Unpopular Music - April 24, 2021

 I believe this program takes you on a journey. Or, perhaps it picks you up off the street and into a windowless van and drops you off in a completely different neighborhood (with the best of intentions, of course), with a side-trip across the faces of Mt. Rushmore.

We start off with some mellow, classical sounds before we go into some jazzy neighborhoods, before ending up with some "popular" sounds where we ponder the compatibility of such possibly incompatible philosophies as "fear is a man's best friend," "purity of heart is to will one thing," and "we all shine on" (and perhaps even "shut up and eat.") (Albeit, with some moments of raucousness.)

 image source

The first five tracks came around in that order on the shuffle play one day during my evening constitutional, the rest were added haphazardly over time until I had achieved critical mass for a playlist. Finding the right order actually came about rather easily considering the arbitrary selection process.

And yes, this episode of "Unpopular Music" does contain a hit song by one of the most popular musicians of all time. (Sorry for the inconsistency, but where else do you hear him paired with Eric Dolphy and Buxtehude?) It showed up in some of the appreciations of the producer when he died earlier this year, and it struck me as being the sort of thing that a Beatles/Spector collaboration was expected to sound like, discussions of which will start up again in the fall, for sure. 

See the playlist after the break...

artist	title	album	comments	label / date
Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino	Cinque piccoli duetti – Preludio	Insomnia	Gidon Kremer (vln) Naoko Yoshino (hrp) music by Jean Françaix	Philips 1996
Ensemble Masques - Vox Luminis	Gott Hilf Mir BUXWV 34 - IV: Israel Hoffe auf Den Herren	Gott Hilf Mir BUXWV 34 - IV: Israel Hoffe auf Den Herren	composition by Dietrich Buxtehude	Alpha 2017
Paul Motian Band	Fantasm	Psalm	Paul Motian (d) Billy Drewes (as) Joe Lovano (ts) Bill Frisell (g) Ed Schuller (b)	ECM 1981
World Saxophone Quartet	I let a song go out of my heart	Plays Duke Ellington	Julius Hemphill (as) Oliver Lake (as, arr) David Murray (ts) Hamiel Bluiett (bs)	Elektra Musician 1986
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; Gerald Moore	Winterreise, D. 911 - 9. Irrlicht	Schubert – Winterreise	music by Franz Schubert; text by Wilhelm Müller	EMI Classics 1955
Sequentia	Foebus abierat	Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper - X & XI Centuries	Benjamin Bagby (hrp) Agnethe Christensen (voc) anonymous (Northern Italy, late 10th century)	Deutsche Harmonia mundi 2002
Max Ochs	Hooray for Another Day	Hooray for Another Day	Max Ochs (g) Laura Cerulli (prc)	Tompkins Square 2008
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra	Movement 6	Promises	Pharoah Sanders (Tenor Saxophone, Voice) Sam Shepherd (Piano, Harpsichord, Celesta, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Oberheim 4 voice & OB-Xa, Solina String Ensemble, Therevox ET-4.3, EMS Synthi, ARP 2600 and Buchla 200e) The strings of the London Symphony Orchestra	Luaka Bop 2021
Michael Tilson Thomas; Chicago Symphony Orchestra	Symphony No. 4 - II: Comedy. Allegretto	Michael Tilson Thomas Conducts Ives	composition by Charles Ives	Sony Classical 1989
Bernard Herrmann	Across the Monument	North by Northwest	from the film by Alfred Hitchcock	Warner Bros. 1959
Sun Ra & His Arkestra	Love In Outer Space	Singles	Sun Ra (Rocksichord) David Henderson (voc) Danny Davis (alt clt, bng) Stafford James (b) John Gilmore (d)	Strut 1975
John Coltrane	Vilia	Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album	John Coltrane (ss) McCoy Tyner (p) Jimmy Garrison (b) Elvin Jones (d)	Impluse! 1963
Eric Dolphy	Come Sunday	Musical Prophet - The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions	Eric Dolphy (bc) Richard Davis (b) tune by Duke Ellington	Resonance Records 1963
James Brandon Lewis - Chad Taylor	Come Sunday	Live in Willisau	James Brandon Lewis (ts) Chad Taylor (klmba) music by Duke Ellington	Intakt Records 2019
Vula Viel	I Learn	Do Not Be Afraid	Bex Burch (gyil, voc) Ruth Goller (b, voc) Jim Hart (d, voc) Rita Ray (voc) Zands Duggan (prc)	Vula Viel Records 2019
Stereolab	Caleidoscopic Gaze	Cobra and Phases Group play Voltage in the Milky Night	Lætitia Sadier, Tim Gane, Mary Hansen, Simon Johns, Morgane Lhote, Andy Ramsay (and perhaps many pore) song by Tim Gane; Lætitia Sadier	Elektra Records 1999
Cibo Matto	Birthday Cake	Viva! La Woman	Miho Hatori (voc) Yuka Honda (instruments)	Warner Bros. 1996
John Cale	Fear (Is A Man’s Best Friend)	Fragments of a Rainy Season	John Cale (voc, p) Soldier String Quartet (Dave Soldier (vln, arr) Todd Reynolds (vln) Martha Mooke (vla) Dawn Avery (vc))	Domino Recording Co Ltd 1996
The Welcome Wagon	Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing	Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing	music by Vito Aiuto; based on the hymn “Oh Christ, Our Hope” (anonymous trans. John Chandler)	Asthmatic Kitty 2009
John Lennon	Instant Karma!	The John Lennon Collection	John Lennon (voc, g, p) George Harrison (g, p, voc) Klaus Voormann (b, elec p, voc) Alan White (d, p, voc) Billy Preston (org, voc) Yoko Ono( voc) Mal Evans (chms, handclaps, backing voc) uncredited (tmb) Allen Klein and several dozen revelers from London's Hatchett Club (backing voc)	Geffen 1970