SiriusXM highlights CLXXIV

This morning's noteworthy tunes:

'40s Junction

• Idaho-Ray Anthony (All brass and wind players on this recording should be proud of how effectively they swing the rhythm here.)

Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals

• Sunshine Falling-Lance Allen (A happy-go-lucky rhythm fit for skipping.)

Carolina Shag Radio

• The Entertainer-Tony Clarke (With its engaging rhythm and lyrics that sound like a prototype of "The Tears Of A Clown" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, this should have been a bigger hit in 1965.  Lyrically, this has a readily apparent "show must go on, regardless of how you feel" vibe.)

Chucho's Cuba & Beyond

• Solar-Chucho Valdes (This piano-anchored version of a tune best known in its Miles Davis incarnation allows for plenty of dazzling piano and saxophone improvisation.)

Lo-Fi Sleep

• Twilight-Kupla (An interesting blend of new age piano with a hip-hop backbeat.)

North Americana

• Devil That You Know-Emma Elena Grace (Lyrically and rhythmically, this vocals-and-acoustic-guitar tune could segue with Michael Penn's "Me Around.") 

Watercolors

• Desafinado (Slightly Out Of Tune)-Karrin Allyson (Scores of artists have covered this Antonio Carlos Jobim-Newton Mendonca tune.  Allyson's version is a commendable one, with inviting vibraphone and vocals.)

Yacht Country

• Jackie Blue-Ozark Mountain Daredevils (This is actually soft rock, not yacht country, to be clear.  I've always thought this 1975 hit, with its appealing rhythm and interesting structure, is an interesting way to tell the story of a risk-averse person.  "Castle On The Hill" by Ten Hands presents a comparable narrative in more blunt terms.)

Persistent earworm alert CDXL

Since the passing of actor Anthony Stewart Head, I'm sure I'm not the only "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" fan who has had his performance of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" in mind.  After watching the episode in which he sings it again, I realized that he belts the tune more forcefully than I remember.  Head proves that a strong voice and an acoustic guitar are all one needs to make Pete Townshend's lyrics in "...Eyes" sink in.

Context? CDXXXIX

I knew I was in a sour mood a couple of weeks ago when I woke up and sang, "Things had better go my way," to the tune of Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way?"

Context? CDXXXVIII

Props to the Community Radio St. Louis DJ last night for an update you wouldn't typically hear on a stodgy, by-the-book commercial station.  After back announcing a music set last night, she mentioned that a moth was flying around the studio and distracting her.  While playing her last song of the night, she broke in to let everyone know that the moth had left the studio safely.

Credit for humanity there. 

Online radio sampler highlights CCXCIX

Six standout tunes heard today:

KDRP (Dripping Springs, TX) 

• Operator-Jim Croce (One of the most thoughtful, tuneful examples of talking through what you're feeling and reconsidering your original plan.  "Operator" isn't played on the radio nearly as often as it used to be, and I've missed hearing it regularly.)
• Little Too Late-Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers (Rhythmically, this reminds me of The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek."  I like the confidence with which Bluhm sings this.  The more of her music I hear, the more convinced I am that her band and she should be household names.  Also recommended: "Only Always," "Waiting On Love," "Love Your Loved Ones," and really, the entire "Loved Wild Lost" CD.) 

KUWL (Laramie, WY)

• If Someone Had Told Me-Thad Jones (This movingly elegant trumpet-and-piano ballad could segue with multiple Blue Mitchell tracks.)
• Once In A While-Art Tatum (A warm piano-and-clarinet melody that swings gently.)

WITT (Indianapolis, IN)

• Courtoise musette-Sandra J. (There's nothing like a cheery accordion instrumental to take the edge off of one's day.)
• Silver Wheel-Andreas Vollenweider (There's an appealing determination in this melody, which isn't always apparent in new age instrumentals.  Vollenweider's "Hirzel" would flow well into this, which I consider a plus.  Sidebar: WITT certainly lived up to its billing as "unpredictable radio" today.  Within a 15-minute span, listeners were treated to accordion player Sandra J., Andreas Vollenweider, Philip Glass, and Kenny Rogers.) 

Welcome, familiar ground

I was always pleased when I learned that an ensemble in which I played was going to play a piece I'd already played with another orchestra.  The best example of this was Franz Schubert's eighth symphony, "Unfinished."  During one rehearsal, I was playing it with fierce confidence, going to town as if I'd played it several hundred times by memory.  When the conductor stopped the orchestra to go over a particular passage, he looked over at me and said, "Very good!"  The seriousness with which I replied, "Thank you," elicited a few giggles from the first violinists.

It didn't bug me at the time, but later, I thought, "I wonder if I was approaching a 'Be Not Afraid' level, instrumentally." 

FM dial scan highlights CCCV

This morning's recommended gems:

WSIE 88.7 FM 

• Butterfly-Jeff Bradshaw & Christian McBride (I remember playing Herbie Hancock's 1995 "Dis Is Da Drum" version of this on KNJZ.  This is an impressive cover of the tune, giving it a spacier, late night feel.)
• Feelin' Free-Andrea Lisa & Rebecca Jade (Pleasant smooth jazz guitar underscores these lyrics about being selfless without turning into a doormat.  This January release is one of the most soothing tunes I've heard so far this year.)

KCLC 89.1 FM

• Long Way To Fall-Bedouine (When is it appropriate to help someone who's struggling?  Bedouine's graceful vocals fit these sensitive lyrics well.)

WARH 106.5 FM

• Don't Dream It's Over-Crowded House (Still one of the best opening guitar licks; as good as this hit is, there's so much more to this band, especially on its treasure trove of great harmonies and lyrics, the "Woodface" album.)

K297BI 107.3 FM, a.k.a. WFUN-HD2

• Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis: In The Forest-Symphonic Poem (Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Juozas Domarkas, conductor) (The strings, winds, and brass convey effective initial tentativeness of wandering in a forest.  Through lush, expressive playing and forceful crescendos, they also capture the beauty of a forest equally well.)