Henning Sommerro: Ujamaa & The Iceberg (2018)
DXD FLAC Stereo 24bit/352kHz | Time – 01:00:13 minutes | 3,3 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Source: 2L-146-SACD | Digital Booklet , Front cover
The composer Henning Sommerro moves rapidly, criss-crossing his musical stage. The space in which he moves has expanded: “All the world’s a stage”. In an open room unforeseeable things take place; things mature, and grow. New elements are created, old ones are modified, and earlier contours are erased. With a respectful greeting we are drawn on by the promise of something bigger; the title UJAMAA sounds playful, slightly mystical. It is Swahili, and it means coming together in brotherhood.
Where opposites meet there is hope – that precious quality we carry with us that can foreshadow our way ahead. On this album Henning Sommerro invites us to listen to two of his large-scale works for soloists and orchestra: Ujamaa and The Iceberg. Both are composed as cantatas. In Ujamaa we move, as if in a series of dream-pictures, between the world’s five continents. In The Iceberg interpersonal relationships are manifested through the voice of Eva Sars, wife of the explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanist and Nobel laureate Fridtjof Nansen. In these works there is a tension between large-scale and small-scale spheres – this in a background narrative in which hope is a steadfast element.
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The Roland Hanna Trio – Child of Gemini (1971/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time –39:03 minutes | 717 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS
Sir Roland Hanna’s 1971 sessions for MPS pairs the veteran pianist with bassist David Holland and drummer Daniel Humair, focusing exclusively on the leader’s originals that were originally intended as a suite, though they stand very well individually, too. The first four selections display the influence of the classical portion of Hanna’s studies, especially the Bach-flavored “Prelude-So You’ll Know My Name” and the lovely “Courrante-Blue.” The lively blues “Ha-Ho-Da” showcases each of the three musicians in turn. Hanna switches to an electric piano (set to sound like a harp) for the ballad “Blue Lilly” and wraps the sessions with “A Statement of the Truth,” a complex bop line with a nod to Lennie Tristano. Overall, the music is not quite up to the level of other recordings under Hanna’s leadership, though it is still a worthwhile LP. Since MPS ceased operations not long after the 1972 release of this album, it may be somewhat difficult to find. (more…)
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The Paul Horn Quintet – Monday, Monday (1966/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 31:07 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA/Legacy
Monday, Monday is an album by the Paul Horn Quintet with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson which was originally released on the RCA Victor label in 1966. (more…)
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The Anita Kerr Singers – Mellow Moods of Love (1965/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:31 minutes | 831 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy
Anita Kerr is easily the most remarkable and accomplished female musician of the Space Age Pop era, yet she barely rates a mention in most pop music reference books. In the mid-1950s and ’60s, the Anita Kerr Singers were one of the most popular group of backup vocalists in all of country music, appearing on countless recordings by renowned Nashville artists. Along with the Jordanaires, her group, the Anita Kerr Singers, were the seminal backing vocal unit of the era, and it is estimated that at their early-’60s peak, they graced fully one-quarter of all of the records coming out of Nashville’s studios. (more…)
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