The Whole Music Experience

Native American / World   Tony Duncan Native Son   Canyon Records I had one of those days where I feel wound up and it doesn’t help that I have been consuming raw chocolate.   So listening to Apache/Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara flutist Tony Duncan’s third album with Canyon Records and I believe his second solo album, Native Son , comes as a relaxing godsend.   When you listen to numerous Native American flute recordings you begin to identify subtle and not so subtle differences and signatures of the many gifted flutists.   Some Native American flutists possess playfulness while others lean heavily into the ethereal realm and others provoke healing tears to flow.   Duncan combines all of those qualities in his playing, which if it was a wine, we would also call it full bodied and robust--not bad for a young musician. I survived a stressful summer in 2011 in part listening to Estan-Bah (acoustic guitar, Native American flute, Native American...

World / Folk   The Henry Girl December Moon   Independent recording Hailing from Ireland, the sister trio (Karen, Lorna and Joleen McLaughlin) The Henry’s Girls are the UK’s answer to Canadian women folk bands the Wailin’ Jennys and the Good lovelies. However, they’re no copycat act since Henry’s Girls possess authenticity while even giving Irish music a facelift on their fourth recording December Moon .   One listen to their cover of Elvis Costello’s Watching the Detective (given a cabaret treatment here) turns heads.   And overall, their harmonies sound more bluegrass swing than Celtic.   The girls add some West African flavors via Gameli Tordzro’s kora on Moonstruck , an interlude sandwiched between the send-up December Moon and the lament Rain and Snow . Anyone looking for a warm acoustic album (banjo, fiddle, harp, accordion, kora, double bass, dobro, percussion, horns, piano, mandolin, ukulele, and Mexican guitar) will feel right ...

Classical   Javier Perianes   Les Sons et les Parfums   Debussy meets Chopin   Harmonia Mundi    Chopin and Debussy were both known for composing diffused music for the piano, however, while Debussy also composed for ballet, opera, and chamber ensembles, Chopin strictly composed for piano.   Oddly, when I brought up Chopin’s music once to a colleague, he made a grave error in describing Chopin’s music as “small,” simply because Chopin composed for a single instrument.   Any pianist that has performed Chopin’s keyboard work would not use the word “small” to describe it.    Even listening to Chopin’s mazurkas and nocturnes, provide fascinating contours and development of musical themes, despite the lack of a symphonic or orchestral association.   And even though Chopin did not shout virtuosity like Liszt, Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev or provide mental gymnastics like Bach, Chopin’s seemingly quiet and s...

10,000 Maniacs, Wikipedia During my research on children born in the turbulent 1960s for my astrology blog, Whole Astrology, I started listening to songs composed and performed by musicians from this generation that actually begun in 1957 and ended in 1971 (Pluto in Virgo), give or take a few retrogrades of the outer planets.  And while I was doing this research, I saw a lot of creativity among the people born in these revolutionary years as well as, angst that still needs healing as these 1960s children are poised to lead the world to better conclusions these days, again because of outer planet transits echoing those in which they were born. So remembering my own "dark days" as a professional musician (alternative rock),which I write about in my book Whole Music (Soul Food for the Mind Body Spirit) , I spent some time on YouTube revisiting some of my favorite musicians and bands of my early adult years, before I chucked out rock music and started listening only to worl...