We Three was originally released in 1958 and featured Roy Haynes (drums) Phineas Newborn Jr (piano) and Paul Chambers (bass). For me this album was love at first listen. The style was cool and straight ahead. The ensemble was well balanced in sound and technique, and the song choices and track lengths allowed the musicians to stretch out their ideas while remaining succinct and immediate.

In consideration of my recent post for the Paper Crane Collective I spent some time revisiting a few old favorites and rediscovered my love for this album. In supposition to this, today's Episodes in Virtuosity takes a closer look at the spectacular cut of After Hours from We Three.

Roy Haynes Phineas Newborn Jr Paul Chambers: After Hours

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It's been a year since my last installment in the Episodes In Virtuosity series. Let's rectify this with the magnificent Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli performing Frédéric Chopin's Marche Funèbre from his Piano Sonata Op.35 No.2.

The word virtuoso is defined as, "a musician who is a consummate master of technique and artistry." or "… an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument."

When I decided that I was going to be a serious (classical) musician, I regarded this word with esteem and respect. I saw the aspiration for virtuosity as a means of achieving self-actualization, and decided to dedicate my life towards this realization. However, like so many things, after six years of conservatory training the shine wore off this word and I fear that I have lost my reverence for the beautiful. After all, art is the habit of the artist. Nevertheless, it is my intent to use this platform to (re)discover, admire, and share music/musicians of the highest caliber, in any and all genres, strictly for the purpose of listening to Music worth listening to.

Read on for my full thoughts on the command performance. You dig?

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The word virtuoso is defined as, "a musician who is a consummate master of technique and artistry." or "… an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument."

When I decided that I was going to be a serious (classical) musician, I regarded this word with esteem and respect. I saw the aspiration for virtuosity as a means of achieving self-actualization, and decided to dedicate my life towards this realization. However, like so many things, after six years of conservatory training the shine wore off this word and I fear that I have lost my reverence for the beautiful. After all, art is the habit of the artist. Nevertheless, it is my intent to use this platform to (re)discover, admire, and share music/musicians of the highest caliber, in any and all genres, strictly for the purpose of listening to Music worth listening to.

Emil Gilels: LV Beethoven Opus Mvt III

There are so many incredible things about youtube. It is a remarkable tool of the 21st century for marketing, sharing, teaching, logging history, or hearing about all the crazy 'shit people say'.  What's also incredible is the amount of worth that is there going unnoticed while others are cracking into the stratosphere of views. Recently I was digging through some videos of classical musicians from the 1960's when I encountered this gem of Maurice Gendron & Christian Ivaldi performing Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano.

It's not just a beautiful and nostalgic video of a command performance, but it's also a piece within a time capsule of both musical social history. I believe that knowledge of social and musical history informs your decision making as both listeners and performers. If you never learned any other word for beautiful than pretty, how would you ever know what radiant or gorgeous looks, sounds, and feels like. If you don't know what came before, can you truly appreciate what you have now?

Read on for a few more facts and dates about this piece, the performers, the composer, and the world that surrounded this performance.

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In 2006 Sony released an album of two John's – Williams and Etheridge. The former is the legendary classical virtuoso and the latter is an exemplary jazz guitarist. The album's content is a hodgepodge of classical, jazz, world, and a few visits to the places between. The mixing of their own musical languages sounds effortless and having seen them perform I know it can look that way too. These two are marvelously talented and bring their artistry together with an audible joy for the work. 

I listened to this album a lot when it was first released and I've recently found cause to go back and listen again. It's been a refreshing and fortifying revisit and I am happy that I am still moved to smile by this music. This is a guitar players album with a little something for everyone. Taste, technique, tact, and attack, the John's did it right with their album Places Between.

John Williams & John Etheridge: Places Between

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In 1975 Charles Mingus and Company performed a concert in Montreux that knocks me flat every time I watch and rewatch it. The band mates are George Adams (tenor sax/vocals) Don Pullen (piano) Jack Walrath (trumpet) Dannie Richmond (drums). The piece of video I have attached is a portion of Sue's Changes – which is a tune Mingus penned for his wife, Sue. We at TWD love us some Mingus and in particular I lose my cool a little bit every time I revisit this concert footage. George Adams is an absolute beast in this performance for his range, attack, velocity, guts, and imagination. It's a staggering work of jazz and fit enough for today's Episodes in Virtuosity.

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When I began this article I intended to wax philosophic about the value of expanding your aural pallet and aesthetic appreciation. I intended to write a broad and sweeping argument about the worth of the classical masterworks and the idea that this music was composed before my own lifetime and will inevitably be enjoyed long after I am gone. However, I am not that good. 

The only real point that needs to be made here is that Martha Margerich has the capacity to achieve any musical idea she desires, and the artistic sensitivity to use her technique to create some of the most beautiful music I have ever had the pleasure to hear.  

The piece was composed in 1901 by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and is entitled Jeux d'eau – which translates to fountains. The original broadcast of this performance was on July 31, 1977. 

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The word virtuoso is defined as, "a musician who is a consummate master of technique and artistry."

or

"… an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument."

Read More...

 

The word virtuoso is defined as:

 

"a musician who is a consummate master of technique and artistry."

 

or

 

"… an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument."

Read More...