I am not sure there is a thread on what Sonos is truly about - the music, so this might be an interesting thread. I have left out classical because that deserves a thread of its own and modern pop because it all sounds the same to me.
I have Phil Keaggy strumming Solitude from his Acoustic Sketches album right now in the bedroom on a play 1 pair and sounding very good indeed.
Recently heard and equally good music and mastering:
1. Michel Petrucciani and NHOP
2. Beyond the Missouri Sky - Metheny and Haden
3. Chiaroscuro - Fresu and Towner
4. Jan Johannsen - Jazz pa Svenska
5. The Astounding Eyes of Rita - Anouar Brahem
6. Last Dance/Jasmine - Jarrett and Haden
7. Saturday Morning - Ahmad Jamal
8. Melos - Paolo Fresu
All but the last are ITunes 256kbps purchases, the last a lossless CD rip.
Very little lost in translation for the lossy thing and Sonos convenience.
Any recommendations on similar music that uses the silence between the notes effectively?
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In looking for the CD under "S", I rediscovered John Scofield's "Hand Jive".
Indeed, and there is so much excellent undiscovered music!
Another excellent east west album is Making Music/Zakir Hussain. Garbarek being too loud in the mix in some places apart, all tracks are brilliant.
Looking up Scofield, I found his tribute to Ray Charles - That's what I say. Very good, as is a Lee Ritenour led A Twist of Marley.
Custódio Castelo
I suspect it might be too close to pop for some of you, but I've recently come across First Aid Kit - kind of folk-ish.
You guys should check out the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts available on Youtube. Lots of new artists I hadn't heard of before. A little bit of everything! Here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1B627337ED6F55F0
You guys should check out the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts available on Youtube. Lots of new artists I hadn't heard of before. A little bit of everything! Here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1B627337ED6F55F0
Lots of wonderful suggestions for which thanks!. I have recently come across Cassandra Wilson who blew me away (like Chantal Chamberland, mentioned earlier).
I am not huge fan anymore of Jan Garbarek but do like other Scandinavian jazz:
Lars Danielson - "Pasodoble" and "The time"
Bobo Stenson - "Serenity", "Indicum"
Esbjørn Svensson - "Viaticum"
Tord Gustavsen - "Being There", "Changing Places", "The Ground"
If you like the clarinet try Gianluigi Trovesi - "In Cerca Di Cibo"
Bordering on pop but very spirited and uplifting: Melissa Laveaux.
For those who don't shy away from an interesting mixture of baroque and jazz you might want to try L'arpeggiata - "All'Improvviso" (esp. the tracks with Gianluigi Trovesi).
I am not huge fan anymore of Jan Garbarek but do like other Scandinavian jazz:
Lars Danielson - "Pasodoble" and "The time"
Bobo Stenson - "Serenity", "Indicum"
Esbjørn Svensson - "Viaticum"
Tord Gustavsen - "Being There", "Changing Places", "The Ground"
If you like the clarinet try Gianluigi Trovesi - "In Cerca Di Cibo"
Bordering on pop but very spirited and uplifting: Melissa Laveaux.
For those who don't shy away from an interesting mixture of baroque and jazz you might want to try L'arpeggiata - "All'Improvviso" (esp. the tracks with Gianluigi Trovesi).
Userlevel 6
+15
Jeff Goldblum, who's been playing a live set in LA for years, just released a very nice little live album. Decent band, but where it really shines is Jeff's ebullient personality and interaction with his guest singers.
An excellent new release in jazz - mostly trumpet, bass and drums - is Dark Nights/Avishai Cohen. He has earlier albums as well, but I preferred the mood on this one.
In frequent recent play: Everything I Love, Sir Roland Hanna. Solo Jazz Piano of the highest quality both on performance and recording. Rarely has a piano sounded better outside of the real thing, the voicing on this album is that good.
I wonder where the Sir comes from - is it like Duke for Ellington? I doubt it is a UK knighthood, but if it was so, richly deserved!
Highly recommended for a quiet late evening over a drink.
I wonder where the Sir comes from - is it like Duke for Ellington? I doubt it is a UK knighthood, but if it was so, richly deserved!
Highly recommended for a quiet late evening over a drink.
Tord Gustavsen - "Being There", "Changing Places", "The Ground"
Those are probably the best of Tord.
Another great piano trio is the Marcin Wasilewksi led one. January, Faithful and Trio are excellent. Spark of Life is good too, as is their early music on Habanera, when they called themselves the Simple Acoustic Trio.
They play in some Tomasz Stanko quartets as well, many of which are excellent.
Excellent recent release led by drummer Wolfgang Haffner - Kind of Cool. Modern take on jazz standards like So What, Autumn Leaves, Summertime and some others and some original music. Clean fresh sound for a new spin to some classic jazz. I liked this one.
Userlevel 7
+26
Thanks for sharing, Zigzag2. I love seeing new updates in this thread too, always nice to get some new recommendations 🙂
What's it with the Scandinavian jazz scene that keeps turning up new approaches to jazz, particularly trio sets?
I just found a new one to me, that ticks all the boxes - Norwegian this time, Hello Troll by the Helge Lien Trio. Piano/bass/drums, very well recorded/mastered too.
I just found a new one to me, that ticks all the boxes - Norwegian this time, Hello Troll by the Helge Lien Trio. Piano/bass/drums, very well recorded/mastered too.
+1 to that; it is a lot of new music to be explored over the coming days, so thanks for that, I have Richter's new Vivaldi playing as I write this. And a combination of Sonos + Apple Music (in my case) makes it so easy to do this exploring - these are truly the best of times for home audio. For every abuse of social media and smart phones, there is this upside to the tech of today.
As to the Rita album, I find Brahem's La Pas Du Chat Noir album to be just as enjoyable. Mystic Jazz is a good description I read somewhere for it.
Great music, mostly from the jazz genre, that I discovered recently:
1. Clifford Brown - a recent discovery on my part. With Strings, A Study in Brown and Clifford Brown and Max Roach are all superb albums. The sound of his trumpet is still fresh and eminently listenable even now.
2. Lynne Arriale piano trio - Come Together, Inspiration are excellent. Nuance has more of Randy Brecker's trumpet on it, but also very good.
3. Another great sound on the trumpet is from Kenny Dorham. Afro Cuban for a party groove and Quiet Kenny for less noisy occasions.
4. More party grooves on Funky Abba, by the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. Abba music is of one flavour, so this album also ends up like that and is best used in a shuffled playlist.
5. I was looking for a good version of Harlem Nocturne and that turned up the Sonny Stitt version on his 37 minutes and 48 seconds album. Perhaps the best version of the tune, but the rest of the eighteen tracks are also very good.
1. Clifford Brown - a recent discovery on my part. With Strings, A Study in Brown and Clifford Brown and Max Roach are all superb albums. The sound of his trumpet is still fresh and eminently listenable even now.
2. Lynne Arriale piano trio - Come Together, Inspiration are excellent. Nuance has more of Randy Brecker's trumpet on it, but also very good.
3. Another great sound on the trumpet is from Kenny Dorham. Afro Cuban for a party groove and Quiet Kenny for less noisy occasions.
4. More party grooves on Funky Abba, by the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. Abba music is of one flavour, so this album also ends up like that and is best used in a shuffled playlist.
5. I was looking for a good version of Harlem Nocturne and that turned up the Sonny Stitt version on his 37 minutes and 48 seconds album. Perhaps the best version of the tune, but the rest of the eighteen tracks are also very good.
Exploring found me the album There will be a Light - Ben Harper with perennial old favourites, the Blind Boys of Alabama...and add the Fairfield Four to that genre as well now.
Always nice to find something new.
Always nice to find something new.
Number 1 is intriguing to me because of the 'with strings' part. Thanks, K. Looking forward to sampling these for acquisition.
Henske, Theesink and the Fairfield Four are great additions to my playlists; much obliged.
Charlie Parker with Strings is also very good. As with the Clifford Brown album, the strings do not drown everything in sugar coating on this one as well.
+2
+1 to that; it is a lot of new music to be explored over the coming days, so thanks for that, I have Richter's new Vivaldi playing as I write this. And a combination of Sonos + Apple Music (in my case) makes it so easy to do this exploring - these are truly the best of times for home audio. For every abuse of social media and smart phones, there is this upside to the tech of today.
As to the Rita album, I find Brahem's La Pas Du Chat Noir album to be just as enjoyable. Mystic Jazz is a good description I read somewhere for it.
The live album, Bird With Strings is one of those gems I found in a used CD shop years ago. Ben Webster, Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley, and Lee Konitz all have great 'with strings' albums. Though I'm not that big a fan of Chet's vocals... His horn playing, though... man.
I just downloaded Clifford Brown's album from Amazon. Really liking it...
I just downloaded Clifford Brown's album from Amazon. Really liking it...
+2
I'll be interested to hear your thought on the tracks you like. I do so agree with your comments on our good fortune these days with home audio. When I think back to the 70's and 80's, the time spent and the money wasted on the pursuit of 'high fidelity' nirvana! Never achieved it - though got fleetingly close at times! But the focus was too much on equipment and not the music.
What I like about Sonos is that it's 'good enough'. I can forget the system - no distortion, no clicks or irritating sibilance. And all at the touch of a button as they say. I'll investigate the Brahem album some more today.
What I like about Sonos is that it's 'good enough'. I can forget the system - no distortion, no clicks or irritating sibilance. And all at the touch of a button as they say. I'll investigate the Brahem album some more today.
Chet Baker In Paris Barclay sessions is brilliant - only one track, the last, is where he breaks into unwelcome song!
Art Pepper also has a good strings album - Winter Moon.
If you liked Clifford with strings, you might want to try Quiet Kenny as well. Not strings, but his only single horn quartet session. Right up there with Brown and Diz where trumpet chops are concerned, this is Kenny for late nights.
Art Pepper also has a good strings album - Winter Moon.
If you liked Clifford with strings, you might want to try Quiet Kenny as well. Not strings, but his only single horn quartet session. Right up there with Brown and Diz where trumpet chops are concerned, this is Kenny for late nights.
+2
My pleasure.
1. Clifford Brown - a recent discovery on my part. With Strings
What a phenomenal album. Just got back from running my errands and was able to listen to it completely through. His interpretations of the standards are incredible... especially 'What's New.' That staccato method he's using for some of the melody is brilliant, and fits so well. Awesome recommendation... thanks.
What I like about Sonos is that it's 'good enough'.
That is why I started this thread; there is too much worrying about the state of the finger pointing to the moon here as in most other such fora, losing sight of the moon in the process. And Sonos is more than good enough I have found - properly set up it is in the HiFi class for audio. What can mar the experience is still inherent in the state of wireless tech where music play minus stuttering or interruptions can still be a challenge at times, but Sonos meets these challenges better than most of the competition.
Clifford Brown - The Singers Sessions is a compilation of his individual pairings with Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Helen Merrill, all quite special, if you're into vocal jazz.
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