8 Hands on 88 Keyes: Chicago Blues Piano Masters
Barrelhouse Chuck
Detroit Junior
Erwin Helfer
Pintop Perkins.
“It isn’t often that four Chicago piano virtuosos convene for a marathon recording session, but this one must have been a riot, judging by the sheer fervor of the performances. Each artist sounds utterly unlike the rest, with Barrelhouse Chuck laying down relentless boogie rhythms, Detroit Junior accompanying his fat chords with moans and cries, Pinetop Perkins luxuriating in unbelievably slow and sultry tempos and Erwin Helfer ripping through blues, boogie, and jazz numbers at a breakneck pace. Together, these great Chicago originals play down-home music that’s about as unvarnished as it gets.” Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune March 3, 2002.
Bloomie, you do this just to expose what a dork I am.
Ok, currently in the car cd changer:
Soundtrack from Mamma Mia, London cast
Soundtrack from RENT, Broadway cast
Champs-Elysées (a french audio journal)
Think Spanish (a spanish audio journal)
Robin Williamson playing Fiddle Tunes from his music book of that name,
so I can listen and feel inadequate.
No. 22 in E flat is one of my desert island discs. I love the wind passages in the slow movement. My wife bought me a vinyl copy in 1983 for my birthday, played by Murray Perahia, so I guess it’ll have to be that version.
I used to have several Perahia recordings and to this day his rendering of # 24 is my favorite. He’s probably one of the best pianists of Mozart’s compositions ever. # 14 is also a good recording of his.
Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”. It crossed my mind that if a woman were to sing his “Down By the River” the song would take on a totally new meaning.
A great Newgrass album, by an amazing mandolinist, so I’m in a great mood. Just got it too, saw the Creaking Tree String Quartet last night (of which he is a member) and I’m still in wonder.
The tune that keeps coming back to me is an original whistle tune that I am calling “The Church Bells of Dublin.” I haven’t performed it live for a crowd yet.
My eldest daughter (who is almost 17) wants to know which CD? Is it their new one? If so, I tend to think that she’s jealous, but she didn’t say that
MCR and the like is what I end up listening to quite a bit as well (although not as much as said daughter would like). We only have one cd player in the house right now (the computer) and so the teenagers of the house end up getting to listen to what want to listen to, rather than something I’d prefer. It is because of this that I desperately need an iPod…a pink one…with lots of great music on it that only I like.
And to answer Bloo’s questions, when I do get to listen to my music, these days it tends to be clips and snips of loads of Trad Irish stuff, because for me, I learn to play much better when I listen to the clips. Learning to play better is really on my "to do right NOW " list these days.
From the last week or so’s worth of driving to work:
The Fugs, Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Years (Although I kind of wish I’d remembered to grab No More Slavery from the office for a bit of driving I have to do tomorrow.)
Bob Dylan, Modern Times, Live 1975, John Wesley Harding
And there’s a playlist I put together that I’ve been using a lot, with cuts from Charlie Musselwhite Sanctuary, Joan Baez Bowery Songs, Kris Krisofferson This Old Road, Tripswitch, the Solas renuion cd, Mike Rafferty, Richard Thompson Live on Austin City Limits, Peter Mulvey, Lucinda Williams…
Yes, it’s good to know that I can do more than just chat about nonsense here on C&F! Now that we’re settled (in a manner of speaking anyway), it’s back to trying to up my repertoire in a big way. I’m sorely lacking in skill at this point, which I absolutely attribute to lack of practice.
Thank for the recommendation as well. I’m always looking for something new to listen to.
Celtic Seasons of Enchantment by Will Millar is currently in the tape player in the car.
Or for a better picture, here’s the CD:
If I try to play CDs on the computer it slows down so much I can’t get anything done. And the big CD player is in the living room so I can only listen when my husband is not watching TV or reading (he can’t have music on when he reads). Can’t have a radio/tape player/CD player at work either. So it’s mostly the old tape player in the car.
