Tuesday, April 14, 2015

NEW RELEASES: APOLLO 5 – WITH A SONG IN MY HEART; ELINA DUNI QUARTET - DALLENDYSHE; WES MONTGOMERY – IN THE BEGINNING

APOLLO 5 – WITH A SONG IN MY HEART

'With A Song In My Heart' is the debut album from the dynamic British a cappella quintet, Apollo5. The group performs a repertoire ranging from retro jazz, pop and classical arrangements to Christmas a cappella and has been praised for its engaging and entertaining performances. Performances in London have included St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Albert Hall, the Troxy, Café de Paris, the Houses of Parliament, Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho, The Crazy Coqs and Kings Place. Recent UK festivals include The City of London Festival, The London A Cappella Festival and the Petworth Festival. Apollo5 is part of the VCM Foundation, and is involved in its innovative education programme aiming to inspire creativity through music. The programme, led by VOCES8, reaches 20,000 young people annually, working in over 200 schools in the UK, France, Sweden, the USA and Asia. The foundation has its home at the Gresham Centre, at St Anne and St Agnes Church in the heart of the City of London. In partnership with the Diocese of London, VCM is establishing a hub for excellence in education, outreach and the performance of vocal music. The album brings together some of Apollo5's favourite songs, arrangements of favourites ranging from spirituals, folk, jazz, soul and pop. Most are arranged by Matt Greenwood, who has written for the group for several years. ~ Amazon

ELINA DUNI QUARTET - DALLENDYSHE

On 'Dallendyshe' ("The Swallow"), her second ECM album, Elina Duni sings songs of love and exile. The troubled history of the Balkan regions has inspired many such songs and the pieces here, primarily from Albanian traditional sources, are interpreted with intensity and insight by Elina and her band. The Tirana-born and Swiss-raised singer has become an exceptional musical storyteller embodying the songs' narratives, in a way that transcends genre definitions and language limitations. "This time there is a sense of lightness to the feeling and energy of the album," says Duni. "Even though we are dealing with tragic themes of exile it is not as dark as 'Matane Malit' [her ECM debut]. One of the fascinating things about music of the Balkans, in a lot of the folk music, is the idea that the pain has to be sung. And in singing you go beyond it. That's what the blues is about, of course, and you find a similar sensibility in these Albanian songs about exile and lost love." Duni's journey to the emotional centre of Albanian song began a decade ago, when she and pianist Colin Vallon were students at Berne's Hochschule der Kunste. Looking at Albanian folk music rather than jazz standards as an improvisational resource led them to a whole range of discoveries. Elina found her own voice in the old songs, and in reclaiming them could also free them: the quartet's experimental yet pure acoustic versions have been received with gratitude in Albania where folk themes were once harnessed for propaganda purposes. ~ Amazon

WES MONTGOMERY – IN THE BEGINNING


'In the Beginning' features rare previously unreleased recordings by jazz guitar icon Wes Montgomery spanning the years 1949 to 1958. This deluxe 2-CD set includes 26 newly discovered live and studio recordings. The set includes a complete 1955 Epic Records session produced by Quincy Jones, newly discovered 78 RPM sides with Wes as a sideman recorded for Spire Records (1949), a live recording from the home of Ervena Montgomery, Indianapolis (1956), live recordings from the Turf Club (1956), the Missile Lounge (1958) in Indianapolis, and the C&C Music Lounge in Chicago (1957). 'In the Beginning' features extensive liner notes, and meticulously designed artwork that have become Resonance Records' trademarks. The 2-CD version includes a 55-page booklet of liner notes by journalist and noted jazz historian and biographer Ashley Kahn, legendary producer Quincy Jones, guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who, alongside rare never-before-published photos from The Montgomery Estate and friends in Montgomery's native Indianapolis. Since Wes Montgomery's passing in 1968, only two other albums of predominantly unreleased material have been released - 'Willow Weep for Me' (Verve, 1968) and 'Echoes of Indiana Avenue' (Resonance, 2012). Resonance Records is pleased to introduce the third such archival offering with 'In the Beginning'. ~ Amazon


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