The Album Thing: Jonn Serrie, And the Stars Go with You

The album thing! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too. Today is another New Age selection.

Jonn Serrie, And the Stars Go with You is an early and all-time classic of the New Age/space music genre. If I’m ever having trouble sleeping, this one fixes the problem. It’s also good for meditation and relaxation—that sensation of deep space! I saw one review that listed it as a top soundtrack for massage. Plus, it makes my inner Trekker happy. One of Serrie's early jobs in music was as a composer for planetariums.

As usual, here are some links to YouTube samples:

“Gentle, the Night”

“And the Stars Go with You”

“Stratos” (This is the one that really gets me to sleep. It’s a total no-no when I’m driving!)

The Album Thing: Kevin Braheny and Tim Clark, Rain

The album thing goes on, and on! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to stop at ten or something, but I’m going on and on, perhaps to kill the fad outright. And since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too.

I’m shifting gears today. The theme may be appropriate for our coming weather. This here is a “deserted island disk” for me, and it has been for a long time. A brilliant gem. Listen to it at night when you’re winding down. Sound turned up.

As before, I’m giving you links to samples.

Here’s the opening track from the album Rain, “Sun Showers.”

I don’t talk about it much, but I love New Age and space music. I listen to it pretty much every day, or every night, or both. “Tidepool” is a favorite.

I love Tim Clark’s music. In this track, “Monsoon,” you can easily hear some of the results of his studying music composition in India.

Two more samples: “Falling Like Tears” and “Green Umbrella.”

The Album Thing: Maria Schneider Orchestra, Allegresse

The album thing! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around, and I’m sharing it on my blog. Why not? Also, I think by going on and on and on with this, I’m singlehandedly killing off the FB “album challenge” thing. Ha ha ha!

Seriously, though, anything by the Maria Schneider Orchestra is a keeper.

“Hang Gliding” is one of my favorite pieces, ever. Maria Schneider is pretty careful not to allow unauthorized copying of her recordings. If you want to hear her music/albums, you have to buy them from ArtistShare. But this live video is available (so far) on YouTube. Here, Ingrid Jensen has the flugelhorn solo.

You’ve never heard of Maria Schneider and her jazz orchestra? Well, then you haven’t been keeping track of the Grammys. She’s won several!

Here’s another sample of this orchestra’s work: “Bluebird” at the 2021 DC Jazz Festival. Seriously, check it out.

The Album Thing: Dave Douglas, A Thousand Evenings

Another entry for the Album Thing! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around, and I’m sharing it on my blog. Why not? The deal is, share a bunch of albums that you really love, or that really influenced you. You don’t have to say anything about it, just post a picture of the cover. . . . But I say, Hey, I’ll write things if I want to. Also, I’ll share some links to YouTubes so you can hear some of the music on the album.

As usual, I’m sharing links to some samples. Here’s the title song, “A Thousand Evenings.” The beginning of this piece stopped me in my tracks.

“Goldfinger” (Gooollllld fingerrrrrr . . . yeah, you know this tune.)

“The Little Boy with the Sad Eyes” is another fave.

It’s not from this album, but here’s another from Dave Douglas: “Emmenthaler.” For those of you who remember our cat Earl, this was his theme song. God help you if you ever have a roommate like Earl.

The Album Thing: Gilberto Gil, Quanta

The album thing continues! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. Someone tags you, and you’re supposed to comply. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too.

Like a previous selection, this album, too, was something I picked up for less than a dollar at a KWWC “clean out our music library” sale. What a great find! At the time, I had no idea who Gilberto Gil is, but I’m glad I found out about him. Not only is he celebrated in his native Brazil but also he is adored by fans worldwide. He should be more widely known in the United States.

This was my first GG album. Music, intellect, and creativity! The songs on this album comment on modern technology and their intersection with humanity's deepest truths. I think you'll love this music. Samples below.

“Quanta” (Even in English, the lyrics are superb.)

“Ciência e Arte” (Science and Art).

“Estrela” (Star): “There must appear / A star in the sky / Every time you smile / There must disappear / A star in the sky / Every time you cry / The contrary also / Might well happen / A star shines / When a tear falls / Or then / A falling star throws itself / Just to see / The flower of your smile open.”

“Pop Wu Wei.”

“Dança de Shiva.”

The Album Thing: Terence Blanchard, The Heart Speaks

Albums! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to post a picture of albums you especially love. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too. This is The Heart Speaks by Terence Blanchard, a collaboration with Brazilian pianist, singer, and composer Ivan Lins. If this had been vinyl, I would’ve worn away the grooves long ago. Samples below.

“Aparecida.”

“Noturna.”

“Antes Que Seja Tarde.”

You might be interested to know that Blanchard plays a Monette trumpet. These are custom-built horns created with the most advanced engineering for acoustic purity and ease of playing. They have a distinctive sound, and sometimes I get tired of hearing it. But people who play them say they’re incredibly easy to play, allowing them a full range of expressiveness. By the way, they cost about as much as a car to buy.

The Album Thing: Roy Hargrove, With the Tenors of Our Time

Albums: It’s a Facebook “challenge” that’s been popular. One of your friends tags you, and then you’re supposed to post pictures of albums you especially love, or that were personally significant, or whatever. I’m sharing these on my blog, too, because why not?

Today it’s Roy Hargrove: may he rest in peace. Only a few trumpeters can achieve such a soulful, sweet sound as well as such fat, edgy, brassy triple exclamation marks—and always tuneful and in-tune. It’s hard to pick just one album of his, but With the Tenors of Our Time is a great one to get to know him by.

“Soppin’ the Biscuit,” with Stanley Turrentine on tenor.

“Mental Phrasing,” with Joshua Redman on tenor.

“When We Were One,” with Johnny Griffin on tenor.

Bonus:

Not on this album, but a favorite.

Another Hargrove favorite, and a sound of happiness.

. . . Truly one of my great trumpet heroes.

The Album Thing: Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky

The album thing: One of your friends tags you on Facebook, and then you’re supposed to post pictures of albums you especially love, or that were personally significant, or whatever. I’m sharing these on my blog, too, because why not?

Today, it’s the Symphony of Psalms that changed my world. Everything about it. I’ve never been so lucky and blessed. Doors swung open for me, and I don’t think I even had to knock. The light shined down from above.

Movement 1: Turn the sound up!

Then hear the second movement.

In the third movement, Stravinsky turns the Alleluia/Laudate (usually the text for clanging cymbals and blaring brass) into a sense of hushed awe; then he lets us have it; then he brings it back around to breathless awe.

The Album Thing: George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Symphony No. 5

Ooh, the ALBUM thing continues! If you haven’t been following along, here’s the deal: One of your friends tags you on Facebook, and then you’re supposed to post pictures of albums you especially love, or that were personally significant, or whatever. I’m sharing these on my blog, too, because why not?

In today’s selection, we have one of the best orchestral brass sections (Chicago Symphony) playing one of the most famous symphonies in terms of the brass parts (Mahler 5).

So although I’ve featured a lot of popular music so far, today, we’re turning the corner into some instrumental albums. It fascinates me how so many Americans always listen to vocal music and not instrumental. As an editor, I can’t work to music that has lyrics I can understand. —Oh, and don’t judge me because I bought this at a “ditch-the-vinyl” sale at KWWC. I found a lot of good music there . . . and I’ve given it an excellent and loving home.

Here’s the first movement. If you’re a trumpeter, it’s an automatic thumbs-up for Adolph (Bud) Herseth, who forever owns the solo that introduces this symphony.

Bonus: this is a completely different performance, but it’s got video.

The Album Thing: Patricia Barber, Live: A Fortnight in France

I’m sharing some of my favorite albums. If you haven’t been following along, here’s the deal: One of your friends tags you on Facebook, and then you’re supposed to post pictures of albums you especially love, or that were personally significant, or whatever. I’m sharing these on my blog, too, because why not?

Today’s album? I had a hard time picking out just one by Patricia Barber. I selected this live one because she’s blown us away so many times in concert. If you’ve been following along with me so far, we’re really pivoting here away from vocal music into instrumental. PB is (in my opinion) a better pianist than she is a singer—though her minimalist singing style is perfect for her music. As before, I’m putting samples in the comments below.

Her version of “Norwegian Wood” is amazing. I’m sure you will love it!

This piece, “Crash,” sounds a lot like her earlier work with her combo. Brilliant piano work, rhythmic and harmonic textures. She has certainly done her homework, plus put in her time every week at Chicago’s venerable Green Mill Cocktail Lounge.

If you’ve never heard of Patricia Barber, “Call Me” is a good sample of her playing in an easy pop-ballad style.

And a tasty, straight-ahead swinging version of the classic “Witchcraft”!

The Album Thing: Karrin Allyson, Collage

Time for today’s album! (If you don’t know what I’m doing, look at some of the previous posts.) When we moved back to Missouri, Karrin Allyson kind of welcomed us back. She was still based in Kansas City then. We still see her every chance we get. Even though she’s in New York now, you can still hear the Midwest in her voice. She does so much so well: upbeat scat bebop, blues, ballads, sambas, pop . . . she could sing the phonebook, and it’d be great! And she doesn’t get enough credit as a band leader.

It was hard to pick one album by her, but Collage is one that always makes me smile.

This album welcomes you with its first song, “It Could Happen to You/Fried Bananas.” (Would you call this a “mashup”? With “Fried Bananas” in it?)

A vocal version of Clifford Brown’s classic “Joy Spring.”

I said she can do ballads. Here, she does tribute to a Thelonius Monk classic, “Ask Me Now.”

And yes, blues. She’s a big Bonnie Raitt fan, and here’s “Give It Up or Let Me Go.”

And, for fun, a live version of the above.

The Album Thing: Horse, God’s Home Movie

Okay, y’all here’s today’s album! (If you don’t know what I’m doing, look at some of the previous posts.) God’s Home Movie has a special place in my heart because Sue and I bought it together, soon after we started dating, and it’s got a song on it that we would’ve played at our wedding, if we’d had a wedding with music in it.

And yeah, I’m a huge fan of Horse McDonald. What an amazing performer.

The title track is the one we especially love. We would’ve played this song at our wedding.

Another song from this album, “Imitation,” has an odd juxtaposition of a bouncy upbeat feel with lyrics about being dumped. When Sue and I met, we were both rebounding from some awful relationships. When you’re starting to feel good again, you can shake your head and kind of laugh. Lyrics: “Another innocent in your trail of destruction / left behind like a tree hit by lightning / all my senses you worked so hard at persuading / they don’t know what’s real and the great imitation / I was so sadly mistaken”!

Okay, a bonus song from Horse’s first CD; this video’s from some kind of German TV broadcast. I thought it was pretty fun. Americans have called her “the Scottish k.d. lang.” It’s not a perfect description at all, but the time was about the same, and the androgynous look was similar, and they both have great voices.

The Album Thing: Ferron, Phantom Center

The album thing! (If you don’t know what I’m doing, look at some of the previous posts.)

Phantom Center is another album that came into my life at a time when I needed to hear the things it said. (By the way, the photo is of the cover of the original version of this CD. I guess it’s a collector’s item now. The remake version of Phantom Center is used in my links below.)

“Stand Up” (yeah, that’s the Indigo Girls doing supporting vocals)

“The Cart” is one of Ferron’s best songs, I think, which automatically makes it one of the best songs ever. The “wheel,” of course, is metaphorical. (Like, Buddhism.)

“Sunken City” is an amazing song, too. Whoa, nelly, watch it build. “Some things just pull so strong, like the map of the sky is the map of your heart” . . . “Let’s go on a hunch and give this a name.”

If you’ve never heard of Ferron, I feel sorry for you. That’s like never having heard of Leonard Cohen. “Our Purpose Here” is one of her earlier masterpieces (from another album).

Ferron’s best songs have some trace of darkness (which she can have in abundance; for example, see “White Wing Mercy” from Phantom Center). Here’s the (autobiographical) title track from her album Shadows on a Dime. Another masterpiece. Like Joni Mitchell, she’s a poet first.

Finally, if you don’t care for Ferron’s voice, listen to what others can do with her songs. Here’s an example.

The Album Thing: Indigo Girls, Rites of Passage

The album thing again! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to post a picture of albums you especially love. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too.

Don’t worry, eventually we’ll get to the instrumental selections, and you may find some musicians you’ve never heard of. If this is annoying, then blame Facebook. But here's today's selection.

There are so many good songs on this album. The album helped me pivot from depression into hopefulness. “Love Will Come to You,” in particular helped me learn how to talk hopefully to myself—something that had been difficult-to-impossible when I’m in the midst of depression. But this song helped me to make that pivot.

Having hopefulness is a helpful illusion, I think. Sometimes in the deeper parts of depression, hopefulness feels like the cruelest hoax. At such times I have hunted for songs that offer the kind of bittersweet hope that only a fellow sufferer can convey. “Joy” isn’t the word for it, but it opens the door to the party at least.

Music has sometimes functioned like a drug for me, and often not in a good way. I don’t listen to the Indigo Girls much anymore. Most of what I listen to is instrumental. The vocal music I listen to tends to be classical or jazz, where the artistry and styling accentuates the theatrical aspect of the lyrics, which helps me remember that the singing is a performance, a role, a mask, and not necessarily a personal truth.

The Album Thing: k.d. lang, Absolute Torch and Twang

The album thing again! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to post a picture of albums you especially love. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too. How many do you think I’m gonna end up posting?

The influential album du jour! You knew k.d. lang had to come up sometime. This here was her big one for me. Isn’t it fun how certain albums are associated with certain times in your life?

This album, with its self-assured opening song “Luck in My Eyes,” was, for me, Phoenix, and it was also San Francisco. Do I need to say more? Ah, youth, and its confidence.

I don’t even really like country that much. But boy, it sure can convey all the trouble love can get a stupid young person into. Here’s to “Pullin’ Back the Reins.”

By the time I left Arizona for Montana . . . so many regrets. Wow. “Trail of Broken Hearts” was my new theme song. I was a mess.

The Album Thing: Meg Christian, Turning It Over

The album thing continues! It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to post a picture of albums you especially love. And why not share it on my blog, too. This is fun! Today I’m sharing an album that few probably know, but it changed my life, for the better. Of all the women’s music performers I used to hear on KOPN radio, Meg Christian was always my favorite. I loved her tasty classical guitar playing, and her clear, expressive, but unaffected singing style.

The title track, “Turning It Over,” refers to twelve-step programs (turning it over to a higher power). More generally, however, it is about being grounded, true to oneself, focused. It spoke to me when I was in ninth grade, and it speaks to me now. (No, I don’t know why the video shows a covered bridge.)

Meg Christian helped me learn the vocabulary of my people. And songs like “There’s a Light” helped me get in touch with my true feelings, which was indeed difficult for me.

And then there’s “Southern Home,” also from the album, about reconciling love of one’s homeland with hatred of old-school bigotry. This is an album about softening oneself and learning to let go of what one cannot change. This album came out well before the Indigo Girls, k.d. Lang, REM, etc. made it okay to be a liberal southerner or small-town/rural inhabitant. I’m not a southerner, but as a midwesterner, I can relate. Columbia was, and still is, an island of progressivism in a sea of cultural conservativism. It’s possible to love your homeland while still detesting its bigotry and small-mindedness.

The Album Thing: Original Broadway Cast, Annie

The album challenge. It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. It was supposed to be ten albums, but who are we kidding. I have lots more than ten albums to be happy about!

This is my nod to Broadway, to junior high when I learned to appreciate the glories of the American musical theater, and to Tricia Edwards, wherever she may be today. She turned a bunch of midwestern middle school monsters into Annie aficionados, Broadway buffs, Camelot connoisseurs.

Also, something that really instilled this as a favorite musical, is that my little high school self was lucky enough to be tapped to play the first trumpet part in our high school musical my senior year, and guess which musical it was. Indeed, our high school’s performance of Annie in 1984 happened to be the first amateur performance of that musical in our state, and I got to play the first notes of the musical as a solo. “The sun’ll come out tomorrow . . .”

Seriously. The overture starts with a trumpet solo.

A few more words about Tricia Edwards, the vocal teacher at Oakland Junior High when I was there. She made waves with her ambitious school musicals for such young students. She had junior high kids doing Broadway shows (including Once Upon a Mattress and Bye, Bye Birdie). She said it was actually easy: you just need to treat the kids as if they were able to do the jobs, show them how to do it, and they rose to the challenge. . . . Fact is, another ingredient is that we all adored her.

Her class in the American Musical Theater put us light years ahead of where we might have been; it gave us an overview and history of an important part of American performing arts culture. One of her personal friends had been an original cast understudy on Broadway for the role of Grace Farrell (Daddy Warbucks’ assistant). Mrs. Edwards made something very, very remote from our little Missouri lives seem somehow within close reach. (If you watched Glee, she was basically Mr. Schue, only thirty years before Glee; Matthew Morrison was just an infant.) I wish I could write her a letter to tell her thanks. Mrs. Edwards, if you’re still out there, I hope you find this post.

The Album Thing: Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman

Day “whatever” of the record album thingie. It’s a Facebook fad that’s going around. You’re supposed to post a picture of albums you especially love. Since I’m going to the trouble to share it on social media, I might as well share it here, too. I’m glad I was invited to do this, because it’s a fun way to reminisce about music that changed my world (at least, my musical world). I invite all my friends to participate in this one. The original rules said “no explanations,” but to heck with that. I want to explain.

I was five when Tea for the Tillerman came out. The hits from this album were all over the radio when I was young, but it was my older cousins in Michigan who really impressed me with this music. Sue Ann, especially, was an accomplished singer and guitarist, and she sang lots of Cat Stevens’s songs. Ohh I was so impressed by that! I was probably about twelve when I got a guitar, so this album was seven years old by then. I was immersed in acoustic singer/songwriter music while most my age were listening to KC and the Sunshine Band.

“Where Do the Children Play?” . . . I learned to play all the songs on this album, pretty much. The chords are easy, and a beginning guitarist can strum them and learn basic patterns. The singing parts are interesting, and the words thoughtful, even at times spiritual.

“Into White” is another favorite from this album. I love the simple, lovely pictures painted by these lyrics. I still sometimes play this on the guitar.

For anyone wondering what Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Steven Demetre Georgiou; now Yusuf Islam, “Joe Islam”) is up to now, here’s a fairly recent NPR Tiny Desk concert.

The Album Thing: Joni Mitchell, Hejira

I would share Joni Mitchell’s Hejira with you even if I wasn’t doing the Facebook album thing. I was nominated by a dear friend to post something like ten (ha ha ha) album covers of favorite or transformational albums, blah, blah, blah . . . who cares about the rules.

Hejira is the second Joni Mitchell album I ever got, and by then it was already about three or four years old. I bought it a few months after I’d gotten Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon, a folkie favorite. There’s only six years’ difference between the albums, but there’s a world of difference in the sound. Imagine my surprise when I set the needle down and heard this!

“Hejira,” the title track, is probably the best on the album. Every Joni Mitchell fan has a special spiritual place for this masterpiece of poetry, beat, and strings. Hear the lyrics.

Contributing in a big way to this album was Jaco Pastorius, who was Joni Mitchell’s bass player during this time. He was a brilliant, groundbreaking musician. Note his signature fretless sound.

The Album Thing: Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon

So I’m continuing with this album thing. On Facebook, I was nominated by a dear friend to post something like ten (ha ha ha) album covers of favorite albums over the years . . . or something. There were a bunch of rules, but I’m gonna ignore them and just post photos of several of my favorite (or formational) albums over the years. Because that’s the point. And since I’m doing this on social media, why not also share it here?

“Ladies of the Canyon” is the title track. I think I fell in love here.

Another favorite from this album is “Conversation.” This was the first Joni Mitchell album I bought, and I got it waaaaay after it had come out. Most of my classmates were listening to the Bee Gees or something at the time.

A lot of people know the song “Woodstock,” but they don’t know that Joni wrote it. Yeah, these were what she called her “helium voice” days. They wouldn’t last long . . .