Prior to going to Barnsdall Park, I killed an hour over at Amoeba. And in that hour I found a CD that I never would have been aware of if I hadn't just luckily thumbed through a batch of CDs that hadn't been put out yes (sitting on the counter). And there you have everything that's wrong with buying music over the Internet - no discovery - no just thumbing through CDs and coming upon one you knew nothing about and which is a total surprise. That's what kids today and the world today have brought us - no sense of discovery. The album is by someone I've never heard of called Danilo Perez, a jazz pianist. The cover was lovely, and as soon as I saw the Claus Ogerman credit it was mine. Mr. Perez is great, and this album is a spiritual cousin to Bill Evans with Symphony Orchestra. It's all piano, bass, and drums, with symphony orchestra, and Mr. Ogerman has fashioned most of it from classical tunes, along with two standards, including the oddest Lazy Afternoon you'll ever hear, but one that's so weirdly hypnotic you can't take your ears off it. That's one of two vocal tracks on the CD - sung by a deep-throated Casandra Wilson. One is never sure exactly what key she's singing in, because the orchestration is ever-shifting and going really unexpected places. It may not be to everyone's liking, but it sure is unique. The other standard is All Of A Sudden My Heart Sings. The classical tunes are based on themes by Massenet, Rachmaninov, de Falla, Sibelius, etc. More later.
