not legally permitted to share their immaculate vocals with the Iranian public, the Vahdat sisters have recorded and released albums on the Norwegian label, Kirkelig Kulturversted.   In 2003, founder of KKV, Erik Hillestad, discovered the Iranian sister vocalists when he produced the album Lullabies from the Axis of Evil .   The album that brought light to the humanity present in the countries the former US President George Bush, Jr. deemed evil, launched the Vahdat sisters’ international career.   Since that time, the Vahdat sisters have released several recordings on KKV and their latest, Twinkling of hope features ancient and contemporary Persian/Iranian poetry performed on traditional instruments and sung in a traditional voice. The irony of the Iranian government’s law forbidding women to sing in public ensures that the Iranian people experience only half of their humanity....