The photo shows Lake Mashū in eastern Hokkaido, late on the misty Spring morning of 22 May 2017.
Complete with cherry blossoms, the scene was almost proverbially peaceful, serene, but…
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These Pacific Ocean waves are breaking between Lion’s Head Rock and the shore of Sandfly Bay, on New Zealand’s Otago Peninsula.
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Pelecanus crispus – the Dalmatian Pelican – is one of several contenders for the “heavyweight title” among the world’s living, flying birds.
One CommentChances are, you know this song via Roberta Flack’s hushed, reverent “1972” version.
(Her 1969 version became a hit in 1972, thanks to Clint Eastwood)
Lovely as hers is, it inhabits an utterly different musical world to that of Ewan MacColl’s Scottish-folksong-ish 1957 original.
In 1973 Bert Jansch recorded his singular, Scottish-folkish version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.
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Here are two albums you should hear.
They offer no tediously-roosterish displays of “technique”.
Neither are they lamely “hip”, or tepidly “smooth”.
Both are uncommonly beautiful.
Crucial to their success is something rarely mentioned by reviewers of “jazz” releases: real friendships, sustained over many years.
One Comment…wordlessly, but you can hear how acutely conscious he is of Woodstock‘s lyric.
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For many years Fred Hersch has been an inspired interpreter of two of the greatest songbooks – Thelonious Monk’s and Tom (Antonio Carlos) Jobim’s. On his new album Fred does right by both. He also covers someone whose songbook I long have loathed…
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We have just lost one of the most consistently rewarding guitarists.
Musically speaking, many “guitar heroes” do not age well; John Abercrombie (December 16, 1944 – August 22, 2017) made some of his finest music after his 65th birthday.
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This “iconic” ballad began life as Music from Beyond the Moon – a 1947 flop. Retitled in 1952, it became famous in 1953, thanks to Frank Sinatra. The “iconic” version was sung in 1963 by Johnny Hartman on John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. However, the loveliest version is an instrumental duet, recorded in 1989. One man – not ‘Trane, not Hartman – was common to both recordings.
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