Six Thursday morning standouts and two recommended tunes heard yesterday:
Classic R&B And Soul
- My Bucket's Got A Hole In It-Ramsey Lewis Trio (This is typical of Lewis's hip, infectious piano playing in the '60s. Also recommended: "The In Crowd," "Hang On Sloopy, " and "Wade In The Water.")
Easy Listening
- Waiting For Sunshine-FLOW (Pleasant new age-style melodies featuring these types of guitar and piano arrangements don't usually include a trumpet part. This one does, however, and an already solid melody is even more compelling, as a result.)
Folk Roots
- Stranded-Shawn Colvin (A thoughtful way to say, "Our paths were meant to cross, but we weren't meant to be together forever.")
- Undertow-Suzanne Vega (Vega's lyrics here are intriguingly cryptic. It reads as though the person about whom she's singing really wants to know everything about someone to whom she's committed or can't stand an adversary and wants to shake some sense into her foe.)
Jazz Masters
- Embraceable You-Jimmy Smith (Showy saxophone and understated organ playing mesh compellingly here.)
Jazz Now
- Night Song-Harold Mabern (An invitingly uptempo melody, with strong synergy between piano and saxophone, sustained for over seven minutes.)
Popular Classical
- Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet No. 62, Op. 76, No. 3, "Emperor" (Kodaly Quartet) (This continues my streak of never hearing a Haydn piece I've disliked. I enjoy the energetic, lighthearted first movement, the quiet delicacy of the second movement, and the tasteful, waltz-like third movement.)
The Spa
- As The Foyle Gently Flows-Eamonn Karran (This gentle piano melody sounds at least partially inspired by George Winston's "Autumn" album.)
