This track-of-the-week is just under five minutes of cool jazz, courtesy of my Hubzilla friend, Manuel. How he finds these tunes I can not imagine, but his taste is impeccable. https://youtu.be/u0eBHd_VK00 Breathing Istanbul is from Marco Vezzoso's 2021 album, Travel, whose eight tracks take us from the famous Turkish city with its spectacular mosque, through…Read more Breathing Istanbul
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Abrazo
'Abrazo' is a Spanish word meaning 'hug' or 'embrace'. It's also the title of an album by the French musical duo Emile Parisien and Vincent Peirani. Emile blows a soprano saxophone in a style that floats between classical and jazz; Vincent plays an accordion, bringing a folky feel to the ensemble. It's an unusual combination,…Read more Abrazo
Soho Live at Ronnie Scotts
Peter Green It's deep midwinter here in the Northern Hemisphere. The days are short and the thermometer is hovering just above freezing - much too cold for this Old Man. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, this blogger has been a touch gloomy and lethargic for a couple of days. Am I suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder or is…Read more Soho Live at Ronnie Scotts
Distractions
I have been rather distracted over the last couple of days. When the schedule called for blogging I was reading about quantum theory or wrestling with crosswords. But today I'm determined to be productive. Of course, I'm short of time now, so what better way to salve the conscience than to offer two of the…Read more Distractions
Gnossienne No. 1
gnossiennen. a moment of awareness that someone you’ve known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, and somewhere in the hallways of their personality is a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored—an unfinished attic that will remain maddeningly unknowable to you, because ultimately…Read more Gnossienne No. 1
Hania Rani
The video below turned up in my Hubzilla feed last week. It was titled "Hania Rani - Live from Studio S2" and it was tagged #piano and #electronicmusic. There was no other description. The tags I understood but the names of the artist and the studio meant nothing to me, so clicking on the link…Read more Hania Rani
Your Power
When this song came up in my Hubzilla feed I could guess from the title that it is about the abuse of power. But who, I wondered, is it addressed to? Is Billie Eilish admonishing a loved one, berating a political leader or even condemning a whole society? But the Crotchety ears were tuned to…Read more Your Power
Pianocean
Today we will be sailing with an ocean-going piano. With the piano we will take a yacht called Lady Flow, a pianist, singer and songwriter called Marieke Huysmans-Berthou and a cat, whose name I do not know. Together they have created a project called Pianocean, sailing from port to port, meeting the locals and putting…Read more Pianocean
Te Acheres
I believe the title of this track-of-the-week, Te Acheres, is in the Ethiopian Amharic language1. Unfortunately, I have not been able to work out what it means. The Web does have the lyrics of the song and Google Translate will give a literal translation of them - but it refuses to decipher the title. And…Read more Te Acheres
Handshakes …
It was nearly time to pick up the weekly click-and-collect grocery order from the supermarket. Mrs. C checked the website for unavailable items and substitutions. Item 1: half a dozen wholemeal bread rolls; Item 2: half a dozen multi-seed bread rolls. For the wholemeal the supermarket had substituted multi-seed. Bizarrely, for the multi-seed they had…Read more Handshakes …
Crotchety Man 