| | Peasant Songs CD Lemon Juice Quartet Discography of CDs
"Music beyond category" is a term that gets tossed around a lot. Some artists really are difficult to categorize, but in most cases, that term is an exaggeration. Piadrum Records uses that term to describe Peasant Songs, which finds New York's Lemon Juice Quartet putting an intriguing spin on the classical pieces of Béla Bartók and Erik Satie. It is inaccurate to claim that this excellent CD is "music beyond category" because it can, in fact, be categorized. Recorded in 2001, Peasant Songs is avant-garde jazz-rock that incorporates elements of Jewish and East European music -- and that certainly isn't anything to be ashamed of. Favoring an inside/outside approach, the Lemon Juice Quartet--Eyal Maoz on guitar, Avishai E. Cohen (not to be confused with the bassist for Chick Corea's Origin) on trumpet, Kevin Zubek on drums, and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on upright bass--embraces Bartók and Satie on their own terms. And those terms are hardly the terms of classical purists. The Lemon Juice Quartet bring a true jazz mentality to the table, which means that Bartók and Satie's compositions become vehicles for free-spirited improvisation and are given serious makeovers. Peasant Songs isn't for those who expect to hear note-for-note performances of Bartók and Satie's work; this excellent, risk-taking CD is about interpretation. Just as Charlie Parker interpreted the Cole Porter songbook on his own terms -- and just as Bay Area singer Ann Dyer brought an avant-garde jazz perspective to the Beatles' Revolver -- the members of the Lemon Juice Quartet do to Bartók and Satie what jazz improvisers are supposed to do: they interpret. Is Peasant Songs "music beyond category?" No, and it is an exaggeration for Piadrum to claim that it is. Is the CD adventurous, creative, and highly rewarding? Absolutely. ~ Alex Henderson
Personnel: Eyal Maoz (guitar, electric guitar); Avishai Cohen (trumpet); Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (acoustic bass); Kevin Zubek (drums).
Recording information: BC Studio, Brooklyn, NY.
Peasant Songs Songs | 1. | Bear Dance (Ten Easy Pieces No. 10) |
| 2. | Trumpets of the Rosicrucian Order |
| 3. | Hugarian Peasant Songs No. 1, 2, and 8 |
| 4. | Hungarian Peasant Songs No. 12 |
| 5. | Hungarian Peasant Songs No. 3 |
| 6. | Sports and Leisure |
| 7. | Trumpets of the Rosicrucian Order, Pt. 2 |
| 8. | On a Lantern |
| 9. | Gnossienne No. 1 (Dance of the Hidden Knowledge) |
| 10. | Dried Embryos |
| 11. | Hungarian Peasant Songs No. 6 |
| Peasant Songs Review
GuidelinesRemember to focus your comments on Peasant Songs CD. Check our review guidelines for specific details regarding customer review policy. To submit your review, please fill out the above form and click "Submit Review." A staff member will then verify your review meets our guidelines. Upon approval, your review will be published within a few days. Please do not use this form to comment on web site errors or for order related questions. If you have concerns of this nature, please contact customer service by filling out this form.
Purchase Peasant Songs CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Bob Mover Nightwind: An Erroll Garner Songbook CD (1999)
Peasant Songs album
$13.95 Pianist John Hicks' tribute to the late Erroll Garner emphasizes the song writing brilliance that is overshadowed by the huge success of his classic "Misty." Alternating between solo interpretations and tracks utilizing his trio, which includes bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Cecil Brooks III, Hicks captures both the warmth and the playfulness of Garner's music. As a soloist Hicks' "Tribute to EG" is both lighthearted and upbeat, while Garner's "Solitaire" and "Passing Through" are beautiful ballads worthy of wider recognition. The trio swings "Misty" mightily rather than playing it in the common slow ballad vein. Garner's lively reworking of "Lover" (called "Paris Lover") and jaunty "Left Bank Swing" are ...
| | Sonny Clark Sonny's Crib CD (1959) Bonus Tracks; Limited Edition
Peasant Songs CD music
$9.89 Digitally remastered using 20-bit technology by Ron McMaster.
This is part of Blue Note's Limited Edition Connoisseur series.
Recorded in 1957, Sonny's Crib features a front line of Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd, and John Coltrane with Sonny Clark on piano, Art Taylor on drums, and Paul Chambers on bass. Truly still a bebop recording, done a full year before the landmark Cool Struttin' session, nonetheless the set produced some awesome readings of classic tunes, like the opener, "With a Song in My Heart," with one of the knottiest Byrd solos ever. As Chambers and Taylor up the rhythmic ante and Clark comps with enormous chords in the background, the entire line solos, but it is Byrd's that is stunning in its complexity -- though Coltrane could play bebop as well as anybody. The most notable tracks on the session are the classic readings of Kurt Weill's "Speak Low" and "News for Lulu," the latter of which has been adopted by John Zorn as his theme. On the former, Clark's rearrangement, with Coltrane leading the front line, is truly revelatory. Using a Latin rhythm in cut time, Clark sets up a long, 22-note melody line that moves right into Trane's solo. He moves the key around and harmonically shifts gears as Clark follows and stays in the pocket for him while Trane uses the middle register for legato pyrotechnics. Fuller's next and covers over the blues inherent in the tune with pure swing, before Byrd brings it back into the fold with a gorgeous counterpoint of the melody. Clark taps his way into extended harmonics on the sixths and sharpens the accents as he trounces the original key and plays double trills to get back. The latter is a smokin' Latin ...
| | Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Eve And Other Stories CD (1996)
Peasant Songs music CDs
$9.99 What would happen if members of Savatage decided to write some Christmas songs? Easy: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This "supergroup" is the brainchild of Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill (respectively the leader-keyboardist and the producer of Savatage). They hired Al Pitrelli (Asia, Savatage) to play guitars, Robert Kinkel to help with keyboards, John Middleton (also a member of Savatage) on bass, and Jeff Plate on drums. Lead vocals are shared by six vocalists, while some of the backing vocals are handled by Savatage lead singer Zachary Stevens. Christmas Eve and Other Stories is a concept album: all the songs are built as chapters of a book, each telling part of a larger story. The plot here is of a young angel sent down to Earth to find and bring back to the Lord "the one thing that best represents everything good that has been done in the name of this day." The angel's quest takes him all over the world, through Russia and Sarajevo, until he finally hears the prayer of a father. This last piece is the strongest moment on the album and makes for a miniature story within the larger story. It is basically told in a trilogy of songs: in the first, "Ornament," we hear the father's prayer, explaining how he hasn't seen his daughter in many years. In "Old City Bar," the angel finds the daughter, standing alone outside a bar, and talks to the bartender who, out of a random act of kindness, takes all the cash from his register drawer and gives it to the girl so she can go home. The third song, "This Christmas Day," has the father praising God, thanking him for bringing his daughter back to him on this night of all nights. It is a very touching story, pondering the thought that "If you want to arrange it/This world you can change it/If we could ...
| | The Best Of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere CD (2007)
Peasant Songs songs
$10.49 Issued in 2007, this Andrea Bocelli collection ...
| | Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker (The Royal Ballet) DVD (2001)
Peasant Songs album
$26.19
| | Quatuor Danel Mieczyslaw Weinber: String Quartets, Vol. 3 CD (2009)
Peasant Songs CD music
$12.75 Recording information: Köln, Studio Stolbergstraáe.
| | Presenting Pietro De Maria CD (2001)
$14.49 | | Giulietta Simionato Colour Of One Voice CD (2002) (Import) Import
$17.49 | | Perry Como Jukebox Memories CD (2003)
Peasant Songs music CDs
$6.09
| | Jackson Berkey Jerome Wright Seattle Girls' Choir Composer Conductor Jackson Berkey Meets The Seattle Girls Choir CD (2007)
Peasant Songs songs
$10.15
| | Chopin: 4 Ballades, Piano Sonata No 3 / Nicolai Demidenko CD (2005)
$8.49 | | Gospel:26 Grands Classiques CD (2004)
$10.99 | | Antal Dorati Garhard: Works CD (2006)
$9.49 | | Hesperion Xxi Orient-Occident / Savall, Hespèrion Xxi CD (2006) (Import) SACD Hybrid
Peasant Songs album
$26.49
| | Knecht: Die Aeolsharfe / Bernius, Et Al CD (2009)
$46.39 |
|
|