One
benefit of having moved to a new county is that I listen to new radio
stations and therefore hear new music. Moving to Ireland is
especially good for this, with RTE Radio Lyric fm providing the most wide
ranging and informed play-lists I have ever heard.
So,
just in case you haven’t come across any of the artists/albums that I have
really enjoyed in the last few years, many of them from late night listening to
In The Blue of The Night, 10 pm – 1 am on Lyric, here are some of them,
from different genres, plus a couple from movies I have seen.
Susanna
Wallumrod is a Swedish singer who ranges from the classical to the
experimental, an intelligent interpreter of songs by (among others) Leonard
Cohen, Dolly Parton, Phil Lynott, Sandy Denny, Prince, Roy
Harper and Purcell, always providing fresh readings. I started with
‘If Grief Could Wait’ (ECM) and moved on.
Susanna’s
keyboard player is often Morten Qvenild, and he provides piano backing for
another Swedish singer, Solvieg Slettahjell, whose
interpretation of The Stone’s Wild Horses is a revelation. Solvieg
also sings Cohen songs, and Cindy Lauper’s True Colors. I don’t rank her
as highly as Susanna, but you might. Try her Antologie album.
I have known the music of Barb Jungr or some time,
and she is one of the few whose interpretations of Bob Dylan I enjoy.
None can match Nina Simone’s for me, but, Jungr’s Hard Rain; the Songs
of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen is highly recommended.
Two
more albums of interpretations (I will not call them ‘covers’, they do so much
more than that) come from Herbie Hancock. On Rive, the
Joni letters, (Verve) he works with Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland on
instrumentals, while singers such as Corrine Bailey Rae, Norah Jones,
Tina Turner and Leonard Cohen tackle Joni’s lyrics. Joni herself
re-records Tea Leaf Prophecy.
On
Possibilities (HEAR) he invited singers/musicians such as Santana,
Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Sting, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannington to explore
some of their own, and others, songs. In case you are
wondering there are no Dylan or Cohen songs here!)
I
am ashamed to say that I had never come across Chris Wood until I heard
him on Lyric. I wonder how often he has been played one a BBC
station? His brand of contemporary English folk is properly
political. On handmade life (RUF) his Hollow Point is
a chilling and powerful retelling of the tragic death of Jean Charles Menezes,
the Brazilian plumber mistaken for a terrorist and shot in London by the Police
in 2005. The Grand Correction rages against the 30
year plus heritage of Thatcherism, making the poorest in the land slaves to the
market, and giving the (increasingly even more) rich the excuse that the marker
rules. But he also sings tender love songs – as if his political
anger was not rooted in the aspect of love we call compassion. Chris
is also part of The Imagined Village.
Jazz often features on Lyric and that’s where I
heard from Chick Corea’s collaboration Duet recorded with the
young Japanese pianist Hiromi on the Stretch label, and Hot House,
his album with Gary Burton on Concord. Just before he
died in 1977 Paul Desmond laid down four tracks with Chet Baker.
Together gives us these, plus three earlier collaborations, and is a
gem. For those who love either jazzmeister this is a
joy, the only sadness being that it was made so late in Paul’s life
Thanks again, Lyric, for bringing it to my attention.
Lastly,
for your delectation, two Middle Eastern singers I came across at the
movies. In American Hustle Mayssa Haraa gave us
a rendering of Grace Slick’s White Rabbit - in
Lebanese. Haraa is much valued as an interpreter of the
poems of the Sufi mystic Rumi, but I have not found any of these on
record. The soundtrack of American Hustle is brilliant
anyway. Jim Jarmusch’s film Only Lovers Left Alive also used
a Middle Eastern voice, that of the Turkish Yasmine Hamdan.
Her album Ya Nass (Oh people) shows her powerful blend of jazz tinged
folk.
Even
if only one album or artist mentioned above brings you new joy I will be
delighted. I do not make space for comments on this Blog, but do
have a Facebook page, (Robert Leslie Vernon), where feedback is wel
