Ray Charles - The Greatest Hits Of The Great Ray Charles (Crossover - SQ-95647)

There are not many people who can combine the total opposites. There are not many people who can break down the barriers in people's minds and set new standards. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Ray Charles. Frankly he is one of those people who can fill both shoes.

Actually many people have already watched the movie and the academy award winning performance of Jamie Foxx. The movie was for entertainment, yet it also pointed slightly to the change in music and cultural standards of the general society.

As his style, Ray Charles combined Rock N Roll, Blues and Jazz with a touch of religion in it just for the heck of it. What a heck that turned out to be. He also sang all those genres individually, but his own musical voice was the combination of all. It has been later defined as Soul music, and Ray Charles the Godfather. Ray Charles made music which you could not relate to a single genre, therefore they named a new genre because of him. He was very much criticized for adding Gospel into that mix. He was even downplayed by saying that he was mocking with Christianity. What a dumbass belief that was. Years later the same people were dancing and cheering to his music all the way. Same thing happened to all barrier breaking people, Schoenberg, Cage, etc.

This box set which includes 5 records which one can listen during just a late night chilling. That's exactly what I've done. I sat down the day I received the box set, put all other records away and listened the box set on a roll. Some of the tracks are known almost to everyone, some are to many people. They are a selection of so-called Best Of Ray Charles songs, but they have done well to went on with 5 records since you absolutely cannot be fair to him. You cannot put his best known works to a single record. Then you leave out some less famous, yet excellent songs. In this sense, I am happy about the outcome from the set.

One more thing is that the box set does not hold only studio takes. Some tracks like "What I'd Say" are included as live takes and this really helped to liven up the mood as you are sitting there listening. Of course this is based on the assumption that you can sit down while listening. It's hard. Really hard. Ladies and gentlemen, the genious Ray Charles.

Isang Yun - Selected Works For Clarinet - Compositions Of Isang Yun 1 (Camerata - CMT-1084)

Since I have provided information on Isang Yun on my previous critic of his record "Loyang, Gasa, Reak, Tuyaux Sonores", I will directly get into the details of this record. I bought this one along with second and third one of the series from a guy in Germany via Ebay. Unfortunately I lost the last (Fourth) one. These are records which were only released by the Japanese Camerata label, therefore it will be some time until I find the remaining one. Anyway let's get back to the task at hand.

This record includes the works of Isang Yun which he composed for Clarinet. The opening piece "Concerto For Clarinet And Orchestra" is his composition for the clarinist Eduard Brunner. The piece is made up of three movements which are linked without any breaks. The first movement is a developing melody that takes different forms, additions and substractions along the way. Second movement is more depressing and slower in tempo. Here the melody is more fragmanted and expressions are made up of various phrases to provide the whole picture. Last movement is more of a concerto as in standard understanding.

"Ruil For Clarinet And Piano" was composed during the never ending pressures the composer endured from the Korean Secret Service. Riul means melody in Korean and the work is a web of a single melody taking different shapes. This is part of the philosophy of "main-tone" which was created by Yun himself. There is a basic melodic line (Like in the first piece) and it evolves during the piece. Piano acts mainly like a percussion instrument to maintain a certain rhythmic flow. It can also be stated that Piano gives a sharp contrast to the melody and therefore shows some of the tensions the composer was facing during the times. You can feel the exact struggle while listening it. Just also to note, Aloys Kontarsky is the pianist (Not surprising of course).

"Piri" is actually a Korean traditional instrument which is similar to Oboe. The piece was also written for Oboe, but Brunner premiered it. There are different melodies in the piece which vary in length and intensity. They do not overlap, but rather follow each other one by one and the closer you get to the end of the piece, the more spacey the melodies become. Somehow this piece reminded me that of Harlekin by Karlheinz Stockhausen in terms of it's structure and expressionism, but it's highly probable that I may be mistaken (Or drunk).

This record is a good example of the variety in composition by Isang Yun. Some people are not very much used to Clarinet driven melodies or have a different idea about Clarinet's modern musical use (Mainly used by gypsy musicians in East Europe, Turkey and Jazz players nowadays). All in all, this is a record to listen with the main thought of melodic Contemporary Classical music in mind.

To buy this record:

@ Discogs

Rachmaninov - The Four Piano Concertos/Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, Ashkenazy, LSO, Previn (Decca - SXLF 6565-7)

Sergei Rachmaninov being one of the best pianists of all times is actually not being fond of labelled as a pianist. Not hard to guess why. He aimed all his efforts on composing and playing a piano was just a tool he used alongside. He had an exceptional talent, but he wanted to enhance his composition skills and surely did so. His romantic touch combining with his grandoise compositions for piano have attracted many people durin his times and after his death. Unfortunately he was not very secure during the later stages in his life which led him to tour as a pianist as well. Honestly, purely as a listener, I am a little happy about this since otherwise we could never have listened the beauty of his talent directly from records. However that is the subject of another review.

Rachmaninov's four piano concertos are among the milestones of romantic era and almost signals the end of the era as well. Of course there is also a huge effort of Vladimir Ashkenazy who has studied these pieces for a very long time and totally absorbed the feeling thus passing them onto us. The reason to mention this is Rachmaninov having an extremely votile psychological state during his career was always heavily affected by his feelings. He always mentioned that he never wrote anything with planning nor tried to express something certain. He only wrote what he felt like exactly the he felt it. Result? Totally emotional pieces ranging from hatred to love, joy to pain, happiness to depression.

My favorite of his piano concertos has always been the second. On the other hand, I have had a deep admiration for his first as well. It was the first work that Rachmaninov felt ready to open up to the world and give an opus number. It is also interesting that he wrote the 2nd and 3rd movements of this concerto in two and a half days only.

In terms of performance, Ashkenazy is totally in control of the second concerto as it has been in his repertoire for a very long time. Previn was also very likened to this composition and the result is staggering. Yet, it is also worth to point out that they put a remarkable performance together with the London Symphony Orchesra on all four concertos. Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini is one of many transcriptions he has successfully brought up to life. Even Sutekh made a Micro House version of this transcription which was a beauty in itself.

This box set is a compilation of four records released priorly by Decca label. Due to the extremely thin covers of these records (I own two of the original releases and they are micro thin), this set gives a better preservation option to listen the original recordings with total reality. For any classic music lover who admires the romantic era, this work should sit near the turntable at all times for urgent cases where someone may feel too clustered by the cement blocks that surround us today.

To buy this record:

@ Music Stack
@ Ebay

Leadbelly - Good Night Irene (Allegro - ALL 786)

Leadbelly is stated on the album cover, but according to himself, his moniker is actually Lead Belly while his name is Huddie Ledbetter. Lead Belly is one of the best voices of Folk and Blues. Actually his voice is exceptionally suitable to Blues including all the quarter tones. Another exquisite talent of his is the twelve string guitar which can be called his signature as well. He cannot be really distinguished between Folk and Blues. However, one reason for this is the standards he has brought up into the world of both musical genres. To be honest, Folk for the AfroAmericans are Blues itself, thus a distinction is not very clear anyway.

The album is dated 1965. It is a UK press and a collection of his previously released songs. Actually all LPs featuring his songs are compilations since he only released so called singles during his times and these are on 78 rpm records. One significant thing about the album is that it is somewhat more concentrated on the Blues songs of Lead Belly. This suits me perfectly fine, but can give an incomplete version of him to a new listener.

The album includes personal interests of mine including the track which gave it's name to the album "Good Night, Irene" where Lead Belly's vocal reaches the utmost limits of performance. It is such a beauty that later on many artists tried to perform this song in their albums while all were left in the shadows. The other one was a song that I've been introduced by Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) during their Unplugged performance for MTV. The original name of the song is "Black Girl", but it is also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?". With all due respect to a multi talented man like Kurt Cobain, listening the original version beats everything. However, I should point out that Cobain's version is the second best I've heard.

As always, the songs on the album are about racism, poverty, and unsurprisingly the prison life. Being one of the idols of todays gangster rap artists who love taking a periodical trip to the prison, Lead Belly was actually the creator of this genre as well. His irregular temperament has caused him several visits to state penitentiaries and this also helped him earn a big recognition. He was a regular performer in prisons. He has also noted that prison life has helped him build an unseen repertoire of Folk and Blues songs. Whatever the reason, he has been a unique artist in the Blues world and is worth each drop of respect he gets.

To buy this record:

@ Discogs
@ Ebay

Elena Duran & Stephane Grappelli - Norwegian Wood (RCA - LP 6007)

Actually the name of the album has no direct link to it's contents apart from one song name. Elena Duran is a well known flutist and Stephane Grappelli is a violinist who is well known for his Cole Porter repertoire as well as Jazz Standards. There is also another name, Laurie Holloway, who is mentioned in the notes as she has made the arrangements of the songs in the album.

This album is made up of The Beatles songs which have been rearranged under the heavy influence of Jazz standards. For an unprepared listener, the rearrangements would definitely cause a feeling of "Hmmm, I know this from somewhere". The main melodies are passed on through either by the flute or the violin hence the difference in feeling. I should also point out that Stephane Grappelli is the name who created most of the beauties in the album. Of course the talents of Laurie Holloway should not be taken for granted as she was the arranger, yet the performance of Elena Duran was not enlightening to say the least. The flute was somehow being felt as repeating itself in many of the songs while Grapelli was reinventing himself in each of them. This may be due to Grappelli's previous experiences with rearrangements, but it stood out nonetheless.

The album include "Yesterday", "All My Loving", "Eleanor Rigby", "Norwegian Wood", "Can't Buy Me Love" on the A side and "Here, There And Everywhere", "Michelle", "Hey Jude", "The Long And Winding Road", "A Hard Day's Night" on the B side. My favorite among all these was definitely "Michelle". Maybe also because of it's original structure, it has been the most effective of rearrangements all along the album. "Yesterday" is also a very good example, but I was not utterly convinced with "Eleanor Rigby". Come to think of it, I may have also liked the artists to stretch a bit and make life harder for them by rearranging maybe "Yellow Submarine". That could have been one hell of a change.

The songs being ripped from their modern era defining Pop identities and fed to old school Jazz characteristics has created simple yet effective results. It is a nice album to listen on a Sunday morning (As I am doing now). It certainly is not breathtaking or staggering. It just gives you breathing space and calmness that we so much miss nowadays.

To buy this record:

@ Ebay

Currently I couldn't find any link. Will check and update if there is any record on sale.

Philip Glass – Music In Similar Motion / Music In Fifths (Chatham Square - 1003)

Philip Glass was the composer who introduced me to Minimalist Classical music and therefore owns a special place in my book of important people. Of course his unique composition style is very much suitable to my taste. Especially his post Tibetan compositions.

This record enholds two of these works. However, it was not easy for me to get a hold on this release since it is a semi-private press and really hard to find. Moreover, the guys who were selling it, until I bought one, were putting price tags which could be noted as pinnacles of capitalism.

The works in discussion on this record are Music In Fifths and Music In Similar Motion. These works are absolutely classical Glass style minimalism with constant repetitivity under the influence of electric organ taking the center of the compositions which was the general trait of Glass during 1980s. This trait we saw again and again many times, especially in his soundtracks of the Qatsi trilogy.

The music is repetitive. Oh really? Of course that goes without saying. On the other hand, the notations and small changes are the effects of percussion experiments of Steve Reich. What Reich has done with percussions, Glass does it with organs and pianos giving it stronger feeling rather than an academic outline. Actually this is the essence of the difference between both composers' fame.

The timing of these compositions mark the more strict Glass era. He wasn't into playing with melodies that much, but rather with notations, keys and speed alterations. Therefore both works can be classified as classical minimalist classical music. I just used three words derived from "class". No wonder. For a puritist music listener, the music on this record can only be explained as class.

To buy this record:

@ Discogs
@ Music Stack
@ Ebay

The Monty Alexander 7 - Jamento (Pablo - 2310 826)

Having just been at the concert of Ernest Ranglin last month, I was bound to buy a record of him. After some searching and finding excessively priced records, I deepened my search and found 2 great albums with one being in question here. Believe me it's not easy at all to find records of this calibre, but honestly when two giants like Monty and Ernest collaborate, this beautiful outcome is very natural.

Ernest is the older of the two with a 12 years advantage. He is undoubtedly the most prominent guitarist Jamaica has produced and he deserves all the credit that's due him. I've watched the man aged 79 playing 15 meters in front of me and I was standing in awe. Of course he slowed down in his finger picking style, this and that, but how many of us will live to see 79 and more than that how many of us will be in such a state. I hope we all can, yet that's not how life goes.

Monty is the most talented pianist of Jamaica and his CV as well as his fame shows this. His unique style of jamming Dub and Reggae into Jazz has been an inspiration to tons of people and has been a huge entertainment value to millions including myself. I learned about him while I was searching Jazz pianists who have opened new areas of development to the genre and inevitably his name came up. Naturally there were the Ellingtons, Monks, and here was the Monty.

The album was originally released from Fantasy records as they were among the most passionate followers of the new sounds in Jazz at those days. Later ECM got he better of them in this sense and this is a totally different story so I'll just pass on through. The record I've bought was released by Pablo. The music itself is as good as it gets. First you get the feeling of Jazz standards in the case of the Big Band Era and somewhere along the way start Jamaica (Island as they say it) rhythms and sounds. "Slippery" which is A2 can be named as the best example you can ever get your hands on. You bump into Dub, you bump into native percussions while all along the way Jazz shows it's presence with all it's might. However, apart they have totally different natures. When together, it feels like there is a time bomb standing by your side. You can listen "Slippery" here via MySpace.

The fastness of the rhythm is alluring almost in all the tracks. There are 6 in all which 4 were written by Monty himself. There is one George Benson and one Richard Evans title as well. In all but one there are solos of Ernest Ranglin. All of them feature either one or more solos by Monty which are absolutely inspiring.

Honestly now coming to think about it, Ernest should have toured with Monty again. It shouldn't be that hard. I mean after they reunited in 2004 to create a new album called Rocksteady, they toured briefly. Why not again? However, one side note should be that the pianist Ernest is touring with is a guy called Alex Wilson. He can be a name to watch out for the future. Of course I was not expecting and he was not truly promising to give a Monty show out there, but he really gave all he could. It might just be the second best we could have listened. But on this record, you get to listen to both the giants hand in hand giving out all the energy they can.

To buy this record:

@ Discogs
@ Music Stack
@ Ebay