While in NYC last week for a band trip (to Carnegie Hall! 'twas fun) and managed to bop my head in at a large CD retailer. Between that and a trip to the mall in Iowa last week, I picked up several CDs that will be blogged about in the very near future:
--Grrr, a somewhat rare but very funky album by South African flugel/trumpeter Hugh Masekela (featuring co-lead trombone and some unexpected tuba lines, a 1963 release)
-Chase the Clouds Away by Chuck Mangione; not really a brass ensemble, but a new CD was only--count it, I'm serious--ninety-nine cents at Virgin Megastore in Manhattan
--a (gasp) Chris Botti CD that I'm curious about, that was cheap but not that cheap
--a CD I'm really, really trying to like by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. I've been incredibly into Motown lately, listening to Stevie Wonder nonstop, and my alltime favorite R & B album (alot of people's favorite) is Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album. I enjoy DDBB, but am so far a bit disappointed in the way they strip away the harmonies of the original. Still, very accessible expressive music with a Katrina-donation component to it.
Finally, I'm a big Sinatra fan, and an exploration of my personal music listening device reminded me of two albums that predate Herb Alpert by a couple years, really really swing hard, and are sometimes cheezy and overdone--both featuring Sinatra with nothing but brass and rhythm section (one album, "Come Swing With Me," is crazy hot and features two sax-less big bands blazing away, each with a sizzling french horn section, one in each channel. Sometimes they will alternate by channel each beat. It's very tacky. I'll play it for everyone some day.)
Peace out.
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