Stingray Music highlights

I sampled Stingray Music, a service of U-verse, today.  Standout selections I heard included:

Big Band

• Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea-Ken Peplowski (As Ella Fitzgerald, George Harrison, and many others have shown, this tune holds up well in a variety of interpretations.  Peplowski's interpretation on the clarinet is one worthy rendition.)
• Opus One-Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (One of the most famous melodies of the genre; a list of big standards is incomplete without it.  I'd be curious to know how many listeners were first made aware of the tune because of "Hooked On Swing.")

Chamber Music

• Martin Kraus: Rondo In F major, VB. 191 (Jacques Depres) (A thoughtful, quiet piano piece.)

Cocktail Lounge

• C'est Magnifique-Peggy Lee (When it's time to lighten up...)

Folk Roots

• Leviathan-Leahy (Toe-tappin' fiddling that brings Natalie MacMaster's music to mind.)
• Wild Mountain Thyme-Maggie Reilly (Movingly sung; one of the strongest versions I've heard, and the best track I heard this afternoon.)

Jazz Now

• Hard To Find-Joshua Bruneau Septet (A good brass track, released in January, that reminds me of The Crusaders when Wayne Henderson played trombone.)
• Movin'-Gregory Porter (Strong vocals about "movin' in the wrong direction," from an impressive 2013 CD, "Liquid Spirit."  Also recommended: "Water Under Bridges," "Wind Song," and "The 'In' Crowd.")

Kids' Stuff

• Sesamstraat-Sesame Street Netherlands (A fun reminder that gentle life lessons translate into any language.  It's also fun to contemplate how different countries have their own equivalents of "Sesame Street."  The original American incarnation has a cookie-loving monster, a giant bird, and a grouch who lives in a trash can.  Other countries entertain and educate kids via a mouse or giant blue creature.  The lessons, and the heart, get through to the audience, regardless of where it is.)

Nature

• Ponds And Streams Of Niagara-Dan Gibson (An example of why I almost never listen to recorded music when I go to the park; the animals provide plenty of enjoyable music there.)

Retro R&B

• It's Just A Matter Of Time-Brook Benton (I tend to think of "Rainy Night In Georgia" first in connection with Benton, but this smooth ballad deserves its due.  It would segue well with "Earth Angel" by The Penguins.)

Smooth Jazz

• On The Strip-Marc Antoine (Cool, chill guitar.  I also recommend Antoine's cover of "Mas Que Nada.")