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Music That Expands Our Horizons
I am launching this as an addendum to my “Music of Outstanding Merit” thread. It is intended to be about expanding listening horizons while still showcasing music of merit. It is more about individualistic artists than genres. If you only like to listen to regular “songs” this might be slim pickings. These initial posts feature very well recorded CDs, worth mentioning even though this thread is about music, not recording.
Feel free to add your own horizon expanding or genre busting favorites.
Colin Towns is the man behind Provocateur Records in the UK. Their online store seems to be extinct but I presume the titles are still available through outlets like CD Baby and Import CDs. I personally own a ton of titles from this label. He is a very good musician himself ands uses other top shelf talent to flesh out his compositions. His catalog includes several genres but his take on each is unique or close to it. They range from trios and quartets to a Jazz orchestra of nearly seventy pieces. Almost anything from Provocateur will be unusual but here is a title or two.
One is Still Life (1998), Colin Towns’ Mask Quintet with Maria Pia De Vito. Since the mentioned singer is one of the most accomplished alive, these are indeed songs. The music is hard to pin down as like this or like that, but all are easy to relate to. They just come from a different place or three. It is not the lyrics so much as the music and the way each piece flows. In my opinion they are superior to the usual product. Almost all Provocateur CDs with Colin Towns as a leader have this in common.
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Another I have mentioned before, Verso - DeVito/Taylor/Towner (2000). That trio would be Maria Pia DeVito again with the alternative spelling, Ralph Towner and the late, great pianist John Taylor. This came together when the musicians' mutual admiration society became irresistible. The styles mashed up here are Jazz, World and Towner’s unique music DNA. The music might seem almost familiar until you realize no one else sounds quite like this combo.
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These both have De Vito and she is herself a very different animal. The source of her tremendous vocal range (more like six than five octaves) is mysterious until you hear her deep speaking voice. She came from operatic training if memory serves, but her combo of Jazz, World, experimental and Art music is given free reign on all of her titles on this label, and resembles no one else’s work. You will hear far less use of vibrato and much more acrobatic pitch changing than other singers employ, all to very musical effect. When she skat sings it is not from the Ella Fitzgerald end of the Jazz universe.
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Lisa Gerrard: The Black Opal (2011)
With billions of human voices on Earth, it is unlikely that any one singing voice is unique. There are, however, instances of someone making a unique contribution to the vocal arts with an unsurpassed set of pipes in the service of a unique muse. Lisa Gerrard is known, as far as she is, as the female half of Dead Can Dance and a maven of motion picture soundtracks. The Black Opal is an example of what she was interested in doing in 2009 without yielding any trace of pop music.
Possible to tag as Art Music, this release is either many genres or belonging to none; feel free to decide. Whatever it is, her contribution to musical vocalization has always been unique. She has been wildly creative from a young age. Lisa can sing in several languages, including one of her own. She developed a "Twin language" (unique languages twins sometimes develop to talk to each other) - but she had no twin. Nowhere here is there any trace of vocal gymnastics or trickery, or cuteness for that matter. She simply has a marvelous, versatile, expressive, and seemingly effortless voice. I may be an old softy, but I can't hear the closing track, the lullaby "Sleep" rendered solo by Lisa and her piano, without weeping tears of melancholic joy.
I don't think this will appeal to very many listeners here, but I put it out on this thread because it is undeniably a work of genius by a genius and is unlikely to resemble anything you have previously heard. The instrumental music is on the serious or dark side, she is considered a bit Goth by some, and I love it. Powerful, thrilling and subtle at the same time. The only way I knew of to obtain The Black Opal was to buy it and download it from her website; I did so in the FLAC format, both the main disc and a bonus selection. Recorded in 2009 and released in 2011, it is (basic disc only) on Amazon, but only an mp3.
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Watching Kaki King Do Her Thing
A visual followup of Kaki performing with the Passerelle Bridge; a performance of her original acoustic style; and if I can find it something from her recent release Live At Berklee (she composes some interesting music). Note that when using the Passerelle (available on her website) she executes a bend by pressing vertically on the string. Of course, that takes that (other) side of the string out of its ability to play a note for the moment. I'm glad she can figure it out at playing speed, my old brain can't suck it up that hard. She plays six-string open harmonics on all her guitars by slapping the strings. Kaki always seems to find a way to play the sound in her head. Anyone who can use Harvey Mandel and Michael Hedges as a STARTING point earns my admiration. As a bonus, a song with her guitar mapping projection software on display, and a couple of other gems. Every note here is played live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlR_k7FZnsw
Songs from The Neck is a Bridge to the Body CD, live
This CD came out after Glow and before Live at Berklee. Amazing music on this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fgSDI4aPCc
Live rehersal in a choir loft with the string Quartet ETHYL
Notice the small (Sony?) digital recorder on a tiny stand on the floor. They would have killed for that in 1928...or 1968. This song ended up leading off Glow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wDDTaKHj1I